One of my ongoing regrets was that I took up scuba diving after I finished my assignment in Jakarta. Indonesia has some seriously primo diving sites. But if I had I would have missed out on the experiences with my number one dive buddy, Kalyn. Still I was determined to not repeat the misstep and so I booked a scuba trip this three day weekend.
Trinidad itself has comparatively few dive spots but the sister island, Tobago (the formal name of the country is Trinidad and Tobago) has several so it was off to Tobago. (Unrelated sidelight; corporate security wants to know whenever I leave the country and in their minds, that includes leaving Trinidad and going to Tobago. I wonder how seriously they take that Texas tourism slogan: It's like a whole 'nother country.)
There are two choices on how to get to Tobago from Trinidad; the 20 minute flight or the two hour ferry ride. I opted for the flight. The airport on Tobago is on the southwestern most tip of Tobago while the town I chose to stay in, Speyside, is pretty much on the northeast end. So getting to the airport is the short half of the trip. The driver... and thank God I decided not to rent a car. I might still be on the road... complained bitterly about the traffic and with good cause. The traffic was awful. Lesson learned: You don't need a lot of people and cars to cause traffic jams. You just need a lot more than the roads are equipped to handle.
After about an hour of windy, twisty, poor roads, poorly marked and poorly maintained, we arrived at the Manta Lodge in Speyside. You can just see the scuba shop on the left. The dark area on the ground floor on the right is where the restaurant and the hotel's one television set. The TV seemed to be playing the Law and Order channel. Georgia would have been happy with that.
The room is modest... spartan might be a better word. Although it was described as an "Ocean-view" room, you can barely see the ocean for the trees growing around it. But like a cruise ship, you don't go on a scuba trip to spend a lot of time in your room. (Although on a scuba trip, you spend a lot more time in your room than you might guess.) You come to see the ocean.
Speyside is a little town nestled among the hills. Given that the population of the entire island is only about 50,000 I'm not sure what I expected. According to the 2000 census, the population of Speyside was 59. I think if you include the entire metropolitan area, that number probably increases to at least 100. It is, by a large margin, the smallest place I've gone to scuba dive. Again, you don't go to visit the town. You go to scuba dive.
I managed to get in just one dive the day arrived. The divemaster decided to take me and a couple from San Antonio to a dive site called "Step-up." It is located close to the jagged rocks on the far left side of this picture. And yes, that is a house on the far right side of the island. That is the home of Ian Flemming, the author who created James Bond. He built his home on "Goat Island" presumably to get away from the hubbub and the crowds of Speyside.
The dive itself went just fine. Lots of little fish and sea-slugs and healthy coral. Visibility was about 60-100 feet though it started to decline toward the end of the dive.
Despite what I said earlier, you do go into "town" to eat and this is the restaurant I picked. Or rather it picked me. The proprietor called me in and I went. This place is known as Redman's. I suspect it has something to do with the paint. And yes, you are correct. It has no windows. The menu consists of three choices: chicken, fish or lobster. I went with fish.
This is the interior of Redman's. Note the elegant plywood ceiling and concrete floor. Almost note the source of light. The one, count them, one light bulb is it after 6:30. The food was plentiful and done in the local creole style. It was a bit heavy on starchy foods. Dinner included a huge bowl of rice, a macaroni salad and an assortment of sweet potato and plantain sides. It was ample. And though they didn't offer beer, I topped it off with a ginger shandy which is sort of like beer mixed with ginger ale with just a touch of pepper. I liked it.
