Castara Retreats - Reader Reports & Opinion
Castara Retreats 31 Mar 2004
Pauline from England
We returned last weekend from two weeks in Osprey apartment, Castara Retreats. We had a wonderful time and would recommend Castara Retreats wholeheartedly. The apartment is one of three in a very sympathetically built wooden building and ideal for a couple. The main room has a large (queen size I think) good-quality bed with an excellent mosquito net . The kitchen area (part of the main room) is well-equipped with a full-size fridge and cooker with 4 gas rings. There was always lots of hot water for the shower, which I understand is not always the case in Tobago. A floor standing fan is provided, but we did not in fact need it because there was always a breeze which kept the temperature comfortable.
The apartments are sited up on the hillside, on the edge of the rainforest, above the road into Castara from the south. Access is up a narrow steep grassy path and steps, and so would not be suitable for anyone who has walking difficulties. (This is made clear on the website, which incidentally is very informative).
The view from the apartments is simply breathtaking. Each apartment has its own terrace/balcony with table and chairs and we spent many hours just sitting and looking at the wonderful view over the village and Castara Bay. We saw frigate birds, osprey, pelicans, humming birds, tanagers, squirrels, butterflies. We could also see manta rays swimming close to the beach. Binoculars are essential.
The owners, Sue and Steve, have built a sort of wooden lookout in the grounds which is ideal for watching the magnificent sunsets. The garden has been planted with lots of shrubs which are quickly taking hold.
The property is managed by Porridge and Jeannel and they do a tremendous job making sure guests are happy. Porridge pops by most days to check on things.
We would recommend Castara Retreats for anyone wanting a relaxed and unsophisticated holiday with comfortable accommodation in an absolutely stunning setting.
Our First Visit To Tobago...castara..a Different View? 24 Feb 2004
Joana from NYC
We recently returned from our trip to Tobago, staying in Castara for 11 days. We expected quite a lot after reading posts from this forum: friendly people, good restaurants, clean beautiful beaches. We seemed to visit a different Castara than most people here have encountered. We stayed at Sandcastles, up the hill from the town. We had a beautiful, magnificent view, amazing bird watching from the balcony, and for the most part comfortable accomodation. The bats that flew in every evening were not welcome, nor their feces. The apartment is open on the side overlooking the gorgeous view. No wall or screen. Aside from that, it was an ideal location if staying in Castara.
The town itself was rather bleak as far as food or anything else you might need. The restaurants were fair, and the service was laughable. The Boat House did provide good service, and decent food. Margarites, well, depended on who served you. Her one daughter was plain rude, and tried to charge us 20% for a tip. When I brought it up to her, she just stared at me with contempt. We self catered or took food home for the most part. The restaurants do not offer much of an ambiance, and our apartment had the best view in Castara.
Now, here is where I question what most people encountered....the friendly people??? We found the people in Castara and some of the other small villages to be anything but friendly. They do not want tourists there! They are not friendly or helpful! We did not expect the people to have conversations with us, or trade addresses. A simple good morning with a smile would have been nice. We are both well travelled, and have not encountered such scorn from the locals anywhere else. It did not matter how friendly we were, the people, for the most part, were unfriendly. And the poor dogs. We made runs nightly, feeding the starving pups right in front of their homes. Horrible!
The beaches in Castara were not the cleanest. The water was magnificent...the beach itself had litter scattered throughout. On Little Bay, the restaurant dominates the beach, and the music is always playing. That might be okay sometimes, but not okay other times. Empty beer bottles are plentiful on the tables and beach. The snorkeling was great, right off the shore. The beaches were almost empty many days, which was welcome. Englishmans Bay is lovely, but hard to swim in because of the tide/undertow.
We did have a nice stay in Tobago, we travelled around the island and took in gorgeous scenery and lush rainforests. We did not want to stay in Crown Point, we wanted to see the 'Real Tobago'. I think we did, and we would have enjoyed ourselves so much more if the locals were happier with the presence of tourists in their villages.
Stunning Time In Castara Retreats 04 Jan 2004
Tim And Sioned Sims from Corwen UK
We have just come back from our first ever holiday in Tobago and the best holiday we've ever had. We stayed at one of the four Castara Retreats apartments overlooking Castara bay and we’ve booked again for next year. We can certainly recommend it as ideal for chilling out completely.
The village itself is unspoilt and people were really friendly and helpful. The accommodation overlooks the bay and village and is just above the nearest beach shaded by lovely trees. We could have hired a car but after the first few days and getting into Tobagan time in a big way we felt we had enough in Castara to keep us happy for the whole two weeks (in fact we have a list of things we haven’t yet done for next time!).
We were staying in the Pelican apartment with friends both in Rainforest and in Fisherman’s apartments so we had the opportunity to get a good look round all the accommodation and found them all places we would be very happy to stay in next time! Pelican was brilliant for us, with a stunning view straight out of a comfortable bed plus a well-equipped kitchen – not the normal holiday let mismatched crockery and plastic glasses. It was a studio room with a balcony big enough for a small impromptu party on our second night with locals and other guests! (local beer and rum punch highly recommended!). Above us was the Rainforest apartment which does cost more but Wow – it is magnificent – with a wonderful sense of space. You get a panoramic view from rainforest on one side to the village, beaches and bay out to sea. Our other friend was staying in Fisherman’s – which has only just been completed. This stands separate from the other apartments, with its own special atmosphere and views of rocky bays up the coast and has the kitchen separate and a choice of two seating areas – one of which takes a hammock!
We found out later that you can’t expect hot water, good saucepans, sharp knives or comfortable terrace furniture in Tobago – we found them all here!
So we could be ultra lazy and spend the best part of the day lounging on our balcony and find everything happened in front of us. We watched the strenuous net-fishing on the beach, observed fishermen wading ashore with their catches (a good time to go down and buy fish!) and got visited by regular bird visitors like the little Bananaquits that kept a close eye on us and a huge variety of other exotically coloured birds that live in and visit the carefully managed gardens surrounding the apartments. Then we could choose which beach to sit on – the small beach is fantastic for snorkelling and the larger beach fantastic for bobbing (just lying back in water that was both luxuriously warm and refreshing). We could either mix our own rum punches back on our balcony or buy one on the beach and sit and watch the sun go down. Food could be eaten in one of several restaurants, take-away or cooked (on arrival at the airport we raided a supermarket close by on the advice of Porridge who came to collect us, and local small shops supply a range of basics). Or Load – who manages the beautiful gardens – cooked for us – not only magnificent food but a great cookery demo as well!
One of us could only be lazy after a good run in the morning – often on some nearby rainforest tracks – and his greatest joy was arriving sweaty on the beach below the apartment and plunging into the sea to swim and lounge before fruit-juice and coffee and local-baked bread on the balcony.
We had a magnificent time and will be back. It makes a difference for us that Castara Retreats turns out to be managed to support local businesses in the community (Sherwin, who was in charge of building the place also runs a really good restaurant and take-away nearby, a neighbour, Duck, took us on an amazing boat trip and Porridge and Jeanell took care of collecting and looking after us and managing the apartments with warmth and great good humour.) In every respect a really stunning holiday.
Castara Retreats 09 Jun 2003
Linda Wright from Plymouth, England
My husband and I have just returned from 2 weeks in Tobago spent in Pelican Lodge, one of the lower floor apartments in Castara Retreats, suitable for a couple.
We loved Castara - after hiring a car and travelling all over the island we were so glad we'd chosen to stay there. We thought it the prettiest bay and we loved the fact that it was so undeveloped, yet had a few restaurants and most everyday essentials.
Castara Retreats is in a lovely location (the view from the terrace is worth the fairly steep uphill walk to get there). It consisted of a spacious terrace with a table and two comfortable chairs (we spent a lot of time sitting there and were glad the owners had chosen comfortable chairs!), one room with bed and mosquito net, plus kitchen cabinets, sink, cooker and fridge along one wall, with a few shelves over. Also in the room were a bedside table and lamp, a wicker shelf unit and a wicker chair. There was a hanging rail under a shelf with a couple of fabric hanging organizers for storing clothes, then a separate bathroom which consisted of toilet, basin and shower area. There were plenty of shelves and hooks in the bathroom.
There were plenty of lights on the terrace and indoors - all lights were dimmable spotlights. The shower was good and strong and there were plenty of pans, cutlery and plastic storage containers provided.
A complimentary home-made loaf of bread is provided on the first Saturday of your stay (delicious) and more can be ordered for TT$10 per loaf.
We found it a bit hot for sleeping at nights sometimes and finished up buying a floor-standing fan which is now available for other visitors, though I've been in touch with the English owners since I've been back and they are planning to put in ceiling or wall fans this summer (Castara Retreats is very new and the owners are still making changes and improvements).
From the terrace we could see stingrays patrolling in the shallows of the bay and saw lots of birds in the trees around the property (better than on the guided rainforest walk - it's too dark in the rainforest to really see the birds clearly).
I hope this gives a reasonable idea of Pelican Lodge for anyone who might be thinking of booking it.
We loved it and would go back tomorrow if we could!
I'll post other bits and pieces on Castara, eating places, sights and our general experiences on other parts of the forum over the next few days as I want to give something back for the useful information I found on this forum before we left.
Linda
at not still being there
Castara Retreats & Tobago With Young Children 07 Apr 2003
David Lewis from Herts, England
Hi, We have just returned from staying at Castara Retreats with our two young children, aged 3 and 5.
We stayed on the second floor unit (Rainforest Lodge) and found it perfect for us. It was simple but adequately equipped and very clean with everthing in good condition. It consists of a double room that opens out onto an enormous balcony overlooking the bay with an additional smaller room with 2 bunks and a kitchen. During our stay we had many visitors and they all commented on the spaciousness of the accomodation and the views and being perched up the hill it also captures some of the sea breezes which were very welcome. We were about 3 minutes from the closest section of the beach and the expedition to Little (Paradise) Beach was about 10 minutes (walking a 3 year old's pace).
From what we saw I feel that the Rainforest Lodge was amongst the best accomodation in Castara and, having spent a few days exploring the island, Castara was the most picturesque and freindly village on the island.
I would have no hesitation recommending Castara Retreat, and in particular the Rainforest Lodge, as accomodation.
A couple of comments about young children. Generally, the swimming was wonderful but on a couple of days the seas picked up a bit and, since our children are only just learning to swim, we were a bit reluctant to let them play in the sea. On those days we went to Pigeon Point where the protecting reef guarantees calmer seas or toured the island.
Our children were not keen on the hot spicy food and unless you cook the food yourself this is the only option available in most restraunts in Castara. We eventually got one of the bars to prepare food without hot spices but is was quite difficult, not because they were uncooperative but the concept of chili free food appeared to be alien to them. A little chili would be added because 'surely they can't mean no chili' or extra pepper would be added to replace the missing chili. We got there in the end.
Our children loved 'Bago (our 3 year old was convinced we were going 'to Bago') and the Rainforest Lodge was the icing on the cake.
David Lewis
PS I never want to drive a Suzuki jeep again as long as I live.
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