Infinity Villa - Review Page 1
Reviewed by Steve & Jill Wooler in March 2006
Located on a cliff-top overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the up-market residential area of Bacolet, Infinity Villa is a spacious luxury rental villa offering four air-conditioned en suite bedrooms and a private swimming pool.
The villa offers some 2,700 square feet of accommodation, excluding balconies, etc. The small gated development on which it is situated provides 24-hour security and direct access onto beautiful Bacolet Bay beach. Guests staying on the development receive ‘guest’ status at the adjacent Blue Haven Hotel and can avail themselves of all the facilities of the hotel.
Location
Bacolet is an upmarket residential suburb of Scarborough. Although within easy walking distance of Upper Scarborough (the commercial end, as opposed to Lower Scarborough which includes the Port, market and retail areas) the town and the suburb are like chalk and cheese.Scarborough itself has few redeeming features. Bacolet, however, eludes an air of quiet calm and 
sophistication, in keeping with the high number of local professional and business people that live there.
Visitors tend to assume that the Caribbean coast of Tobago is the more desirable. This poses a question: why do the vast majority of Tobagonians live on the Atlantic side? The answer is that the Atlantic coast is cooler. It faces the dominant and cooling North East Trade Winds. If Caribbean coast properties are to offer sea views, they must face away from these winds, thus losing much of the cooling effect.
It is true, however, that the Caribbean coast offers the greatest choice of beautiful sandy beaches and better swimming. However, neither coast has a great number of rental villas within realistic walking distance of a decent beach. As I regularly say, your own transport is essential if you are to get the best out of Tobago. Given the short distances between the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts at the popular south-western end of the island, the driving times to cross the island are minimal.
Bacolet is just a couple of minutes from the main Claude Noel Highway. All of Tobago is within easy reach. It is 15-20 minutes to the airport, Pigeon Point or Store Bay; a similar 
journey to any of the beaches on the southern Caribbean coast; 30 minutes to Castara; and about an hour to Charlotteville at the northern tip of the island.
Surprisingly, Scarborough is devoid of decent supermarkets, with the exception of a smallish supermarket, K Mart, which provides a reasonable supply of basic items. Fortunately K Mart is accessible without having to pass through, or park, in Lower Scarborough. However, it is only 15-20 minutes from the villa to Morshead Gourmet Foods or either branch of Penny Savers.
Dining out is a similar situation. Shutters on the Bay (at the Blue Haven Hotel) and La Belle Creole (at the Donkey Cart) are virtually adjacent to Infinity, but in truth neither is likely to tempt gastronomic taste buds. One of our favourite restaurants, the Salsa Kitchen, is a shade over five minutes away, just off the main highway, but otherwise dining out means a 15-minute drive to Tobago Plantations (La Terrazza) or five minutes more to the Shirvan Road, where most of the island’s most popular restaurants are based.
Architecture
It is difficult to know how to describe the architectural style of Infinity Villa. Jill’s suggestion of Caribbean-ranch is possibly the nearest we could think of. It is a long (100ft plus) single-storey rendered concrete block building painted a vibrant mango colour with white windows, shutters, trim and roof. Viewed from the higher ground of the driveway, the villa appears long and low. In fact the height is deceptive, with the ceiling of the main living room rising to some 16 feet or more.
Owners, Tony and Sara, have only recently finished refurbishing this relatively new villa. The grounds have been fully landscaped and extensive planting has been conducted at the front of the property. Even at this early stage the gardens are full of colour and look lovely, but they will undoubtedly be stunning in months to come given the speed of growth in the tropics. The garden is already becoming a haven for bird life. In fact the bananaquits are so tame and cheeky that they come and noisily make it very clear when their feeders are empty.
There are five shallow steps down from the car parking area to the front entrance of the property, then a single shallow step into the house. There are no wheelchair ramps, but once inside the house all rooms are on a single level, with wide door openings. Although the property is not specifically equipped for the disabled, it could prove a good choice for those with mobility problems.
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