Guest Report

[Jonathan Richards]

This report goes with and is loosely based around Steve Wooler’s review of the Coco Reef. Everything I don’t comment on, we agree with!

“We” means myself and Rita, and so you can place us, we’re both in our fifties with grown-up children of our own. We travelled with Virgin Atlantic from Gatwick, on an all-inclusive package for a fortnight at the beginning of November 2007. The Virgin rep is not permanently at the hotel, but gave a good briefing, no hard sell for excursions, and a prompt and efficient service for the trip and car hire that we wanted.

The Coco Reef isn’t in the most picturesque part of the island, but you might be grateful on arrival not to journey farther afield on Tobago roads. The hotel is right next to the Store Bay Beach Facility; handy for a glass-bottomed boat trip to the Buccoo Reef – finding one is easy: you’ll be politely accosted by chaps wanting to sign you up immediately you turn the corner, but they’ll take no for an answer. Within easy walking distance is the small garden surrounding the remains of Fort Milford, where you can stand under the trees and watch the pelicans fishing. More mundanely, you’re also within 100 m of the RTTB bank, and 1 km of an NP fuel station.

Perhaps the age profile of guests varies through the year: early November is off-season, and I guess that there was a predominance of people over forty, and a considerable number enjoying their retirement. However, there were all ages, from babes in arms to the other extreme. I can truly say that there was never any real problem with youngsters, and if your children can amuse themselves with the natural resources of a beach, and a pool, and they’re well-behaved then you can have a good time there.

Our deluxe sea view room (#232) on the upper floor of the south wing had a fine view over the gardens and the left side of the lagoon, and was plenty big enough for us. The bed had a lovely palm-leaf welcome, and a bon voyage message when we left, with the linen changed daily. The room was immaculately kept at all times and often we got fresh bath and beach towels when we would have been happy to keep the hardly-used ones. The cold tap in the bath/shower didn’t work initially, but it was repaired within a couple of hours. Later, the hairdryer switch ceased to function, but that too was fixed swiftly.

The air conditioning unit was effective and quiet enough to have on while we slept. There was no ceiling fan: this may be because of the sloping ceiling, rising to 10 ft at one side of the room, which gave a light and airy feel.

The TV in the room had 50-odd channels of varying appeal. The island breakfast show was a revelation – an item congratulating a local couple on their 14th wedding anniversary was followed by an appeal for the return of a camera someone had left in the supermarket on the preceding Saturday. If you want to get away from dismal international news, this is the place for you!

The balcony’s parapet preserved one’s privacy from people on other balconies. There was no problem with noise from adjacent rooms, although the evening entertainment was clearly audible until it finished at about 10.30 p.m.

We were up for breakfast early every day, and I can recommend it – it’s the best part of the day, and the food is worth getting up for. The buffet in Tamara’s is set with everything one could want for a breakfast that will set you up for the day. Just watch the grackles and bananaquits which will help themselves to a share given a fraction of a chance!
At lunch times the barbecue is to be recommended, particularly the fish – marlin, snapper or tuna cooked to perfection, and supplemented by wonderful things from the buffet.

We thought that the general quality of the evening entertainment was pretty poor. There was a steel pan musician one evening who was good to listen to, but almost everything else was no better than good karaoke, and didn’t seem to have any Tobagonian flavour: plenty of Abba! I must also mention the background music playing in the restaurants: all through early November we were informed that Santa Claus Was Coming To Town, with other out of place Christmas songs and carols.

The lagoon is a major asset to the hotel; the beach would be much less attractive without it, and while some is shallow (about 1m) that makes it very safe for children or non-swimmers. There’s a lot more that is much deeper (2-3m) and good for swimming and snorkelling. The fish are wonderful: stand up to your waist in warm water and let the multicoloured tropical fish swim around your legs and between your fingers. We snorkelled along the edge of the reef, and saw many species, none of which I knew, and even an octopus.

We used the kayaks and the Aqua Finn sailboat. Although this is billed as having “a cockpit large enough to accommodate two adults” Rita would disagree. She had to fold herself uncomfortably in the cockpit while I struggled to work with a tiller I was almost sitting on, and we didn’t enjoy our two-up outing at all. The boats are not maintained in tip-top condition, although they’re not unsafe, and you can have a good enough time single-handed.

In summary, we had a wonderful time at the Coco Reef, and I unhesitatingly recommend it. We’re grateful to all the staff who welcomed us and made our stay so enjoyable. Their genuine friendliness made us very much relaxed and at ease, and nothing was too much trouble.