Tobago: nearly forgotten paradise

Sitting on a wooden veranda with humming birds flitting back and forth to the bird feeders, the sun chasing away the nights clouds, a shout goes up and everyone points to a Manta playing in the shore line waves below where we are taking breakfast. Welcome to Tobago.

This was my first trip to Tobago, and so I had few expectations on my arrival. Sitting at the far end of the Caribbean chain and c

loser to Venezuela than any other large land mass, Tobago has a very different feel than the other Caribbean Islands. The people here are more relaxed and at the same time self-confident and fiercely proud of their country. They want you to enjoy their island, want you to see it all, and want you to return. At the same time they want to keep it their island, their way.

Tobago was once a popular destination with the Brits not just for diving, but is one of the worlds top bird watching islands. At its height of tourism, the Island boasted 22 dive schools or centres but this declined from about 2014 so that going into covid there were only nine centres. Post covid only three centres remain.

Tobago benefits from the run off

from Venezuela and several global currents and streams. As a result the coral here is vibrant, healthy and plentiful. The sea is teeming with wildlife: turtles, whale sharks and Manta can all be found here, along with some unique species such as giraffe garden eels and certain types of angel fish.

Depending upon your diving needs, the island falls nicely into two areas to dive: he southern-most tip near Pigeon Bay and the south east region near Speyside Bay.

If diving is a just an add on to your holiday and not its primary objective then the southern tip area is probably for you and has bars, cafes and restaurants more plentiful than in the Speyside.

If the objective of you trip is primarily diving then it has to be Speyside. The diving here is nothing short of spectacular.

Getting to Tobago

Getting to Tobago is straight forward enough, with flights direct from the UK with one stop to refuel in Antigua. You don’t even have to get off the plane while they refuel and then it’s the last hour’s flight to Tobago.

Getting around the island is really not hard; it is not so big after all. There is little public transport, but cab rides are reasonable and car hire is well priced. The driving standards are comparative to Europe. However the roads are very twisty with poor road signage. Journey times are slightly longe

r than predicted if you are not used to these types of roads.

Accommodation

Tobago has resisted the urge to build big all-inclusive hotel complexes and has held onto the mid-range independent hotel experience so each stay is unique. This also maintains the unspoiled feel of the island. Close to where I stayed is the Blue Waters Inn hotel which according to other divers is very nice, well catered and comfortable, and closer to a four star hotel experience than many of the hotels. This of course this comes at a price.

I stayed at the Tobago Dive Experience’s own accommodation ‘Manta suites’. They have self-catering accommodation with spacious rooms, AC, well-appointed kitchens and good WiFi. The place is run by Sean and Katerina. The price included breakfast, which Kat cooked fresh each morning with local ingredients and a creole influence.

As hosts Sean and Kat could not be more lovely andcaring. You are enjoying their island and they want you to have a good time but not in an intrusive way. If you seek their assistance they cannot do enough for you, and if you appear to be having a good time they keep a friendly eye over you without intruding. This is generally the feel of the whole island. All the interactions we had were along the same lines ‘we won’t interfere with you but if we can help just ask’ and nothing is too much trouble. This accommodation is exceptionally well priced, clean and a good base to see other parts of the island. Assistance and advice is always at hand and I would highly recommend you stay with the Tobago Dive Experience.

Diving

I am a medico diver, I have dived all around the globe and until I came to Tobago the best school I had found for diving training and for those new to the sport was in Malta. I have revised that to an equal first with the

Tobago Dive Experience. They meet my criteria, which are;

· Is safety a top priority?

· Are they passionate about the sport?

· Do they teach well?

· Are they passionate about preserving the dive environment?

The crew at Tobago Dive Experience ticks all the above. They spent quite a long time talking to my dive buddy and me about our skill set and abilities, what we wanted and what we expected to achieve in the week.

Most the dive sites are within a ten minute boat ride from the jetty. The boat can be a little crowded, but it works.

I have never been to a dive centre with such a high ratio of master divers to divers as Tobago Dive Experience. The reason for this is that the dive groups are divided into skill sets / interests. As a result everyone is safe and gets the most from the dives.

Speyside has a myriad of different coral reefs to dive and can accommodate every skill level of diver from those new or no experience to those with hundreds of hours of dives, hence the ratio of dive masters to divers, and it works. Our guide made sure our needs and aspirations were met.

Once you are below the waves the scenery is amazing. The coral is healthy and some of it is unique to Tobago. They tell me it has the largest brain coral in the world which is estimated to be 400 plus years old. The coral is both soft and hard. Yellow tube sponge, boulder brain coral andwhite encrusted zoanthid are common and there is even black coral and cup coral sitting like unpicked cotton on the black coral. The riot of colours is simply breath taking. Marine life is plentiful with six or seven varieties of angel fish, some rarely found elsewhere. Turtles both leather back and hawks bill are in the bay and at certain times of year there are Mantas and whale shark sightings.

The dive masters are custodians of this world of beauty and ensure divers don’t fin damage the fragile environment. This is why the reefs are in such good order. The dive sites are not crowded. All week we had each dive site to ourselves seeing no other dive boats when we dropped off.

The water temperature is about 27 to 28 degrees and visibility generally good. Later in the year it gets much clearer but at this end of the year, the end of the rainy season makes the first five metres a little milky but below that visibility was generally plus 30 metres. The best time to visit is April through to July, but it is generally good all year round.

Above the waves and post dive there is a complete rain forest to explore. This rain forest is the world’s oldest protected rain forest. Tobago is a bird watchers Mecca, with many rare birds and unique fauna. It is well worth hiring a guide to take you around the forest showing things one may miss.

In summary Tobago for divers is a paradise forgotten and is well worth the effort of going to and if you want diving to be the primary activity then you cannot go wrong. The lack of commercialism is its charm and its curse. If you want the all-inclusive vibrant night life holiday Tobago is not that.

Tobago diving is great value for money and set in a little island paradise with fauna, flora and bird life, and below the waves the sights are breath taking.

Disclaimer

I am not sponsored by anyone for the dive, transport or equipment and have no affiliation to anyone mentioned in this article . All equipment, transport and accommodation was paid for by myself.