I have read the comments on this hotel on a few web sites before going on holidays. I am a restaurateur who loves to dive, but I also love to eat and have a good time when I go on holidays, so I was very worried about the food comments in some of the reviews. Thankfully, I thought, we could always go to the other, local restaurants, which have been highlighted by previous commentators.
On out first day at Blue Waters Inn, we hesitantly sat down to lunch, and were surprised at the very good quality of food served. We then tried dinner the same day and were even more surprised at the choice and quality of the food.
It is right that you do not always get a smile from the staff, but we have seen this in many Caribbean islands before.
We were approached by other guests, dive buddies, to join them in the most famous restaurant in Speyside, “Jemma’s”. Now that was a real disappointment!
It took us a while to understand the other commentators, who “disliked “the food at Blue Waters Inn and “recommend” the food in the village.
This has nothing to do with the quality of the food served at the hotel. What the other commentators want is “cheap food”, which is not available in the hotel, but can be purchased in the village of Speyside. It is part of our life as restaurateurs to be discredited by customers who are not willing to spend what our menus require to sustain our operations; it is unfair though to “bad talk” a restaurant’s quality of food and service because one is not willing to spend the monies necessary.
It would be nice to advise other people on this site to ensure that they understand the difference between cheap food and local food. The hotel has some lovely local food on the menu and on the Friday night buffet with the steel band music entertainment.
I agree with the other comments about the rooms. They are clean, but they really need to be renovated. I talked to the manager, Matt, who met us at the hotel bar every evening of our stay, who confirms that the owners of the hotel have decided to renovate the rooms. This would be really nice!
This hotel is all about nature; our kids were playing with four wild turtles in the hotel bay every day!!! We saw the largest manta ray of our diving career. The amount of birds and other wild creatures in this small spot is amazing!
Do NOT go to this hotel, if your idea of a nice holiday is a cheap, all-inclusive, two mile long, white beach with four twenty-four hours buffets going all the time.
If you are looking for a different, remote place that invites you to rest, to come close to nature, to enjoy the simple joys of life, this place is for you!

The hotel was recommended to us by two different people, but what a sad place it turned out to be. The facilities are ok, rooms look fine, beach is just in front, restaurant looks ok too and everything is clean. But the staff is not friendly at all, they are not service minded and even worse, they don't seem to like tourists. Management does not help by just hanging around. Rooms and meals are overrated, it pays to leave the hotel and go to a nearby restaurant. While there is so much fruit on the island, it seems to be very difficult to prepare a healthy breakfast.

The place has a lot of potential. But today it just does not have a 'soul' and for less money you can have more fun anywhere else.

Having stayed at Blue Waters Inn 5 years ago I was very excited about returning and sharing my fabulous experience with my partner. Unfortunately this never materialized as the experience was disappointing.
Upon arrival the receptionist greeted us very coldly. This was a trend that was adopted by all the staff at blue waters with the exception of the gentlemen that raked leaves on the beach every morning. The food at the restaurant was sub par at best. The room was clean but very basic - the drawback was that there isn't a complete wall between the bathroom and the room so there is little privacy to be had.

Also, we were surprised to find out that the hotel is located on a public beach which is accessible by any and everyone. We learned this the hard way as we were enjoying a quiet read on the beach when two bus loads of young rowdy children with a few accompanying adults of the same nature pulled up to the hotel beach. On my way to the bar I was even sexually harassed by one of the adults that accompanied these children. I reported it to the front desk where little notice was taken.

One positive was the dive shop on site. Although the diving in general is far from the best in the world, the reef is in good shape and the shop is close to the best dive sites on the island. One thing to keep in mind is that the boat comes back to the dock after every dive which gives you greater flexibility on which dives you choose. The second dive of the day is normally the more difficult so you might want to sleep in and dive in the afternoon as I did.

I suspect that Blue Waters Inn is still operational today simply because its location is pretty good. It is located on a small bay that is calm and quite beautiful (although there are many such bays in Tobago). Apart from location this hotel has very little going for it. Poor customer service, tasteless food and very basic rooms. My recommendation is to take a day trip out to Speyside rather than stay at Blue Waters. If you decide to stay at Blue Waters Inn don't expect much and you're better off eating at Speyside Inn (opposite the entrance to Blue Waters) as the food there was less expensive and very tasty.

Four of us spent last week at Blue Waters and were very happy with our choice. The location is fabulous with great diving and snorkelling (especially if you take the snorkelling trip to Little Tobago). We found lots of birdlife to see and had a really good tour with a local guide - Newton George.
It's best to work at enjoying yourself - we tried the restaurants in Speyside and Bird Watchers is best. Also recommend the (fairly tough) walk to the top of Flagstaff Hill.
Some reviewers didn't like the hotel restaurant - well it's not brilliant but the whole place doesn't have a great reputaion for cuisine. And some have found the staff unhelpful - our experience was that you got the best results by smiling first!
Overall we enjoyed the northern, more relote end of the island and were very pleased with the hotel choice as Blue Waters location is significantly better than the other Speyside options.