1999 DIVER Holiday Supplement

Orinoco flow
giant brain corals

Tobago's nutrient-rich waters, fed by the mighty Orinoco river, attract a huge diversity of marine life. You may even be lucky enough to encounter some of the Caribbean's majestic mantas. Steve Weinman reports

"What's the wreck like?" I asked. The question was addressed to a British diver on a day trip to the eastern end of Tobago. The wreck, a former ferry called the mv Maverick, lay off the north-west coast where he was staying, and I would be moving to that side of the island soon.
"Oh, it'll be all right once there's some life on it," said the visitor airily. We left it at that.
Two days later, I lay poised just above the sand at 28m, taking in a panorama of the Maverick's port side. Visibility can be compromised in Tobago, thanks to the nutrient streams flowing out from Venezuela's Orinoco, plus the extra run-off in the rainy season. However, after penetrating the plankton clouds in the upper waters, we had been blessed with 30m clarity that October day.
Up on the bow, Jacob the Friendly Jewfish, a good 120-pounder if he was an ounce, continued to greet new arrivals descending the shotline, dogging them with the persistence of a beach hawker. Below the rails and on the superstructure, dozens of smaller groupers hung at 45*, investigating the abundant encrusting life.
Overhead, squadrons of silversides flashed every which way in an effort to evade fast-moving persecutors: at 12 o'clock high, jacks zeroed in on their prey, while from below inverted bonitos and rainbow runners found easy pickings. Then a 1.5m barracuda swept in with easy grace to take its turn at the table. I thought of the diver I'd met back east. "What do you want out of life?" I wondered.
The Maverick is fun to dive. Make your way from bow to stern along the seabed - easy unless you encounter a head-on current - pause briefly to inspect the prop, and ascend for an easy penetration through the cargo hold before escaping through the forward hatch and entering the wheelhouse at around 18m.
A popular pastime is to squeeze into the head and pose for pictures on the ever-flooded lav. The tour done, relax on deck and watch life going on around you.

sociable feather-duster worms

West to east
In planning a trip to Tobago, you have an important choice to make. Should you settle in at the western, airport/resort end of the island, where you can combine diving the Maverick and assorted reef sites with classic Caribbean beaches, sightseeing and the sort of nightlife this charmingly undeveloped island has to offer? Or should you head east for splendid isolation, lashings of nature and spectacular Atlantic diving?
Regular day trips from west to east are an option in a hired car, but although the journey is less than 20 miles it is winding, hilly and surprisingly time-consuming. It depends who you're with, but for me the choice seems clear - either split your stay 2:1 east to west, or just go east and to hell with it.
There is a Tobago Dive Experience at each end of the island, and the eastern one is at Speyside, coupled with a real divers' hotel called Manta Lodge. Owner Sean Robinson is one of those people of whom everyone says: "He's quite a character, isn't he?" A man with his finger in many pies, from fashion to fast food, and claiming a big hand in sinking the Maverick for divers' benefit just 18 months ago, he knows these waters intimately.

loading the dive boat

For All levels
Tobago has long been tagged with a reputation for dangerous diving, and it has had its share of casualties. However, with a knowledgeable guide who can read the conditions and choose sites to balance his guests' desires with their abilities, there should be no problem. Go with the flow, and if you like drift-diving, Tobago is for you.
Sean reckons a third of visitors are British; the island isn't big with US divers. "If you get 12 Americans there will be three good ones and nine bad, and the good ones get fed up because they can't do the hardcore dives," he says. He welcomes British divers: "Tobago challenges the sort of skills they have geared up for in England. There's a lot to be said for the club system."
Yet among our party were absolute beginners who within days were able to sweep majestically through the 90* switchback they had earlier been concerned to hear was called Kamikaze Cut.
Over the week they were rewarded by the sight of slumbering nurse sharks, moray eels, hawksbill turtles, stingrays, bounteous barracuda, big solitary midnight parrotfish and African pompano.

balloonfish

Diving diversity
Here, where currents from South America and the Atlantic clash and dump their plankton load, pelagics share the reefs with the ubiquitous black durgons, queen angelfish and creole wrasse you might expect to find. The reefs are more than healthy, they're fighting fit, offering an extravagant array of bright soft corals and oversized sponges. At Kelliston Drain you can hover over what is claimed to be the biggest brain coral in the world, a green Millennium Dome some 4m across.
My favourite site was Bookends, where the surf batters away at a pair of opposed black rocks. You backroll in off the bucking hardboat, half-expecting to meet a violent end, and get down fast to make the most of the view from the natural amphitheatre below.
Whitewater clouds roll across the surface in slow-mo like those old films of atomic tests, and hanging in there like wraiths are the tarpon that seem to have found a wild place to suit their natures.
An even better way to approach the tarpon bowl is via an undulating reef formation called the Alps. We dived early in the morning, when the nurse sharks were finishing their night patrols, and from 27m enjoyed working our way slowly up the colour-splashed terraces and gullies towards Bookends. This kicked off a memorable four-dive day, ending with an exhilarating night-drift through the - in this case aptly named - Japanese Gardens.
There are 50 sites at Speyside and further north at St Giles and The Sisters, plus some real adrenalin dives with names like Heartache Alley, Heartbreak Ridge and To Hell and Back.

Playing mantas
Then there are the giant Atlantic manta rays, the dozen or so "Tobago Taxis" that seem to regard the waters around Little Tobago and Goat Island as home, especially in summer. Extremely rare in the Caribbean, Sean Robinson reckons he can name them all.
Just before leaving the UK, I had received a phone call from an excited reader who reported that the Speyside mantas were so eager to play with divers that they would hang around until their human playmates either got bored or ran out of air. Predictably, when I arrived a week later they had disappeared.
Then we spotted one in the distance at a site called the Cathedral. Back on the boat we tracked down our suspect and snorkelled in to play tag with it. It was a half-sized specimen, no more than 2m from wingtip to wingtip and apparently a newcomer to the island, but it stayed to play for a short while.
Tobago is like that - with its shifting currents and marine populations, you're never sure what's going to happen next.

Map of Tobago

PROS
Wide range of marine life, healthy reefs, diving suitable for wide range of abilities, friendly and hospitable people, relaxed lifestyle.

CONS
Water conditions are changeable, so photographers beware. The currents require caution. Not much nightlife on the eastern side.

FACTFILE

Getting there:
Regular scheduled (BA) and charter (Caledonian) direct flights from Gatwick.
Diving details:
There are 18 dive centres, including Tobago Dive Experience Speyside 001 868 639 7034 and Crown Point 001 868 544 7631; Aquamarine Dive 001 868 660 4341; Man Friday Diving 001 868 525 6896; R&C Diver's Den 001 868 639 8120; Diamond Divers 001 868 639 0191 and Dive Tobago 001 868 639 0202. Nearest recompression chamber is at Mt Hope Hospital near the airport. No inoculations required. TIDCO (tourist office) 001 868 639 4333.
Accommodation:
Manta Lodge is fairly new and has 22 rooms. Nearby, at the eastern end of the island, is the Blue Water Inn, where Aqua Marine Dive is based. A wide range of hotels serve the western end, with prices from 30 per night in low season at hotels like the Toucan Inn at Crown Point. The Owner's Syndicate offers villas 0171 801 9801.
Language:
English.
Money:
Trinidad & Tobago dollar. Credit cards accepted in hotels and dive centres.
For non-divers:
Eastern end - hiking birdwatching, etc, in the oldest rainforest reserve in the world. Western end - sight-seeing, watersports, golf.
Hazards:
Strong currents, so take local advice and carry a safety sausage and whistle. Some stinging plankton.
Best time to go:
Diveable all year round, but May to July recommended. Rainy season April-September. Tobago lies below the hurricane belt.
Water temperature:
25°C all year round.
Diving suitable for:
Drift-dive fans. Plenty of good sites to suit everyone from beginners through to "hardcore" challenges for the most advanced.
Cost:
A seven-night package at Manta Lodge (flights, transfers, B&B, 10 dives) costs 835 in summer, £1020 in winter. A single-tank dive costs around £25. For 10 nights, plus four at the western end of the island expect to pay from £991 (staying at hotel) to £1289 (villa) in summer, £1109-1580 in winter.

Appeared in DIVER - January 1999