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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