Far from the madding crowd
John Bantin visits dive centres on Grenada and Carriacou, a sisters act at the back end of the Windward Islands.
I called up to the deckhand from the water at the stern of the boat: "Give me another weight!" I had found myself in a current so fierce that I knew I had to drop fast.
I clipped on the additional lead quickly. Pulling myself along a rope to where Bob waited for me at the bow was no easy matter. I had only one hand available and cursed the poor aquadynamic qualities of my bulky camera and flash. We headed down the line.
Even with the additional weight I had to pull myself downwards, such was the force of water flowing over me. I had used 50 bar of air from my 10 litre tank by the time I reached my destination, short of breath. It was only 34m deep but there was about 200m of anchor warp holding the dive boat, and all of it had to be negotiated using my free hand.
I could see the wreck below: I could hardly miss it. A cruise liner more than 200m long makes a spectacular sight underwater. Once in the quiet eddy provided by the raised forecastle, the dive became a little more relaxing.
I was in the Caribbean, visiting the wreck of the ss Bianca C, one mile off the sunbathed beaches of the British protectorate of Grenada, a beautiful island nestling almost forgotten in the southern end of the chain of Windward Islands.
Grenada's main industry is tourism, but apart from a few uncrowded hotels at the southern tip of the island, you would never know it. It seems that most holidaymakers are inclined to get off the plane further north, at Antigua. Well, that's good news for us!
Beside the regular British Airways service to Grenada, at the time of writing there is a Caledonian Airways charter flight every week from Gatwick. In the autumn, fares are reasonable enough to make Grenada as attractive as more traditional diving destinations.
Carriacou (pronounced: carry-a-coo) is the smaller sister-island to Grenada. Life in Carriacou carries on much as it did before WW2. It's so slow it's almost going backwards. If Grenada is uncrowded, Carriacou is positively deserted!
In the Arawak language Carriacou means "Land of Reefs". You can get there from Grenada by the regular boat service (around US$15 each way), a rare 31/2hr experience on a converted trawler, or, if you can't spare that long, do it in 15min by plane for around US$70 return. It's the sort of aircraft where the captain's pre-flight safety briefing includes a warning not to touch the controls!
These islands are mountainous, with rainforests that make the climate equable and supplies of fresh water plentiful. There are large areas of ecologically important mangrove. From July to December it is warm, but sometimes rains, coming down in quantities which would dampen the spirits even of Gene Kelly.
Sometimes you can hear rain coming down even when you are 30m below the surface of the sea. However, this does not affect the diving because there are no big rivers to cloud the water, and it's nice to be able to rinse your gear after every dive.
The diving is extremely varied, with reefs and wrecks on the Caribbean side of Grenada and masses of pelagic activity on the rougher Atlantic coast. While the currents can be strong, the nutrients they bring result in spectacular forests of soft corals and extremely healthy reefs of hard corals, not yet damaged by too much diver or fishing activity.
Numerous shipwrecks lie along the south-west coast. There is the Veronica L, a freighter; the Quarter Wreck (part of another); the pretty wreck of the
Buccaneer, a motor yacht, at Molinere Reef; and the spectacular Bianca C, a former Italian cruise liner and the largest wreck in the Caribbean.
During my visit to Grenada I saw endless numbers of lobsters. On one dive I stopped counting at 60, and one was the biggest I had ever seen.
It was the same story with nurse sharks - seven were stroked during one dive on the Atlantic side. There were plenty of rays in evidence, too.
Then there is the north of the island, with spectacular sites like Kick'em Jenny, probably one of the most exciting locations for Caribbean marine life.
Further north still, at Carriacou, there are sites like the Sister Rocks (otherwise known as the Two Brothers!); the spectacular drop-off at the Two Sisters; and Mabouya Island, directly opposite the main town, Hillsborough.
Grenada and Carriacou make an ideal two-centre diving destination. There is plenty of variety and always something to look at. The people speak our language, use money with the Queen's head on it, and most seem to have worked in Britain at some time or other. More important, they are laid back almost to the point of being horizontal.

Dive centres proliferate on Grenada. Almost without exception they are associated with hotels, and have grown out of the holiday watersports business, with diving as an added attraction.
At the moment they tend to cater for casual passing business rather than those on serious diving holidays. All seem keen to extol the virtues of a destination where the family can be entertained while mum and dad have the occasional shallow dive.
That said, there is no reason why any group intent on a trip devoted exclusively to diving cannot be catered for. The facilities and the dive sites are there.
At the Rex Grenadian Hotel you will find Scuba World (Grenada), run by Bob and Pam Dunn, natives of Billericay, Essex. Like everyone else with whom I dived, they had set up here within the past five years.
They have two nice boats: a quick one with twin outboards and a more gentlemanly vessel powered by a sedate diesel. Bob likes things done his way, and tends to fuss round divers more than they probably need, but he certainly knows his stuff and surprised me by twice asking me to take over the controls of his boat.
Close by is the Renaissance, the most popular holiday hotel on the island, which is situated on the most extensive beach, Grand Anse. On the beachfront you will find SanVic's Scuba & Watersports, owned by Sandra and Vic, who came to Grenada from Hillingdon, Middlesex.
Their fast pirogue-style boat is captained by son Jason, and you might find Russell Hough in attendance. He is an ex-bobby and late of Adventures in Diving in Essex. Russell hopes to be adding nitrox and technical diving to SanVic's catalogue of offerings.
The True Blue Inn, run by the Potter family, is an intimate place with self-catering cottages as well as apartments which seem ideal for groups of divers. Its restaurant is set in a stunning location overlooking a small bay. Since Scuba Express set up in association with the True Blue Inn, daughter Wendy Potter has pursued an interest in diving and hopes soon to be hosting groups of visiting divers both above and below the surface.
In the meantime you will have to put up with the likes of Ed Burd, a man with extensive experience of running diving businesses in Fiji and Thailand. Partner Marvin Wolf is a speedy Brooklyn boy who made it to California but eventually decided that he had not dropped out far enough.
Scuba Express has a very quick pirogue-style boat, and is well-placed to dive both the Atlantic and Caribbean sides of the island.
The Grenadians who work at the dive centres tend to move from one operation to another. They are invariably talented and knowledgable divers with a dry "British" sense of humour.

Over on Carriacou the business is a little different, in that there is no passing trade. The dive centres concentrate on marketing to a diving public - and importing this diving public to the island. Because the only centres (until now) have been run by Germans, they concentrate on the German-speaking European market.
Carriacou Silver Diving in Hillsborough is run by Max and Claudia. Max's real name is Werner but the locals could not get their tongues round it so he changed it. He's that sort of guy!
This charming couple dropped out of the rat-race some years ago and now have a lovely home with a spacious centre for diving on the ground floor. They do it because they love diving, and there's no doubt that it shows.
Carriacou Silver Diving has a couple of small boats, one a fast and seaworthy pirogue built in Trinidad, where the seas can be extremely tough. Pirogues have long, narrow hulls and are virtually unsinkable. The other German dive centre is called Tanki's. It has some beautiful accommodation aimed specifically at divers, concentrating on the German market.
The best location on the island is undoubtedly at its southern end, at Cassada Bay. The bungalows of the Cassada Bay Hotel, which is currently being rebuilt, spill down a hillside with spectacular views towards some smaller islands and the best dive sites. There is always a cooling breeze.

Appeared in DIVER - February1997
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