Guest Report

[Dr. e Torres]

My family and I spent 2 glorious weeks at Castara Cottage (Cinnamon) in March this year. If you don’t want breathtaking beaches, fantastic snorkelling and fishing, lush, wildlife-filled rainforest, and warm friendly locals, then this is not the place for you.
We started each day by putting out food scraps along the balcony railing and then sat eating our breakfasts while a kaleidoscope of tropical birds came and sat happily munching just yards away. The cottage is just a minute from either of the two beaches, so our first venture out each day was down to the beach for a bit of swimming, snorkelling or fishing. The fishing off big beach was good and the snorkelling at the north end of little beach was fantastic. On our first day there we helped haul in the seine net off big beach, and an hour’s hard work was rewarded with a huge haul of tuna up to 15 lb in weight.
Cinnamon cottage was amazing. Not for the faint-hearted, the open front wall and close proximity of the vegetation makes it seem more like a tree house (albeit a very well equipped tree house). Both birds and bats were wont to fly in for an occasional visit, and the two resident geckos made regular appearances. We loved it. Even my normally squeamish teenage daughter enjoyed it. One thing worth mentioning is the noise. You are close enough to the beach to hear the waves all the time, and together with the birds during the day and the frogs and cicadas at night, it is not the quietest place you’ll ever stay. However, after a couple of days we were all sleeping like logs and this minor inconvenience was well worth it for the magical experience overall. The local shops sold the basics necessary for life (no meat or cow’s milk) and fresh fish was available every day from the fishermen’s centre on the beach. The restaurants sold good food at reasonable prices, with picture-book sunsets thrown in for free most nights.
Last but not least, I must mention the people. Without exception the people we met were friendly and welcoming. Duck was our main contact there and he not only organised a couple of boat trips for us (sightseeing, snorkelling and beach barbeques) but even arranged a birthday cake, pink icing and all, for my daughter’s 15th birthday. As a rainforest guide, I can’t recommend Fitzroy highly enough. His encyclopaedic knowledge of the jungle is surpassed only by his enthusiasm for sharing it, and a pair of eyes that would put a hawk to shame. Sharon and Brenton down at the boat house are the perfect hosts and don’t miss their steel pan and drum night on Wednesdays. Finally, for the serious fishermen among you, get Anaconda to take you out on his boat. The fishing was fantastic and the rates very reasonable. Don’t forget to ask him about the big marlin he caught.