divdude:
thanks for the great info.......makes my life a little easier...(BTW..do they serve guiness in tobago?)you live part time in roatan? i spent a week at cocoview two years ago. people were great.
"No Guiness I guesses" They serve "Carib", which has the quaint and unforgettable tag line, "A Carib is a Beer"... and who could argue with that?
Sounds about right, Yakivet. I take divers there who are comfortable with better Caribbean Resorts (CoCoView) but want to expand and go to places like Galapagos or the exotics like Palau, etc. One goes to Tobago to learn lateral currents, small boat diving and recovery. The last three items are huge and deserve a chapter each in a dive training session. We go to Tobago to toughen divers up, open their eyes, give them practical experience. Once you master what Tobago challenges you with, you are more ready for the typical Galapagos downwellings and isuues than many other divers. Diving education should be a serries of escalating challenges, and Tobago is pretty well at the top of the warm water training ladder. Even the most well equipped op such as BWI is no picnic. I prefer the real gravel-in-your-gut local dive ops for real world learning and experience.
This is not a dive locale for newbies. Think about wading thru the surf to the dory. You will get equipment carried and assistance, but think about it. Not comfy fancy dive boats, mostly open (big) dories. Assemble and ready for a dive in these conditions. Gotta have your act together. Back roll all of us at the same instant, no fooling around here- from a high gunnel. Ready? GO!
Dive and stay with the DM and his float buoy... or know what to do if you get seperated. This is the time you will actually get to use that safety sausage you've been wearing for so many years. If you have a clue what it's for, you have to be ready to deploy it from 30 feet of depth with a 25' piece of cordage attached. It hits the surface and you begin your deco stop at depth, then 15fsw. When the dory driver selects you for pickup, ascend and deal with the difficult ladder system. If you want to hand your gear up, know that they mostly deal with Europeans, so they aren't fond of integrated weight (HEAVY) BC's. Have a 3' strap attached to the carry handle of your BC. Take the BC off in the water, pass the strap to the driver and backpaddle. Then when he signals, approach the ladder. It is a portable wooden ladder that is slung over the gunnel. It is the antithesis of a dive boat ladder that you may be familiar with. Then flop into the boat and make yourself useful and small.
Always listen with intent to the dive briefings. Besides St Giles which is a fabulous dive opportunity, there are Sisters, Heart Attack, Washing Machine, Japaneese Gardens, African Express and more. These above dives are not going to be your first dives in Tobago. Trust your DM... IF the conditions are right, and if he sees that you are ready, you might get to do these. If not, back off, better alive and breathing than over challenged and croaked, body lost forever. If you think I'm kidding, know this- I was there and participated in the search for the original "Man Friday" when he disappeared forever while leading a dive outing.
Careful pre discussion and pre-visualization of surface recovery, signalling and survival techniques. It prolly isn't going to happen, but do you understand when to ditch gear and how to ready yourself and survive with others for a pyjama party overnight on the sea? Like I said, unlikely, but have you the knowledge and the skills? It isn't impossible to learn, just go get the info, digest it, become very familiar with it. Be ready, this aint Club Med, Sparky.
I vist CoCoView twice a year, and we usualy try to get to Tobago once every three years. When we go, it is for a Saturday to Sunday (8 days) and sometimes more. The downward leg is just so exhausting, add to the air travel the loooong drive at night, slowly negotiating the mountainous roads to the North end (see my trip report referenced earlier in this thread). Then you have to reverse the process.
Still, though, the difficulty of the trip does not dissuade us from returning. The Southern gateway city (airport, cruise ship, straw market, etc) is a well visited port of call. The sooner you vacate this area, the better. The best diving is without a doubt on the Northern shores, a 30 mile drive. Better to stay in Speyside than have someone try to convince you that the dive ops in Pigeon point (or anywhere else) could serve you as well. It just aint so.
The island is blessed with all but unlimited fresh water and the fact that it has languished as the "National Park" Half of the sister island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad is literally on a different continental chunk, it is a boiling mass of tar pits making it a member of OPEC. Tobago was designated as a Park and largely remains undisturbed except for excellent black topped roads. They are twisty and unmarked, but great pavement. Drive slowly. Also, avoid Trinidad unless you have a real sense of adventure, the kind that might enjoy Belize City or the darker corners of Quito. Head directly for Tobago.
Once there, we always rent Suzuki Samurais, two divers in each. We slowly caravan to the North into the darkness. The first half of the journey is pretty straightforward, but soon street lights disappear and the last 1/4 of the journey, the roads are mountainous and twisty, second gear will do, maybe third gear for brief spurts. 4th and 5th are unused.
Once in Speyside, we stay (and eat breakfast at) the BWI but dive with RedMan. Lunches and dinners are not a problem in Speyside. There is a small grocery located on the last town on the road, over the ridgeline hump to Charlottesville. It has a NW exposure towards the Caribbean and has a small community to support that grocery and a few bodega stores. Some people have enjoyed Man Friday Diving, but I have never seen a favorable showing by comparison.
In Speyside, there is also the diver oriented Manta Lodge, with small pool and very remarkable bar rail (You'll see!) but the place is waaaay to noisy for us. Just down the road is the Speyside Inn, which is a B&B right next to Redman and his son, Julius.
Continuing back South thru Speyside there are several outdoor/semi-indoor restaurants for great tasting meals and fun. A lunchtime treat is "Roti", their burrito, a holdover blend of black slave food with an East Indian dash of curry. Indecipherable cuts of chicken, typical of the Caribbean, and chick peas, and more. Yum.
Tobago I rate in the top 5 of Caribbean dive destinations, and I've pretty well gotten wet off of every rock in that part of the world, The greater Caribbean basin. The right DM and dive op can find you Mantas, even though the "wrong" dive ops have pretty well ruined it by allowing harassment of these delicate critters. I see no reason to do the liveaboard, quite the contrary, I think you'll miss a lot by doing so. If you go land based, it will be your pleasure to say someday, "Tobago? I remember it back when....."
Go for it. Tobago is the E-Ticket ride of the Caribbean.
