Trip Report: Family Vacation in Tobago

[MarieB]

My husband and I visited Tobago twice this year in April and July with our four-year old and my Trini in-laws.

Not surprisingly, we spent most of our time at the beaches. Pigeon Point was our favorite because the water was shallow. It also works well for families because of the onsite playground (right on the beach!), lifeguards, casual food choices, shops, bathrooms, showers and changing facilities. There is a nominal entrance fee for Pigeon Point. (Tip: The shops sell floaties, which I saw many very young children using).

The highlight of Pigeon Point was walking the entire length of the beach as a family (away from the crowds), and watching the crabs crawl all over the rocks (my son loved this). While at Pigeon Point we did the glass bottom boat tour, which was a hit with all the young children on the boat.

Store Bay was also nice, offering the same choices as Pigeon Point, but IMHO the beach isn't as nice, plus you have to contend with the (occasionally) aggressive roving salesmen selling glass bottom boat tours, etc.

We also did a day-trip up to Castara and Speyside. We wanted to see the fishing boats in Castara but it was raining very hard so we kept driving to Speyside. In Speyside, we ate lunch at Jemma's Treehouse, a beachfront restaurant nestled in the trees. The service was very slow and as my in-laws kept saying, "a bit brusque." The food and the view (the ocean and the fishermen bringing in their catch) made up for the service. Lunch was a set menu with huge portions. Don't bother requesting menus, the waitress just tells you what's available. I had a fish (can’t remember what kind). The other adults had huge fresh lobsters. The sides here were also pretty tasty, especially the macaroni pie.

After lunch we drove a little further north to Speyside’s Blue Water Inn, located on Batteaux Bay. This beach (it’s public like all beaches in Tobago) was hands down, the most beautiful beach in Tobago. There is a restaurant onsite at the Blue Water’s Inn. Unfortunately, the restaurant staff was unfriendly and we heard from hotel guests on the beach that the food was not good, so we decided to order beverages rather than dinner.

In terms of restaurants, we primarily frequented restaurants on the southern end of the island. Our favorites were:
- Fish Pot for lunch and dinner: the food is delicious - from the appetizers right up to the desserts, especially the ice cream in tropical flavors like coconut and soursop. The owners are very accommodating to children and made a special meal of grilled cheese and French fries for my son for lunch and fish “sticks” with rice and carrots for dinner.
- The Original Pancake House for breakfast. It was closed for major renovations when we were there in July. If it's open in August, don't miss the whole wheat waffles. We all enjoyed our breakfast meals there and ate there three days in a row.
- Dillon’s Seafood Restaurant for dinner
- Kariwak Village's restaurant for breakfast and dinner: There is a set menu but the food is fresh, with local foods incorporated into the menu. Our favorite meal there was dinner which was four courses - soup, salad, entree (fish or steak with rice, baked eggplant and christophene) and dessert (order the coffee cake!).

All the restaurants we visited were family-friendly. The service was outstanding at the Fish Pot and Kariwak Village.

We did go Trinidad for the day to visit the Asa Wright Nature Center. We took the ferry to Trinidad because we thought it would be fun for my son. That turned out to be a mistake. The ferry trip can feel really long when you're trying to keep a young child entertained while you're feeling seasick. Needless to say, we returned to Tobago by air, a 20 minute flight. Asa Wright was awesome though for the adults and my son. We did the guided tour (it's offered twice a day at 10:30am and 1:30pm) and surprisingly my son was so enthralled with the birds, ant armies and snake sightings that he had no trouble walking the entire tour. If your kids are into birds and bugs, they will love Asa Wright. TWO TIPS: You must make reservation reservations for their buffet lunch which is served from 12:00 - 1:00. Also, bring your own binoculars if you have them.

[Linda P]

Thanks Marie
It sounds like you had two wonderful holidays, lucky you most of us are lucky to get there once a year, it is great to read holiday reports like this. I too was disapointed to find House of Pancakes closed for re-furb this year, I just hope it keeps plenty of it's charm when they have finished, I love the way the birds come right to your table looking for sugar or syrup.

Linda