Carlyn Lodge - My review

[Jane Coomer]

Hi everyone.

I've decided to join this site because we have loved Tobago and will definitely be coming back. Here is my review of where we stayed this time - Carlyn Lodge.

Sadly, it is the last few days of this year’s holiday. This is our first time visiting Tobago and we have had an absolutely wonderful month - the island is just what we wanted plus lots more, and the people are great! After a month of Sundays exploring various websites and holiday magazines, we were glad to find holidayintobago.com - if only it (and its host) had been found earlier, we would have saved ourselves a lot of time.

The host Glyn was so helpful and made sure we had everything that was needed for our stay; firstly, our accommodation. Situated in the lovely and quiet village of Carnbee sits Carlyn Lodge, owned by Glyn and Caroline. After being picked up from the tiny Crown Point Airport by them (with cold beers!) we arrived at the apartment within about ten minutes. Being about 7pm, it was already dark so we could not see the garden properly, thankfully though the apartment was immaculate so any thoughts of ‘oh my god what will it be like?’ were immediately dissolved. The photo’s on the website really do not do it justice - it is way nicer and much bigger than we initially imagined.

Carlyn Lodge is a big detached house with a lovely pool, enclosed in a garden full of colourful plants and trees including oranges, mango, avocado, pomsittere, banana, plantain, plum, grapefruit and peppers. There is also a huge gazebo with a comfy hammock and a barbeque, with table and chairs. The garden fence is covered in the beautiful bougainvillea flower and provides a good deal of privacy. Excluding the odd resident, it is a quiet road anyway (apart from the workmen who are doing some drain work - they won’t be there forever and only work until late morning anyway) so privacy has been pretty much guaranteed most of the day, and all of the night. ‘Sausage’ the dog has let us know if anyone goes past which hasn’t happen that often. He has spent most of his time playing in the garden or relaxing in the shade. He is a good dog and likes to ‘play’ if you’re up for it.

The guest accommodation is the whole of the bottom part of the house apart from a small office at the rear, where if you need him you can find Glyn. It has two double bedrooms, a great bathroom with huge shower, a good kitchen, and a lounge area with a dining table and chairs that opens out onto the private pool and garden. The pool is absolutely brilliant (although really a large plunge pool and only good for a few swimming strokes) it is the perfect extra - especially when we have woken up baking hot or come back from a busy day and needed to cool off. It has always been kept clean and occasionally we have found a frog desperately swimming for his life - they can’t get out so if you see one you must give him a hand and get him out! There is tonnes of wardrobe and drawer space in the bedrooms so putting everything away has been easy, apart from I brought way too much stuff (as normal) and so didn’t have enough hangers. A few things on each hanger has been a good compromise, plus using the space in the second bedroom. The kitchen is very well equipped and even had a welcome grocery pack when we arrived. Although we have only ‘cooked in’ twice because it is easy and cheap to eat out, everything we needed was here. Laundry can even be done here and there is a fax, phone and PC if needed. A lovely housekeeper called Charmaine who visits a couple of times a week, keeps the house clean and tidy - she changes the towels and bedding and refills the essentials. Brilliant! There is also a well-stocked info folder in the lounge area, which has been very helpful.

Being on Tobago for a month and wanting to explore as well as go diving, we needed a car so Glyn arranged this for us as well before we arrived; he also gave us the details of diving operators, which saved us time. The holidayintobago.com website (Glyn) helped us with a lot of arranging so use it if you are visiting Tobago. The car was at the house when we arrived and we are leaving it at the airport when we fly home. Glyn has a very nice and new air-conditioned car that normally goes with the apartment (as well as bicycles for the fit;) but we wanted an old and rugged 4wd for thrashing about the rough roads and tracks down to the beaches. It has got full of sand and driven like mad, we have actually done over 1000 miles, god knows how because it is a tiny island. The roads are very bendy though in places and the locals like to drive fast and all over the place, sometimes without indicators or properly working lights, so you have to keep an eye on things all around you. The diving people we’ve used have been excellent and only five minutes away by car. ‘World of Watersports’ at the Hilton Hotel - they will pick you up if you don’t have a car so don’t worry, or you can thumb a lift easily from a local.

Another thing that has been a bonus and helped us, is the ‘free discount card’ offered by holidayintobago.com. It gives you money off your food and drinks at some of the restaurants - only at four at the moment but will increase soon. It is relatively cheap to eat and drink in Tobago but everything helps. ‘Divers Den’ is really close to the apartment and is an excellent night out on a Friday - no discount there yet, but the food is already really cheap. Try the shrimps. You must also try the ‘Salsa Kitchen’ in Scarborough just down the road from the apartment, excellent tapas! Not too far from there is a bookshop too, so if you need another novel go there.

We have stayed at Carlyn Lodge for the whole of our holiday and are so glad that we did, it is perfect. By car it is only a minute to a small local grocery shop, two minutes down the road to a petrol station, and about ten minutes to the beaches of Mount Irvine, Pigeon Point, Stone Haven and Store Bay. Mount Irvine is an excellent beach for everything including surfing - and is one of our favourites. It has the best waves on the island that have always been perfect - offshore right-handers - and the snorkelling is a good introduction to the reefs. Arnos Vale is not far away either and a lovely place to watch the birds. At 4pm daily they put food out for them so if you’re lucky you can get really close. The hummingbird photographs very well if you’re quick!

Our ideal holiday is one filled with complete relaxation, amazing diving, beautiful beaches and snorkelling, lots of sunshine and peace and quiet. To speed up the relaxation in the early part of the month, we had a lovely back massage from Caroline. It was much nicer than the roughness of the Thai massage and very soothing after a long day diving and exploring. We would definitely recommend that if you stay here you have one!

Both Glyn and Caroline have been available when we have needed to ask about something, but they have also not been there all of the time, so we have been able to have a wonderful time 'alone' as well.

Carlyn Lodge in Tobago has all of the things we look for in a holiday and Glyn and Caroline are brilliant.

‘Thank you both very much’

Jane & Martin Coomer (UK)