Diving Tobago


by Wendy Cooke

As you all know I am very lucky in having a husband who supports me diving but even I was surprised when he said he wanted to go to Tobago on holiday. This is from a man who doesn't like it too hot and really isn't keen on swimming and watersports. However we booked through Travel collection at the Inn on the Bay near Scarborough. This is on the Atlantic coast towards the south of the Island.

Flights to Tobago are direct - but from Gatwick. If you have to fly from there I can recommend booking with hotels like the Ramada Plaza at East Grinstead who charge £90 for one night's accommodation and free parking for 15 days and free transfers to the airport. Another tip -the holiday company said we only had 20 kilos of luggage each but a call to the airline - Excel - and written confirmation that the allowance was in fact 40 kilos each. Actually all my clothes and dive gear came to 24.6 kilos with a few things in Stuart's case!

Then all we had to do was to sit back and relax on the 9 hour flight and re-read the Lonely Planet guide to Diving and Snorkelling Tobago and try to plan all the dives I wanted to do. Diving on Tobago is divided up into 4 distinct areas. I also re-read an article on Tobago diving off the BSAC website which discussed one operator and the type of diving - interesting and useful.

The next day saw us walking a mile down the beach to the Hilton Hotel for World of Watersports. This was the operator I had read about and I was pleased with the professional way in which they approached a new customer. Apart from signing away all your rights as is normal with diving abroad the were headed by English guys who were fully certified PADI instructors etc.

Monday I as collected from my hotel at the civilised hour of 9 am and went off to Mount Irvine Bay on the Caribbean coast for the first dive. We were using a small hard boat with a covered area -based on the local fishing boats. However there was only me and the Marvin, a local dive master, and the boat handler. This is typical of Tobago this year. Hotels are less than half full so everyone is willing to accommodate the requirements of individuals.

A quick check of the equipment and a backward roll and we were straight down to a sandy bottom at 20 metres. On the way down we saw a turtle and shortly after a ray - what a brilliant start. The coral in this area is surprisingly (to me at least) very dull but more than made up for by the amazing shapes - brain corals (just like you imagine a brain to look) and barrel corals predominate but the whole area was one huge coral reef. The fish were everywhere and we saw some more rays - what a good start.

Getting into the boat -no lift or ladder - but an undignified heave over the side - luckily I am used to looking an idiot at this stage! After a break we went in again to Dutchman's Reef which went to about 16m. Similar life but this time we saw 4 cannons which had been left from the time the British, French and Portuguese were disputing ownership of the islands. More eels on this dive and once again vast quantities of fish.

Two days later I as in again with Marvin but this time we had an Australian girl with us who had only dived a few times. Luckily she was competent and as we dived Ray Alley we saw lots of rays, eels, wrasse, parrot fish etc, etc etc. Marvin seemed uncomfortable on the dive and we were back on the boat he said he was having trouble with his regs leaking. I told him that if this happened on the second dive then we were staying down! After about 30 mins he signalled to me that he was going up and handed me the SMB so we continued drifting for another 20 minutes before ascending. Drift dives are a great feature of Tobago - many of the dives are drifts and this provides the opportunity to see lots of life in a very leisurely manner.

The next day we returned to Mount Irvine Bay -not to dive but to snorkel - literally less than 6 feet out from the water's edge there are fish in abundance - including rays and eels. You can float on the surface with only a few feet of water below and it is magic.

By this time I had taken a look at other dive operators towards the north of the island but was worried by how small their operations appeared to be and also their dive centres were rarely open. I had really wanted to do some of the more challenging diving at this end of the island but decided to stay with the company I was with -at least I wouldn't have to do any more test dives.

The next Tuesday we did 2 brilliant drift dives - Marvin said they were each 3 miles long. I think this was an exaggeration but certainly we covered some ground. Maximum depth was 17 meters but the amount of life we saw was amazing - and also much more variety in the corals. Since this was Atlantic diving the sea was much choppier which made the deco stops quite exciting.

The final day we dived the Maverick. This is an old ferry that was purpose sunk for diving. There are 2 engine rooms and a hold to explore. Marvin told me there was silt but in actual fact there was very little and the vis was excellent. The floor of the hold was covered in scallops but I resisted the temptation to gather them. When we surfaced he looked for signs of rust on my fins and wetsuit and when he could see none he told me that I was a good diver! The final dive was again near Mount Irvine. A smallish wall with lobster , crab, eels and turtles and loads of fish.

Marvin offered me a night dive to see sea horses but unfortunately we were due to fly back the next day so I had to decline - and we were delayed!

Diving cost $25 US dollars per dive. I had to cancel one day due to a tummy upset but these weren't charged - although the blurb I had read beforehand suggested they might be. It was lovely not diving in a big group.

Would I go back - well yes there are still masses of dive sites to explore but I don't like the long flights. A live aboard would be great but there are currently no operators offering this on the island. The island is beautiful - very lush and tropical. You can drive round it in a morning if you wish but as there are so any wonderful beaches take time to stop and explore them all. The tropical forest is full of birds and butterflies. We had rain every day - usually short sharp showers so really not a problem.

The down side was the mosquitoes and midges which were a nuisance - but then Scotland has those and we keep on going back. The people are friendly and there is virtually no hassle from beggars. Petrol is cheap, costing £7 for a full tank. You can drink the tap water and the fruit punches are excellent. Go if you can before it becomes too well known and commercialised and enjoy the peace and quiet of the island and the seas that surround it.



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