Sandpebbles - Holiday Review

[Niki Byrne]

This villa was fantastic. Everything was there that would be needed on holiday. The kitchen was fully furnished, including a large fridge/freezer and microwave. The whole place was spotless when we arrived. Norma (from the Seahorse, who owns the villa) was also great. She bought us a starter pack which had essentials in for our stay. It came to about £35 but there was no charge for getting the pack. The villa had the following rooms:

2 upstairs bedrooms with twin beds (these apparently zip together to make queen beds) and each had an en-suite shower room (NB. one of the upstairs bedrooms had a safe in) 1 downstairs bedroom (Queen double bed) with ensuite shower room. 1 downstairs toilet 1 utility room which had washing machine and dryer in 1 kitchen - fully equipped 1 lounge/diner - large table and chairs, comfy area, TV (with Cable), video, music centre.

Outside was swimming pool (which was cleaned regularly while we were there), chairs, table, sun loungers, etc.

The view was amazing. To the left and right was just rainforest and we saw some fantastic birds, red squirrels and iguanas. The beach was a 2 second walk down the hill and the beach was lovely, very few people ever on it. Nobody looked onto the area with the swimming pool and in the set of 4 villas (Sandpiper, Yellowbird, Sandpebbles and Hawksbill) no one could look in on anyone else’s - it was very private.

The maid we had came every day and was absolutely fantastic. I cannot recommend her enough. She washed clothes, washed up, cleaned floors and bed clothes every day.

I think that’s it about Sand Pebbles but cannot recommend it highly enough - Norma was brilliant - so helpful. Obviously if anyone wants to know anything more specific they can contact me via e-mail or your website.

The Seahorse Inn

This was a lovely restaurant and the setting was fantastic. Dining outside at night hearing the crashing of the waves on the beach is lovely. There was a wide range of food available and it was all very good - beautifully presented. The wine was expensive but then it was everywhere on the island. We thought the main meals were maybe a little expensive but as it was our honeymoon we didn't mind too much. All the waiters were really nice, very professional and helpful. We ate at the Seahorse a few nights as we were so impressed. They do fantastic cocktails and fantastic liqueur coffees too! On a Monday and Thursday in low season they have a guy called Pan Jumbie who plays his steel pan for an hour (I gather he plays during high season as well), and he is very very good - well worth checking out!

Jemmas Sea View Kitchen (Speyside)

We stopped here on a tour of the island as I had heard it was very good in a number of reviews. We were not disappointed. The setting is right on the beach and it is sort of built in a tree. Everyone was very friendly and there were little black birds flying in an out of the restaurant! There is no alcohol (although you can bring your own). We were asked whether we were here for lunch and we replied yes and were told that the menu today was chicken, shrimp, fish or vegetarian. I asked what the dishes were and the waitress replied that the fish was grilled and the chicken was baked! So we didn't really know what we were ordering but we ordered chicken and fish. When it came we were blown away. It arrived on a big tray and we each had the main dish (fish or chicken) - the fish happened to be kingfish. Then we had a bowl of special fried rice (kind-of), a bowl of vegetables done in a gingery sauce, a bowl of macaroni pie (traditional dish) and a bowl of salad. All of it was superb. Really nice food! All in all with 2 diet cokes it cost about TT$120 (about £6 or 7 each!). Fantastic value and would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Franks Glass Bottom Boat Ride (Speyside)

Franks are based in Blue Waters Inn in Speyside. It was TT$100 to go on the boat to Little Tobago Island, and snorkel on Angel reef on the glass bottom boat. Luckily there were only us two on the trip so it was really nice to have it tailor made for us. Franks are very professional and are apparently the most reliable at Speyside (Norma recommended them). The reef was not as nice as Buccoo reef (in my opinion) although that is apparently because of it being on the Atlantic. Apparently, though, it is better for diving than snorkelling. Little Tobago Island was really nice and rainforesty and we had a really good tour - found some iguana eggs and saw numerous birds. Then called at Goat Island (which I don't think is part of the tour) as there was only the two of us and Selwyn (the tour guide) was desperate to show us an iguana as we had told him we hadn't yet seen one! We did manage to see one on Goat Island though!

Power Glass Bottom Boat Ride (Pigeon Point)

This trip was fantastic. We were advised to go with Power who is based at the jetty in Pigeon Point. He has two boats Power 1 and 2! This trip was out to Nylon Pools (which was fantastic) and then snorkelling and glass bottom over Buccoo reef. The snorkelling here was out of this world. Everything was so close and colourful and it really made the trip. I couldn’t believe there were so many fish where everyone was swimming. We snorkelled here for about half an hour and then went to a deeper part of the reef to look over the reef through the boat. Amazing again! The trip was about TT$90 (I think) and it was well worth it.