Dive Review of World of Watersports in
Trinidad and Tobago/Tobago

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World of Watersports, Dec, 2007, by Charles, tx, usa ( 1 report). Report 3810.
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	Divers Beware of Tobago Dive Operators!! If you are planning to go to Tobago to dive, there are some dive shops that should be avoided. 1. The diveshop located at the Tobago Hilton advertising under the website of worldofwatersports.com and tobagodiveexperience.com Note that both of these sites refer to the same company and management. The first refers to their dive shop at the Tobago Hilton and the second refers to their dive shop at Manta Lodge near Speyside. My wife and I recently vacationed in Tobago and visited the Hilton dive shop on the evening of our first day on the island. We made arrangements to dive the next day for one day only and paid $150.00 up font in cash. That evening and the next morning at breakfast, we spoke to several other divers at the Hilton who had horror stories about the World of Water Sports. We were told that they have no boat dock for one of their boats. So you must wade into the water and crawl into the boat. We were told that they have no ladders on one of their boats. There is an opening on the side and you flop in like a beached whale. One lady from England showed us numerous bruises on her arms from “beached whale” re-entry attempts. Two other diving couples from the UK and from New Jersey told us that the divemaster was the rudest divemaster they have ever experienced. On the morning of our scheduled dive, we went to the dive shop early to discuss what we had heard with the dive master. The first thing she told us was that the dive shop wasn’t open yet and to go get a cup of coffee and come back later. It was 0755. Posted open time is 0800. My wife ignored her rude, arrogant, dismissal of us and proceeded to ask her questions about the lack of a boat dock, a ladder, etc. She finally verified that this was true. The rude dive master did state that we would not be allowed to go on the best dive to Speyside because we would first need to go on a “skill test” dive so they could evaluate our skills. This was to take place at an undesirable dive site with seasonally limited visibility (murky water from rainy season river run-off) with nothing interesting to see if you could see. It would have been a waste of time, money and precious dive time. I can understand and applaud their desire to make sure all divers are skilled enough for the rough currents at Speyside, but they should have told us that before they took our money so we would have the opportunity to explain and document our skill level. My wife is a dive instructor with over 800 dives. I am advanced open water with 60 dives. After hearing all of this, you can imagine that we were hesitant about diving with them. We asked for our money back, but they refused, even though they had not had to make any extra provisions to accommodate us and the dive boats were not full. We discussed with the owners, but they had this arrogant and cavalier attitude about it all. They are aware of the issues with their rude divemaster, but they dismissed it by saying she has personality issues because her ancestors were slaves on the island of Tobago. Well, none of our ancestors ever owned slaves, so she should have at least been nice to us. That is certainly the most creative excuse for horrible customer service that I’ve ever heard. All of these dive operations leverage their position to take advantage of divers visiting from other countries. Under the color of “Company Policy”, they request payment in cash in advance and allow no refunds. They say that the reason that they need cash is because if you use a credit card, you will have to pay a Value Added Tax of 16%. However, I think the real reason they want cash is so you won’t be able to protest the charge on your credit card bill should you wish to stop diving with them after you have discovered what terrible service you receive. It almost seemed like the dive operators were trying to get the divers who had already paid to cancel (by creating a bad diving experience), so they could pocket the money and not have to take the boat out. After talking with other divers, even the best dives on Tobago are not near the caliber of other places like Roatan, Cozumel, Bonaire, Curacao, Belize, etc.. Be aware that most of the Tobago dive shops don’t seem to have access to a boat dock. This means dragging your equipment from your hotel into the dive van, driving to the location where the boat is moored to a buoy (30 minute to 90 minute ride), dragging your equipment to the beach, then swimming with your equipment to boat, slinging your equipment up over the side, and then crawling over the side into the boat. Once the dive is over, you are returned to the mooring site. You have to pitch your equipment over the side, then jump out of the boat and drag your stuff to shore, then back to the van then back to your hotel. No fresh water shower, no rinse tanks, no lockers, no towels, no hangers for your wetsuits. If you take a towel with you, you’ll get it wet when you swim out to the boat unless it is in a waterproof container. Forget your non-underwater cameras and dry clothes. Some of the surface intervals are held on the boat, so you get to roast in the sun while you wait. When your hotel is on the south side of the island and you dive the Speyside area, you get to take a 90 minute ride in a cramped van over bad roads to get to the dive boat.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Curacao, Cozumel, Cancuun, Roatan
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	10-20 Ft/ 3-6 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	n/a
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of World of Watersports in Trinidad and Tobago/Tobago

World of Watersports, Dec, 2007,

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 World of Watersports in
Trinidad and Tobago/Tobago