Dear Fellow Diver,
My companion and I had just finished a current drift
with the Blue Waters folks, when she noticed an autograph -
- Vivienne Slear -- on the tank she had used. "Who's this,
a celebrity?" she asked the divemaster.
"Oh," he said with a laugh, "that lady spent twentyseven
hours at sea." Turns out Ms. Slear, I was told, was
drift diving here last March, when she decided to surface
early. After a long safety stop that separated her from
the group, she reached the surface, where she could see
the boatman, but he couldn't see her.
I couldn't get a clear story about why they didn't
quickly find her -- seems to me every boat on Tobago should
have been looking -- but she was without a safety sausage
and drifted from the Atlantic to the Caribbean, around the
point, down the west coast, and past Bloody Bay. When she
finally climbed out, she had all of her equipment except
her mask, which she lost in the surf. So, I suppose, she
is somewhat of a diving celebrity -- after all, she even
wanted to dive the next day, but her legs were cramped.
Tobago's currents move right along, so unless you have
logged enough dives to be comfortable, this is no place to
come. In fact, at Book Ends, waves were four+ feet and the
froth looked like steamed milk on a Starbuck's cappuccino.
The divemaster said it would clear at six feet, but one
experienced current diver balked at backrolling into zero
visibility. "No thanks," he said, he would remain on
board. So the dive guide agreeably moved to a less threatening
site.
For the most part diving here isn't difficult, but it's
regimented PADI/NAUI style, as the following article will
explain. And today, everyone gets a safety sausage for the dives. Women are asked to sit in the back of the thirty-three foot boat, men in
the front, for short trips to the sites. Tanks and BC's are piled on the deck.
Gear up, with help of the crew, backroll together at the count of three. Descend
quickly, follow the lead divemaster, slowly with the current, stay head of the
trailing divemaster who drags a tethered basketball-sized float to mark the
divers. After forty minutes surface together and wait for the boat.
Regimentation had a downside. In heavy swells, the divemaster insisted the
dozen divers enter the water at once, so the gunwales were packed; the diver next
to my buddy flipped back a second late and banged her tank so hard on my
partner's head that she saw stars. The next time, she refused to roll with the
group, and the divemaster had no complaint.
Angel Reef was a typical dive: a slow current, past beautiful soft corals. At
times, fish were few, but then we'd move into great schools of gray chromis,
Creole wrasse and black durgeons as we drifted past stacks of plate corals and a
great field of colorful finger corals shimmering in the sunlight. I spotted a
lobster, an eel, and a large porcupine fish with glittering eyes. Occasionally,
black, French or queen angels would drift in for a gander. Visibility 60-70 feet;
water 78 to 81 degrees, air 80 plus.
Blue Water Inn – Rooms on the left; Dive Shop on the right. |
At Chinese Garden, three foot swells made it difficult to don gear. It calmed
underwater, where great numbers of wrasse,
beautiful mahogany snappers, Caesar
grunts, and swarms of chromis swam.
Throughout the dive the current shifted,
at times requiring me to kick up slope so
as not to be pulled down, then face downward
and kick, so as not to be pulled up -
- all the while drifting along. Visibility
dropped to 40 feet, occluded by wriggling
fry. The sun appeared at the end of
the dive, illuminating brilliant corals
and grey and brown sea whips, and two
large turtles.
While I can assure you that Tobago
diving rates among the best in the
Caribbean, so does the island itself.
Reaching the Inn from the airport requires
a beautiful winding drive on a narrow
road, through little villages with friendly people. Ninety minutes later, smack
on its own bay, surrounded by forest, is the Blue Waters Inn, a smart and lovely
little hotel with a few suites and pleasant rooms in three two-story buildings. Furnished with cushioned wicker-like chairs, comfy queen-sized or twin beds, an
open closet, built-in desk, tiled bathroom with a shower/tub, and a small deck,
rooms are a stone's throw from the water. Beach-side rooms have a walkway in
front, which requires keeping the drapes closed for privacy, so I prefer the
second floor, though the ocean view is largely blocked by the branches of tall
sea grape trees.
Because Trinidad and Tobago is a birder's paradise, guests were split between
birders and divers. But in the open, beach side bar, divers held down most of
the barstools and tables after 5pm. Carib beer ran $1.50, and $4 got you exotic
tropical drinks. Meals are served in the adjacent dining room, but the lunch
menu served in the bar -- flying fish sandwich or hamburger and french fries $4, chicken salads with nice veggies around
$5 -- would often suffice for dinner.
(tip: it's an accommodating kitchen; if
you want something off-menu, ask for it).
While I didn't think much of the American/
European style dining room dinners,
island-style meals were fine: for
example, black eyed pea soup with local
spices, a nice salad, then either chicken
curry or a local speciality, goat, accompanied
by dasheen and spicy string beans,
and concluded with sweet local ice cream
was a winner. Have a glass of vin ordinaire or upgrade to a bottle of Ernest
and Julio's Savignon Blanc. Service was
pleasant and efficient.
Don't take the meal plan; you don't
save money and besides, the area has the
Caribbean's best local food. Take a
fifteen-minute walk to Jemma's, a small
local restaurant, or drive ten minutes to
Sharon's ten-table restaurant in picturesque
Charlottesville. Sharon rattles off her local specialities: fish soup,
a fresh green salad, fresh Creole shrimp or fish, local pork chops, bok choy,
plantain, sweet potato, dasheen. Two full meals, two local rums, two beers: $21.
Aquamarine Dive is next to the hotel. When I arrived, I displayed my c-card,
filled out a release, and explained my gear needs. For each dive -- 10:30 and
1:30 dives -- the staff puts out aluminum tanks, divers assemble their gear, and
the staff carts it down the driveway to the dock; there's a dockside briefing,
and after the dive, they return the tanks to the shop. While the local divemasters
are a playful bunch with one another, they put on game face when talking to
their customers, becoming all business; underwater, they're a skilled bunch, no
doubt.
...When you come this far, you’d
like to get bottom time, but
that’s not going to happen.... |
Mantas are common in the spring, but I
visited in mid-November, the cusp of the
June-to-November rainy season. Sea squalls
punctuated nearly every day, blowing in
buckets of rain for up to half an hour,
then clearing for a few hours till another
squall showed. The rain did not affect the
dives, or for that matter, us. Along a
drift at Flying Manta, off nearby Little Tobago island, the dominant species of
coral changed frequently. Ahead in the mist I spotted a Scottish hillside,
dotted with boulders and bright green grass, but closer it became hundreds of
barrel sponges tilted toward the current, with algae and bright green sponges
giving verdant hues. Clouds of fish, an open file clam under a rock, and a king
mackerel. And a yellowhead wrasse carried what seemed to be a thin stick of
coral in its mouth; he batted it against a larger piece of coral to break it off,
then consumed the smaller piece in his mouth. Then he picked up the broken piece,
repeat the batting, consumed what was left in his mouth, and did it again. Smart
fellow.
At Pipeline, the depth limit was set at 55 feet, but I dropped to the sand bottom at nearly 100 ft. Moving
up, the reef was filled with as
many fish as I've seen on any
Caribbean reef; great schools of
blue chromis, Creole wrasse, hundreds
of black durgeons, schools
of snappers, cotton wicks, grunts,
and a sting ray in the sand. When
you come this far, you like to get
bottom time, but that's not going
to happen. Black Jack Hole is
typical: drift at 50 feet for a 45
minute dive and surface with 1400
psi. Here I saw a sizeable school
of what the locals call "salmon" -- rainbow runners -- and stroked the tail of a
5-foot nurse shark.
Tobago is a great place. While I prefer to rent a car for the week (about
$250+), getting a cab from the airport ($40) may be just as easy, then walk or
cab around Speyside, and rent a car for a couple days from the Hotel (best to
reserve ahead). Hike the road behind the hotel past lagoons. Hire a boatman to
450 acre little Tobago to hike the hills and see tropic birds skimming the skies,
booby nests, flycatchers, and other species. Drive to the Richmond Great House
for lunch, where you can see loads of African art owned by an American who was
once a professor of African History at Columbia. (PS: If you're a serious diver,
don't even consider the large hotels on Tobago's southwestern side; there's poor
diving and anyhow they cart people up here daily -- three hours round trip -- for
the diving).
The serious diver might find the diving regimentation too stiff for such a
long trip from home. So here's an option, written by an English diver who was in
Speyside the same time I was. He, and his wife, who have run their own diving
operations in the Mediterranean and Red Sea, are British Sub Aqua Club National
Instructors with more than thirty years' diving experience. They expected more
than I -- and got it.
Ben Davison
* * * * *
Because I hoped for more than American style tourist diving, I contacted the
Trinidad & Tobago Tourist Organisation to locate someone to meet our level of
experience. I received an impressive four page proposal from Sean Robinson of
Tobago Diving Experience, at the Manta Hotel, stating they were the oldest and
most professional diving organisation in Tobago and could offer advanced early
morning diving. We duly booked for two weeks.
By the state of their equipment they certainly looked the oldest, but the only
professional thing I discovered was their charges, about the highest on the
island. Furthermore, they offered the usual PADI/NAUI American system of mixed
ability, leading groups where the dive was conducted according to the least able
diver -- often an outright beginner. We usually had to wait for one or two
people brought up from the other end of the island -- a ninety-minute journey --
so the usual departure time was 10-10.30 a.m.
They scheduled the second dive after no more than a two-hour surface interval
-- at least it was not back to back, but still a rather provocative pattern, as
we European divers know. Then again, it is fairly safe when the first dive is no more than 21 metres (70 feet)
and the second 15 metres (50
feet) -- a typical American
PADI/NAUI influence. When we
were told we were going on a
deep dive, it meant all of 27
metres (90 feet)! Not the
advanced diving we had expected.
However, while surviving two
boat breakdowns, inadequate
anchor, no spare fuel, tools or
radio, and only one engine out
of two working (jump started
with a screwdriver) and overcoming
loading the boat in chesthigh
breaking waves (you wade
out with your equipment) we were
able to enjoy some diving. They
eventually let us dive with our
own surface marker and personal
flags (which we had taken as
part of our standard diving
equipment), whilst following the
main group at the sites they
chose. More advanced dive sites
were out of bounds.
Thankfully, we met a local
fisherman, "Stretch" (Aldrich
Alexander), who hooked us up
with Anthony Thomas, who runs a
modest operation: St. Anthony's
(on entering Speyside, at the
beachfront turn right on the
beachside road past the new
pier: Tel/Fax Tobago 639-8705).
Anthony's approach was different: where would we like to dive, at what depth and
when? He accompanied no more than four of us (but we controlled the profile) and
outlasted us on air, even though he was pulling the surface marker. A very attentive
chap, he knows the less frequented sites and was happy to dive the 30-50
metre range (100-165'). However, he had some disregard for time/depth, preferring
not to use a computer as it kept "squeaking" at him.
The best wall dives are at the NE end of Black Rock (known locally as Sepia)
and The Sisters off the NW coast. Diving on the Atlantic side is weather dependent
and the constant NE 1-3 knot current is modified by tides. Most dives were
interesting but not spectacular -- sloping coral and rock faces stepping down to
a maximum of 25/30m (80-100') and continuing as sand. Between Goat Island and
Little Tobago the sand slopes gently at 40m (130') and is covered in an array of
barrel sponges growing 90 degrees the direction of the current, looking like
ship's ventilators stuck in the sand, and often sheltering crawfish (spiny lobsters).
There were many fish: angel fish, butterfly fish, trumpet fish (locally
called horse fish) and box fish, triggers, large parrots, tarpon, turtles, southern
sting ray, large green morays, a couple of nurse sharks, and ubiquitous barracuda.
The best dives were Black Rock and the Sisters and though we didn't get there, the east side of Little Tobago and St.Giles may be well worth visiting.
Manta Lodge is a pleasant small hotel, just across a minor road from the beach
edge, (although it's advertised as beach front) a ten-minute walk from Blue
Waters. All rooms have a private balcony, ceiling fans (some have ac) and overlook
the sea. Manta also boasts the only swimming pool in Speyside.
Wherever you eat, the menu is soup, chicken, fish or prawns/lobster -- different
restaurants just cook it in different ways in larger or smaller portions.
Local restaurants are Jemma's Treehouse on the beach, Redman's next door, and
Esslan's (Paradise Restaurant), which looks more like a tiny shop than a restau-
Manta Lodge, advertised as beach-front |
Divers Compass: Blue Waters:
Rooms, for two, were $85
US... Some beach snorkeling,
but the inshore water was
murky; rainy season is June
to November. . . .bring a
shorty (they have a few
loaners, rental BC's and regulators,
but limited repair capacity). . .
.Saturday night a fine steel band played;
other nights were quiet. . . . Several car
rental agencies at the airport: Thrifty
639 8507 or Rattans 639-8271 . . . there is
some beach snorkeling, but the inshore
water was murky; a boatman will take you
snorkeling for a few dollars or to Little
Tobago for a guided tour; the hotel can arrange. . . .the more you dive, the
cheaper the average per tank; they add the total of two people; 11 dives were
29/per. . . .Caligo Tours represents both Blue Waters Inn and the Asa Wright
Nature Center on Trinidad (see sidebar) 914 273-833; 800/4267781; fax 914/273-
6370; or call the Blue Waters 800/888-3483; 809-660-4341; fax 809/660-5195). . .
.Manta: Tel/Fax Tobago 660-5268 and 660-5030. You should have no difficulty in
negotiating a discount on their rack rates, which are higher than Blue Water. I
got quoted a rate $20 less a day than my British friends were paying. . . .Fly