Map

[A Sankar]

Where can I find (road or other) maps of Tobago? I am specifically looking for the route from the (sea) port in Scarborough to Grafton? U found a site with some maps but none that suit my purpose.

[Steve Wooler]

Hello A

Welcome aboard!

When you find a really good map, please let me know too. In the meantime, the best I can suggest is in our Tobago/Maps article.

[A Sankar]

Thanks Steve! I will be sure to do that.
Please forgive my ignorance....there's something I don't quite get...if the road maps on myTobago cannot be printed, are they being sold somewhere online so that users can have a "legal" copy? Because otherwise they are quite useless, as beautiful as they are, if no hard copy can be made available. Only someone with photographic memory would be able to benefit from them!

[Ray Vanner]

I found The Rough Guide Map Trinidad and Tobago ISBN:1843532417 to be an easy and good map. Quoted from the cover-

This map shows every road, stream, track, swamp, dam and beach at a scale enabling you to get right off the beaten track. It is made from rip-proof, waterproof plastic paper.

I ordered my copy online from WH Smith-if you get it delivered to a local store there is no delivery charge. Maybe not much help to you though! You could try and order it through Abebooks.com, they deliver worldwide.

Hope it helps.

Ray

[A Sankar]

Thanks for the info! I will try Abebooks.

[David Watkins]

A,the standard "tourist" map is more than adequate,However it ia a striaght forward road,come out of the ferry terminal turn left away from Scarborough,take he third or fourth turning right to the Claude Noel Highway,turn left towards Crown Point,after about 1 mile turn right onto the Shirwan Road,the Grafton is about 15 mins down that road.Basicaly get on the highway towards the airport and turn onto Shirwan Road.
David

[Joanne Green]

Steve mentioned the Insight FlexiMap in his Map section. We bought one for US$7.95 through Amazon.com. It is laminated and is the perfect size. It showed all the roads that you'd want to drive a car on!!

[Dr Stefan Rustscheff]

Hi, we bought the old 1:25000 3-part map from 1962, which has the bonus of marking old sugar estates and interesting tracks to get lost on. I would be willing to bet that we have done almost all roads of the island, except the Old Castara Road, and the only reason we couldn´t finsih that is that it is blocked with a cement pig when going into the coast road leading to Castara. It is quite a thrill to use such a map and discover how little has changed/how much is left in 44 years! Of course, the Claude Noel Highway does NOT appear, but apart from that- You couldn´t ask for a better map!
Stefan, born 1963...

[Bryan Guignard]

Stefan,

I'm trying to find that map. Do you know where I can buy it?
I have seen it posted on the walls of some THA offices, but no one can tell me where to get one. I think it was created by the British government. I found a website that sells the three sheets for US $ 1400.00 That's completely crazy!

[Dr Stefan Rustscheff]

You are correct, it is an old colonial survey map. Search for "Tobago detailed map" or Tobago map 1:25000 and You should get more options than that. Incidentally, the page with crown point seems to be unavailable, but that really doesn´t matter since I believe that PROGRESS has been made down there...I paid 40 USD per sheet, still expensive but what the heck.

[Bryan Guignard]

I decided to do some more reserach and revisited the site where I originally saw the map for sale. I can only assume that the price they had listed a few months ago was a big mistake ($1400), because the set of three sheets is now listed at %51.15 !! That's a massive difference.

The site is here: http://www.omnimap.com/cgi-bin/shop/add.pl?66-0153

[David Watkins]

Bryan,wait until you get here and pick FREE maps from the tourist office.Granted they do not show all the forest tracks but you can't use them with vehicles anyhow.
David

[Steve Pitts]

I think the maps David is referring to are also available in the arrivals hall of Crown Point airport. There is also a Trinidad and Tobago book available, which is up-dated each year.

Many people miss the chance to pick up a map in the rush to get through imigration, but they are usually situated in a carosel rack just the other side of the queue cordons.
They are pocket-sized (9cm x 15cm) and open out to a manageable 45 x 63cm.

On one side is a schematic map of Tobago, showing all of the main roads and most of the other navigable routes that criss-cross the island. All the places of interest are marked, like view points, waterfalls, nature reserves etc and many of the local tourism businesses, car hire, dive centres, hotels and restaurants are easy to locate.

There are enlarged views of the Crown Point area, back to Cannan and also of central Scarborough.

The other side of the map is dedicated to providing advertising for the map sponsors, but is a mine of information for telephone numbers, email and web addresses and ideas on what to do, where to go and where to eat etc. And the best bit, as David says, is it is free.

If you miss your freebie at the airport, then the tourism office right opposite will have copies, as will no doubt, Yes Tourism in the Crown Point Plazza. If you hire a car, most of the better rental firms also put a copy in the glove box for your assistance.

Steve

[Bryan Guignard]

Good suggestions about the maps, and the airport tourist bureau should be the first stop for all incoming tourists, however I already have a bag full of these (I raid the tourist bureau each time I arrive), and I run into a couple of problems.

1) all these maps vary greatly in detail, and none of them incorporate all the info I need. I must admit that the latest 2005/2006 Tobago Road Map and Guide is a big improvement over all the previous maps as far as the quantity of information it contains, but how accurate is it?

2) I've identified numerous errors in all the maps I have. How do you tell which map is accurate and which is incorrect? Some of the differences are pretty significant. I'm more curious and busy than the normal tourist.

Also, one of the main reasons I'm looking for a detailed map is to get detailed information of the Arnos Vale area (where I own some farmland), and the Grand Courland river. I have a variety of needs ranging from knowing where the Courland river actually runs (without having to walk the length of it), to having to acquire and install a bridge across the river for easier access to my property, and possibly find an alternate area for an access road if the THA can't cough up a bridge. So my needs are pretty technical, and that's where a topographic map comes in handy.

Btw, there once was a bridge there, but it was hauled away and chopped into two smaller bridges, go figure! Tobago sure knows how to keep things interesting. (-:

[Ronald]

Bryan, I have myself been looking for a good map for Tobago, that one you get free at the Airport isn´t correct, even if it´s better now compared with before.

But, I did see a very good big map into an office nearby the Airport, at Golden Caribbean / Caribbean Holydays, I´m not exactly sure about the name. It´s on the road between the Airport and Store Bay Beach.

That map is really big but I don´t have any idea where to find it, so far I haven´t found the map in Tobago.

[Steve Pitts]

Hi Bryan

I see your problem now - quite obviously the tourist maps will not give you the detail that you require.

If the maps that you have tracked down are actually only 150 bucks for three - and it could be that you only need one for your purpose - then they sound like a bargain, given their limited numbers.
The course of the Courland river may have changed along the lower reaches since the early 60's though.

If you need the map that Ray mentions in his post, I could pick one up for you here in the UK and drop it off in May, when we are over next.

All the best
Steve

[Dr Stefan Rustscheff]

The old map is just what You need. You could gladly borrow mine but I have left it down at the villa at Englishman´s bay. I believe it is ass accurate as it gets, given time. We did get lost a bit once around hillsborough dam and asked one of the local priests for advice. Unfortunately he couldn´t read maps at all...It is a topographical survey map and the only one, so buy.

[Bryan Guignard]

Thanks for the offer Steve, but it's not necessary. Now that I've found an online supplier who sells them at a decent price I'll just go ahead and order it through that site. You're right about only needing one sheet (sheet #2), although I'll probably order all three. I'm just too curious to limit myself that way.

As for the river shifting, if you look at aerial photo #16, in the area just above the Top O Tobago Villa, you'll see a white house on a hill side near the top of the photo, that's my neighbor's house. One of the hills and vegetation blocks the view of my property which is slightly below and to the right of my neighbor. As the photo shows, it's very hilly terrain that the Courland river runs through, and highly unlikely it could shift in a mere 50 years. The river runs about 500 m behind the Top O Tobago Villa. It's tightly wedged in by all those hills you see in the photo.

This is the direct link to aerial photo 16: http://www.mytobago.info/photos/aerial/IMG_4606.htm

[David Watkins]

Another idea is to call into the library,which is now situated uo Signal Hill I believe.
David