Tobago: Cocoa, fishing communities and historical traces

On Tobago, the history of cocoa stretches from its revival in 2005 to the cultivation of a variety used to make chocolate. Alongside this are the communal fishing practice and historical traces in Buccoo. The origins of the Tobago Harvest Festival also tell a story of the island’s traditions. These topics offer concrete ideas for shaping your trip around your interests.

Cocoa: history and cultivation

In 2005, Tobago’s cocoa industry was revived through the initiative of young Tobagonian and sommelier Duane Dove. This links the industry’s development to a specific date and a named individual. Anyone interested in the history of cocoa will find a special connection to the island here.

Tobago Cocoa Estate is located in the green hills of Roxborough and offers views of the Atlantic Ocean. A cocoa variety known as “fine” or “flavour” cocoa is grown there and used to make chocolate. The cultivation and use of this variety offer a second way to explore cocoa: alongside its history, the product itself takes centre stage.

Local history and communal practices

Buccoo Historical Park is a historic nature park on Golden Grove Estate in Buccoo. Its remains include two watermills, a copra-drying area and an old cocoa building. These diverse relics provide concrete points of reference for local history: watermills, an area for drying copra and a building associated with cocoa. This makes the site tangible to visitors interested in history through more than just a single artefact.

In Tobago’s fishing communities, groups bring the day’s catch ashore using a method called “pulling seine.” The practice is also known as the “tradition of lending hands.” The two names connect the specific act of hauling in the catch with the communal nature of the method. This offers a way to discover fishing not only through its results but also through a named local practice.

The Tobago Harvest Festival

The Tobago Harvest Festival began as a religious harvest thanksgiving for the produce of the island’s villages. The programme described includes a morning service to bless the food and an afternoon concert featuring skits, poems and a cantata by the village choir. The festival’s origins and programme reveal different aspects of it: giving thanks for the harvest and bringing together religious and cultural contributions.

Trinidad and Tobago in broader context

Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, northeast of Venezuela and south of Grenada. The country covers 5,128 square kilometres and consists of the two main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, as well as 21 smaller islands. Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two main islands. This context helps place Tobago as one of the country’s main islands, rather than as an archipelago in its own right.

The Trinidad and Tobago Inter-Island Ferry Service offers daily ferry connections between Trinidad and Tobago. Schedules may change, so check the operator’s information before travelling. The annual Great Race offers another connection between the islands: the powerboat race starts in Trinidad and ends in Tobago. While the ferry runs daily, the Great Race is an annual event. If you would like to include the race in your plans, check the event dates.

When looking for a holiday apartment in Tobago, you can start by considering which topics you would like your trip to focus on: cocoa and its history, communal fishing, or the historical connections of Buccoo and the Harvest Festival. This helps you tailor your search to the discoveries that interest you most. If you would like to explore a subregion of Tobago separately, discover Scarborough.

Discover more destinations: Sangre Grande, Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo, Penal-Debe, Tunapuna-Piarco, Eastern Tobago, San Fernando, San Juan-Laventille.

Back to the main travel overview: Trinidad and Tobago.