Just got back from Tobago and thought that I would post a few brief comments, and put Tobago in the subject line so that anyone searching for info can look me up and I can respond with some more detailed info as requested.
Spent about 10 days in Charlotteville, just down the road from Speyside which is where most of the really good diving is.
Diving - I haven't travelled extensively to divespots (Panama City, Palm Beach, the Keys, Puerto Rico), but my impression was that the coral reefs were particularly dense with flora and fauna and that the colors were more vibrant than I've seen before. Perhaps this was due to the water clarity and sun position. Viz was probably near 100 ft. Water temp 82F. The dive sites are very near shore - near enough that the boat ride is only about 5 minutes, but far enough that you would not want to swim. I dove out of Aquamarine. They were quite nice. Boats accomodated in the ballpark of 10 or so divers. I usually dove with a few less than that. There were several options (Manta Divers, Redman, etc and all that I talked to seemed like good operations). I chose Aquamarine on account of the fact that their trips left at 10AM which was a bit later than the others and I am not a morning person. They do a single tank dive at 10 and another at 1PM. You leave your stuff on board during the interim..or you can just pay for a one tank dive. The price was in the 70-80 dollar range for two tanks, but they will apply a multi-dive discount when you finish up (they didn't bill me until I was leaving town several days after I started diving), depending on how many dives you end up doing. Didn't see anything too freaky, but I really did think that the colors and density of stuff was quite striking. Really nice angelfish, Black Durgon, the ubiquitious trumpetfish, etc. Real nice seafans and orange sponges and lots of nice brain coral. The topography was very nice also...lots of depressions, cuts, and relief in general. I had heard that the diving was for advanced divers on account of the current, but really I think its just normal drift diving. At least when I was there, the current was not as great as in Palm Beach Fl, for example. We certainly did not have a problem sticking together and the operator made sure that everyone had a safety sausage. I also did some snorkeling. That also was very nice. In Charlotteville, I would reccomend Pirates Bay.
Cuisine - There are no menus. If you ask what they have, you will probably be told that you can have chicken or fish (which comes with sides - most often, rice beans some vegetables, perhaps some Calahoo soup). Dinner at such an establishment would probably cost less than $10. I did pay about $50 (US) one night for Lobster at Jemmas, which was not worth it IMO. The best deal I found was at Speyside Inn. I believe that they have nicer meals for about the same price.
Lodging. I didn't make any reservations. I stayed at a nice little place called Belle Aire Inn, run by Clifford Neptune. It is certainly not the Hilton but for $35 a night was plenty comfortable for me. Had a stove running off tanked gas, the occasional lizard on the wall...that sort of thing. There are lots of little placed like that around. If you are looking for budget accomadations, you can find them. For all sorts of great info, check out mytobago.com.
General scenery. Lots of chickens running around, goats tied up, etc. It is extremely vertical owing to volcanic origins (I believe). The island is only 27 miles long, but you will not want to be doing any uneccesary driving as the road are on cliffs and very back and forth windy turny without guard rails and several places that are in need of repair owing to recent landslides (several months ago which occured during a period of unusually heavy rains).
Other - known as a premier destination for birders. You can also take a nice little kayak tour from Clark for $50 US. Have some rum punches, listen to Soca, hang out at the beach, etc.
Spent about 10 days in Charlotteville, just down the road from Speyside which is where most of the really good diving is.
Diving - I haven't travelled extensively to divespots (Panama City, Palm Beach, the Keys, Puerto Rico), but my impression was that the coral reefs were particularly dense with flora and fauna and that the colors were more vibrant than I've seen before. Perhaps this was due to the water clarity and sun position. Viz was probably near 100 ft. Water temp 82F. The dive sites are very near shore - near enough that the boat ride is only about 5 minutes, but far enough that you would not want to swim. I dove out of Aquamarine. They were quite nice. Boats accomodated in the ballpark of 10 or so divers. I usually dove with a few less than that. There were several options (Manta Divers, Redman, etc and all that I talked to seemed like good operations). I chose Aquamarine on account of the fact that their trips left at 10AM which was a bit later than the others and I am not a morning person. They do a single tank dive at 10 and another at 1PM. You leave your stuff on board during the interim..or you can just pay for a one tank dive. The price was in the 70-80 dollar range for two tanks, but they will apply a multi-dive discount when you finish up (they didn't bill me until I was leaving town several days after I started diving), depending on how many dives you end up doing. Didn't see anything too freaky, but I really did think that the colors and density of stuff was quite striking. Really nice angelfish, Black Durgon, the ubiquitious trumpetfish, etc. Real nice seafans and orange sponges and lots of nice brain coral. The topography was very nice also...lots of depressions, cuts, and relief in general. I had heard that the diving was for advanced divers on account of the current, but really I think its just normal drift diving. At least when I was there, the current was not as great as in Palm Beach Fl, for example. We certainly did not have a problem sticking together and the operator made sure that everyone had a safety sausage. I also did some snorkeling. That also was very nice. In Charlotteville, I would reccomend Pirates Bay.
Cuisine - There are no menus. If you ask what they have, you will probably be told that you can have chicken or fish (which comes with sides - most often, rice beans some vegetables, perhaps some Calahoo soup). Dinner at such an establishment would probably cost less than $10. I did pay about $50 (US) one night for Lobster at Jemmas, which was not worth it IMO. The best deal I found was at Speyside Inn. I believe that they have nicer meals for about the same price.
Lodging. I didn't make any reservations. I stayed at a nice little place called Belle Aire Inn, run by Clifford Neptune. It is certainly not the Hilton but for $35 a night was plenty comfortable for me. Had a stove running off tanked gas, the occasional lizard on the wall...that sort of thing. There are lots of little placed like that around. If you are looking for budget accomadations, you can find them. For all sorts of great info, check out mytobago.com.
General scenery. Lots of chickens running around, goats tied up, etc. It is extremely vertical owing to volcanic origins (I believe). The island is only 27 miles long, but you will not want to be doing any uneccesary driving as the road are on cliffs and very back and forth windy turny without guard rails and several places that are in need of repair owing to recent landslides (several months ago which occured during a period of unusually heavy rains).
Other - known as a premier destination for birders. You can also take a nice little kayak tour from Clark for $50 US. Have some rum punches, listen to Soca, hang out at the beach, etc.
