Dive Review of Man Friday and DIVE M Redman/Man O' War Cottages, Charlotteville in
Trinidad and Tobago/Charlotteville/ Speyside

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Man Friday and DIVE M Redman/Man O' War Cottages, Charlotteville, Jan, 2003, by Beverly Coburn, CO, USA . Report 339.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Our family of 4 (including 2 boys 5 & 7) went to Tobago after reading a recent Undercurrent article, which we followed up with additional research. MAN FRIDAY DIVERS(Charlotteville)- Anna a sweet & watchful divemaster, did a good job in the water but inadequate briefing. Confusing policy for reboarding the boat in very rough seas. Tremendous surge underwater, swells and fumes topside left half of us sick (although I with the SCOP patch was the only one to actually succumb to the nausea.)Bjorn, "the boss" was downright hostile toward every American diver we spoke to in Tobago (including us) and has a very poor reputation with the locals due to his arrogant, nasty demeanor. His outrageous behavior (rude ranting and raving, badmouthing divers in their absence) and scheduling rigidity were unprofessional and unprecedented in the decades (combined) my husband and I have been diving. Unfortunately the other Charlotteville dive operator RON was out injured and did not dive until the end of our trip. So we made the drive over to Speyside and dove with Redman (DIVE M REDMAN), a local with the best reputation on the island. He bent over backward to accomodate our little group of 4, adding a separate trip for us so the boat and diving would not be too crowded. Beautiful drift diving over pristine reef with lots of variety in terrain and perfectly timed so safety stops were spent over shallow reefs. Lots of great fish life although not the mantas or hammerheads recently reported by other divers. Our original cottage at MAN O' WAR Cottages was somewhat shabby and not as clean as it could've been, but we adjusted to it and were very happy there due to the comfy beds, roomy deck, beautiful grounds, and super location right on the beach. We loved the short walk to town by beach or road, the constant twitter of tropical birds, the exciting and flavorful local cuisine, the rainforest, and mostly the lovely local people. We were able to hire a young local woman to watch our kids and they loved her. As reported by others, big sister Trinidad is a MUST for nature lovers, including ASA WRIGHT NATURE CENTER, CARONI SWAMP TOUR, and ARIPO COTTAGE for delightful accomodation and great surprises.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Fiji, Hawaii, California Coast & Channel Islands, Coronado Islands (Mexico)and Baja, Caymans, Grand Turk, St.Croix, Guanaja, Florida, Bonaire, Curacao, Cozumel, Culebra
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	75-78°F / 24-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	50-80 Ft/ 15-24 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	All dives guided due to current. Man Friday more rigid about limits.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Not the place for underwater photographers with either of these operators due to open boats, rough seas, no facilities, potentially lots of current and surge. Personally, it was nice not to have to deal with beginner divers with cameras or "professionals" with their huge camera set-ups grabbing and stomping the reefs.

Subscriber's Comments

By Tom Drewien in ID, US at Mar 27, 2014 19:50 EST

We did only one dive with Man Friday on Tobago just a few months after you were there in 2003. Agree with everything you said about the place, attitude, lack of any help with gear, etc. Our divemaster was nice but cramped up on dive and also very little fish to see. But in their defense we had a newbie on board and they took the 'easy dive out' excuse of not going to a perhaps better dive site. My wife is a small person and they expected her to carry tank and all off boat, thru water and along beach back to dive center. I told her to leave stuff on beach and they could come and get it themselves. . Would not recommend it to anyone, and we also read the undercurrent report on Charlotteville and did not find the place near as enchanting as written. We also tried Speyside but it was all to windy and rough waters while there. We had spent a month diving in Venezuela on Isla Margarita's cooler waters 75 degrees +or-, prices extremely inexpensive, and diving limited and primitive but very interesting.

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Dive Review of Man Friday and DIVE M Redman/Man O' War Cottages, Charlotteville in Trinidad and Tobago/Charlotteville/ Speyside

Man Friday and DIVE M Redman/Man O' War Cottages, Charlotteville, Jan, 2003,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subscriber's Comments

Dive Review of Man Friday and DIVE M Redman/Man O' War Cottages, Charlotteville in
Trinidad and Tobago/Charlotteville/ Speyside