Going to LCG and need advice

[Claire Walne]

Hi!!
We are heading off to Le Grand Courland Spa Resort on Thirsday the 7th of July due to an unexpected upgrade- the Grafton overbooked so we are very lucky and being moved next door!

I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer!

Firstly we've been advised by our travel agent to take travellers cheques in US dollars - I've not read anywhere that this is preferred - is it?

My second question is regarding trips! We are staying in Tobago for two weeks and we want to see as much of the island and experience as much as we possibly can. I have been on lots of websites and read about lots of trips but I am now getting confused. Who are the best people to book with and where are the best places to go?

We really want to go and experience Tobago not just the beach and cocktails (although I am sure we'll fit some in!!).

All advice is welcome and gratefully received - regarding anything to do with visiting Tobago
Thank you in advance....

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Claire

The banks are perfectly happy to cash sterling travellers cheques, so why pay for conversion to US$ and then for conversion to TT$? Yes, it's true that local shops/traders will generally take payment in US$ and seldom in sterling, but again, you will be paying them a conversion charge. So, stick to £ for travellers cheques and TT$ for cash.

All the information you need for trips and excursion is here on this site. It all depends upon what interests you. Try the articles in our Out & About/Activities section - everything you need to know is there. However, over an above that, you should take a General Island tour with someone like Yes Tourism (http://www.yes-tourism.com) to get a good overview of the island, then more specialised tours/excursions depending upon your areas of interest.

[Chris Cross]

Tours will be offered at the beach all the time and will look all the same.

I can recommend:

If you will rent a car and drive yourself, you don´t need any plan.
Just get yourself a Roadmap and hit the road...

If you want to be driven I recommend Myron, he drove us to every place
on the island and showed us some secret spots...

Our taxi driver for prompt and efficient Service:

Myron Bernard:
Mobile Phone 756 4765
Mailto: myrontaxi@yahoo.com

If you want to do a tour with an operator I only can recommend:

The Oracle Tours
Office: 660 7210
Mobile: 737 3373
Mailto: lyrist@tstt.net.tt

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Chris

You are quite right - the best way to see the island is to hire a car and get out and about. However, if it is your first visit, an Island Tour is an invaluable way of familiarising yourself with the island. Jill and I are the very last people for organised tours, but I have to say that you will miss SO much if you just get into a car and drive around without having had an expert guide point out all the landmarks and give you some good background information. If you go on your own, you won't know what you're seeing half the time. Its not as if Tobago is a highly developed tourism destination with sign and placards telling you where and what everything is. Frankly, if you go on a tour and don't come back convinced that it is a good way to get an overview of the island, then you have chosen the wrong guide. Once you've had that overview, then the best thing is to hire a car and go back and study whatever interest you in detail.

As a matter of interest, who are Oracle Tours? I thought I knew every established reputable tour operator, but that name is totally unfamiliar to me. I checked around after you first mentioned him a few weeks back, but nobody seems to have heard of him/them.

A word of caution to other readers. Be VERY wary of tours sold on the beach. Of course there are some very good operators who use this method, but there are also some total con artists who rely on the fact that any local will know more about the island than 99% of visitors, so with a nice line of chat can convince most people that they are experts.

One reader recently wrote and told me that they went on a tour with an someone who approached them at Store Bay and described himself as one of the island's leading bird watchers. He seemed very pleasant so they agreed. His driving was so dangerous that they felt in danger of their lives. His knowledge of birds? Well, he didn't even know that the normal name for a "sugar bird" is Bananaquit.

[Lou W]

Hi Claire,

With regards to money, if you can take your visa/switch card if you have one and use the blue machine up in Stone Haven. The rates of exchange are fab. I've not taken currency into the country before, i always get it from the ATM.

Have a fab time

[Martin Pavey]

Hello Claire,

We are off to LGC on Sunday 10th, so perhaps our paths will cross.

Martin & Susie
Guildford, UK

[Chris Cross]

Oracle Tours is run by a young kind man (forgot his name) and he started
6 month ago. His rates are not that high than the others.
We did 2 Tours with him and they have been very nice.

And again: If you want to do birdwatching on little Tobago, get up early
and try to get there with a fisherman... Because after 8 am you won´t
see that much birds than around 6 or 7....

First time we wen´t there around 10:30 am and there were just
the "standard" birds to see... (In fact: Our guide from Frankies was kind
but not that chatty about the birds as we thought for 20 US each Person)

We decided to go back to ´bago Paradise in October...

Man, I tell you, the Island is great !!!