Guest Report

[Deborah Holt]

A friend and I rented both floors of the Essex Cottage for a week . The upstairs of the cottage features an open-design floor-plan with a balcony that overlooks the bay below, a well-equipped kitchen/dining area and a separate bedroom with a bathroom off of it. We enjoyed many hours relaxing on the balcony.

Downstairs is less charming because it doesn't have the view or lovely soaring ceiling of the upstairs space, but for our purposes it worked. The downstairs features a bedroom with bath and a patio on the side.

We had a rental car and used it every day to explore the island, stopping for lunch, a swim or groceries before returning by late afternoon. Two of our favorite beaches were Englishman's Bay (a short drive down the road) and Pirates Bay (~45 mins in the other direction plus a 15-minute walk or boat ride from Charlotteville). There's a good, moderately-priced restaurant at Englishman's Bay and you can get a refreshing coconut water (and maybe some grilled fish if you are there at the right time) from a good soul at Pirates Bay.

Two other highlights were Jason Nedd's art gallery in L'Anse Fourmi (on the left when headed for Charlotteville) and the grounds and history museum at Fort George in Scarborough.

Locals were friendly and helpful. I wanted to buy limes and couldn't find any; a fellow who runs a bar a 5-minute walk from the cottage offered to bring me some from a tree on his property and he did! A young fellow I asked driving directions of was very well-spoken and polite. A woman offered unsolicited advice about how to avoid bug bites (my legs were covered with them, they didn't itch, and I think I may have gotten them in Trinidad where we visited the Asa Wright Nature Center for five days) that I found very thoughtful.

While we didn't swim at the beach in Parlatuvier, we did buy fresh fish on the wharf and groceries there on several occasions. It is a small village with one grocery and a restaurant that we never ate at, but I read (or Bea told me) that there is a woman in Parlatuvier who will prepare dinner on request. Just the other side of Parlatuvier on the road to Bloody Bay, there's a restaurant that we also didn't eat at. Mostly we prepared our own food since I enjoy cooking and shopping for food.

I like driving and did all of it on this vacation since my companion is 80 years young. But I decided on about day two that I was not driving the hour+ from Parlatuvier to the airport the morning of our departure. If you have an early morning departure as we did, I recommend spending the last night in Crown Point where there are plenty of accommodation options.

I had read beforehand that Bea and Win have the right touch as hosts. I found that to be true. Win stopped by on several occasions and we exchanged information. Their local knowledge is helpful, and if we needed something or had a question, I knew where to find them. This winter they had an adopted dog named "Wonder Dog". He was a good guard dog with a sweet personality and a definite plus in the equation.

Finally, if you're planning a visit to Tobago, spend a few days at either end of your visit at the Asa Wright Nature Center in Trinidad! The wildlife is spectacular and the guests interesting. It makes a nice fit with some downtime on Tobago and the Nature Center makes it very easy by providing airport service and all meals!