Tobago, Uncharted Waters: Our Trip Itinerary
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| Parlatuvier Beach, Tobago |
Where is Tobago?
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| Fresh fruits At Buccoo, Tobago |
Why did we visit Tobago?
It is a Caribbean island full of sand, sunshine and ocean, so it is perfect for a beach vacation. Furthermore, it is not your average resort island, well it is not a resort island at all, which makes it great of travelers looking for authentic experience. Majority of the tourist in Tobago are local tourist visiting from Trinidad. It is one of those off the beaten track locations with white sand empty beaches.
Our Traveler Profile
Two 30 something travelers with limited time. One vegetarian and one non-vegetarian. We both enjoy water and active life style as well as human interaction and authentic experiences.
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| Englishman's Bay, Tobago |
Our Trip Itinerary at Tobago
Day 1
We arrived Tobago in the morning. After getting our rental car we enjoyed a breakfast at Original House of Pancakes. The restaurant owner was very friendly and we had a great conversation with the owner, as well as the cook and the other clients. After breakfast, we tried some street food (doubles and aloo pie) on the street next to the restaurant.
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| Coconut vendor at Buccoo, Tobago |
Later in the afternoon we checked in to our lovely Guest House. The guest house was relatively a low key place in Buccoo but it was right on the water with spectacular views. We went to a local grocery store in Buccoo to shop for groceries. We also got some fresh coconut juice from a street coconut vendor.
In short, we spent our first day enjoying the ocean and the waves at Store Bay Beach, eating local food and interacting with locals. People have been very friendly and easy to talk to. We slept early our very first day. We were tired due to Tobago being our first stop after a long flight from California and also due to the time difference.
Day 2
On our second day, we enjoyed a breakfast at the restaurant in our guest house. The food was good and what was even better was the views from the guest house.
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| The view from the guest house in Buccoo, Tobago |
This day was our road trip day at Tobago. We drove all the way from Buccoo to Parlatuvier stopping along several beaches and view points along the way. The drive itself was challenging. The roads were windy and narrow. Early in the morning it rained on the road as well making it even more uncomfortable to drive. But it was definitely worth the drive. The beaches we have visited on this road trip were all empty and looked untouched. It felt like we were exploring undiscovered land on an exotic island.
Castara Beach
Our first stop on the road trip was Castara Beach. We liked the waves and spend some time in water. The beach is surrounded by lush green trees creating a great ambience to take contrasting photographs.
Englishman's Bay Beach
Our next stop was Englishman's Bay Beach. In terms beach and water it was similar to Castara beach. But what I liked most about our time in Englishman's Bay Beach was the interaction with people.
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| Englishman's Bay, Tobago |
We ordered buss up shut at the only restaurant on the beach. I think the name is Eula's Restaurant. It is on the right when you park your car and start walking towards beach. The restaurant is managed by a mom and a son. We were the only customers. So we got the whole place to our selves. While the mom was preparing our food, we got a chance to talk to the son - probably in his late 20s. He asked us why we were not eating meat as we have mentioned that when we were ordering our food. We asked him about his US experience upon which he explained that he found it restrictive because of hunting laws. He mentioned he likes to hunt wild ducks as that is what he did growing up. Once the food was ready the mom also joined the conversation. We talked about food, life in Tobago and Caribbean in general, how it is different than life in modern western world. It was a genuine conversation. We enjoyed. We all laughed.
The son helped us bringing a big bucket of water for cleaning our feet right before we got in the car as he saw we were trying too hard not to get any sand in the rental. His help is greatly appreciated. We cannot wait to see the mom and the son again next time we visit Tobago. Tobago is always going to be reminder for me that it is the people what makes a place memorable.
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| Parlatuvier Beach, Tobago |
This was the last point on our road trip before we drive back south again. The beach is longer than Castara and there is a small wharf. My favorite about this beach is the view from top, perfect place for semi-aerial photography. On the way back, we stopped at Castara again for one last dip of the day. Then drove to southern Tobago to Scarborough.
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| Parlatuvier Beach, Tobago |
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| Fort King George |
We have visited Fort King George which is a colonial fort with great views and Scarborough which is the heart (or downtown) Tobago. We ate dinner at Scarborough at one of the local eateries. One thing I observed at downtown was the plenitude of chicken eateries. Later, I found out that Trinidad KFC is the most chicken sold KFC in the world which explained my observation in Tobago.
Day 3
We have spent the morning at Buccoo beach and the early afternoon in Store Bay Beach. We took a boat trip from Store Bay to Buccoo Bay.
Boat Tour to Nylon Pool
Our boat first stopped at Pigeon Point Beach. Pigeon Point beach seemed like it has more options for active sports, jet skis, SUPs and maybe more eateries and facilities. But other than that, it seemed similar to Store Bay beach, we did not stop there and continued with our boat trip. Our second stop of the boat trip was at the Nylon pool. Nylon pool is a narrow section of water around Buccoo Bay which is far from the coast but still very shallow making it a very interesting experience. The bottom is plain sand and has no corals. Next stop was snorkeling at the coral reef. The final stop was at No Man's Land for BBQ in front of Bon Accord Lagoon.
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| Pigeon Point, Tobago |
We booked our boat trip with Frankie's. We didn't realize before booking they were the party boat as described by our guest house host, but we actually end up liking their tours a lot. We had both families and groups of friends onboard and it was a good mix of people. Everybody was friendly. We have constant music on the boat which might have been the only downside. There were times guests and the crew just kept dancing on and on. But, as I said before, it was a pleasant experience for us to watch people just be themselves, and we also got to pick up some new favorite dance songs which until this day I still play and dance to.
Buccoo Sunday School
If you will be in Tobago on a Sunday, go to the Sunday school at Buccoo. It is a street party and it is a must. The steel pan band is performing. The concert is free but donations are gladly accepted. There are food vendors around so you don't need to worry about food. The performance starts after 9.30pm, and goes on to the night. We loved the performance, we loved the music.
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| Pan steel ban at Sunday School at Buccoo, Tobago |
Day 4
We spent half of the day in Store Bay Beach as we loved this beach a lot and it is right next to the airport so we can catch our afternoon flight in 2 minutes. We tried local food at Store Bay for lunch. Their food is delicious and definitely underrated. In the afternoon we took our flight to our next destination, to Barbados.
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| Store Bay, Tobago |
Summary of our Itinerary at Tobago
- Day 1: Store Bay Beach, Buccoo
- Day 2: Castara Beach, Englishman's Bay Beach, Parlatuvier, Scarborough, Fort King George
- Day 3: Boat trip to Nylon Pool and Buccoo Coral Reef, Sunday School concert
- Day 4: Store Bay Beach
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| Buccoo Bay, Tobago |
Next Time
Next time we go to Tobago, we would like to visit:
- Argyle Falls on northeast of the island
- Charlotteville and Pirate's Bay on the northeastern tip of Tobago
- Gilpin Trail
I hope you enjoyed reading my post and got some tips where to visit in Tobago and what to do there.
[End notes: Traveled in 2019 and posted in 2020.]
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