Tobago Scuba Diving Information
Tobago has only realised in the last few years what
a desirable dive destination it is. Which for many
divers is good news: it means Tobago is much less
crowded than the more famous spots, and the diving
is still largely unexplored. But at the same time the
dive business can provide all the necessary facilities
and meet international safety standards: local
professional dive shops have formed themselves
into an Association of Tobago Dive Operators with
rigorous requirements for membership and
operating standards, and the island's own
decompression chamber is now in operation at
Roxborough.
Tobago diving ranges from the gentlest coral
reef you could imagine to the most hair-raising drift
dive any veteran could want. Underwater visibility
regularly reaches 120 feet or more (70 to 90 feet is
considered average, though during the June-December
wet season the water is cloudier), and
the array of coral and marine life is hard to equal,
thanks to the nutrients in the Guyana Current and
the discharge from the Orinoco River, both of
which wash Tobago from the south. Every known
species of hard coral and most of the soft corals -
as well as one of the world's largest brain corals, 12
feet high and 16 feet across - are found here.
Wreck diving has opened up too, with the
sinking in 1997 of the 350-foot ferry Scarlet Ibis,
upright in a hundred feet of water, three-quarters
of a mile (a five-minute boat ride) from Mount
Irvine. It has already developed into a rich marine
site, with its own resident jewfish, barracuda and
fast-growing coral; and since the top of the wreck
is only 60 feet below the surface, it offers plenty of
scope for novices as well as experienced divers.
Diving is done from pirogues, the traditional
fishermen's craft with their high pointed bows, well
adapted to local conditions. There's excellent diving
on the south and west coast between Cove Point
and Castara, and on the north-east coast from
Speyside to Charlotteville, including the rocky
offshore islands of Little Tobago and St Giles. The
western, Caribbean coast is calmer than the eastern,
Atlantic coast. Much of it has a gradual offshore
slope; there are extensive fringing reefs, hard and
soft corals, and rocky cliffs. The east coast has
fringins-and rocky reefs, plunging underwater c i s
and dramatic rock formations, and strong and often
conflicting currents. The colony of playful manta
rays which has been a big attraction off Speyside
- divers have had to go to the Pacific to see these
gentle creatures under similar conditions - has
become more adventurous in recent times, ranging
further afield: some have been seen along the west
coast, even as far south as Pigeon Point.
On the west coast, fringing reefs extend from
nearly all the rocky points that separate the beaches.
Mount Irvine Wall is one of the most popular dives,
going down to about 60 feet; another is The Sisters,
a dramatic group of rocks off Bloody Bay, plunging
down 140 feet. Eagle rays have been spotted at
Mount Irvine Wall, and at night you can see
octopus, morays, lobster, short-nosed batfish,
orange ball anemones. Amos Vale Reef has a depth
of 40 feet and consists of large coral- and sponge-
encrusted rock formations just offshore; morays,
southern stingrays and even the Atlantic Torpedo
Ray have been spotted here. Black Rock Divers (at
Grafton Beach/Le Grand Courlan), Tobago Dive
Experience (at Turtle Beach) and Wild Turtle Dive
Safaris at Pigeon Point are professional dive shops
which cover this coast.
Crown Point, on the south-west tip of Tobago,
is a good base for exploring sites like The Shallows,
a submarine plateau at about 50 to 100 feet,
favoured by large pelagics like turtles, dolphins,
angelfish, nurse sharks, and sometimes larger
oceanic sharks like tigers. A fast drift called Flying
Reef is good for rays and morays. Proscuba Dive
Center (at Rovanel's Resort) and Scuba Adventures
are both based in Crown Point.
The other main dive area is off Speyside and
Charlotteville in the north-east. Speyside provides
access to exciting sites like Batteaux Reef, Angel
Reef, Bookends (where two large rocks break the
surface - good for seeing big tarpon), Japanese
Gardens (one of the loveliest reefs, with depths up
to 85 feet and plentiful sponges) and Blackjack
Hole. Batteaux Bay with its contesting currents is
one of the great scuba adventures of the Caribbean;
other rewarding sites nearby include Sleeper, Flying
Manta, John Rock and Kamikaze Cut, where
experts ride a fierce current between two vertical
rock faces.
Charlotteville is a good base for the offshore
St Giles Islands, where there are natural formations
like London Bridge (a natural rock bridge), Marble
Island and Fishbowl; there are underwater cliffs and
canyons covered with coral and sponses.
Aquamarine Dive (at Blue Waters Inn), Tobago
Dive Experience (at Manta Lodge) and Tobago
Divemasters are professional dive operations in
Speyside, while Man Friday Diving and Ron's
Watersports are leading dive operators in
Charlotteville.
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