Picture an island paradise with cloud-shrouded green hills and palm lined white beaches and chances are you’ve just pictured Tobago. The island, once known as ‘The Secret Caribbean’, is a self contained paradise and was the setting for Daniel Defoe’s tale of adventure ‘Robinson Crusoe’. Some local guides will even show you the exact cave that was included in the book.

Totally unspoilt, this paradise isle has no high rise horrors or beach enclaves hiding behind perimeter fences and it is outside the hurricane belt. It’s real charm lies in the fact that it is the only island where you can experience the spirit and lifestyle of the Caribbean as it must have been 50 or 60 years ago when only the rich and famous visited such exotic destinations.

Wooden shacks, fishermen selling their catches, roadside stores and women carrying their loads above their heads are as much a part of Tobago as the luxury hotels. This is a friendly island where the hummingbird population outnumbers the human one and the pace of life is slow to static. Read on…