myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hi All,

Having just returned from two lovely weeks in Tobago I can give you my honest opinion on both the Rex and the island itself.

My boyfriend and I got a great room-only deal with Virgin (£600) which for the location was unbeatable really. To go all inclusive was literally twice the price and I cannot say how glad we are we didn't go for it. There is so much to see and experience in Tobago it would be a complete waste of a trip to stay in one place the whole time. The Rex is clean, functional, good value and a perfectly adequate place to rest your head. Don't go with the misapprehension that it is a luxury/quality resort because it just isn't - either in terms of the decor which is looking very tired, facilities (other than the pool) or friendliness of the staff (If you want this go to the Coco Reef)! We had to remind them to change our bedsheets once in two weeks. Having said that the beach location is great and the pool is lovely. You can also watch and feed the birds from your patio/balcony which is fun and certainly different from the UK.

We only ate at the Rex three times. This is very expensive if you aren't all inclusive (breakfast £10 each). Breakfast was great (still not a patch on the pancake house though which was half the price!), lunch was ok and dinner was (in comparaison with ALL of the other restarants we went to independently) simply not great. The service is extremely indifferent from most of the staff and you cannot help the feeling that they hate working there. We (and all the other guests we spoke to) did not feel in the least special or that eating there was a treat - more of a chore. I would recommend hiring a fridge for breakfast and buying cereal, milk, fruit etc from a supermarket. Better for keeping holiday weight off too as you won't be tempted! Also a good place to store all that rum (about £4 for a litre at the supermarket) and juice you are going to want....

We hired a car for the two weeks which I cannot recommend highly enough. We ate out at a different restaurant every day (the most notable for us being the Shirvan Waterwheel, Panache, Cafe Coco, Toucan Inn, Melange and House of Pancakes for breakfast). Trips to Charlotteville and Pirates Bay are unmissable as is a drive to Englishman's Bay. We went to the Arnos Vale hotel to watch the afternoon birdfeeding which is also a complete must for the hummingbirds alone. All of this (the hire of the car, meals, drinks and trips) cost LESS than the total amount for us both to go all inclusive. Rum and cokes are about 90p and a good 3-course meal in Panache for 2 was £23.

We also went diving with Adventure Eco Divers (by Le Grand Courlan) as they were the Virgin-recommended bunch. Particularly Andrew is very friendly and experienced however the setup is a little thrown together. If you are hiring gear check it before it goes on the boat as I had sand in my reg on more than one occasion. If you are used to the standards of most red sea diving don't expect quite the same here - buddy checks aren't done/insisted on and the small boats can sometimes be very crowded. Novice dive sites aren't plentiful around the Black Rock area and, even if they try to persuade you, don't dive the Maverick wreck unless you are confident as this is a 30m dive with extremely limited vis and hard currents on occasion. For the more experienced diver Speyside has by far the best sites on the island with the most fish and coral life (vis in the others can vary greatly).

I hope this is helpful for anyone considering the Rex or Tobago. My advice is - if you are planning to go to see the island and simply want a hotel to sleep in do not hesitate to go to the Rex. If you want to be pampered and stay in a good all-inclusive resort don't! Pay the extra and, if you can afford it, go to the Coco Reef. Other good nearby alternatives were the Grand Courlan or Arnos Vale hotels.

Hi Kim

Welcome aboard and thank you so much for that exhaustive report.

It's always a pleasure when recently-returned visitors can confirm the general consensus of opinion on various establishments and/or the island in general.

My I just take issue – in the nicest possible way – with your comment:

If you are used to the standards of most red sea diving don't expect quite the same here

I can safely tell you that the upper echelon of Tobago dive centres are world class and comfortably equal any that you will find at Red Sea resorts or other destinations. Sadly, Adventure Eco Divers fall far short of being in the “upper echelon”. We are currently completing a 21,000 word article on diving in Tobago, so make sure you read this before your next trip.

One final point so as not to confuse other readers, the Arnos Vale is a pleasant establishment in a truly wonderful setting. However, the standards of accommodation are more on a par with the Rex Turtle Beach than the Coco Reef or Le Grand Courlan.

Once again, thanks for a great report which I’m sure other readers will find highly useful.

Thanks for the tip on dive establishments Steve - will definitely read the report when it's added as we would like to return to Tobago, especially Speyside, and take full advantage of the better dive facilities!

Hi Kim

It'll be the end of the year before it's published because it's still being edited by a panel of international dive expert editors and it makes sense to incorporate it into the "new" myTobago that I'm currently working on, rather than waste time adding it here.

As a matter of interest, many people assume and say that the "best" diving is in Speyside. Don't believe the hype. There is brilliant diving around the island. In fact the four "best" dive operators are all based in the Crown Point area, which should tell you a lot about the local dive scene. Speyside offers some very challenging diving that will delight the experienced diver, but in truth, you would be missing a lot if you did not dive around the island, possibly splitting a two week into a week at each end of the island. The dive 'facilities' are actually better at the Caribbean end. Speyside (or the northern end of the island) only has one decent dive operator (although that is about to change).

I only dived with eco adventure twice and have to say they were very friendly, helpful, showed at least some consideration to level of diver competence and were flexible about bookings and re-bookings. I would definitely dive with them again.

I have dived once before on another island (St Lucia) where there was 1 dive master/guide (compared with eco adventure's 2) who wanted me to do a dive inside a wreck on my first open water dive and when I declined suggested I wait outside the wreck while he went through, which I also declined. That was what I was expecting in Tobago but was pleasently surprised to find much much better service/consideration