two weeks in Tobago in February: stay in one place or more?

[PaolaM]

Hi,

my boyfriend and me are planning to spend 2 weeks in Tobago in February (ca. 4th to 18th - first time on the island) , and even after reading in the forum and studying this great site could not make up our mind about where to stay, and if to stay in only one place or split the stay in 2-3 places. Main interest is snorkeling, no luxury required. One place could be Castara. Do you have any advice, also considering booking situation (I know that some places are fully booked)?

And another question: if booking a car, would you advice to book it for the whole period or only for some days? I would not like to book a car and have it staying for some days in the parking spot just because there is lot do in walking distance ...

Thanks in advance for any reply.

[Clyde Alleyne]

Tobago is such a small place that as long as you have a car, you can stay anywhere reasonably centrally located and still be able to get to everywhere you want within a reasonable time. But if you are staying in the Castara area, it would be easiest for you to snorkle the northern coast from Bloody Bay going south-west to Crown Point. From Castara it would be a longish drive to get to Speyside or Pirate's Bay, which are highly rated snorkling areas as well, so if you wanted to do a lot of snorkling in those areas, it might be worthwhile to consider finding someplace closer to the north-east also.

Re: booking period for the car, the easiest way to deal with this is to take the car at the beginning of your holiday, and then you can decide after a few days whether you will need it for the full two weeks or not. Even if you booked the car for two weeks you can still return it sooner. The only difference might be the rental rate, which is less by the week than by the day.

[Kevin Hampson]

Hi Paola,
Welcome to MyTobago, wow got in before Steve
Castara is pretty central on the Caribbean side and a great base to see all the island from there you can get to most places with in the hour if you want to or you can take half a day if you keep stopping and taking in the sights.

We normally stay in Speyside as I dive but the usual plan with hire car is hire for few days then chill and then hire for a few more. There is not much point in having a car for two weeks if you’re not using it that much and taxis are cheap in Tobago unless you are around Crown Point.


Regards
Kevin

[David Watkins]

Paola,if you are staying in Castara there is some good snorkelling right of Heavenly Bay,you can also go on trips with anyone of the six tour operators in Castara,(Ali-Baba,King David,Marvin,Loady etc.)
As for car hire,get settled in Castara for a few days then rent one in Castara.There are quite a few car hirers available in the village so it is easy to hire by the day or for a few days.Enjoy Castara,
David

[Tariq Asmi]

Hello Paola.
We (my wife and I) stay in Castara (our 5th visit will be for two weeks this March - I'm already counting the days). From Castara we rent a car as needed (you'll just want to hang in Castara for a while so a car is a waste to have for your full visit)
You can easily snorkel right off the small beach (Heavenly Bay). We have seen small nurse sharks, cuttle fish, eels, and all the other usual fish as well as the very large stingrays that hang around Castara. I have arranged diving locally thorugh King David who has an arrangement with a Scuba Adventure Safari from Crown Point who pick me up on the large beach in Castara (diving in and around Castara is not as good as Speyside, but not bad, especially if you dive Sisters). When wanting to dive in Speyside or other places we get picked up - so again no need for a car. We stay in very rustic cottages that are part of Blue Mango (we spent our honeymoon last year in Cliff Hanger and going there in March- again VERY RUSTIC but WHAT A VIEW, what a feel to the place and the birds are amazing - especially if you put out some fruit). There are many other places to stay. AliBaba's looks great with terrific views and spectacular sunsets. We arrange wonderful day trips into the rain forest with King David . King David also picks us up at the airport to take us to Castara and does a stop along the way for us to grocery shop (so you need not rent a vehicle right away). Once in Castara we have rented jeeps from King David as well as had rental agencies drop off vehicles (and from other comments seems there are several options)
Castara is magical. Not only small and quiet (no night life really) a great place to chill, friendly people and being a small fishing village you can get great fresh fish at low prices and prepare it yourself. (And enough restaurants to eat out)
We find Castara "central" which allows easy access to other parts of this wonderful, wonderful island.
If you don't want the big hotels, lots of people and want to chill, check out Castara.
PS...Thursdays and Sundays the women from town bake bread in the village's clay oven...do get some!).

-Tariq.

[PaolaM]

Hi everyone,

thanks a lot for your replies. Tickets and accomodation are now booked ... and I started the countdown ...

Paola

[Gisela Grell]

Hi Paola,

hope to see you in Castara then. Coming on Feb. 11th for two weeks with some friends and will stay at the Sealevel.
Maybe we can meet on a Carib or two.

Enjoy Tobago, wherever you decide to stay

Cheers

Gisela (17 days to go)

[PaolaM]

Hi Gisela,

we will arrive on Feb. 4th and stay two weeks as well (in Castara, at Sun Deck).

Meeting for a Carib or two? Why not! It should not be difficult to find each other in Castara ...

Cheers

Paola

[Gisela Grell]

Hi Paola,

if you look for a light blue or dark blue mytobago-(baseball)cap you will easily find me or at Codrington Wallace's bar

Longing for a Carib...... yummy (like Steph would say)

See you there and leave some Carib for me (you will arrive one week before me)

Cheers
Gisela