Tantalizing Tobago

Sun and sea, flowers and fish, birds and beauty, and, of course, rest and relaxation

Author: By Christina Tree, Globe Correspondent

Date: SUNDAY, March 29, 1998

Page: M1

Section: Travel

Despite this fame among naturalists, Tobago has changed remarkably little over the more than 25 years since I first visited it. Several decades of ecotourism has, however, taken its toll on the island's best known attraction: Bucco Reef.

A 10-acre spread of once-spectacular live coral, teeming with tropical fish, Bucco is too accessible, sited in shallow water handy to most of the island's inns. Over the last few decades, innumerable visitors (myself among them) have waded around on the coral, with obvious results.

Of course, Tobago still offers plenty of excellent diving and snorkeling, and most visitors now avoid treading on reefs, using their feet instead to explore the magnificent rain forest and nature preserves.

Just 26 miles long, Tobago seems much larger, thanks to winding roads that skirt and thread the mountains that rise to 1,900 feet, dominating the northern two-thirds of the island. It takes more than two hours to drive from the beach-fringed resort area in the south to the sleepy old towns of Charlotteville and Speyside in the north.

Rental cars are plentiful, but I recommend exploring the island at least initially with a knowledgeable taxi driver or one of several local naturalists. I joined a tour led by David Rooks, an internationally recognized ornithologist and president of nonprofit Environment TOBAGO.

We were quickly through Scarborough, the island's main town and cruise port. Turning north along the windward, Atlantic coast, Rooks sketched the island's history, beginning 3,000 years ago with the Arawak Indians, noting 31 changes in government before 1763, when the islandwent to Britain until 1962, when it won independence with Trinidad.

At Roxborough, a beach-blessed fishing village, we turned inland on a well-paved road that wound up and up through dense, green forest.

``The 1760s coincided with the height of the sugar trade, and English planters immediately began streaming in, cutting down the forest,'' Rooks said.

No dummies, those Brits. Recognizing the effects of deforestation on the island's water source, Britain declared the rain forest a Crown Reserve in 1776. According to Rooks, this is the oldest, legally protected (for conservation purposes) forest on the planet. Today, the trail-webbed preserve still has 14,000 acres.

We had reached a trailhead, and boys were ``renting'' out rubber boots. The reason was obvious as soon as we stepped onto the red-mud trail and began trudging up through jungle-thick vegetation. I recognized high bamboo but not much else, simply breathing in the cool fragrance of it all and stopping as David Rooks paused to identify a bird call or examine an exotic fruit or flower.

Tobago, our group learned, counts 210 species of birds, 17 species of mammals, including the crab-eating raccoon and the world's smallest alligator (found only on this island), 23 species of butterfly (including the Blue Emperor), five species of marine turtles, 24 species of snake (none poisonous), 16 species of lizard (including the green iguana), and 14 species of frog.

Jemma's Sea View Kitchen is a species unto itself. A restaurant that's literally a tree house, and also the social center of the village of Speyside, it's known the island over for its reasonably priced, well-seasoned dishes. When not in the kitchen, Jemma herself can frequently be found peeling potatoes under the tree, enjoying the island's best view: the turquoise expanse of Tyrrel's Bay and its green, high-humped islands.

One of these islands is Little Tobago, a wildlife sanctuary also known as Bird of Paradise Island ever since English newspaper mogul William Ingram imported 50 pairs of the rare bird by that name and settled them here in 1909. Unfortunately, they disappeared in the wake of a 1963 hurricane (the last major hurricane to ravage the island), but Little Tobago remains a birder's paradise.

Crossing the bay, we climbed the island's steep entry path, pausing on cue from Rooks just below the first clearing.

``He's always there,'' Rooks assured us, and he was: an exquisite blue-gray tanager, obligingly posing on a rain barrel. But the real payoff for the climb came at the top: seemingly hundreds of long-tailed, red-billed tropical birds, wheeling and soaring above their nests in the steep cliffs.

The small beach at Little Tobago offers good snorkeling, but a truly spectacular reef lies in 20 to 110 feet of water off neighboring Goat Island. Through the glass bottom of our boats, we stared unbelievingly at a huge (16 feet across) brain coral, tree-sized stag coral, and sea fans, brightly colored giant tube sponges, at trumpet fish, parrotfish, and file fish galore, even a huge sea turtle.

Obviously, many parts of this ``Japanese Garden'' are also visible with snorkels, and the area is a famous dive site with the several attractive inns in Speyside all catering to divers -- experienced divers. The nutrient-laden crosscurrents that nourish these reefs are strong, making for tricky diving.

From Speyside, the road loops another three miles over the hills to Charlotteville, a beautiful old port with an end-of-the-world feel. One long street runs the length of the beach, and houses are stepped above, circled by hills flaming with orange immortalle trees.

On the day I visited Charlotteville, one small cruise ship, the sleek, five-masted Windstar, was moored in the harbor. Talking with several of her passengers, I learned that good snorkeling and beaching were to be found here, too, just over the hill.

Seasoned Tobago visitors tend to split their stay between Charlotteville or Speyside and an inn in the Crown Point or Lowlands areas at the southern end of the island. The logistics of getting to and from Tobago support this split: Direct flights from Miami and San Juan to the Crown Point airport tend to arrive late in the day, and return flights depart first thing in the morning. A long drive to and from the airport on either end is simply unappealing.

The southern end of the island, moreover, has its own charm. Certainly the beaches -- including several public strands like Pigeon Point and Mount Irvine Bay -- are exceptional. Several resorts, notably Coco Reef, Le Grand Courlan, and Arnos Vale, offer my ultimate luxury in life: warm, clear, and calm Caribbean water so close to your room that you can slip out of bed for a pre-breakfast swim.

Obviously it takes a few vegging days to begin really ``liming'' (the Tobago word for chilling), and after a day of beaching, there are some superb restaurants to try, like the island fare prepared by Montreal-bred Cynthia Glovis at Karawak Village in Crown Point and both the food and atmosphere at the old sugar mill at Arnos Vale.

There are also more birds, flowers, and fish to be seen in this area than on many entire islands. It was at Arnos Vale that we spotted a small apparition with a turquoise hood, bright red breast, a green back, and a long tail ending in a flare of feathers shaped for all the world like tennis rackets. I've since looked him up and discovered he is just a common (in Tobago) blue-crowned motmot.

On another day, I visited Argyle Falls just west of Roxbury, a haunting place. The high, three-stepped cascade is set well back in the deep greenery of another former plantation. And halfway up the leeward, Caribbean side of the island is Englishman's Bay, a beach so pristine and with snorkeling so satisfying that it's a puzzle no one else was there.

Obviously, all this natural beauty is scarily vulnerable to potential development. Snorkelers still wade around Bucco Reef, more than 1,500 new rooms in brand-name hotels are said to be in the works (ground was recently broken for a Hilton, and its 18-hole golf course), and pressures on all Tobago's natural attractions will inevitably mount.

At present, however, Tobago remains one of the most beautiful and least-spoiled islands in the Caribbean. Locals are genuinely friendly and helpful. Lodging ranges from budget-priced guesthouses to widely scattered, low-slung, independently owned resorts and includes a choice of apartments and cottages.

Plan to come for Easter weekend, one of the most colorful of the year. The big event is goat and crab racing in Mount Pleasant and Bucco.

Getting There: American Airlines (800-433-7300) departs Boston at 12:11 p.m., with a switch to American Eagle in San Juan, arriving at 8:20 p.m.; round-trip fare is from $420 midweek. BWIA's service from Boston (800-292-1183) is via a domestic carrier to Miami or New York with a change in Trinidad; from $455.

Staying there: At the Southern end of the island, Coco Reef Resort (800-221-1294) is our choice. A Caribbean-style resort with 1990s' flair, the resort has a beach, a protected lagoon, outstanding dining, and a spa.

Mt. Irvine Bay Hotel (868-639-8871; fax 868-639-8800), also a nicely designed luxury resort, features an old sugarmill at the center of its restaurant, plus an 18-hole golf course. Reasonably priced Karawak Village (868-639-8442; fax 639-8441) lacks a beach (shuttle service is available to Pigeon Point) but makes up for it with fine food and friendliness. Facilities include a pool and a teak and thatch garden pavilion, site of daily yoga. Plantation Beach Villas (868-639-9377; fax 868-639-0455) are attractive two- and three-bedroom villas a short walk from the beach. Arnos Vale Hotel (868-639-2881; fax 868-639-4629) offers rooms and cottages of units ranged below the old plantation house, with a secluded beach and good snorkeling.

At the northern end of the island, the Blue Waters Inn (800-742-4276) in Speyside is a small, idyllic, beachside inn with pleasant rooms and some efficiencies, set in the grounds of an old plantation. Manta Lodge (800-544-7431) in Speyside and geared to divers also offers pleasant public and guest rooms, a pool, and beach. In Charlotteville, there have been good reports about Man O' WarCottages at Charlotte (868-660-4327; fax 868-660-4328).

Naturalist Tours: David Rooks (868-639-4276; fax 868-639-5440) offers birdwatching and rain forest walks. Pat Turpin of Man O' War Cottages and Renson Jack (868-660-4077) specialize in birdwatching tours in the rain forest.

General tours: Every Tobago visitor has their favorite taxi/tour guide. Mine is Hayes Cowie-Clarke (868-639-1613).