It can be difficult even on holiday to let go of all the little things that stress you out.

A simple trip to the beach can end up being a shopping list of things you are liable to forget - suncream, insect repellent, towel, cash, camera...

But in Tobago, the art of liming' - sitting around, doing not very much at all - is practically a national pastime and, after just a week, I was a natural.

Azure, cobalt, aquamarine, turquoise, ultramarine, indigo, lapis - if someone could show me a colour chart I might possibly be able to discern the shades but, suffice to say, Tobago's coastline is simply breathtaking.

Taking a boat trip around the island offers glimpses of nothing but completely deserted palm-fringed beaches with no sign of habitation, thick, lush rainforest, coconut palms jutting out at the top of hilly ranges as well as a wealth of both under- and over-water wildlife.

It could be a forgotten heavenly kingdom, a magical paradise - if it weren't for the booming Soca music coming out from our boat driver's sound system.

We spotted brown boobies (no giggling) diving into the sea and emerging with their gullets full of fish, pelicans with their comical bills taking a break on the rocks, pterodactyl-like birds which turned out to be frigates zooming overhead, bats resting under fruit trees in the daylight and hummingbirds zipping over our villa's pool.

And underwater at Paradise Beach - every island has one, but at this one the over-the-top name almost felt justified - a stingray swam between my legs, and a hundred aquariums' worth of jewel-like fish could be seen feasting on the reefs.

But for our top animal experience, driving back through the rainforest one evening from picturesque colonial village Charlotteville, we braked sharply for what we thought was a log.

It wasn't - it was a python, slithering across the road. I jumped out to take a photograph and, as my flash went off, it paused worryingly for just a second...

Like most former British colonies, the tiny island - measuring just 26 miles by seven - has a less than happy history.

The 90 per cent black African population is largely made up of the descendants of slaves shipped in to work on the sugar and cocoa plantations.

And the fantastic steel pan music, calypso and carnival atmosphere for which Tobago and sister island Trinidad are famous for, are borne out of that racial tension and historic struggle for freedom.

The make-up of the population and the fact we arrived in the off-season and stayed away from the more touristy Crown Point area meant that there were times that my friends and I were the only white faces in the crowd - a novel experience.

And, as a white woman in somewhere like Tobago, you sure get a lot of attention - ranging from elderly men asking you to dance at the raucous Sunday School party at Buccoo Beach, to young men asking for a lift, inviting you to their grandma's birthday barbecue on the beach or simply just making sure you know where the "liming spot" is that night in the hope that you might be up for some "wining" (raunchy hip-centric dancing).

We put up a beach shelter tent on stunning Bacolet Beach - reputedly where the Beatles frolicked - and, within seconds, were swarmed with local children, asking about the tent, trying to borrow our snorkels, and attempting to braid our hair.

Whereas in other places I have visited like Thailand, where you cannot stop for even a second without someone trying to sell you something, Tobagonians eschew the hard sell.

If someone comes up to you, they are probably just striking up a conversation.

And as the local girls wear beach outfits as revealing as the average Brit's, there is no need to keep covered up for fear of offending anyone's religious sensibilities - as long as you don't mind the guys taking a good long look.

While it is tempting to spend all day liming on the beaches, Tobago has far more to offer.

Scarborough, the island's capital, is a buzzing, vibrant place to be.

People-watching in the UK is pretty over-rated; in Scarborough it's one of the most fascinating ways to while away a couple of hours over a few Carib beers or some devastating rum punch.

Tobagonians cart entire sound systems around with them, stopping occasionally to lime with a few friends.

Everyone really does have dreadlocks and Rasta hats (well, nearly), and even the hilariously pimped-up cars bear messages of goodwill, such as God Bless' and Be Happy'.

Indeed, just hopping in the car for a short journey can be more eventful than planned. Stopping for petrol at Roxborough, we were confronted with the sign no gas'.

Then we were told that there wouldn't be another delivery that day and, despite a valiant effort from one of our party to siphon gas from one car to the other, it proved entirely unsuccessful.

Consequently, we had to go back to Scarborough with one person in the boot of the car and return later with petrol.

On another trip, we stopped at a roti (a delicious snack which is essentially curry wrapped in Indian bread) stall only to be told they had sold out.

The tattoo-clad, gold-toothed woman asked if we were hungry. When we said yes, she called her sister who turned up five minutes later with lunch for us, before hopping into her car and leading us to the waterfall we were seeking.

Surprises lurked behind every corner, whether it was a massive hole in the road (the size of our car), a lovingly repaired fence on the worst piece of road on which I have ever driven, or a group of men on foot with beagles.

When we asked them what they were hunting, they told us they were after armadillos.

So laidback and friendly were the locals, we stopped to ask a man carrying a makeshift machete for the directions to the local butchers without any qualms.

In retrospect, perhaps not the smartest move but, despite the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's dire warnings about high crime rates on the island, including violent attacks on British nationals, at no point did I feel threatened.

Apart, perhaps, from when we decided to follow what appeared on the map to be a reasonably well-used track to the idyllic Pirate Bay.

After driving up an increasingly rugged track with a sheer drop on one side protected only by a few palm trees, we were dismayed to find there was no parking space at the top - nor anywhere to turn around.

So we had to reverse halfway down the sheer track then execute a 103-point turn on a wide corner along the track - not forgetting to carefully wedge a couple of bricks in front of the wheels of the car, just in case.

Tobago is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - and one of the most relaxing.

More than just a place to recharge your batteries, a place to find your centre again and just slow down and take it easy.

We travelled with XL.com, with return flights priced at £349, and stayed at Villa Seabreeze, in Bacolet, Tobago. The villa has six bedrooms, five en suite, and sleeps 11 comfortably. It also has a swimming pool and a jacuzzi and comes with a maid and a gardener and access to a private beach shared by four other villas.

It costs £1,650 a week to rent (and yes, we paid) except over Christmas and New Year, when it costs £2,000.

2:45pm Wednesday 31st October 2007

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