Is it sad that I have NEVER heard of Tobago until it popped up on Sunwing‘s “Black Friday Vacation Deals” advertisement? Once I researched its location I knew this was going to be our 2020 winter vacation spot. Why?  Because my sister-in-law and I were looking for an Island that was HOT HOT HOT, and boy did we get it when we chose Tobago as our destination.  Is there such as thing as TO HOT? Maybe to us Canadians! 😁    

After doing a little research I found out that Tobago is a little Island in the Caribbean that completes the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, located just off the coast of Venezuela. While Trinidad is very industrial (and from reviews not very safe)- Tobago is a more laid back – tourist location (and a lot safer to explore). The locals told us when we seen a time for a certain activity advertised make sure you assume its “TOBAGO TIME” meaning arrive 1-2 hours later 😂.    

Resort: Starfish, Tobago (3 star rating) 

As I mentioned in my Bahamas blog post, for our winter vacations we usually always stay at all inclusive resort. Why? – Mainly for the convenience.  We opted to stay at Starfish Resort,  since we enjoyed the smaller resort in the Bahamas, we wanted a smaller resort this time as well. The resort is only rated as a 3 star and I would say that is fair.  My favourite thing about this resort is that EVERY ROOM has an ocean view – that’s an extra cost at most resorts! What a great place to walk out of your room and your right on the beach – watching the sunset from your own balcony. The rooms were clean – yes they could use updating, and the beds were a bit uncomfortable – but it was what we expected being a 3 
star resort. 

The major complaint I would have to say was FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT. There was lack of a selection – for dinner what was served,  was served – not a lot of variety and with children this makes it a bit more difficult. The service was on “Tobago Time” so if you missed breakfast because you wanted to stay in bed longer one morning – there was nothing to eat until lunch buffet was open – and it was always opened late, along with the beach bar grill. As for the entertainment – there was some but not enough to keep the kids engaged. 

The resort sits on Great Courland Bay which is a nesting ground for leather-back turtles. March is known to be a good month to stay here in hopes of seeing one of these leather-backs climb the steep slope of the beach to lay their eggs. Or if your lucky watch the eggs hatch. 

Would I stay here again? Maybe – I loved the Island and it was a great view to wake up to every morning and watch amazing sunsets at night – but not with children there was little for them to do and keeping them entertained daily just with swimming was hard (they advertised free water sports but the person in charge was barely ever there on time to open the hut).  This resort has great potential – all it needs is a bit more organization. A side note –  from the reviews of other travellers on our way back home- our resort sounded a lot better then some of the 4-5 star resorts others stayed at as they were saying their resorts ran out of food and drinks. 

Excursions:

One of the excursions that I wanted to complete while in Tobago but didn’t have the opportunity was doing the Bioluminescence tour. It was cancelled during the time we were there for unknown reasons. For those that don`t know – Bioluminescence alge has a type of chemical reaction that makes it glow – looking like the water is sparkling at night. I linked some google images so that you could see some pictures :). 

Private Island Escape Tour: Since there were 7 of us we opted to complete an Island tour privately – that way we would have better views and would be able to stop and go as we please. Our tour guide was very patient and well educated on Tobago’s history. He was a bird watcher so would stop the van whenever he saw a bird that he thought we would be interested in.  Most of the islands history and living is on the outside as they have a small rain-forest directly in the middle. What a view!  Some of the islands trees would get so green, depending how close we were to the protected rain-forest, of course the deeper you went into the forest the darker and greener it got.  We stopped and seen many of the islands beaches, fishing villages, forts, bays and ate at one of the most popular restorations Jemmas Treehouse– it is literally a tree house at the edge of the ocean! It was nice to eat a meal that everyone enjoyed. Breadfruit pie is one of the main local dishes – a must order. We opted for an 8 hour tour as a 12 hour the kids would have started to get restless (and 8 hours was even too long 😂). 

The next excursion that we went on was horse back riding. Healing with Horses is the company we used to go horse back riding. I personally opted out of this excursion as they only had 6 horses, but the rest of the family went. When they returned – they told me everything they did and really enjoyed it! (Started to get a bit jealous I didn’t go! My advice is that if your traveling with a large group of people and want to do something like this to book in advance before getting to your vacation spot – not like us the day before ☺️) The bus took them from the resort to the spot where the horses are kept – each horse chooses its rider, so the horse you want may not be the horse you get. The horse my daughter ended up getting was just as wild as she was so it was a perfect match!  They traveled down the small towns, along the beach, going into the water, and back to the stables. You get wet so bring cloths that are easy to dry.  

Im sure you’re asking what I did when they all went horse back riding? I took some ME time – sun bathed at the beach (I love the beach and smell of the ocean) so it was nice not being by the pool for once as the kids loved the pool better. I spoke to some locals that live on the beach – the beaches in Tobago are all public so the resort does not own the beach therefore; anyone can come and enjoy the beautiful beach – but it didn’t have tons of people, most were from the resort. 

If I were to go back I would defiantly opt to do a longer hike in the rainforest – there are more falls to view the deeper in the rainforest you go. Tobago is being over burden by bamboo so you see bamboo everywhere – our Island tour guide told us its becoming quite the problem. Have you ever been to Tobago? Where did you stay? What did you enjoy the most? I hope I can encounter someone how has seen the turtles nesting – this would be amazing to see! 

Thanks for reading! Until next time friends & remember to live~laugh~e amar!