myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Dear all!
Scanned the site through espescially safety issues and now feel a bit scared
Plan to visit Tobago January 2012, stay in villa on Castara Bay (the villa is not secured by guards or high walls around) that will also be occupied by other tourists (actually an apartment house) and the owners of the villa.
First question: from the statisics point of view - is it reasonably safe to stay in such and apartment with other people around at day and night?
We are travelling from Russia that is known as a one of the highly criminal countries. But staying at homeland is different from staying abroad, we'll definitely attrack attention being totally white slovenian people. We usually take a moto to explore countries we visit (Europe and some Asia countries including "left-handed traffic") as far as my husband is a moto addicted person
Second question: is it a popular way of transport in Tobago? Assuming that we know how to deal with awful traffic (remember we are from Moscow, Russia!) is it safe to travel by ourselves to distant parts of the island or we surely will be attacked by locals?
Thank you in advance for your answers as far as I'm rather concerned with the safety issues now.

Hello Olga

Welcome to the forum.

I am confident that you have nothing to fear. With all respect, I think you will find Tobago almost crime-free compared to Moscow (or most other big cities). This is particularly true in small villages like Castara. Without knowing which guest house you will be staying at, I can’t be specific. However, the owner living on the premises does bring an increased level of security in that thieves are more conscious of being recognised and the owner will be more responsive to unusual behaviour by people hanging about, etc.

Crime in the village has never risen above occasional petty theft or burglary (not that I am trivialising these offences). The hugely frustrating thing is that the main culprits of the small amount of crime committed in the Castara area are well known to everyone. However, either through incompetence or corruption, the main culprits continue to roam free - largely because they dissapear until the visitor leaves the island, making formal identification difficult/impossible. The Twin problem is that villagers do not like to "get involved" and won’t speak to the police. They tend to look the other way. However, I sense that villagers have had enough. I've been involved in extensive correspondence on this matter over recent weeks and strongly believe that the luck of the two brothers considered to be the main culprits is coming to an end and that they will soon be out of the picture for a very long time.

None of the above will not stop me going to Castara next February – so hopefully that helps you to put this all into perspective.

With regard to your second question: the best way to experience Tobago is to hire a car and just drive around the island. I consider it safe to drive anywhere in Tobago – although you must observe our warnings about visiting isolated beaches and other spots. As always, common-sense is critical. If you get lost or drive into a dead-end road in a village, you will find the villagers helpful in 99% of cases, so no worries there. When I am on the island I make a point of driving up roads/lanes I've never been down before just to satisfy my own curiosity and to increase my knowledge and understanding of the island. I regularly find that these roads take me nowhere useful and have to turn round and go back - but I have NEVER experienced a problem while doing so. Curiosity, yes, but normally helpfulness when people realise that I'm lost or might be looking for somewhere/someone. You will find that driving around the island is one of the most interesting parts of your trip - believe me!

Olga

I have met increasing numbers of Eastern Europeans and Russians in recent years in Castara.

You should not feel out of place ... you will be welcomed like any other.

Your husband should like driving on the roads ... they are quite unique ... free maps are available in the airport arrival lounge ... you won't get lost

Regards

Olga,you will love Tobago and particularly Castara.The people are friendly and welcoming.Always smile and say good morning when walking in the village or elsewhere and you will be a " local"!Tobago is safe.
Have a wonderful time.......you will take back memories that no photographs or videos can portray.
David

Thank you so much for really reassuring posts!
Hope that situation with high crime level that I read about (2009 - 2010 years) is better now.

Hi Olga

You can trust what Steve, David and Paul say, do not worry so much.
And about the crime rate, if the record you did read is for Trinidad & Tobago as a country, remember that 95-99% of the crime happens in Trinidad, not in Tobago.