myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Hi,

We are holidaying in Tobago in Feb 2010 and just can't wait! My husband is a keen angler which to be truthful is why we booked Tobago in the first place! Still, I love the beach, swimming, exploring, birdlife etc and Tobago looks beautiful so I'm not complaining! However.. we have also decided to treat our two sons, 19yrs and 18yrs old to what will be our last family holiday together (if we can help it!!). They are both pretty normal young chaps e.g. sun, sea, music, food and drink and from what I've read about the Crown Point area (we are staying at the Toucan Inn) they should have a pretty good time. However, I do need a bit of reassurance about a few things e.g. will there be plenty of other young people holidaying there (realise it's high season so should be ok?), are there any bars/discos to keep them entertained and finally.. will they be reasonably safe e.g. I expect they will be visiting the Sunday School Party. Again, they are sensible enough and I expect as long as they don't do anything stupid they should be ok. However, I am worried that I'll be laying awake at night waiting for them to return to their room (next to ours) safe and sound. Realise they are "adults" but a little reassurance (or otherwise!!) would be much appreciated from any experienced Tobagan visitors out there! Much appreciated. Rosy.

Hi Rosy

Difficult one, to be honest. Reassurance is not something I can give, because a truthful answer would possibly cause grave concern to any parent. It frankly depends upon the maturity of the lads and how susceptible they are to a nice line of chat that could lead to a ‘tricky’ situation.

Anyway, start at Restaurants > Bars & Nightlife on Tobago (http://www.mytobago.info/nightlife.php) for a general run-down on the night-time situation. The bottom line is that most of the ‘risky’ locations like The Shade (or even Sunday School) are fine during the early evening – the problems tend to occur after midnight when the drink is flowing. Ideally you would ONLY let your lads go to any of these events in a party of five or six and arrange to pick them up by taxi by 11pm, say. Under no circumstances should they be walking back to the Toucan alone at that time of night. It's not that the Toucan Inn is in a particularly vulnerable location - but it is very quiet and there are far too many 'dark' sections where they could be vulnerable, particularly if followed from the nightclub or bar. Sorry, this paints a pretty disturbing picture, but I prefer to do that rather than give a false impression and have their safety on my conscience.

Staying at the Toucan Inn, you will probably be using Store Bay beach the most – and possibly Pigeon Point. There is a good chance of meeting up with other youngsters on these beaches. Although I hate to say it, the golden rule that they must understand is that under no circumstances should they leave the beach/restaurant/bar with ANY local, no matter how convincing the chat. This seems like a terrible slur on Tobagonians – but it isn’t because the truth is that any wise parent would say the same to their offspring even here in the UK. The trouble there is that locals often have the Irish gift of the gab and nightclubs are all too often seen as the ideal place to sucker the drunken tourists with offers of drugs and sex. For some reason, visitors are all too often lulled into a wonderful cosy feeling of false security and behave in ways they wouldn’t dream of at home.

Let common-sense prevail and I’m sure you will all have a wonderful holiday; the first of many to Tobago.

To add to Steve's comments; entrapment laws do not apply in Trinidad and Tobago. In other words, if someone offers you illegal substances, the person that is doing the offering could very well be an under cover police officer, if you take the bait, then off to the Magistrate you go. Doing time in a Trinidad prison will not be pleasant.

Have a look at this link;

http://www.mytobago.info/drugs.php

Well.. thanks guys.. I feel a lot better now (not). Seriously though we did realise that a level of care and caution and basically good common sense would be called for. Fortunately the lads are reasonably streetwise having been brought up in the inner city of North London so they are not entirely green (suppose one could argue this makes it more worrying!) Have to say though that I do feel somewhat apprehensive about the holiday .... however.. we are booked and paid for so going to enjoy it!

Do not feel apprehensive at all. Follow good common sense and all will be okay. No flashy jewelry, do not carry large amounts of cash with you etc... Tobagonians are great friendly people as Steve said, but just follow the advice from the great folks on here and you'll be all right!

One thing though, when you get back to the U.K. you'll suffer from Tobago withdrawal syndrome. Just log on here and we'll all give you your daily dose of a Tobago fix!

Cheers Roger, I'm sure we're all going to have a great time - very excited. We have certainly picked up a patten re people returning to Tobago time after time. Sounds wonderful.

Well, we went to Tobago and now we're back home again - more's the shame! We had a wonderful time on this beautiful island, including our two sons, whom I was particularly worried about in light of recent safety alerts. We found it perfectly safe walking about day and night and found the Tobogonians to be really friendly and welcoming. The First and Last Bar, particularly on Friday night, was a great place to get to meet the locals and other tourists and enjoy the wonderful Socca and Reggae . Had a good dance in the street!! The lads went out most nights and, yes, to Shades too. In fact it seemed that everyone under the age of 30 went to Shades on a regular basis with no reports of trouble or concerns from anyone (tourists, staff and locals). Yes, of course you need to be careful but that's most places these days. We stayed at the Toucan Inn and whilst this was full and there were lots of people about it was generally very quiet everywhere. We were told that this season (we were there mid-Feb) had been the quietest it had been. Seems like a combination of global recession and people staying away because of safety scares was the reason. Such a shame as we felt a lot safer here than we do in many parts of London and probably many other parts of the U.K! Well, we're definetly going back next year - because like you said.... we've caught the bug!