myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 08 March 2003

After not looking at the forum for a week or so I was interested to see the posting about Erasmus Cove Cottages. I've been checking out and trying to decide on self-catering accommodation for an upcoming Tobago holiday and had never come across these on all my searches. However, I thought yourself and your readers may be interested to know of the accommodation we have taken a chance on but you do not have listed - Castara Retreats in Castara. They are listed on http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk and have their own website at http://www.tobago-retreats.com. They look very nice and I have spoken to the British owners on the phone - very helpful and informative people. We are visiting last week of May/first week of June and I will post our impressions on our return. If anyone else knows anything about this accommodation already I'd be interested to read it.

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 08 March 2003

Erasmus Cove Cottages has its own website at http://www.erasmuscovecottages.com if anyone is interested. We have booked a week there at roughly the same time so I will post a review on our return. I have found only one review of the accommodation on the where to stay.com site which is very positive.

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 08 March 2003

Hi Linda

Thanks for bringing Castara Retreat to my attention. No, I didn't know about it and, like Erasmus Cove, I imagine its a new holiday accommodation property. Anyway, we aim to list EVERY property on Tobago, so rely on, and are grateful to, readers who spot any not listed on our site - or any mistakes in the information that we do list for properties. Have a great trip and please, please let us know how you like it. I will add Castara Retreats to our listings within the next 24 hours. (I've had enough for today - I've been staring at these screens for more hours than I care to admit.)

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 08 March 2003

Hi Steve.

Thanks for posting a reply. It always feels nice to get acknowledgement when you post to a forum like this. I understand that Castara Retreats is, indeed, new - only been open since January this year. I just hope we haven't made a mistake in basing ourselves in Castara - I got the impression from somewhere in the forum that you had a slightly unpleasant experience there on your last visit, though I haven't been able to find the specifics. Thanks for a great website - an invaluable source of information.

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 10 March 2003

Hi Linda, I was interested to see your post in Castara retreats. We, that is my wife and I with our 2 children aged 3 and 5, have booked the the upper floor for 2 weeks from the 20th March. It may be too late to help you make a decision but I will post a report when we return in early April.

Steve, this site is fantastic thanks for your hard work.

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 10 March 2003

Linda - my aplogies but I've been up to my kneck in things this past week. Jill was taking over the forum, but between us we seem to have missed your post. Forget my 'incident' at Castara. It was neither here nor there - it simply stood out because everywhere else had been so friendly and welcoming. I've been to Castara many, many times, so I know it's normally an extremely friendly place. We just got there on a bad day. Have a great trip.

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 10 March 2003

Hi Dave. Yes, it will be too late by early April for us to change our minds, but nevertheless I would be interested to hear of your impressions and experiences, not just of Castara Retreats, but of Castara village and Tobago. I'll keep a look out here on the forum for a trip report early April!

Post Recreated: Originally posted - 17 March 2003

Hi David.I was interested to read that you have booked castara retreats. We have booked with them with our two boys aged 9 and 11. I would also be interested to hear about your trip. We have also booked the top floor thank you

helen

Linda/Helen,
Having just returned from Castara Retreats I can now answer your questions. There is a separate posting with my comments but I would add that the top floor (Rainforest Lodge) is superior to the smaller units on the ground floor. The large balcony gives you an immense sense of space and it has greater privacy. The whole place is very open plan and often we would have House Wrens perched in the bedroom singing to us in the morning. Castara and the Castara Retreats were fantastic and I would recommend them to anyone.

If I could find any faults it would be that the preliminary rounds of the world-cock-crowing competitions would start at about 4:00 a.m. and build up to a crescendo at about 6:00 as they reached the final rounds.

You'll have a wonderful trip.

David

Hi David

May I just add an addendum to your comments?

Unless you are staying in one of the larger hotels in Crown Point, with closed windows and air-conditioning on, you will experience the early morning crow of cocks pretty much everywhere in Tobago. Worse still is the raucous call of the Chachalacas (a.k.a. Cocrico).

We stayed in seven places during our recent trip to Tobago and heard the early morning chorus, with varying degrees of annoyance, in six out of the seven places. Light sleepers are advised to take ear plugs! At least you don’t need an alarm clock and getting up early mean you experience the coolest part of the day – as long as you can take a siesta during the real heat of the day.

Thanks for your comments David. We can really look forward to our visit next april knowing we have booked a good place. We shall be booking our flights next month
helen

Dear David

Thanks for posting information on Castara Retreats. We guessed from the description and photos that Rainforest Lodge would be much more spacious than the downstairs lodges. However, as we're just a couple and our needs are simple, we're hoping Pelican Lodge will be good enough.

It was interesting to read your comments on Castara itself. It sounds really lovely. My husband will be very happy with the local food if it's chilli-loaded!

If you have any other tips or information (did you go snorkelling? If so, where did you rate?) it would be great if you were able to find time to share them.

Only 6 weeks to go until we're there - can't wait!

Linda

Hi Linda,

We spent two weeks in Tobago, and arrived having booked just three nights in Castara, at the Naturalist Beach house, right on the west end of the main beach. Great village! We rented a car fron Ancle George, the owner there, and toured the island for a week, but definitely returned to Castara for our last four nights.

Castara Retreats seemed like the finest guest house in Castara, from our view, though we traveled on a tight budget and could not afford the rates there as it was almost three times the nightly rate. Great looking place if you can afford it, though! Seems like being located up the hill like that would give you a bit of a distance from those early morning roosters. I would definitely take earplugs, though, just incase.

I would return to Castara if I could. We both really felt at home there, as we live in a quiet area of hilly land in north-central Ontario, Canada, and our nearest village of Killaloe has a similar population to Castara. I do enjoy small towns.

I kept a journal on my trip to Castara and Charlottevile. We just returned from our trip a few days ago, and I posted some of these Journal Entries. You may read these entries, "Personal Impressions, thoughts & feelings, from the Island" posted in the General Questions & Comments Forum. This may offer a bit more insight into Castara.

Have a great trip!
Frank

Hi Linda,

Although we stayed in the Rainforest Lodge we visited the Pelican lodge and I am sure that you will enjoy your stay there. The couple staying in the Pelican Lodge at the time of our visit had the foresight to bring a hammock which they slung up on their balcony and it looked wonderful.

Regards snorkelling. We really got into this and tried Castara, Bucco Reef, Englishman's Bay, Pirates Bay and Little Tobago. For fish I found the small reef just off Heavenly Beach in Castara best. Lots of fish and squid, we also saw crawfish and had the pleasure of swimming alongside a turtle. As you go further out into the bay there are some fantastic soft coral formations. The only problem being that, with the reef being so close in shore, the visibility was much reduced as soon as any waves started to pick up. The reef at Englishman's bay was very good too. But to be honest werever we snorkelled we enjoyed it very much.

I won't go into tours too much since I am sure they are covered elsewhere in more detail than I can manage here. But I would recommend the Friday night dance in the village, it is good fun and very friendly. But definitely get a car there is so much to see on the island.

If you can be bothered to cook for youselves I can recommend buying fish from the fishermen on the beach. We fed the four for not much more than £1 and it was delicious. You may also consider stocking up at one of the supermarkets nearer the airport or in Scarborough (esp. wine, milk and ice cream - makes us look rather decadent) since what is available at Castara is rather limited. The restaurants in Castara are fine but do not offer great variety so after a few days we felt like a change and, although I find it hard to confess, we were very excited about the hamburger and chips on offer at Pigeon Point the day we visited.

I'm sure you will have a wonderful holiday, I'm very envious.

David