Well, after 15 years, nothing has changed so I will try to provide some rational comments and a few thoughts of how tourism has changed in a quite remarkable way over this time.
Dining/Eating
Over the last 3 visits I have increasingly self catered. If I eat out at lunch time I normally leave Castara because no one seems to do lunch in Castara. Although this last year my good friend Duck was providing really good value lunches for about 50TT behind L&H ... the gentlemen rebuilding the Fishermen's Building seemed to take most advantage ... knowing Duck though, I am not sure if he will keep it up ... never seen him hold a job down for long ... lovely chap though.
So what about the evening? Yep, as always there are several restaurants all charging about 90 to 100TT for what I now describe as 'bone' with a choice of rice, chips and various veg. It's not good, so I stay in and cook for myself. I went out dining 3 times in Castara in 3 weeks ... I did Marguerites twice, this restaurant is the exception ... it charges about the same but the food is always tasty ... I went to Castara Retreats once, this is what you would describe as upper class and incomparable to the traditional restaurants in Castara, the service is top class and they aim to serve delicious food and you will, accordingly, pay a higher price ... so I would say it's a nice treat.
Elsewhere, there are feature nights ... Heavenly Bay produces a rather expensive 200TT deal for Wednesday nights with entertainment normally in the form of traditional drummers or steel pans (I have not been to this a few years ... maybe next year) ... Shirma has a barbecue every Friday night, simple tasty and very good value at around 40 - 50TT ... Chinos does entertainment and meals on Saturday nights, I forget his prices (and I did not go this year) but probably 100TT upwards.
To sum up ... Castara is not the best place for food and generally very expensive ... sorry, it's just my opinion.
The Village
Where Castara lacks it makes up for it in spades in it's beauty and uniqueness ... there are not many places where you can mix with locals or be part of the community, as opposed to being institutionalised at one of the major resorts, although there are a few in Castara that do not like visitors which I feel is quite understandable ... some of the tourists should respect Castara a little more and think before they leave their rubbish on the beach which is cleaned daily.
The beach is safe, beautiful and continually changing. Every year I wonder what direction the river is taking. One negative is the unsightly wall on the north side of the river which is going to be part of the new Fishermen's Building.
There is also a waterfall about a mile into the rainforest and decent coral to explore at the northern end right out to the headland and beyond ... at low tide you can see a stack breaking the water towards the end of the headland ... sometimes a snorkeller will see a very good show here.
Activities
One option can be to visit the west end of the Island for Reef tours and parties on a deserted beach, or go to Speyside which offers birdwatching as well as diving/snorkelling ... but there are some good tours to be had from Castara. The most consistent and reputable of these is Brian (Alibaba) ... he can take you anywhere, either you go with a group or charter him to take you where you want ... it's always good fun and Brian is a little unique because, as well as singing songs about the history of Tobago, he sings the song about the eco side of Tobago and explains the threats to the Island ... this is a serious side and although I have heard him say it many times I will never tire of being reminded.
Oh ... Brian also has cushioned seats in his boat
One quick comment about Rainforest Trips ... by all means go if it is your first time ... I have seen more from the road by just stopping here and there ... several boa constrictors (one about 3 metres long), bright green Iguana, Leaf Cutter Ants, Trap door Spiders and too many birds to mention ... often you see more when it is raining, especially along the new north road to Charlottesville.
Night visits to the Rainforest are also quite spectacular, the forest is screaming with the sounds of frogs and crickets and the displays of the randy fire flies are quite electric and in good contrast to the rainforest canopy and the stars beyond ... there is too much light pollution in Tobago so you can't experience this in a Hotel or even in Castara ... you have to drive into the Forest.
Tourism
This applies to the whole of Tobago, not just Castara.
Over the years it has been interesting how Tobago has attracted people from different countries at different times and I wonder if it is the flight operators that influence this.
15 years and up until about 3 years ago I would say that the majority were British ... not only have I seen few Brits in recent years but it is evident that interest has waned as fewer Brits are posting on this forum.
In those days there were 3 UK flight operators; BA, Virgin and Excel (Monarch). From around April this year only BA will visit Tobago indirectly via Antigua. Virgin look like they will be doing some strictly packaged flights. I think Caribbean Airlines does or did a flight from Manchester but that's it ... BA are adding a Friday flight sometime over the next year and I have already booked my flights for next Christmas with BA.
More recently there have been quite a few Canadians although I understand these flights are looking doubtful in the future. Last year there were many eastern Europeans but not many of them this year.
The big growth area has been Scandanavians and you can see that on this forum.
So somehow Tobago is keeping it's tourism going and that's good hopefully for the small businesses but it does seem like an increasingly risky business to attract visitors from different parts of the world.
Trinidad
If you can go to Trinidad ... then go.
It is best to take a guide and there are many attractions such as the Asa Wright Nature Reserve, the Caroni Swamp, Mud Volcanos, Pitch Lake, Howler Monkeys and much more ... June July is good for Turtle watching on the north coast but you need to register BEFORE you go otherwise you won't get on the beach.
It costs about 100TT to take the ferry (3 hours) and about 300TT by plane (20 minutes).
Health
I had one of my turns in my last visit and ended up in the Scarborough Hospital.
It's free and it's brilliant (albeit a little coarse). Just like the UK's National Health Service back in the 1970's ... if you visit A&E they can do all the tests there and then ... now in the UK you visit A&E and they tell you to come back for the tests because the department is either booked up or closed.
So readers, never fear the Hospital. They may be a little slow and you are put through the Spanish Inquisition before you are admitted ... but they are effective and the morphine was great
On that note ... I had better not write anymore but I hope someone finds this update helpful.
Regards
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