The Beach
If location is everything in creating a perfect holiday, then Castara Retreats is close to perfection.
Castara is a small fishing village of 500 inhabitants on the Caribbean coast of the island, just 50 minutes drive from the airport at Crown Point. Backed by the oldest protected rainforest in the Western Hemisphere, the village residents support themselves with a combination of fishing, tourism and environmental work. The beach is only a few minutes walk down a winding footpath. It is ideal for swimming, body surfing, sunbathing, wandering along the sand to buy a drink, choosing freshly caught fish for dinner, or a friendly chat with the locals. The sea in the bay offers excellent bathing and snorkeling, and is much less susceptible to the currents that can cause problems on the Atlantic coast.
The village is a four-minute walk down the road. Pick up home made bread on Wednesdays and Saturdays, reserve a table for the evening at Marguarite's excellent restaurant, or order a take away, or collect provisions from the stores. The shops are simple, the people are delightful, and the mangoes are plentiful.
Take a longer stroll to Little Bay (10 minutes) to snorkel over the world class coral reef that begins a few feet away from the shore; parrot fish, angel fish and sting rays are a few of the everyday sights on the reef among the fan and brain coral. Then have a drink or eat at the beach restaurant or in the village.
Or turn inland just before the village by the side of the stream and head into the rainforest and spot tree frogs and Cocrico birds hiding in the foliage, before reaching the waterfall that cascades into a rock pool surrounded by hanging lianas.
Fishing is practised by the boats in the bay, and pulling in the nets onto the shore is an activity for all the community, and whoever on the beach wishes to lend a hand.
