myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Me, my wife and daughter spent a week in Tobago at Castara Retreats. We've read reviews/reports before and after our trip. Even though scenically, Tobago and Castara Bay are beautiful and breathtaking, we did not experience the same level of service or security that past guests have praised.

We arrived in Tobago on a Sunday night, picked up by a driver and dropped off at the Rain Forest apartment. Everything we read said that the Castara Retreats manager would come see us shortly upon arrival. Late Monday morning I ran into him happenstance as I was walking by a village coffee house. My wife said there were several things she wanted the family to do in the upcoming days. He was busy videotaping promotional material and said he would get back to us.

That same evening we were told by other visitors that the next day, Monday, was the country's Independence Day, and that most services would be non existent, including restaurants.

The next morning, on Independence Day, from our apartment high above the beach, much to our shock, we saw the Castara Retreats manager and several of the Castara Retreats guests boarding a boat and taking off on a daylong outing. The manager did not mention this outing to us, even though he knew we were in residence. My wife was irate. She got in contact with the manager while he was on the boat; he claimed he tried to notify us of the outing, but could not contact us.

We found most of the local people unwelcoming. The exception were a couple of restaurant proprietors who relocated to Castara Bay from the UK. We heard some stories of the local people not being very warm, which is an understatement, but what happened at the end of the trip turned a less than positive vacation into an outright nightmare.

Though we read that Castara was relatively safe, save for some robbery incidences several years ago, we did not take any chances. We followed all the practices expected to stay secure: we didn't flash money or jewelry; we didn't let locals know of our departure plans; we did not invite anyone to our apartment; and because we were traveling with our young child, we did not stay out late drinking or put ourselves in compromising positions. My wife even took the extra measure of placing most of the chairs in front of the main door to deter any would be robber.

The Castara Retreats manager commented on my wife's practice of barricading the door by saying it was unnecessary and that we were safe.

On our last night in Tobago, our apartment was broken into be three men at about 3:15 am in the morning. Thank God that my wife is a light sleeper, because she awakened to see three men entering our daughters room. Her screams awakened me and I gave chase in time to see the three men run out of the apartment. They had taken a small purse that belonged to my daughter that had a small amount of money and dental retainers. Our most valuable things-- passport, travel money, camera & phones-- were locked up in the safe. I shutter to think what could have happened had we slept through the invasion.

The police were very indifferent and really unhelpful. The police were called at 4:00 am in the morning, but didn't even show up to the crime scene. I was taken by the Castara Retreats manager to the police station at 7:30 am to file a report but found myself subject to a humiliating process. It turns out that the thieves were not only identified, but are well known in the village, and have committed crimes in the past.

Needless to say, I didn't recover any of our stolen items, and left Tobago without a police report; apparently, they had to complete their investigation.

My flight that day out of Tobago was 11:00 am, so I spent my last few hours saddened, frustrated, and mostly dissatisfied.

CASTARA RETREATS MANAGEMENT RESPONSE
We so regret what happened and entirely empathise with these guests about their negative experience. We have built our reputation on people relaxing and enjoying Castara and what we offer at Castara Retreats and their holiday was completely spoiled by this unfortunate incident. Regret doesn’t even begin to express our own anger at the three young lads who have done the thieving. The items stolen had no commercial value but were very important to our guests. Although no one was hurt or threatened, the incident has had a very bad affect not only on our guests but on everyone who has worked so hard to make Castara a special place for a holiday.

As a result of this incident, we have spent some time talking to people in the village. The general view is that there have been no problems of this nature for over five years and people are not concerned about a repetition because the two main culprits are actually on the run in Trinidad and there are arrest warrants out for them. We are reliably informed that the twin sons of Eula and Kenny (who run the Roti stall at Englishman’s Bay,) and one of their friends have been identified by the description given by our guests including their distinctive T-shirts. Before their departure, they also stole from other properties in Englishman’s Bay and they were cornered at the port by security staff and fled abandoning their goods. The port and police authorities at Scarborough as well as Moriah are now actively seeking these people. We are satisfied that this is an isolated incident by two well known petty thieves.

With the previous history of the perpetrators and the arrest warrants that have been raised by the police and port authority we are hopeful that they will soon be brought to justice and we are advised that they are likely to receive a severe sentence. However, we are not being in any way complacent and are reviewing security arrangements at Castara Retreats but the general feeling is that the community is confident that this is an isolated incident and although absolutely awful for our guests it is really unlikely to reoccur.

Obviously this has coloured their stay and they have made a number of other negative comments particularly about the boat trip. This was a privately commissioned trip by a guest in one of our apartments and the two other people, who were invited at the last minute, were the people making a promotional film for us. This was a misunderstanding on the part of our guests who apologized that evening to Porridge, our manager, and the people on the boat for reacting in the way that they did. They then participated in a boat trip a couple of days later accompanied by two other guests and went out snorkeling and fishing and, as far as we are aware, had a lovely time.

Regarding any other comments, it just doesn’t seem appropriate to us to challenge them other than to say that the experience of many of our guests is that Castara is a very friendly village but the people are shy and you do need to smile and have a positive approach. Returning visitors and, hopefully, new visitors will read the extensive reviews on My Tobago and will get the full and objective picture from the many people who have visited Castara and stayed with us.