Dive Review of Wind Dancer in
Trinidad and Tobago/Tobago

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Wind Dancer, Dec, 2004, by Martha & Jeff Hubbard, NY, USA ( Top Contributor 33 reports with 18 Helpful votes). Report 1503.
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	Wind Dancer is a pleasant ship – a lot more so if you have Cabin 1, with queen bed, instead of a lower-deck cabin with a double lower bunk and a head-bumping upper. There is a nice dive platform with big exit ladders, but you won’t get to dive from it. (Pity – we had a great time on it 8 years ago.) All the diving is from two tenders, and regrettably, they’re ordinary day-diving six- packs with uncomfortable seats, insecure tank racks, low freeboard and portable exit ladders put over the gunnel when someone wants to board. (Divers remembering the commodious jet-driven tenders of Sun Dancers in Palau will weep.) Since the rides to & from the dive sites are 10-15 minutes each, you spend 2-2.5 wet, bumpy and uncomfortable hours a day on the tenders. Some divers complained that the dives were too close together (much of the surface intervals goes in the tenders) and that the number of dives should be reduced! Happily, when it was pointed out that doing every dive is not mandatory, that idea died. We dove nitrox 32%. Fills nearly always >2950 psi, topped off on request. We rented a (backup) computer because of a threatened malfunction; there are no nitrox-capable computers for rent! Dives are shallow enough and surface intervals long enough that neither air nor nitrox should put you in deco. There are some rough seas between the Caribbean and Atlantic, so pack your best seasickness remedy. Anchorages were pretty calm. Every dive is led, but the guides allow for photographers and other slow people. If you like diving on your own (with or without buddy), forget it. The diving, as Peter says, is like the Caribbean used to be. Great topography, corals, and small reef fish, and the biggest angelfish (French, queen, grey) and turtles we’ve ever seen. NO groupers or other potentially table-size fish – they’ve all been eaten. We did 22 dives of an available approximately 24, average dive time 53 min. Most were 50-80 ft max, a few in the 95 ft range. The Peter Hughes secret, which isn’t secret, is the crew and Wind Dancer is no exception. Captain Eddie dealt with mechanical problems and the Whiners From Hell with equanimity. First mate Brian did diving, plumbing, photo, whatever, always cheerful. The local divemasters know the sites well and try to please everyone. And chef Yanis, familiar to PHD veterans, keeps the Belizean home cooking coming. Ray Sloper, Transfer Agent extraordinaire, makes transfers to and from airport as painless as possible, and will take you to the Hilton - good place - to wait or arrange an interesting tour of the island on the last day. He makes you feel that you have a knowledgeable friend, and that’s especially important on Tobago. BWIA must have the worst on-time record of any airline since the Iron Curtain came down, but they don’t seem to have the miserable baggage attitude that TACA, ALM & c. have. Getting from Trinidad to and from Tobago seems pretty disorganized but worked o.k.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Palau, Fiji, Australia, PNG, Truk, Bonaire, Honduras, Belize, US & BVI, Brazil . . .
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Follow the leader.
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	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Rinse tank on Wave Dancer, none on tenders. Crew is careful. Divemaster CNN very knowledgeable. No computer on ship for downloading (but room to use your own.) There is E-6 processing but nearly everyone was digital!

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Dive Review of Wind Dancer in Trinidad and Tobago/Tobago

Wind Dancer, Dec, 2004,

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):

Dive Review of Wind Dancer in
Trinidad and Tobago/Tobago