Diving Tobago 2007
Peter Hughes Wind Dancer
Frankly, the diving was less than spectacular. On one dive we had a solid 5 feet of visibility. Those of you from SoCal will understand when I describe it as "A bad day at Shaw's, only in 82 degree water." That was the last dive on that side of the island. We tried to put into a couple other spots but settled in Speyside where we had very good visibility; on some dives I'd say it was 100-150 foot viz. Creatures were pretty standard fare for the Caribbean. We did 2 dives at Sister's Rocks, outside of Bloody Bay, looking for Hammerheads. None were found, despite David and Andy's best efforts to attract the beasts with the well known (??) technique of rubbing a plastic bottle under water. To the day I die, I will never forget the image of Andy and David, both frantically twisting the plastic bottles in their hands while searching above and below for the tale-tale silhouette of a hammerhead shark. Photography was the most challenging I've dealt with so I left my camera on the boat for several dives. We saw fewer eel than I expected; a few nurse shark, one seahorse, an eagle ray or two, large stingray, trumpet fish, adult drum fish, squid, barracuda, crab, stone fish, angel fish, slipper lobster, turtle, garden eels and a single, lone octopus. |
Diving was done from two chase boats, the Trini and the Bago. There was nearly always a good swell so entries were negative, meaning no dawdling on the surface. Back flip into the water and head down. Getting on the chase boat after a dive wasn't too bad. |
Below is a listing of our dive sites for each day. Poor conditions kept us from doing 5 dives every day except one. Here's a pretty good dive site map from Tobago Dive Experience. |
Trini | Bago |
Sunday | |
Flying Reef Stingray Alley Kariwak Reef |
Flying Reef Diver's Dream Stingray Alley |
Monday | |
The Maverick (Wreck Dive) Mount Irvine Extension Dutchman Reef Mount Irvine Wall |
The Maverick (Wreck Dive) Mount Irvine Wall Mount Irvine Extension Dutchman Reef |
Tuesday | |
Black Jack Hole Cathedral Coral Gardens Angel Reef |
Special Black Jack Hole Angel Reef Angel Reef |
Wednesday | |
Special Aquarium Japanese Garden Goat Island Dream Spiny Colony |
Bookends Cathedral Coral Gardens Japanese Garden Spiny Colony |
Thursday | |
Quarry Sisters 1 London Bridge Black Forest |
Sisters 1 Sisters 3 London Bridge Runway |
Friday | |
Isme Flying Manta |
Aquarium Goat Island Dream |