Castara, The Unspoilt Caribbean

Castara has a beautiful golden beach, safe for swimming and snorkelling, as well as just lazing about in the sunshine. For a mini adventure take a short walk to the waterfall, about 15 minutes down a track from the football pitch, and look for some of Tobago's many birds. Take a boat cruise with Ali Baba's tours to see the island from a different angle, and sip rum punch sundowners on the balcony at Cascreole.

Quick Tips:

The excellent clear water and safe beach make Castara a great place to try snorkelling for the first time. Once you find your feet, so to speak, there is an excellent little reef just offshore and a secret hidden beach round the rocks at the north end of the beach.

Best Way To Get Around:

Castara is about a 40 minute drive from Scarborough, or slightly longer from the airport at Crown Point. The public transport system in Tobago leaves a little to be desired, as maxi taxis are the only way to get around if you don't hire your own vehicle. It takes a while to get used to driving on the roads here, they are narrow, winding and undulating, and everybody claims right of way. Use the horn rather than the gearstick and you will work out fine!

The Naturalist was our base for a two week stay on Tobago, located just a stone's throw from the beach in the picturesque village of Castara. We stayed in King Fish room at the front of the building, which has a small private area out front with sun loungers, but is covered over allowing you to sit out in the rain. The room was reasonably sized for three people to share, with an en-suite shower and toilet and a small kitchen dining area, with a kettle, fridge and hotplate. There was one double bed and two bed settees in the room, which folded out to make double beds.

Marian the housekeeper will change the towels and bedding every day, but in an effort to save water and energy you are advised to reduce this to every other day. Breakfast is also provided on request.

Ancle George, the owner, is somewhat of a local entrepreneur and is also constructing an internet cafe and coffee bar next door to the guest house, which should be open by the end of the summer.

Owned by Larisse (Max) and his wife Hazel, L&H is a typical Caribbean style of restaurant. Situated on the upstairs balcony above Max's general store, it is open to the air, whatever the weather, and has great views over the palms and golden sand on the beach at Castara. Swifts perch on the electricity line, and nest up under the eaves.

Hazel provides friendly gossip about the villagers and tourists in and around Castara, whilst providing good quality, home-cooked meals. The choice is the usual chicken or fish, caught fresh that morning, served with rice and beans. Occasionally crab and dumplin' make the menu, and there is usually the chance to sample some particularly Caribbean foods, such as breadfruit pie, dasheen, fried plantain and callalou. The callalou is a must try food. It is made from the leaves of the dasheen plant (known as taro in some areas), and looks quite unappetising, all green and slimy, but is absolutely lovely!

Unfortunately L&H won't be around much longer as development is planned for the fishermens co-operative building next door. Hopefully Hazel and Max will find a new building in Castara soon and keep up the good work.

Cascreole is the largest of four small restaurants in Castara, located over the bridge by the beach. Inside is decorated to look like an underwater scene, with cut-outs of fish suspended from the ceiling. Test your knowledge of Caribbean reef fish by trying to identify them! There is a palm thatched balcony out front, overlooking the beach, which is an ideal spot for a rum punch as the sun goes down.

Cascreole offers the usual rice and beans, with a choice of chicken, fish or pork for between TT$50 and TT$75 (approximately £5 to £7), making it one of the most expensive places in Castara. Rum punch was around TT$12 for a bucketful, which compensates slightly. The Carib brewery was on strike whilst I was in Tobago so beers were very limited, but usually are around TT$6 to TT$9.

Cascreole is the only place open for food on Sundays and public holidays (of which there are many!).

The golden sands on the beach at Castara is fringed with coconut palms, and washed by crystal clear water. Brightly coloured fisherman's pirogues bob in the waves, and pelicans and frigatebirds dive for fish.

Castara is one of the few villages in Tobago where the fishermen still cast a seine net off the beach, in the traditional style. They pull the net ashore spilling silvery tunas and anchovies onto the sand, where the catch is divvied up between those who helped. They are not keen on being photographed, as they see themselves as workers rather than tourist attractions, but will gladly let you join in with hauling the net. It is not as easy as it looks, and my soft hands were soon blistered from the rope, but they manage to make it look effortless. I was told it was an art, about skill rather than strength, as they laughed at my feeble attempts!

Most of the catch are cleaned on the sand, and the fish trash thrown back into the sea. Giant southern stingrays come in to gobble up the guts, and although they look fearsome they are harmless. It can be quite alarming when you first see the dark shadow in the water (especially if you are neck deep and they are between you and the shore) but they will turn away if you splash the water. They are quite curious fish however, and will come close and inspect you, sometimes rubbing up like a cat round your legs, if you remain still.

Take a snorkel and make a swim about 20m offshore, where there is a small reef of brain corals and elkhorn corals, filled with a rainbow of tiny fish, and some not so small. I saw an eagle ray fly by, and a large group of alien-looking cuttlefish.

The beach is very clean, and is swept every morning to remove any litter left by users or washed up from the sea. It is patrolled by lifeguards from 9am to 6pm, except on thursday afternoon when they train at Store Bay. Brian and LJ are both champion lifeguards, having been in the winning team at the Caribbean championship in St. Lucia, so you are in safe hands.

The lovely Ali Baba (Brian) arranged us a day trip on his boat from Castara to Charlotteville in the far north of Tobago. Unfortunately, he couldn't come with us, but left us in the capable hands of Anaconda (Owen) and Gaston. Conda has been a fisherman since he was 10 years old and knows the waters around Tobago like the back of his hand. He threw out a few lines from the back of the boat and we fished for our tea, catching 9 bonito (small tunas) for the BBQ and re-releasing some tiddlers back to the sea.

Round the headland from Castara is the hidden beach at Englishman's Bay, then the picturesque village of Parlatuvier in a natural harbour. Then we headed out to a group of rocks known as the Sisters, where pelicans and boobies roost and magnificent frigatebirds glide like pterodactyls overhead. The fishermen from Castara head out here to fish for kingfish, jacks and dolphin (a fish, not the flipper kind!).

We stopped just off a small sandy cove in Man'o'War Bay to snorkel. One member of our group was not a confident swimmer, and utterly terrified of snorkelling so Conda took her in with a buoyancy aid and held her, pointing out all the corals and fish as they swam round. By the end she felt far more comfortable and relaxed in the water. Gaston also joined us in the water and pointed out fish, but he tells us his speciality is the rainforest and leading treks on the land.

In the shallows were thousands of tiny juvenile fish, in rainbows of bright colours. Further out these were being herded by menacing looking barracuda, which kept a respectful distance from us as we swam.

Visited Charlotteville for lunch (flying fish and chips- excellent!) followed by some relaxing on the boat and beach. We made a leisurely sunset cruise back to Castara for a BBQ of all the fish we caught and a few chilled Carib beers with Ali Baba, Conda and Gaston.