Our recent visit to Tobago

[Mike Wilson]

We visited the island between 26 June and 12 July, staying at the Villa Calabash on Mount Irvine.

We shared our holiday home with English friends who had journeyed down from The USA.

We thought the island generally very attractive particularly the Caribbean coast where the quality of the beaches and the absence of visitors was a surprise and a delight.

The islanders were in general friendly and welcoming, although it has to be said that that this was perhaps more evident amongst older folk than the youngsters, who in some cases were surly and uncommunicative.

However, and here comes a very serious point, we did not feel as personally secure as we hoped we might. 2 days before we arrived the previous guests in our villa were subjected to an armed robbery by 3 machete wielding thugs who robbed them of all their valuables. Worryingly these bandits also knew exactly where the villa safe was located. Apparently this was not the first such robbery which had occured at the villa, a woman and her daughter had previously had their bedroom broken into and been dragged from their beds.

We also learnt of a series of robbery/rapes which had occured at properties in the area.

From our discussions it appears that the culprits in each of these cases had been apprehended.

Basically these, admittedly second hand experiences, have put us off ever visiting the island again.

What has been the experiences of others? Have others heard about these incidents? Is Tobago rapidly losing its status as a "safe" place?

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Mike

Welcome to the forum. I’m so sorry that your first post should be such a sad one. Excuse me for moving the post to the “Health & Security” forum, but that’s a more appropriate home for your comments and will make it easier for other readers looking for information on security issues.

Yes, it is true that Tobago has gone through a bad period. As recorded in this forum, there were a number of attacks – the “series” referred to in your message – late last year and early this year. Fortunately the culprits were soon caught, but for a period of a few months it did indeed seem that there was a crime epidemic on the island.

The fifth paragraph of your message mentions two incidents. I had not heard about the most recent robbery, the one just before you arrived. The previous attack– the woman and daughter who were robbed – rings bells in my rusty old brain. Was that not one of the attacks during the “epidemic” earlier this year? The fact that the robbers knew the location of the safe is not in itself significant, I would suspect. Villa owners so often put them in the same place (at least in all the villas I’ve stayed in) and if the property had been robbed before, word could easily spread, especially if the culprits are in detention or prison.

Your report is indeed highly disappointing. It is the first report I’ve heard of any such incident since those at the start of the year. Thank heavens that nobody was injured. I know that an awful lot is going on behind the scenes to address the problems, but it all takes time. Just get your finger our, Tobago, before you really screw it up. The single most effective action they could take would be to close the ferry and stop these toe rags coming over from Trinidad.

May I please ask about this Villa Calabash. It is disturbing to hear that it has been attacked twice. Although in our listings, I know nothing about it. I’ve done some searches, but can’t find anything on it. Where exactly is it located? What security is provided, both in physical and human terms? Can you point me to any websites giving more information about the property?

[Mike Wilson]

Villa Calabash is within the Abraham Realty Portfolio. It's situated on Jacamar Drive

The owners of the property live in the UK.

Property security consists of a padlocked gate leading onto the golf course and padlocked gate and garage gate leading onto the above road. The property has grilles over windows and doors the opening grilles being padlocked. There is also an internal padlocked gate giving access to a number of the bedrooms.

The property is surrounded by landscaped grounds.

Not everything on the holiday was bad by any means at all but this security issue did mar things somewhat (as did the 2 day delay in our getting back to the UK particularly when we had paid for the Excel One service and didn't get it on the replacement aircraft!)

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Mike

Thanks for confirming those details.

After you posted your report, I received some interesting information about the attack. Although the source is normally very reliable, I was waiting for confirmation from other sources before posting details. However, in view of your response I will post what I know and correct it if any part proves inaccurate.

Without in any way minimising or excusing this despicable attack, the story does serve to illustrate what we have always said about common sense.

The attack was an “inside” job. The guard on duty that night conveniently went next door just before the robbery and did not return to investigate the shouting. The cleaner from the neighbouring villa has already been nicked and is already serving 10 years for his involvement. A second attacker is awaiting trial. The third was on the run but there’s now been a radio announcement saying he has been caught.

Just to set the record straight, in view of my comment about Trinidadians, I have to declare that these idiots were Tobagonian. And why do I call them idiots? Well, because they threw a huge party to celebrate their haul and boasted about it to friends. That’s Tobago for you!

And what a haul. Allegedly the police estimate that the robbers got away with around TT$700,000 (£60,000/US$110,000) in cash (US$30,000), jewellery and watches. We’ll leave aside questions about what sort of people carry around these sort of sums, but it does paint a picture. The villa manager had already cautioned the family concerned about flashing their jewellery and watches around, but they chose to ignore the advice.

As I say, none of this excuses the attack. However, once again it shows that there’s a little more to the story than the headlines might portray.

[Mike Wilson]

Steve

What you write coincides with a lot of what we learnt during our stay. The Latvian guests do seem to have been a little flash with the cash but that's still no excuse for what happened. Apparently they had been in residence for several months, it took a long time for them to get turned over.

The 10 year sentence hopefully sends out the right message.

The T & T court system concludes these matters mighty quickly doesn't it!

Anyway loved the island scenery, the beaches,(Englishman's, Parlatuvier, Bloody Bay, Stonehaven, Charlotteville to name a few) the food, most of the people, petrol prices, the weather, Carib, when we could get hold of it, Rum, Our garden fruit trees, the flight into the island (which reminds me I must write to Excel about the return!) Golf, Sunday School, The reefs, Nylon Pool et al. As I said previously Tobago not all bad by any means!

[Steve Wooler]

As you say, Mike, it does not excuse the crime. However, my gut feeling when I study the details of these fortunately rare cases is that a very, very high percentage would not have occurred if the visitors concerned had applied the same commonsense precautions that they would have automatically undertaken at home.

Yes, the court system does not mess around. I’m not being funny, but they don’t have an awful lot to do in comparison to our courts over here. The few ‘serious’ cases get shoved straight to the top of the list. And 10 years in jail there is not the same as 10 years in our cosy institutions. I don’t have the full details yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was 10 years with hard labour.

[W J Kay]

Hi Steve,
I was all fired up and excited today about having found the 'perfect villa'...and then I read the comments on this forum.

I last visited Tobago in August 2000 and had the most fantastic 2 weeks with not a hint of trouble; that is not until the the penultimate night. We were a crowd on 6 adults and 4 children. We were having dinner cooked by our fantastic cook (and friend) when we suddenly saw somebody trying to literally fish keys out of the house...through the grills...right under our noses in the kitchen. Our cook noticed them and screamed out and the men in our party all rushed to the doors and windows to see 4 or 5 youths running off in all directions through the gardens and into the fields. The Police were outstanding and arrived in less than 5 minutes...and continued to patrol the area throughout the night. We were advised that the 'bandits' intention would have likely been to enter the house whilst we were outside eating. I guess to some degree we'd been a little reckless but the keys were well inside the house, albeit visible. As they'd managed to escape with the keys we then had the worry of them returning before we could have the locks changed.

Four years later, I've put the incident down to being a one-off and unfortunate incident and I've been really keen to return. I must say though that after reading about these events it does put a dampner on the whole affair. Our last villa and the intended next villa were both in the Mount Irvine area and both very close to the Villa Calabash.

I share this with you for one reason and that is to to say that I'm sure many such events probably go without being publically reported/announced.

This is a great site - Keep up the good work!

[Mike Wilson]

Sorry Folks more bad tidings. It seems the Mount Irvine area has got a real problem

From the Tobago News.

British citizen stabbed
Friday, July 16th 2004

"The Old Grange Police are in search of two men who stormed the property of a Mt Irvine couple a week ago stabbing Michael Charlesworth, a British citizen. Charlesworth and his wife Shirley who is a Trinidadian were having a family reunion when the men attacked them around 9 p.m.

They held on to Charlesworth demanding their money and valuables but ran off when they were accosted by one of the relatives with a lighted candle."

Steve do you know about this one? Which villa was it this time? I have to say that if I had used your splendid site to look at security issues rather than for restaurant reviews we might have revised our holiday plans and deleted Tobago from our schedules.

[Steve Wooler]

Hello Mike

No, I hadn’t heard of this one. I normally check Tobago News every couple of weeks but confess that I had missed this.

My initial reaction on reading the report is that this was an attack on a private home, not a holiday rental villa. This would almost certainly have made a huge difference to the security of the property. It is rare to find private home with the same security facilities – or night security staffing – as rental villas.

We must keep these reports in proportion. The fact that such an incident receives front page on the Tobago News rather stresses the point that these incidents are rare. Yes, such crimes are on the increase, but they are still rare. Remember, nearly 2000 visitors a week arrive on Tobago. The incidence of crime affecting tourists is as good as negligible.

In truth, if every destination had a website and forum like myTobago, you would see that Tobago is still a damn site safer than most places.

[Jonathan]

Mike
We were in Tobago on a family holiday (11 of us in total , which included a 7 and 5 year old and a 6 month old baby) back in the beginning of April and we had 2 guys enter our villa with masks and cutlasses (machetes) threating to kill people if they didnt hand over money!! It was a terrifying experience for us all.... I believe that we were the first of the spate of crime that hit the Island in April which led onto 7 rapes in 10 days!!!! Surprise surprise we were staying in the Mount Irvine area which is where most of this activity seems to focus!!

its a beautiful island but has left me cold!!!!

that will be my last trip to the caribbean.

[Mike Wilson]

Jon

Yes I have to say that our admittedly second hand experiences have left us with the feeling that we would be unlikely to visit again.

If the 2 characters who invaded your villa, (where did you stay by the way?) were the thugs who thenembarked upon the rape and robbery spree I think they have been caught and received the usual Tobagoan police questioning before admitting their guilt. I'm sure I heard somewhere about massively long hard labour prison sentences, no consolation of course to their poor victims but an indication of the authorities view on the situation.

Having said all this I am travelling down to the Costa Blanca in Spain in September and apparently a whole host of people have been suffering from break ins and petty theft i.e don't leave you phone on a table whilst you go for a swim in the villa pool because in the time it will take you to get out of the water someone will be through the gate, nab your phone and anything else they can lay their hands on!

There doesn't as yet appear to have been the level of violence (real or threatened) that occured in Tobago although there have been some kidnappings and an older couple on a househunting trip were robbed and murdered by a group in whom they had obviously invested some misplaced trust.

The world is unfortunately becoming a much less safe place sad to say.

[Ally]

i came home yesterday having spent two wonderful weeks in toabgo. 11 of us in total stayed in a fantastic house on Orange Hill. My friend and i went out every night and are two blonde eighteen year olds. We didnt experience anything to indicate troubleto us, we got taxis back every night and never heard of any trouble. Obviously our house wasnt in the Mount Irvine area but for other people reading this, dont be put off. It IS paradise, the people we met were wonderful and everyone will help you out.

[Jonathan]

Mike
I was Sol y Mar at the top of the golf course. It was an outstanding villa and the owners were devastated when they found out what happened and did everything to make our staff as happy as possible.

And I had heard that they had caught the two guys after their rampage but to be quite honest I am extremely cynical about them having caught the right guys!! i read it was a 39 and 24 year old who they caught.....There is no way that one of the guys who attacked us was in his late 30s.....Part of me thinks they just nailed two guys to keep the press , public and tourism industry happy!!

Why werent we ever called to identify the two once they had been apprehended!

All this on an island that has a population of 50,000. Thats a small town here in england....!! imagine what would happen if this was in england!!

[Mike Wilson]

Sol y Mar. What a beautiful house.

Ours was right by the side of the 11th Fairway. Not as upmarket as yours by any means but very pleasant nevertheless.

So no ID parade then. Perhaps you are right to be cynical.

I'll keep a watch on here for a while and in the local press and monitor whether this new serious criminality continues.

Its such a shame because I remember reading an article about the island in the Sunday Times travel supplement a few years ago and what drew me in was the references to the tranquility and peace that existed then. I particularly remember a line about you how you could drop your wife off and leave her to walk home safely any time of day or night.

You'll see from some contributors that's still the experience.

We didn't go to Tobago and stay in Mount Irvine to cut ourselves off from island life and culture. The house we hired was pretty much of the standard we'd rent in Spain, it wasn't a palace.

We went everywhere, eating Roti, going in local bars and restaurants, went to Sunday School, made sure we put money into the local economy by buying from locals wherever possible and yet after what we found out it didn't really feel right or as relaxed as we had anticipated.

Thank God we didn't suffer your fate and here's hoping you never encounter such a situation ever again.

[Steve Pitts]

Looks like the special services police, brought over from Trinidad to help bring the recent increase in crime under control, have been less than diplomatic with some residents of Black Rock.

The dozen or so officers, housed at BR during their stay, are reported to have been involved in hurling bottles and slapping youths who were involved in the Black Rock festival. See http://www.thetobagonews.com for full details.

Always worth checking out this site for gossip and local news...Some of which can be quite amusing at times.

Cheers
Steve

[Jeremy Matthews]

Jonathan

Myself and my family were horrified when we read your experience. In the article 'Sex,Crime & Dogs' we were the family attacked by masked men with cutlasses and bats in January. Although the article posted is not entirely accurate, as you can see by my response, the attack on ouselves is. We were hopefull that this was a 'one off' opportunist attack but it seems that this is not the case.
We hope you are all well and not suffering from the effects of these cowards. I agree with you on your comments about returning to the carribean, it would be very difficult to do so.
Please accept our best wishes for the future and hopefully you can eventually put your experiences behind you,

Best wishes
Jeremy Matthews

[Maria]

hi - we're just back from a wonderful two weeks on Tobago - however, we did feel a little insecure after dark. Some Danish (think they were Danish) tourists were attacked at their Mount Irvine villa during our stay by machete-wielding thieves. We were staying in a villa in the area, and that did make us think!
Subsequently reading other messages on this forum about incidents last year and earlier have made me even more sceptical about returning.
The tour company we went with said Tobago was perfectly safe for tourists - however, it seems that it isn't. See that the Foreign Office urges caution - and suggests not visiting isolated beaches. Personally I think that tour companies should be a little more upfront about expressing the possible risks. What do other people think? :?:

[Andy D]

Hi Maria,
Hope you had a great holiday,it saddens me to read about those Danish tourists who were subjected to that horrendous attack.We are going back to Tobago in 8 weeks and we're staying in a villa so hearing about this incident obviously concerns me.The fact is that wherever you go in the world there is always a risk and i think that as long as people use their common sense regarding where to go and where not to go and also not carrying valuables and excess cash they should be ok.The security of the villa itself is obviously very important too.We visited Tobago last June and i must say that we felt perfectly safe everywhere we went.
Although our security will be a very high priority we are determined not to worry about things like this occuring and are looking forward to another fantastic holiday.

Andy

[Maria]

hi Andy - thanks for getting back to me and hope you have a great holiday, sure a positive attitude 100% necessary. For background inf, here's the Foreign Office advice.All best, Maria

Crime

Crime against tourists in Tobago is a concern. There was a spate of serious robberies against tourists in Tobago in 2004. Some of these incidents have been accompanied by violence, including rape, against foreign nationals. These attacks have for the most part been targeted at privately rented villas in the south west area of the island. You should ensure that security officers are present at such villas, to provide protection day and night. There is an increased police presence in the island, which has helped to tackle the problem, but you should continue to take sensible precautions.

Be alert. Do not visit isolated beaches. Use taxis after dark. If in doubt, you should consult the tour operator or hotel staff.

You should not carry large amounts of cash or wear eye-catching jewellery. Use hotel safety deposit boxes to store valuables, money and passports. Photocopies of valuables such as passports, tickets, driving licence and travellers cheques should be kept separately.

Country areas are best visited in groups. At tourist attractions, use official guides and agree a price before you set off.

On your day of departure, ask your hotel to store your belongings until airport check-in time.

Road Travel

The standard of driving in Trinidad and Tobago is poor. Road accidents leading to fatalities are a regular occurrence. Some of the roads are narrow and winding and the surface of a low standard. When hiring a car, you should drive with care.

Use taxis after dark.

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Folks

I haven't had a chance to get confirmation, but my information is that those two Danish tourists turned and thrashed the cutlass-weilding theives. One story says they captured them and handed them over to the police, the other is that they ran off scared stiff. Frightening for the tourists, but obviously the thieves didn't quite get what they expected.

Please read our Miscellaneous/Health & Safety/Personal Safety for further information on the subject, Maria.