Just To Boast

[richs01]

I'm off to Tobago a week on Saturday for a little scuba excursion. They apparently have the largest brain coral in the world. Also lots of Mantas...

Anybody dived here before?

:D :lol: :D ;) :lol:

[gman]

No, but i am off to the Maldives a week on sunday :P :P :P :P

[Jevs]

I dived in Barbados and off the Florida Keys.
Didn't see too many corals but lots of very big sponges and gorgonians.
Plenty of large queen, french and rock beauty angels, morays, jawfish, grammas, mustard tangs, blue chromis and some large groupers to mention a few (watch out for long, black spine urchins as they're everywhere)

You will definately see seargent majors !!!!! and if you're lucky...flying fish.
Prolly not the best diving in the world but the caribbean is warm, clear and full of life.
Enjoy.....you jammy swine :lol:
Andy

[keith]

I have booked to dive Zanzibar at Mnemba Atoll. Living in a beach bungalow.

[Cardi]

Arrgh Jealousy..

I've been to Toabgo and Zanzibar and they are amazing but I went before I qualified to dive so have not ever dived there.

I've got to make do with Crete in acouple of weeks time and maybe Sharm in October...

Seriously though Tobago is such a cool place make sure you eat some Roti's there lovely.

If in zanzibar check out Stone Town its an amazing place...

[Glenn'n'Emm]

Only being 'qualified' to snorkel Im not sure Im qualified to join in these convos about diving expiditions. But im going to anyway rofl!!

My malaysian trip has been put off due to the SARs thingy till October, so all the plans to visit and snorkel on a reef have been put back.

However, i did buy snorkel and mask for Emma and i and were off to the canaries for a week next week. apparently there are some good dive sites there, but not sure how snorkel friendly they may be. Still at least itll give Emma a chance to snorkel for the 1st time and for me to practice nearly drowning when trying to watch fish in anything over three feet of water!!!

LOL last time i snorkeled i was a little younger and fitter and used to spend a good deal of time popping down to the bottom to check out fish and critters in reasonable deep water.

When we went to buy thew snorkels and masks I scared Emma by asking how much it would cost to get qualified for diving in the tropics!!! The look on her face said 'Oh no not another expensive hobby!!!'

GLenn

[ahoy]

Just to add my two penneth - i'm off to Sharm in a few weeks. And i'm going to save pennies for a trip to the Maldives after that. Might make it in 2008 or so....

Enjoy Tobago - i'm also thinking about a West Indies trip as a diving mate has family out there (sees cheap accom opportunity ;) )

S.

[richs01]

Glenn -

Just to say, I did my PADI open water here (it was bl**dy freezing) and then did my advanced course in the Red Sea, at Sharm El Sheikh. And I have to say, so far its been about 1/20th the price of my little reefkeeping hobby...

Reckon a PADI open water course, with equipment hire, may cost about 300 quid tops. That also gives you some really nice, warm dives, some good experience, and allows you to dive to 18m anywhere in the world.

300 quid is the cost of one trip to my LFS recently....

:( :unsure: :wacko:

Rich

[Northern Man]

Well I've got two nights B&B booked in Rhyll for the Scooter Rally in June - not much diving happening but you can bet it's going to be a wet weekend :P :P :P

Mike.

[Glenn'n'Emm]

Rich

Your right, but on top of the shooting, my dog, fishing and the tank Im not sure Emms ready for any more hobbies.

Anyway your right about the price, Kent Diving suggested a PADI course around £280.00 incuding kit.

Seriousely though Emma and i are thinking of it. Emmas not sure if its her scene, the breathing underwater thing. For me I spent 18 years in the fire service using breathing apparatus and dont find the prospect at all daunting. Not saying its easy, just sitting here I think I would like it.

So I guess getting a mask and snorkel plus the chance for Emma to try it out in Fuertaventura when we go next week will give her an idea if she might like to have a go at diving. We'll see i spose.

Glenn

[Cardi]

Serious learn to dive its great.
My missus was nervous as well, but soon became distracted by the fish and stopped worrying. She's better at it that I am now.
Its my opinion that learning to dive abroad is better than in Britain as a novice gets to see more underwater and is easily distarcted. This makes them stop worrying about the underwater breathing bit. As a bonus its easy to persuade the lady to go on diving if an exotic holiday is part of it. The red sea is cheap and hot you cannot go wrong...and the exotic locations all tend to have great diving.

If you fancy a cheap holiday to toabgo, get a flight only and stay at one of the B&B's on Store Bay road near the airport. I stayed at Sandys Guest house it was clean cheap and 5 mins from beach...rough it backpacker style in the carribean its easy and satisfying..

P.S. perhaps this thread should be moved to scuba section...

[spottydog]

I went to Tobago last December. Which part of the island are you staying on?

We stayed at Crown Point where the airport is and dived with Undersea Tobago. Most the diving we did was in the Atlantic as the visibility in the carribean was awful.

In the atlantic there were lots of large barrel sponges which had been flattened due to the prevailing current and lots of nurse sharks hiding under ledges. There was very little hard coral but lots of large soft coral. The current was reasonably strong but I gather it is stronger on the other side of the island (where the giant brain coral is).

If you're staying on the far side of the island (Speyside area) check out this Link (http://www.diverforum.co.uk/talkforums/destinationstalk/posts/3049.html) for a report written by Bren Tierney on Divernet which details his 2 weeks in Tobago (worth a read even if you're not planning a trip there).

If you want further information about the Crown Point area send me a PM.

Anne

[ahoy]

Glenn,
if you're keen to do a PADI course, there are some good deals where you can have a week in Sharm El Sheikh, do all the classroom and pool sessions and then qualify with 4 open water dives - less than £500. If you're interested, I can pass you the details of the relevant websites.
S.

[LiamD]

Hi,
Just back from St. Lucia. I really enjoyed the diving there - nothing hugely challenging but quite spectacular - lots of hard corals and the giggest barrel sponges i've ever seen. In st Lucia all of the diving is on the Caribbean side from Anse Chastanet.
Actually the Caribbean is my favourite destination for diving. I've tried Grand Cayman, Mexico (Cozumel), Jamaica (diving wasn't so hot there), Bermuda (excellent but too many septics though), Florida Keys (ditto unsurprisingly), Cuba, Dominican Republic and Aruba. Cuba and Cozumel were unbelievably cheap for diving, Aruba wasn't.

Liam