Hi,
Have sailed past Carriacou 4 times but unable to dive there because it was too exposed and conditions would not permit it. Have dove in Bequia about 6 times and many other places in the Grenadines, but Bequia is the best bet in The Grenadines, Boulders is a fantastic site, not to miss. Devils Table and the Stratmann Tug can be dived together or separately. The former has lots of nooks and crannies with lots of lobsters, shrimp, octopus, etc. The Tug is a non penetration wreck surrounded by yellow head jawfish and garden eels. The viz is usually 75+' but currents can be tricky sometimes changing direction mid-dive. Coral and sponge coverage is very good for the Caribbean, obviously not like the South Pacific. We did a muck dive in about 25' of water hunting for a seahorse along the wall before Devil's Table starts and around the point, about an hour into the dive we found a seahorse and because there were just two of us diving off a dingy we were able to film it for 20 minutes. The seahorse was free-swimming and moving from sponge to sponge looking for food and eating.
I have a bias for Tobago because i really love the diversity of the site all around the island. There is a combination of both easy, intermediate and advanced dives. Many of the sites are difficult to get to and you should consider visiting Tobago in the summer or early fall when wind and wave conditions are at a minimum. On our last trip in December the viz at various dive sites around the island ranged from 15' - 100+ feet. We picked a day to try to do London Bridge (diving certain sites need to be prearranged) and unfortunately there were 10’ rollers with 4' chop, needless to say by the time we got there we had to change sites to Marble Island in St Giles because of the conditions. Two days later we dived on Angel Reef following a 40’ profile rather than the typical 60' profile, the viz was 100+ and we spotted yellow head jawfish, Brazilian Giraffe Garden Eels, an Octopus, a Seahorse, Ocean and Queen Triggerfish, tons of eels and a turtle. Turtles are common throughout Tobago. There are schools of Black Durgeon. If you want to see variety of hamlets Mt Irvine Extension had at 6 varieties of Hamlet in one dive. You are not into wrecks but The Maverick was cleaned out and intentionally sunk. It was the old ferry and it’s teaming with fish. Easy penetration and easy access into the lower decks, to the engine room and other compartments.
A lot of this stuff is on the video on our home page, the big wreck is The Maverick, the octopus is from Bequia , the big southern ray lives in Castera Bay in Tobago, the other footage is from other islands in the Grenadines like St. Vincent, Mayreau and Union Island.
If you go to Bequia we always dive with Dive Bequia, say hi to Cathy from corey and sal. If you pay for your dives online in advance you can save money.
If you go to Tobago Aquamarine Divers in Speyside is a good location to dive from. They are so close to all the Speyside dive sites that you do the intervals back at the dive shop. We have stayed at the Blue Water Inn which has both hotel and cottage accommodations. On the Crown Point side we always dive with Frontier Divers. It’s best to call rather than email them.
We run 3-7 day charters called Tobago Dive Safaris with a local captain and a PADI instructor who has 15 years experience diving Tobago. It’s a live aboard catamaran 3-4dives per day. The live aboard is the best way to dive in Tobago because you can get out to The Sisters and some of the more difficult to get to locations.
You said you wanted to stay in a land based building on the beach. In the Speyside area The Blue Waters Inn have cottages that are right on the beach.
If you want to stay on the Crown Point side and you are an RCI member you can exchange into Sandy Point Beach Club pretty easily during August and September. Frontier Divers is located on that property. Sandy Point Beach Club is a small complex but it is ocean front and very friendly and it usually gets a silver or gold rating from RCI.
If you are considering a live aboard we also run a one week live aboard catamaran operation from Bequia through The Grenadines south to The Tobago Cays and back. On that trip we generally do about 7-8 dives during the week but we load up with 2 or 3 dives on each Saturday in Bequia before and after boarding the yacht.
For accommodations in Bequia, The Gingerbread and The Frangipani are both water front and right next to Dive Bequia. We like the Bamboo Chute because it is small and has a lovely built in eternity pool and a terrific view of the bay. It is partially up the mountain but still walkable distance if you don’t have dive gear to lug.
Whether you choose Bequia or Tobago they are both terrific, have friendly people, are not overdeveloped, but difficult to get to. Tobago is easier because there is an international airport in Trinidad that is serviced by many US airlines and you just take a prop plane over.
With Bequia you fly either to Barbados or Grenada. If you do Grenada spend a couple of days and checkout the diving because it is very nice there too. You’ll have to fly to St. Vincent and then take the ferry to Bequia. You’ll probably have to overnight in St. Vincent depending upon your air travel scheduling. And if so there is some terrifically awesome critter diving with Bill Tewes at Dive St Vincent.
If you fly to Barbados rather than taking LIAT to St Vincent check out SVG Air for a direct flight to Bequia. If your party is large enough you can charter the whole plane and fly whenever you want and avoid all the airport hassle. But they do have regularly scheduled flights and the overall cost and time make the direct flight from Barbados a better deal. LIAT has weight restriction on luggage that are different than the international airlines so you will be paying fees for your dive gear and your carryon which greatly increase the price and they are not known as Leave-Island-Any-Time for no reason.
Hope you find this helpful. If you have other questions just me know.
