Cut Throat
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Has anyone dove here and budget friendly resort or hotel or bnb
Tobago
- Thread starter Cut Throat
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It's been about 25 years, but we did our open water certification dives in Charlotteville, Tobago. We enjoyed the low key experience and the (then) Danish run dive operation. We stayed in a rented apartment outside of town, which was not fancy, but good enough for younger me. Hopefully someone has been there more recently and give an update. For my taste it was definitely worth getting away from the airport and resorts at the south end, but different people like different things. And who knows what changed in the interval.
Trinidad has been getting a bad rap due to unemployment and religious extremism. I might be misinformed, but I have not been searching out either island, as I would need to pass through Trinidad to get to/from Tobago.
We flew directly from Barbados to Tobago. It looks like those flights are only a few days a week currently, but if you are starting on the east coast of Canada/US then it makes an OK routing. You could even do a few days of diving/tourist stuff on Barbados on the way, if you have extra days.
Been to Tobago twice (Nov. 2018, Mar 2023), dove once (Mar 2023). The island is absolutely stunning— something on par with say, Kauai IMHO. People are friendly, the island has a very relaxed atmosphere, and everything is dirt cheap, comparatively speaking to other Caribbean destinations. No large tourists resorts, which is a definite plus in my book. We dove with Tobago Dive Experience, which in my opinion is one of the best dive outfits out there—very friendly, flexible, knowledgeable, and safe. I would say TDE has more of a family feel to it, which I really appreciated. Furthermore, the owner was extremely easy to work with to book and very accommodating In general. We stayed on property in a brand new suite (the Villa), which was clean, bright, cool, and modern with full kitchen. Loved, loved, loved it! I personally, fell in love with the resident dogs who would walk everywhere with us around the small town of Speyside. In regards to cost, again dirt cheap. Lodging and diving together was on average $1200pp for 7 days and 12 dives Depending on a single or double room. I would highly recommend staying/diving here if you choose Tobago. Additionally, if you like to Lion Fish hunt, then this is the place for you. TDE is very dedicated to doing their part to try to eradicate the buggers, and have actually made a dent in the LF population around the island. Our group is big into this and slayed, on average, 25 LF per day (they are amateurs, lol). The dive masters cleaned the fish then brought to the restaurant next door to TDE and prepared many delicious meals with said fish! That all being said, I found the diving to be mediocre at best, with really strong currants. I have to say that I much prefer calmer waters with interesting dive sights to toole around— so drift diving at 50mph three inches above the reef as recommended is not really my jam. So for me, it was a really long way to go (5 hours from Houston to POS, 6 hours back) for mediocre diving. The rest of the group really, really enjoyed the diving however, so it is really an individual preference and point of view.
I should add to my previous post, that in all fairness to Tobago diving, I am coming back from a multi-year hiatus from diving due to a really bad dive that freaked me out and obliterated my confidence. So, that being said, I was probably not really ready for the “big kid” diving on Tobago, confidence -wise. I’m sure that if I asked to go on the “beginner boat” Tobago Dive Experience would have surely accommodated and I would have enjoyed the diving more, however I didn’t want to subject the rest of my group to my personal nuerosis. Please don’t let my previous post deter you from Tobago, as the rest of my group, who is not suffering from diving PTSD, really enjoyed the advanced kind-of-diving found on Tobago. And again, if you choose to dive Tobago, I highly recommend Tobago Dive Experience. 
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