Castara Retreats

[Melanie & Amanda]

We were so looking forward to our stay at Castara Retreats – and for so many months - that as the holiday got closer we feared we might have built up unrealistic expectations and we desperately tried to prepare ourselves for disappointment. We actually failed in this attempt but it didn’t matter because from the moment we stepped out of the airport into the heat and sunshine we had the most fabulous time – better than we could have even imagined.

We could write a novel – each – about our stay, several chapters of which would be needed to describe the beauty of Castara Retreats – and especially ‘our’ house, Fishermans’s Lodge. Looking down over the village, the forest, the bay and the ocean – with nothing between us and the horizon – is something we could never tire of…it gave us such perspective and peace. All holiday reading was cancelled …we couldn’t take our eyes off the world we’d just discovered.

But it’s much more than a great view – the birds, the weather (heat and glorious rain!) the food, the forest, the sea, the beach … right up until the day we left – and still since we’ve been home – we can’t quite believe it all. The wonder of it had a strange impact on us – it made us laugh and then become quiet and still, then laugh again. We felt close to tears a number of times. It was an intense but gentle experience. And the strange thing is, unlike when returning from other beautiful places and finding that ‘real’ life grates a little, that your home town looks ugly, we feel like we are carrying Castara around with us – as if something beautiful has lodged itself in our eyes and hearts.

We were amazed every day by something…mostly the people who we found, without exception, to be warm, generous, funny, gentle and really good company. We tend to enjoy solitude on holiday but from the moment we arrived we were unrecognisable to ourselves…Tobago and Castara cast a spell on us!

The sights, sounds, conversations, sensations, the connecting with people, the feel of the place combined to make a deeply relaxing, sensory overload. Who’d have thought that was possible!

We make no apology for sentimentality. Our experience in Castara was much more than a holiday. We needed to relax. We wanted an adventure. We got both…and so much more.

We miss our friends and we miss our tree house and we miss Castara but we feel so lucky to have found it all. Is it really still there, all going on as normal? What a wonderful thought…

Thanks Sue, Steve and Fraya for sharing Castara Retreats. We won’t forget you or our happy, happy time in Tobago.

Lots of love to you and all our new friends.

Mel and Amanda

[Lesley]

Mel and Amanda
Wow! What a wonderful report, I felt like I was there!
I now can't wait to visit this place and experience it for myself.
I am going to Tobago in February and am staying at Coco-reef, but now am beginning to wonder if I should have booked somewhere in Castara. Hmmm!
Cheers
Lesley

[Steve Fifield]

Welcome to Tobago Melanie and Amanda! You have put into words so well what most of feel about this Island . I expect like many of us, you will come back to this website again and again in order to feel a little closer to the island. I don't doubt that you will make that trip as soon as you can!

Don't tell too many others though eh? we want to keep it just the way you found it.

Steve Fifield.