Tobago
Adventure
The island of Tobago is a tropical paradise situated just off the coast of Venezuela. Gentle breezes from the trade winds cause the palm fronds to sway and keep the temperature comfortable under clear sunny skies. Underwater is a diving paradise of brightly coloured fish and pastel corals. While in Tobago for a conference, I managed to get one day of diving during a week of meetings. I choose a company called Scuba Adventure Safari to guide me.
The dive operator had a beautiful boat, perfectly rigged for diving.
You could choose to sit under the roof at the helm station or in the sun
at the stern. We had only seven divers on board but there was room
for double that many. The boat was equipped with VHF radio, DAN oxygen
kit and a first aid kit. Tank racks held all our tanks for two dives
with room left over.We left the dock and motored out through a gap in the fronting reef and then motored east along the reef for about ten minutes. Our first dive was on a site called Maverick Wreck, because the wreck sits all alone on a sandy bottom. The wreck is the 406 foot Scarlet Ibis, sitting upright in 100 feet of water. Johny and Davey were our dive masters from Scuba Adventure Safari. Before diving we had a full dive briefing, a safety check, and then a final safety check before entering the water.
We stepped off the swim platform into crystalline blue water. Including our two dive masters our group totalled nine divers. We swam to the bow of the dive boat and then as a group descended the mooring line which was tied to the stern of the wreck. Visibility was great, probably 80 to 100 feet, and the water warm. I was wearing a shorty 1/8 inch wetsuit and that kept me comfortable.
Although the wreck is fairly new, sunk as a dive site in 1996, there is a lot of marine life already beginning to cling to the sides and decks. Everything grows quickly in the warm tropical water. Since the wreck sits all alone on a sandy sea floor, there are not a lot of fish swimming around the boat, but, there are lots and lots of them within it.
After our descent to the deck we continued right to the ocean floor to look under the stern of the ship and then made a leisurely swim around the wreck, looking at the life growing on it's sides. There were lots of marine organisms which had made a home of the wreck. Corals and sponges were beginning to take hold as were all sorts of other marine invertebrates.
By the time we had made a circuit of the boat we were beginning to lose some of our group. Four divers plus one dive master left us as the guests began to run low on air. They slowly faded from view as they rose up the mooring line to the surface. The four of us who were left now entered the wreck at the stern.
Scarlet Ibis had been wonderfully prepared to receive divers. Inside, all the bulkheads, walls, cables and machinery had been removed from the area above the hull. There was nothing within to catch on a divers' gear or obscure his view. What is left is like an immense cavern, hundreds of feet deep and completely open at the stern.
Our small group swam into the gaping hole at the stern of the wreck and drifted forward. Along the sides were large openings, perhaps the remnants of windows, perhaps cut to allow light into the interior for divers or easy exit for those with claustrophobia. As we swam deeper into the boat the large windows gave way to small round portholes which provided light to the interior.
Slowly the four of us moved through the cavernous interior of Scarlet Ibis, swimming though schools of brightly coloured fish, large and small. The larger ones swam in twos and threes, the smaller ones in larger schools. The amount of light decreased as we swam towards the bow, but our eyes adjusted to the gloom so there was no noticeable decrease in light. When we arrived at the bow, several hundred feet from where we entered the wreck, we found a 4 foot by 8 foot hatch above us through which we exited the ship, once again entering the brightness of the tropical ocean.
After leaving the interior of the wreck, a leisurely swim took us 400 feet back to the stern where we began a very slow ascent up along the mooring line. We paused at 15 feet for a three minute safety stop and then rose into the bright tropical sunlight.
I was impressed by Johny and Davey, the dive masters in the water with us. They constantly monitored us, one in front of the group and one behind. It seemed that every time we looked up they were giving us an OK sign to make sure that all was well. You don't always see this level of safety consciousness among dive operators. These guys are great.
Once out of the water, and back on board the boat, we had a half hour trip to the southern, or Atlantic side of Tobago. While travelling, we were given fresh pineapple to eat and water to keep us well hydrated. The tropical coastline of Tobago passed by as we ate. Our brief trip around the end of the island took us to our next dive site which was called Flying Reef. The name comes because it is a drift dive, and also because the reef lies parallel to the island's airport.
A full briefing explained that this would be a drift dive along the outside of the reef. We were told to not focus entirely on the reef, but to keep an eye out for larger creatures in the sand at the base of the reef, and for fish swimming in from the open ocean. As in our first dive we had great safety checks and then stepped off the swim platform into the water where we waited until we could all descend together.
At the count of three our group of nine began its descent, sinking slowly towards the coral reef below us. I levelled off at about 40 feet and hovered near that level during most of the dive. The gentle current pushed us along so the dive was effortless unless you turned around to stop and look at something. Then you had to kick steadily to hold yourself in place. Touching or holding on to the reef was absolutely not allowed.
Riding the current we glided through the water. On our right was the magnificent multicoloured coral reef with its pastel greens, yellows, blues and pinks sliding past. Brilliantly coloured fish in every hue of the rainbow swam in and out of the coral singly and in small schools. There were damsel fish, parrot fish, and all the others that inhabit tropical reefs. At one point we even saw two box fish. These are the things people want to see during a Caribbean dive.
On our left side, as we drifted along the
reef, was the open ocean, the sandy bottom fading away into blue nothingness.
Occasionally a large fish, or several, swam into view out of the blueness,
and then slowly disappeared again as they headed away. Although the
coral reef drew our attention, we tried to remember to look down to the sandy
bottom at the edge of the reef and out towards open water to see what might
be swimming our way.As we slid along the reef, one of our guides used an underwater sound maker to get our attention. He turned into the current and began to slowly kick forward to hold his position, at the same time pointing down to the sandy bottom near the edge of the reef. Moving closer we saw a large stingray lying in the sand. All of us turned against the current and kicked our fins to hold ourselves in place. Slowly and gently we settled towards the sandy bottom, and the ray. I held myself about three feet above the ray, watching as it slowly blinked it's eyes at me. What a beautiful creature.
When we tired of the ray we stopped kicking against the current and slowly drifted away, continuing our journey along the reef. More beautiful, brightly coloured fish and corals passed beneath us. I continued along at a depth of between 35 and 40 feet, rising and falling slowly as I watched the scenery unfold beneath me.
A few minutes after leaving the stingray we again heard the attention getting
noise maker. Again we saw our dive master pointing to the bottom,
this time at a spot just inside the edge of the reef. We all kicked
over to see what was there and found a 6 foot shark lying docilely on the
bottom, nestled on the sand between a couple of small coral outcrops.
As we had done with the ray, we kicked against the current to hold ourselves
above the shark. Slowly we dropped towards the bottom until we were
hanging motionless a couple of feet above it. The shark wasn't really
impressed with our presence. It became a little agitated, just enough
to cause it to swing back and forth and follow our movements. We stayed
with the shark for a few minutes and then let ourselves drift away.
After forty minutes it was time to surface. We hung at 15 feet for three minutes and then glided to the surface, finding our dive boat drifting right beside us. Another spectacular dive was over.
Tobago has warm, clear water and beautiful reefs. There are some great dive and hotel packages available. You can find Scuba Adventure Safari at: http://www.divetobago.com/