Sunday, December 2, 2012
Flight was uneventful, thank God. Arrived at Trinidad airport at 2:25 had 2 hours to kill! Exchanged US $ for TT at exactly 6 to 1 US. Don't think that was a good deal but too impatient to wait until the bank. We’ll check at the bank tomorrow. Walked around and looked at a nice exhibit of history of Trinidad and Tobago and a nice display of various steel pan drums. Took pictures of Christmas displays outside and in. Had a piece of their local Fried Chicken it was okay, Kentucky Fried is better, and a drink of “Maubry”, that was not okay it had the most awful after taste that I thought there was something wrong with it but no they said that that was how it is it is supposed to be and is good for you in a way of cooling you down. Took the short flight over to Tobago and a quick taxi ride with a stop at a convenient store to get some things for Douglas Apartments. Douglas Apts. is just like the pictures very clean and nicely kept. Our room is on the ground floor with a kitchen in front and king bedroom bathroom in separate area with TV in back. There is a small porch out front with glass table and chairs only steps to pool. Walked up to the top veranda and chatted a while with a woman from Canada. It was nice up there and we might want to see what the rooms are like up here; better view. Everything is closer than imagined. Walked across the street and down a block and a half and you have a produce stand, flea market, ice cream, pizza boys, barbeque, Greek food, Bank, small grocery store and La Cantina where we had a great pizza and 2 pints of beer for only 114TT/18US. It looks like they have good salads too
I asked Michael at the apartments where I could buy a SIM card for my phone (android). The outlets at the Trinidad airport and around town do not sell them; only top up. He said I could borrow an extra 1 he had and they tried to cut it down to micro size but it wouldn't work, but that was real nice of him to try he said the only place to get a SIM card is at Lowlands Mall.

Monday, December 3, 2012
We are going to flag down a taxi this morning and go to the lowlands mall in search of a SIM card and stop on the way back at Penny Savers for some more supplies for the room then walk to store Bay for the day. We started to walk to Lowlands mall and was picked up by “Steve”. Apparently on Tobago there a real taxis and then there are not which means that anybody can pick you up and they charge whatever is reasonable there is no insurance so it's your call if you want to do this we have no problem with it. We got our SIM card at the Digical store it was only 49TT/8 US and came with 98TT/16US credit on it; very reasonable. You can top at a lot of places or online or from the phone. On the way back we got another ride from a young kid who did drive kinda fast but only 8TT/1.50US from Lowlands mall all the way back to Douglas Apts. We had breakfast at Pancake House it is behind Colours bar/rest. It has a nice peaceful gardens setting and was very good. Birds were everywhere and got to see some sort of pretty large gecko lizard type thing crawling around. We walked to store Bay from there it was an easy walk. They have changing room shower and toilet for 1TT/16 cents US. We rented two lounge chairs and umbrella for 60TT/10US. The water was rough today and overcast so we did not get to try snorkeling but did swim a bit and then just laid around and read. Walked to one end of the cove, there were some caves and saw some crabs. It started to rain about 3:30. We walked back with stops at a small gift shop. They did have batik (I always look for batik) but not what I was looking for and kind of expensive. We also stopped at the liquor store and mini mart. We had a couple of beers at Colours and decided to come back for dinner. I had callaloo soup and garlic bread; I have only had callaloo soup in the Caribbean twice and unfortunately this was my least favorite. Tony had stir fried beef tips it came with salad potatoes and fresh vegetables it was good.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012
We're going to walk to the produce stand this morning and cook our breakfast. Turn right out of Douglas Apts and its right up the road. I was hoping they would have some other fruit than bananas. It looks like overcast today also. I don't like this. They did have papaya and apples. Apples are not local We walked to Pigeon Point after breakfast. The walk to Pigeon Point is a nice walk for the first time, but if you have a lot to carry it gets tiring. We will take a taxi tomorrow. Along the way there are souvenir stands with bracelets, conch shells, woman's wraps, coconut carvings, small paintings candy, etc. It looks like you can also drive here and park under trees and swim at the beach areas. The Coronado Hotel is on the way. We went in and looked around it did not looking inviting. They did have a restaurant/bar overlooking the ocean that was nice though. There is a giant cage across the street from it in a garden with 3 huge tropical parrots in it. We also saw where it looked like fisherman brought in there catches. We saw a table full of red snapper and some lobsters. There are some shops by the parrots/garden that included gifts, art, t-shirts, a mini mart and dive shop and there is a place (shack) that rents jet skis. It is 18TT/3US to get into Pigeon Point Park. The road down to the beach area is beautifully landscaped towards the end there are covered picnic tables and nice beach and lawn areas. The main beach area has gift huts, one had some pottery that was nice. There are 2 restaurants with bars 1 with a pool table. You can rent lounge chairs for 15TT/3US each. This side of the beach is the more calm swimming cove. Walk around to the other side and it is more quiet but not as good swimming. Walk even further and you can see where all the boats sit that do the Bucoo Reef tours. Again it was too overcast to see anything while snorkeling. If you hire a taxi to take you back from inside the park they will charge higher rates than if you walk outside the gates. You can flag someone down. We did not eat or drink here so don't know that cost or how good it is. We were going to take a taxi back but ended up walking and stopping at Bagos beach bar. I like this bar and there is a little beach (free) right next to it that look like good swimming and has lounge chairs to rent. For dinner we decided on a little Arabian restaurant called Andre’s. You place your order inside and eat outside, kinda like a Chinese place you can get combos with choices of meat and either 1 or 2 sides. It was 55TT/9US. There is an outside bar next door that you can order your drinks from and bring them over to your table while you wait. We were told that any restaurant that does not have a liquor license you can bring your own alcohol into no problem if you'd like to have cocktails. Their portions are big so be careful. Going back to Pigeon Point tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Pretty much the same as yesterday; went back to Pigeon Point and Bago’s beach bar. Still too cloudy to snorkel. We had to cancel our boat snorkel tour for tomorrow, so sad but you cannot see anything with this type of weather. Had a bite to eat this time at the beach restaurant at Pigeon Point. We had roast pork, salad and fries. The garlic sauce and green hot sauce condiments were good but it did upset my stomach later. Don't advise probably got left out in the sun at some point. It was fun to watch the local beach dog chase the birds away while we were eating. When we tossed a French fry he would not want it but would watch it and if any birds came near it he would wildly turn around and chase them away because he didn’t want them to have it. It was funny. He only wanted meat. When we got back to our room there was a horrid smell in the bedroom area it was nothing of ours. They came down and we looked all over but could not find where it was coming from they sprayed Frebreeze and we had to turn on the air conditioning and fan. It seemed to dissipate. It was still there in the morning. I am glad we checked out this morning.

Thursday, December 6, 2012
Since we cancelled our boat trip we decided to rent a car and head up to Castara a day early with a stop at King George’s Fort and Argyl Falls. The car rental place is letting us do a 1 way from crown point to castara $50. They messed up though and were supposed to be here at 9am but now not until 11 a.m. The smell has come back strong again in our room so I'm waiting outside; it is also overcast again. This must be the way it is here this time of year, now it is starting to rain and I have to get my clothes that I set out to dry by the pool because nothing seems to dry in this weather. Leonard (I think) showed up with the car. The trunk does not close, he decided this would be a problem since we wanted to stop at Argyle Falls. He took us to penny savers to get food for Castara, then it started to pour down rain and we had to wait in the grocery store for about 20 minutes until it stopped. We stopped at a couple of places to see if he could get the trunk fixed. Nobody was anywhere it was raining and he said it would not be good to go to Argyle Falls today anyway because of the rain so we decided to just go straight to Castara. He said we could keep the car longer until the afternoon tomorrow so we could sightsee and go to the falls in the morning. We dropped him off in Plymouth and were on our way. The road was way more narrow than I thought it would be but we were fine. The views and foliage were great but had to stop and take pictures. We have arrived in Castara and are a day early; Ali Baba does not have a room for us a day early so we went up the hill to Lillibets. It is quite a climb but no big deal it is still cloudy and rainy we chatted with the owner Tom and his wife for a bit they're very nice and gave us a room for the night. We were able to pay with Paypal that was nice. The wireless works good the Sun is out now and the view is awesome from up here.

We walked up the road and found the path that shortcuts through to Big Castara Bay and comes out just above the Blue Mango restaurant and blue and white Sea Cottages. This pathway is good so you don't have to walk all the way up the hill and down. We walked past Naturalist Resort. They are building addtnl apartments to the right of the original building. Walked past the fisherman's market where they have just come in and are quite lively. Walked down to the end of the beach and got a couple of Stags at I think is Cascreole Bar and Restaurant. The restaurant does not look open. The bar has a good view through the little wooden door way out to the bay. We walked back going towards town and there is quite a large grocery store right before the old clay oven it was closed but looked inside and they had a lot of stuff. I don't know if it's new or not I think it was called Sunshine Market. The big clay oven says it operates on Saturdays and you can watch and order bread being made. A little further up there is another store called DJ's. It had some produce, meat and quite alot of things. A couple of bars, one with no name. Then Shirma’s. Also going up the hill there was an ATM and souvenir shop. We headed back and stopped at the blue mango for some beers it was getting dark. We went to the Boathouse for dinner it was excellent. Sharon (I think) will tell you what's for dinner and all the side dishes that are included. I had prawns with curry coconut sauce and Tony had kingfish. The sides were broccoli with ginger sauce that I like the best 110TT/18US for prawns; 100TT/16US for kingfish and included 3 other side dishes I can't remember right now. The rooster only crowed a couple of times during the night you could barely hear it at Lillibetts.

Friday, December 7, 2012
Today we drove to Argyle Falls. The driving was Ok. Liked seeing all the villages and colorful tropical foliage. The entrance to the falls is just to the right after you get to the junction of the nature reserve highway and Roxborough. The entrance fee is 40TT/6 US and includes a guide. You walk about 20 min. to the bottom of the falls and the guide will spot out birds for you, show you different types of trees and opened a cocoa for us to see inside where the chocolate comes from. You can take a seed and suck on it but don’t bite it. There are lots of huge bamboo growing everywhere. Once at the bottom of the falls you can decide to walk (climb) to different levels. We climbed all the way to the top. Wear tennis shoes at least. There are ropes and footholds along the ways but steep at one point. At any stop you can get in the water, it was very nice. Going down is easier. Walking back there is a little souvenir stand w/bamboo carvings either wall hangings or sm. Vases. I bought a wall hanging with hibiscus and hummingbird carved. On the way back we drove to Speyside and stopped for lunch at King’s Bay Café. Tony had a cheeseburger and I had a tuna burger both w/fries and coleslaw and homemade lemonade. My tuna burger was fresh tuna mixed with spices, it was very good so was the lemonade; not made from a traditional lemon. We intended to take the road all the way around through Chralotteville and down to Castara but King’s Bay Café made a call and the road was closed past Charlottesville so we just drove to Speyside and saw the giant waterwheel on the road to Blue Waters Hotel. I wanted to see the Blue Waters hotel grounds, but it is gated and it was raining so we just headed back. We checked into Ali Baba’s, we like it it has more accommodating places for your things in the bathroom. The kitchen is compact and easy to manage and then of the course the view! We went to Shirma’s bar/restaurant where they were having a BBQ. There was about 10 other foreigners there also. Tony had chicken, I had pork the sides were: salad, noodles, rice, black eyed peas, it was very good and only 30tt/5 US!

Saturday, December 8, 2012
Need to mention something funny that happened last night at Sherma’s. Tony ordered some rum or at least he thought he ordered rum he brought it back to the table and I asked him what it was and he said it was a black and white brand and I said it's horrible taste like bad whiskey well come to find out the black and white brand is whiskey. Anyway didn't see a lot of different brands of rum but we did find Appleton which we like so all was good. We got to see the ladies making bread this morning and bought 2 slices of coconut rolls for only 10TT/1.66US. It is very good. Also wanted pumpkin bread but they will not have any until 2 p.m. They do this on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Finally just got to lay on the beach today. It was overcast and raining off and on. For some reason the whole time we've been here the surf is very rough I don't think I'll be able to snorkel this cove this trip and also a bit of a struggle to swim. But the water is warm and the sun is hot so it is good when you do swim. There is another barbeque in town tonight we are going. It was The Cafe it was very clean and had an outdoor setting with the steel pan drum player (techno though and hooked up to a laptop). The Café did have the coldest beer in town that is for sure. The barbecue consisted of either Kingfish or chicken with red kidney beans, potato salad and rice it was good but did not care for them putting barbecue sauce on the fish and we thought overpriced at 100TT/16US; especially compared to last night’s BBQ at Shirma’s. Also the atmosphere is very Americanized although everyone was very nice. Stopped at the Blue Mango on the way back and had more beers. They were throwing a birthday party for someone and you could have some complimentary drinks if you wanted everyone is having a good time.

Sunday, December 9, 2012
We had met a man named Roachie and we arranged to go out on his boat today. Supposed to snorkel but it will probably turn out to be a boat ride down the coast to Bucco Reef and Nylon Pool. The sea is way too rough to snorkel, but we'll see. We met a couple from Chicago that went out with him yesterday and they said they could not snorkel and ended up fishing and caught 3 fish. Well we left on the boat with another couple and it was rough, rough, rough. We went around to the next Cove and even the rough we got in and snorkeled. We were able to see fish and coral and things but if the Sun had been out it would have been much more colorful. After we were done there the girl said she was sick and had to be taken back to Castara. We continued on down the coast in rough choppy waters and snorkeled again at Arnos Vale Cove. It was worse than the first cove. We continued all the way down to the natural mangrove cove that is a protected fish nursery. Rainy wet and high winds all the way down. We went over to Bucco Reef and if it were not so choppy and the Sun was out I would have loved to snorkel here but I was tired of being soaking wet and the skies up north looked treacherous. Well of course this is where we had to go. The ride back was very rough choppy with swells that looked to be about 10 ft high. I was not a happy camper and could not believe we probably went out on the most worst day of our 11 days down here. I also forgot to mention that coming out of Arnos Vale Cove Tony spotted a diver waving his arms in the sea way out past the cove. We went out to get him and saw another diver about 100 yards behind him they were in danger. We picked them up and took them back to Arnos Vale beach and dropped them off. They had spear guns so we assume the waters were too rough and they were getting swept out. They were very happy to see us. we were the only boat out the whole day. After we finally got back and dry we went to dinner at Marquirites. They red snapper 95TT/15US. Apparently this is the norm. I hate to say these kind of things but it was our least favorite dinner probably because of the way that they cooked it here; stewed.

One mentioned about a couple of rooms at Ali Baba's. We are in the second room from when you enter the hallway, Turtle room, if you like more sun on your balcony I would suggest the first room, Stingray room, especially if you want to dry clothes on the line. Everything stays damp down here we were told the rainy season does not end until Christmas time. But I still check the weather and it is now February and it still looks cloudy and rainy. So maybe towards April or May might be drier?

Monday, December 10, 2012
Well I was wrong today with the worst weather day of our 11 days it rained all day with no sunshine at all we went up to the blue mango for breakfast with umbrellas they were closed. The little store at the top of the hill right before you go down to little Castara Bay has real cheese, eggs, fruit, vegetables, juice, snacks, flour, beans, rice, etc. In fact both stores I've seen you should have no problem getting side items and condiments if you do your own cooking. This one at the top of the hill is Called “Bingi the Fruit King”. Could not swim or snorkel or even lay on the beach today because of rain and yes “coldness”. One good thing, we saw Roachee and he gave us some Wahoo that he caught after dropping us off yesterday and we cooked it tonight. It was good grilled in a pan with garlic, butter, salt and pepper. Praying to have sun tomorrow!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Well praying worked it was a good sunny day and perfect for the beach. Finally snorkeled our Cove but to churned up to see anything. Walked up the hill to pick up our coconut bread that was ordered yesterday at “Bingi’s”. It was a giant loaf and delicious. Went by Blue Mango for breakfast but they were closed again. Used the ATM and took a look at the little souvenir store. Having a couple of beers before going down to the boathouse for more and order dinner there a lot of people in the water now and the Sun is really shining finally!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012
We had a fun time at the Boathouse bar last night talking with the owners, Tom from Ireland and another couple. The food was good again especially liked a side dish that was tomatoes eggplant and melted cheese casserole. Going to lay on the beach again all day and do nothing there's going to be a drum player. Not steel pan but some large skin type of drums. I finally tried goat it was in a curry sauce I hoping I was hoping it was going to be shredded but it looks like it was just hacked up in no particular way with bones and fat. It tasted like beef to me, overall it was good, again all side dishes were good it was an early night tomorrow we leave

Thursday, December 13, 2012
Most of the packing is done and were just waiting for our taxi supposed to be here at 10:30. The Sun is out with no clouds! It was a pretty ride back to the airport took about 40 minutes. Check in was fast and we walked back to the center of Crown Point thinking we could get a quick bite to eat at the barbecue place, but waited in line at the bank instead exchanging our TTs for US$. The rate was better than at the Trinidad airport and we didn't see an exchange booth at the Tobago airport. Our trip back was uneventful and until baggage and customs in Miami. I have never seen it so crowded it looked like the whole Caribbean had arrived at the same time. There was no order all for “lines” waiting to go through customs more like a huge mosh pit. Luckily we had hours to our flight. All in all we like Tobago. It is less expensive than what we are used to (which is a good thing). The people were extremely friendly, the scenery was gorgeous and we liked staying in Castara. We would return to Tobago. Although I would like to be more assured that the weather actually gets sunny there and the waters calmer for better snorkeling and beach liming. We will try for the months of March, April and May next time as we were told those are calmer months. Would much rather have heat, calm waters and less rain. With boat trips, tours of the island, hiking and sightseeing there is plenty to do. Like a lot of ppl say if you are into night life, fancy hotels and partying then this is probably not the place for you.

Here are some pics.

http://my.slideroll.com/galleries/members/chromehorse/gallery/tobago-dec-2012/?g=cj7qgb4n

Thanks for the trip report! Have often wondered what Tobago would be like, sounds a lot like Grenada...