Tobago 2006 – Englishman’s Bay – Day 2 Pt 2

It was such a long day that I had to actually break up the blog into two separate parts. After the waterfalls, our guide told us to go on side road to get to the Roxborough-Parlatuvier Road. This road goes through the Tobago Forest Reserve and is definitely a very scenic drive. Tobago’s well preserved forested central mountain range is the oldest protected nature reserve in the western hemisphere. It was declared a reserve in 1764 shortly after the island fell under British rule. It is the only forest protected specifically to preserve the watershed.

After a long drive through the protected reserve, where we go out for a pic at the Bloody Bay lookout and then we were persuaded by a vendor there to give a ride home to Bloody Bay, she was quite nice and gave us some history of the area while we were driving her. The drive going down that road was pretty, not amazing due to the lack of light from the mountains and tree canopy. We stopped off at Bloody Bay for a dip. IT was getting to be late evening but the water was great as usual. The tide was coming in and the water was getting a little rougher but we didn’t really care.

The sunlight in the pictures tends to give a bit more substance, but for me, it just felt like home 

Travel tip: When driving down by the beaches, always have snacks with you. The sea air makes you hungry almost all the time and have some moisturizing cream since the air tends to dry your skin out.

But from there we went on to Englishman’s Bay, and this was quite a highlight for us. The following pictures in reality are even more amazing than they look and upon leaving the Bay and going up the mountain, the beaches look even more inviting than they were.

Now while leaving the Bays, I thought to myself, why don’t we just to make a quick dip in Castara Bay, since it was on the map and on the way back home. Well, we drove on main road until there was a fork in the road, and of course we took the logical path… THE WRONG ONE!

We ended up almost in someone’s backyard with some madman who had a cutlass, calmly sitting in the middle of the road. This is a quite steep road mind you, and the poor Nissan Almera we had was struggling with the slope. Thankfully, someone pointed out that we indeed on the right path but we had taken a shortcut!

Aha!

My fellow travelers were screaming at me for directing them down the wrong path, but little did they know, I was just testing them…. Right!!!!?

We drove and drove, through Castara, Runnymede, Moriah, Les Coteaux to Plymouth and basically straight down to Scarborough.

But the roads traveled here are beautiful and for me, just watching the winding roads into the mountains filled me with quite a sense of wonder.

Pretty much after all this adventure driving, and a lot of misdirection, we did end getting back to the main highway. The goal was really to hit Pigeon Pt again for us, but due to the timing we couldn’t make the beach.

Of course at this time, Gary still had not checked into his hotel (remember we picked him directly from the airport and then went driving), so we proceeded to drop Gary off at his hotel. Upon arrival at his hotel, Gary was shocked to see the room, and I think these have to be the only Indian people who own a hotel in Tobago who had Satsang (Hindu prayer sessions) on a Sunday evening. The air was permeated by the scents of incense and sandalwood. Quite the shock to Gary though. Anyway he retired for a shower and nap till dinner later.

After everything, it was back to eat some KFC and pepper sauce by the pool while drinking a couple Sorrel Shandys. If you have never had a Sorrel Shandy, you are soooo missing out, you have to get to Trinidad to have a cold one on the beach, truly one of life’s little pleasures. After showering, it was off to the Tobago Hilton for dinner. Of course, we could have had a nice dinner on the road but we decided we would be upscale and try an upscale place in Tobago. The Tobago Hilton is located on an old Sugar Plantation and it is quite long drive from the main road to the Hotel, which of course has its own private beach mind you.

This is description of the Hotel from the website

The hotel is located on a 20-acre tropical beachfront, 2.5 miles east of Crown Point International Airport. The hotel overlooks Tobago Plantations’ 18-hole PGA-designed golf course. Features include two world-class tennis courts, three outdoor swimming pools, a fitness centre with sauna, a full-service spa facility, a popularly priced restaurant, a fine dining room and three bar/lounges. A ballroom (4,675 square feet) and two small meeting rooms (825 square feet each)are available.

Pretty much fits the bill, so we went to the Plantation Room for dinner. Well once again, it doesn’t matter where you go in Tobago, the service will be bad. The service was not as horrible as Dillon’s ( then again nothing will be as horrible as Dillon’s) and we were the last diners that night, so I am sure the servers were tired from a long day on a Sunday, so I can excuse some of that, but once again the service reflected the overall nonchalance towards service. I know that Trinis don’t like tourists, but we are generally friendly towards them, in Tobago for an island where tourism is the main industry, it always surprises me how shitty the service in most places can be.

Even in our guest house, the initial service was quite poor, but as the manager explained, the person was new and being trained. The manager at our guesthouse was excellent and indeed made our stay a lot more enjoyable. Arthur’s By The Sea is a small hotel located very close to the airport and within 4 minute walk of both Store Bay and Pigeon Point.