Ocean Air Villa

[Angela Ward]

Myself, my partner and 2 friends returned from our first trip to Tobago last Sunday and what a holiday!! After much research on this fabulous website we decided to opt for Ocean Air villa for our 2 week stay and what an excellent choice it was. With two huge bedrooms, both en suite, plus a spare guest bathroom, fully fitted kitchen (not that we used it, other than to open a few bottles of carib and the odd bottle of wine), lounge/dining room, a magnificent balcony that ran the length of the villa and a swimming pool with sun loungers. Michael and Ingrid who look after the villa on behalf of the owner, met us at the airport and made us feel totally welcome. They knew everything about the island and were a fountain of knowledge. We rented the owners Mitsubishi Utility truck for the entire fortnight and explored the whole island (I believe we did over 600 miles!).

I've outlined a few of the things we did below:

Saturday Arrived in Tobago having flown with Excel. No problems at all even with the Gatwick baggage handlers strike.
Sunday Spent the day settling in and on Little Rockley beach. Visited the Hilton Hotel for dinner.
Monday Toured Scarborough, Speyside (lunched at Gemma's) and Charlotteville. Bonkers for dinner - highly recommended.
Tuesday Bucco beach and Arnos Vale Hotel. The snorkelling here was fantastic and that's from 3 very experienced divers. Make time to have tea and feed the birds at 4pm a very enjoyable experience. Colours for dinner - a limited menu but very good nevertheless.
Wednesday Castara bay, Grand Courland bay and Englishman's bay, all beautiful and onto the Golden Star for dinner. 3 course set menu including steel band - delightful.
Thursday Visited Argyle Waterfall with Alison as our guide. A wonderful experience and the water is 'refreshing' which I believe really means damn freezing. Collected a pizza tonight as everyone was shattered and ate by candlelight due to a power cut.
Friday Store Bay was beautiful and the Cat and Fiddle BBQ complete with live music and dancing in the evening.
Saturday Back into Scarborough for the Carnival parade and onto MeShells for a fantastic evening meal.
Sunday Time for a bit of an adventure as it was a little overcast today. Took the unfinished road from L'Ansi Formi through to Charlotteville - exciting. In the evening Mount Irvine bay was the venue for the end of Tobago Fest party and then onto Sunday School.
Monday Culloden Bay, Castara Bay and Parlatuvier Bay. Parlatuvier was gorgeous, totally deserted except for the odd local fisherman. Dinner was at the Best of Thymes restaurant in the Crown Point Hotel (don't be put off by the renovation work at the hotel entrance).
Tuesday Bucco Bay for a glass bottom boat trip to Nylon pool and coral reef, excellent snorkelling, onto Mount Irvine Bay and the very pretty Melange for dinner.
Wednesday Went over to Trinidad for the day with a guide (Tony) organised by Michael and Ingrid. Visited Mas Camps to see the carnival costumes, Asa Wright Nature Centre and Caroni Swamp for the scarlet ibis - truly wonderful.
Thursday Diving at Speyside, Rainbow Nature Centre and then to Seahorse for dinner.
Friday Returned to our 2 favourite bays - Partlatuvier and Arnos Vale. Couldn't decide which was our favourite restaurant so opted for somewhere new - Pelican Reef - excellent choice.
Saturday Picked up a few souveniers to take home, lounged round the pool and then off to the airport.

We didn't manage Canoe Bay, Pigeon Point or King Peter's Bay - but then you have to leave something for a return visit.

All in all a wonderful, wonderful holiday. If anyone needs further information or elaboration on any point just let me know.

[Steve Pitts]

My God Anglela - I thought that we were active!
You certainly don't hang around do you.

Just shows what can be accomplished, if you can drag yourself away from the sun loungers.

You've still got little Tobago to add to your list of things to do next time.

Glad that you enjoyed your holiday.

Cheers
Steve

[John Hill]

How did you enjoy Asa Wright Superb Yes / No.

[Angela Ward]

Asa Wright was fantastic. We took a short, guided walk through one of the nature trails, around a couple of hours long. Our guide was brilliant explaining all the different trees, fruit and flowers, picking out the different bird sounds. She even had us eating termites (she reckoned they tasted a little like carrots but you needed a good imagination!).

We stopped for lunch which was superb. The surroundings are like an old colonial/plantation house but we didn't have time to take a quick swim in the lake unfortunately. There was also time for feeding the birds, a bit like at Arnos Vale Hotel but with a much wider variety of species. We even managed to see one of the smallest humming birds.

The drive itself is well worth the time out with the cocoa trees, nutmeg and casaraines (I think that's how you spell it!).

I would definately recommend a visit or even better an overnight stop and do one of the nature trails at night!

[John Hill]

Yes I agree we did stay over for one night worth the effort.