Castara Retreats Apartments - Reader Reports & Opinion
Guest Report
Marcus Croskell from U.K. visited in October 2005 and awarded 
My partner and I stayed in Castara Retreat's Osprey apartment for two weeks in the middle of October 2005 and loved every minute.
The apartment was quite sufficient for our needs with a modest, but well equipped kitchen and clean facilities. Osprey has a large balcony overlooking the bay which allows you to have a table to eat at one end and then a hammock and chairs to relax in the other. Furthermore, it is the opposite side to the main stairs to the 4 apartments based at Castara Retreats making it much more private. It is also within a few steps of a nice paved patio where one can sun oneself on the sunlounger in the morning whilst devouring your next book.
We loved the great views across Castara every morning come rain or shine. Although we were in the rainy season it usually rained for 10-15mins a day. Swimming in the rain is great fun in the Caribbean and different to freezing in the North Sea or Atlantic!
Castara as a village is very basic. We were supported by Porridge who was always available for advice and Duck with gossip from the village. L & M's beside the co=operative provided some tinned things (a lot of corned beef) but no much else. As long as you stock up on beer and meat when coming to Castara you can get by easily. We bought fresh grapefruits and pineapples daily from the man on the corner near Margurites. He was always ready to help and explain what some of the different vegetables were including how to cook them.
Castara was my favourite place in Tobago and is a great base to explore the rest of the island. It is a short bus ride to Englishman's bay that was the most idyllic beach I have ever visited. You have to buy bus tickets from the local shop. In Castara it is from the shop on the main road beside the fruit/veg seller I mentioned above.
The waterfall is worth a little trip when the sun is hiding one morning and you can go and swim in the local bath that is the plunge pool. Although some are clearly profiting from the new influx of tourists generally in the island, it is still a poor village and as such many houses do not have running water (unlike all tourist apartments) and use the waterfall to wash.
If you like a unique experience, Castara is top on my list of places in the world. Usually there was one other couple on the entire beach whenever we went. People are around but there is plenty of space to lose yourself in your own little world around the island. We would thoroughly recommend Castara Retreats for a comfortable self-catering stay. We only cooked about 4 times in two weeks for dinner so it was not a struggle being self-catering. Just make sure you try buying some fish as you will get a massive tuna or the like of 2 feet long or bigger for £2-3! It is a truly rural and Caribbean experience that is characteristic of the village.
Guest Report
Vikki Brand from U.K. visited in August 2005 and awarded
We booked our holiday to Castara Retreats in May 2005 and found the MyTobago and Castara Retreats websites to be incredibly helpful and informative, I have never been so prepared (and so ready) for a holiday! After what seemed like an eternity we arrived on the 18th August 2005 for two weeks that I don’t think either of us will forget, a holiday of a lifetime, and one that will be re-visited for many years to come.
Osprey was perfect for us, a comfortable and well-equipped apartment with everything you could need. The gardens were beautiful and attracted an exceptional amount of bird life to the feeders, and the view from our deck was simply inspiring. I miss crawling out of bed to sit on the deck with a view of the village and the bay that literally takes your breath away! It was great to meet the owners Steve and Sue along with their daughter Freya, and thanks to them we enjoyed barbeques on the deck, and a fantastic boat trip to Big Bay. Castara Retreats would however not be complete without Porridge, Jeanelle, Ovita, Carrington and Duck. We would highly recommend a trip with Duck whether on land or sea, and his cooking is exceptional!
As a couple we love to get away from it all and shun the commercial, package type holidays that are so widely available. Tobago was the perfect choice, and the village of Castara was exactly what we were looking for. It was a privilege to live among this close fishing community and to buy fresh produce, meet local characters and eat traditional fare on a daily basis. Watching the fishermen at work pulling in the Seine net was an incredible sight, be sure to get up early! Nights spent at Skipper’s Rum Bar (I forget the proper name! Too much Carib perhaps?) were a wonderful blend of locals and tourists from all over Europe, which made for great conversation and of course dancing.
Thankfully the mosquito and sand-fly bites were few and far between, no more so than on any European holiday we have been on anyway. Although I think we have the mosquito net to thank for that! The occasional rain shower did nothing to dampen our spirits either, as it usually disappeared as fast as it had appeared leaving blue skies and brilliant sunshine. Our only negative experience was one morning on the beach when we watched horrified as young local boys (with small fish tied to wire as bait) tried to hook, and bring down the Magnificent Frigatebirds.
We visited most of the island by jeep (hired from Porridge) and found so many beautiful bays and villages, our favourite disoveries were Jemma's restaurant in Speyside, the craft shop and ice-cream stall at Englishman's Bay, Pirates Bay, Little Tobago and the Argyll Waterfall.
Our next visit will unfortunately have to wait until 2007, and until then we will remember Castara and everyone we met with fond and happy memories.
Vikki & Ewan Brand
Guest Report
Sharon Robinson from U.K. visited in June 2005 and awarded
We've just returned home from a two week holiday in Tobago, with one week in Charlottville and one week at Fisherman's Lodge at Castara Retreats. Fisherman's Lodge is one of THE most amazing accommodation places we've ever stayed in and we can't thank Sue & Steve enough! The lodge has got a fabulous feel to it - there are numerous homely touches that make you feel so welcome and the views are amazing. I woke up this morning in my bed in Farnham and wished I could sit up and look out through the mosquito net onto the bay at Castara! The accommodation was also perfect for our son Dylan (17 months) - he loved trotting about playing on the deck and the BBQ area.
Porridge, Duck and Carrington made us feel very welcome - Carrington bought us fresh fruit (mango and banana) every morning and our boat trip with Duck was a great day out. Porridge was also fab - always turning up with a smile on his face and nothing was too much trouble.
We certainly hope to visit Castara Retreats again in the future and have already recommended it to a few friends - we will certainly be talking about it for a long time to come! We also have to thank Steve, Sue & Jean for their quick response to all of our emails and for making it so easy for us to book with them.
All in all we really did have a great time and have lots of lovely memories which are too numerous to list.... :-)
Phil, Sharon & Dylan Robinson
Castara Retreats Vs. Blue Mango 11 Jul 2006
Natalie S. from Trinidad
Hi, I'm planning a romantic vacation for my boyfriend, and I want to go somewhere other than Crown Point area. I had decided on Castara Retreats, the Osprey, and then I saw the Blue Mango Cottages website. The Sweet Point cottage, either level is actually cheaper per night than the Osprey or Pelican at Castara Retreats. But they don't have any really good pictures of the cottage. Can someone give me a comparison? I like the idea of having a separate bedroom, as opposed to a studio and that is what would sell Blue Mango for me over Osprey, which is what I was going to go with.
Can anyone help me out with this. I want it to be as perfect as possible.
Editors Report: Mytobago Review 17 Apr 2006
Steve Wooler from Suffolk, England
Although we didn't stay at Castara Retreats during our 2006 tour of Tobago, we spent 16 days in Castara. During that time we visited Castara Retreats several times and returned on two other occassions during our stay to view progress of the new lodges and take photographs. Based on these visits, we have be able to add an update to our original 2005 review of the property. In summary we can only say that the two new lodges, Coasthanger and Birdsong, take Castara Retreats to new levels.
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