The Inn itself is almost violently yellow and the dive shop looked nice and new as well. The first thing I noticed that seemed a little odd was that there was a group of four people eating lunch on the dive shop's verandah. I didn't want to bother them so I looked around the dive shop, noting that everything I saw was in either English or German. A few moments later a nice young woman who introduced herself as Tanya approached me, eager to answer my questions. Tanya's accent was oddly familiar but I couldn't place it.
A few moments later, the divemaster, Adrian drove up and the three of us were chatting away about this dive site or another. As Tanya later explained to me, the company they work for needed a photo for the website in a hurry so she and Adrian went out to somewhere green hoping the picture might look something like Tobago. Hahahaha. The two of them, like the divemaster at the Manta Lodge, are Swiss. Switzerland bears essentially zero similarity to Tobago. My impression of the dive shop and the staff there was very favorable.That evening I went back to the Speyside Inn for dinner and it was in fact superior to most of the fare I had gotten elsewhere. And who should approach me to say hello but Tanya. And a few moments later, here comes Adrian to say hello and ask me how my dinner was. I said it was the best I had had in Speyside and he said the cook would be pleased to hear that. And then he cleared the table for me. In my experience, this never happens. The divemaster never, ever, waits tables in the restaurant. Adrian explained that he and Tanya did a bit of everything around the hotel. So pressing my luck I asked if he could find someone to show me a room. Of course. And a few minutes later, he came back with a couple keys and I was off for a tour of the hotel.
The rooms were almost as brightly colorful as the exterior and instead of evoking thoughts of "Lord, this is modest," I found myself thinking "This is nice."
After my tour, I thanked Adrian and expressed my amazement that the Divemaster would go to such lengths. As he explained, he and Tanya not only run the dive shop, they are the hotel managers as well and suddenly I understood. Then he invited me to join to two of them and three of their guests while they dined. So I joined the two Swiss hotel managers and their three German guests and we had a pleasant evening talking about diving and insects we despise and what not.
The next morning I had my last two dives of the trip after I said good-bye to the other two guests at the Manta Lodge. This is John and Linda from San Antonio, Texas about to get into the same "taxi" that would later take me back to the airport. I was unbelievably grateful this driver knew the roads as well as he did. I might not be back yet if I had driven. They are off to spend several days at the Asa Wright Nature Centre. I enjoyed their company quite a bit as well. The last two dives were the best of the trip in terms of sea-life, healthy coral and me not feeding the fish. Sean had warned the new diver who joined us that I would get sea-sick on the pier. All told, it was a pleasant diving session and trip.
After the dive I was heading toward the last of the restaurants in the area I wanted to try, Jemma's Treehouse, and as I walked I happened to pass the Speyside Inn. Of course, Adrian and my new German friends called out to me and wished me a pleasant day. Like I said, the Speyside Inn folks made a very favorable impression on me.
Last picture. This is a typical Tobagoan "Mini-Mart." Overall, its about the size of a toolshed and they are quite literally all over Tobago and probably Trinidad as well. I saw the poster on the side of the thing so often on the drive to Speyside that I had to know what the story was. The rather hot looking babe is selling crackers. Such is what they use sex appeal to sell in Trinidad.
