Diary Friday 6th
This morning was our last full day in Tobago, our 3 pro divers; Charlie, Bruce and Phil went off early for their more advanced excursion for which I will hand over to our guest diarist:
On a fabulously typically sunny and hot morning, three team members ( Charlie, Bruce and Phil CS) were collected by Undersea Tobago from the hotel and taken to The Coco Beach Hotel in Crowne Point. We were introduced to the dive staff, listened intently to the safety briefing ( as PCS last dived over a decade previously) and made our way out on the dive boat to our first destination – Mount Irvine Bay Reef.
We descended to an average depth of 12m and saw a huge array of beautifully coloured reef fish, crab, turtle and a stingray.
Our second dive at 12m on the Mount Irvine Wall we saw a batfish, spiny lobster, family of eagle rays and another turtle.
Charlie kept us all suitably photographed and entertained with her underwater GoPro skills and we headed back to the dive shop to join part of the team prepping for their first Try-Dive.
Even earlier Nigel and Turbo headed off for another fishing excursion. I am told however they were even less successful than yesterday as I’m told that both a Barracuda and a Kingfish managed to elude capture!
Meanwhile the rest of the team took the morning off with most relaxing on the adjacent beach to the hotel and taking advantage of some excellent snorkelling around the rocks very close to shore.
In the afternoon the second group of try-divers headed off for their dive experience and the rest of us went on an excursion to the south side of the island to find a restaurant that Dick had remembered from 9 years ago. We found the restaurant now called Cafe Havana and although it no longer did reasonably priced lobster it had superb colonial decor that, like the Asa Wright bird sanctuary in Trinidad, would have fitted in very well at Bisley.
After a refreshing lunch, the pro divers were collected and we went to nearby Fort St George which had superb views of the southern aspect of the Island and a very interesting museum, demonstrating that Tobago wasn’t always paradise.
Late afternoon we returned to the hotel to regroup with everyone for the now traditional sundowners and headed again to Honey’s restaurant for Goat Curry and superb Hospitality from Cyrus, Nancy and Phebe.
Tomorrow we will depart Tobago with not a little bit of sadness having enjoyed our small glimpse of paradise, but well rested and ready for the business part of the tour.