myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Fantastic holiday BUT…….
We have now returned from our fifth holiday in Castara and once again have so many fantastic memories of nature, ocean, simplicity and friendship and yet we are wondering if we will return to this paradise of a place. The village has done so well to attract travellers rather than the package holiday-maker, with visitors who understand that we are guests in a different culture and that we should not expect to have all our whims pandered to. We enjoy this place for what it is. It is beautiful and fun and colourful and often noisy. The waves crash at times, the cockerels crow, and the Reggae beats and it is all part of local Caribbean culture.
This year has been different in that the noise from the Cas Creole bar on the beach has been a nightmare with extremely loud head-banging music five nights in one week. One night a party till 4am and the next night Karaoke till 3am. And then on our third night more noise till 2am and on the fourth night I sat up in bed and nearly cried.
We discovered later that this last night of torture was only a couple of guys playing pool with the sound system cranked up till the early hours. We were told this by other visitors when having a drink in one of the local bars. There were seven or eight people from different accommodations around the village and without exception they were all struggling to cope with the noise from the Cas Creole and were saying that it was the one thing spoiling the holiday in this special place. The view was that a late party once, sometimes twice a week, is fine but five nights is aggressive and particularly if no-one is there apart from a couple of pool players. The Cas Creole needs to make up their minds if they truly want to welcome visitors or drive them away. At the moment there is a very mixed message coming from them.
Mrs S Williams

Hello Mrs Williams

By total coincidence, I have been heavily involved in this problem over the past week, having received a similar report by email from a regular visitor to Castara. I assume you are he are not one and the same? Not that it matters if you are.

What can I tell you? This is a known problem and one that many people are talking about. I have been in touch with six different property owners in Castara and ALL report that they are affected by it and that guests have complained.

I wonder if any guests at Angel Apartments (if there are any) have complained to Dexter, given that he is the owner of both Angel Apartments and Cascreole. I suspect they are the only people with the strongest chance of influencing Dexter, who is not noted as a man who cares about public perception. I have written to Dexter's UK partner in the hope that he might be able to intervene (I have no contact with Dexter), but sadly haven't even had the courtesy of a reply, so am not hopeful.

I know that this issue is of concern to local villagers, as well as visitors. I understand that Dexter has been made aware of the situation within the last week and we can but keep our fingers crossed.

This sounds a little worrying

How far is the Cascreole from Ali-babas Sea Breeze? Has anyone complained from there.

What I've read really does surprise me. The last thing I would have thought is people being kept awake at night by loud music. I can go to Benidorm for that

Here here Phil, I hope it doesn't spoil our holiday too! Don't get me wrong, we are on for a party a couple of times a week (well my boyfriend probably would be every night!), but don't want to be kept awake by this all the time, like you say we could go to Spain or Greece for that.

Is it near to the Naturalist too ...?

Caroleee

Cascreole is at the other end of the beach from the Naturalist but the trouble is that Castara is such a quiet place and the sound carries. Sea-Breeze is in Little (Heavenly) Bay which is a bit further away but I guess that you would still hear the sound-system quite clearly. Steph and Brian would know.

Tony

Its funny that in 2004 I was upset at the level of music and the type of Jamaican Dancehall being played when we stayed in Charlotteville and made comments that it was so much nicer in Castara as it seemed that the people in the village had consideration for others, I really hope that this is not in the process of change.
Paul

hello folks...
we are (as everybody in castara) aware of the situation. there was a week of too much and too loud musik before christmas. since then, there where two parties with moderate volume that ended around one or two a.m.
even the new years party was at a modetare volume!
at the moment it is very peaceful here (no worries folks) and we will print our this whole thread for dexter to read, to make sure it stays that way!
see you all here in castara soon!
steph & ali

Cheers for that, Steff. Put our minds at rest now. (Not that we were really, really worried, would have just put some cotton wool in our ears!).

Not long to go now....3 days and counting...... ...can't wait.

Yeah, don't worry Phil. After all, it's only a bit of music.

Tony

I find a nice anasthetic taken immediately before retiring blanks out all sound until the morning cocrico chorus
David

When we were in Castara during late February 2007 one of the locals had a car audio system turned up so loud it set off the alarm on the car next to it This obviously upset his listening so he turned the volume up even more to drown out the alarm You could feel it through your feet !

There were one or two shouting at him but we have no idea what they were saying . . . . . . . . Couldn't hear a thing

As a newcomer to My Tobago, I want to say how much my wife and I enjoyed our visit to Castara. It is a beautiful, unspoiled village and we tried to respect the local customs and culture. Regretably, our six nights overlapped with the five straight nights of booming noise from Cas Creole. Even with ear plugs, we were kept awake, one night until almost 4 am. It deterred us from eating at Cas Creole even tho they have a wonderful location and we were eating most meals in the village. We wondered if this was the norm and have been reassured by the postings here that it is not. We intend to book a return trip for New Year's 2008 and hope to find Cas Creole as welcoming as the other local establishments. Caribbean music floating in the sultry air enhances our experience, head-banger booming is so out of context.

I am pleased to say that there has been no repeat of the late night sessions.Even Saturday night's noise is not noticeable and does not go on late.
David

Hi David

Thanks for confirming that. I've been keeping in touch with several people in the village since the problem first reared it's ugly head and they all report the same. Hopefully our message has got through loud and clear.