Dreams of 32 degrees water amazing visibility, Wrecks, Drift, Dives, Biggest Brain Corals, the Caribbean has it all.

Its where my Scuba life started sitting by a pool in Antigua along came my first instructor Carlo Constantini he took me through a try dive in the pool and I was hooked, next day my first discover scuba dive from Nelsons Dockyard , The pillars of Hercules I was amazed the coral was so fantastic small Nurse sharks stingrays, fish everywhere and this dive site was only three minutes from the harbor.

Antigua is a beautiful place and Nelsons dockyard is a great place to dive from, I only did two dives in Antigua but ill never forget them, and I can highly recommend it for weeks diving.

Tobago, now were talking fantastic drift dives fast and challenging at Speyside (Atlantic side) and more sedate on the Caribbean side I stayed in Tobago for two weeks and dived every other day, Davey picked me up each Day in his truck and we would just set of pull up at a beach kit up and dive it was like going back in time no one around just us. First dive was On the MV Maverick a roll on off ferry sunk especially for diving. We swam out and descended through a thick green soup, Tobago suffers a run off from the Orinoco which greens the water on the Caribbean side but ten meters down crystal clear and a great dive with a fantastic swim through great for those first ventures into a wreck.

Mount Irvine wall a beautiful outcrop covered in corals and fans teaming with life I watched in amazement at an Octopus being cleaned by cleaner Wrasse.

Life in the Caribbean takes some getting used to, as everyone seems to be late and it’s hard for us foreigners to accept it, so go with an Open mind and be prepared to wait!! That’s a really good piece of advice.

Back to the diving of to Speyside with the big drift dives, Davey and I arrive after a long drive or should I say slow drive right across Tobago we arrive and are met by Davey’s Cousin, (they all know each other the locals) who puts a pair of fins on dives in a swims out to a small wooden boat and brings it back to us, I do two dives at Speyside first one was a really fast drift like flying along and just steering , words of Davey ringing in my head when we reach the big brain Coral you need to go around the inside of it or we will have to abort , we reached the biggest brain coral I have ever seen and I positioned myself to tuck around the inside, perfect I was happy as I came around the corner I was greeted by the biggest Nurse Shark you have ever seen and I nearly back peddled so hard with the shock, that’s the thing with Speyside if you see something big its really big.

One thing I did talk to Davey about was the possibility of seeing Manta Rays and his thoughts were very rarely if at all, he seemed to think that the promise of seeing Manta’s shouldn’t be used in trying to sell Scuba in Tobago it was so uncommon.

Grenada is a wreck lover’s paradise with plenty to choose from and nearly all of them not to far from shore but the daddy of them all has to be the Bianca C a 1960’s cruise liner that sunk a mile of shore after a checkered life. If I am honest it was the greatest wreck dive of my life and one that kept me awake that night , she is at about 38 meters at her shallowest and we swam from one end to the other quickly just to see it all as we only had 15-20 mines no decompression time. The bow section was like looking at the Titanic awesome, one of my top rated dives.

So diving in the Caribbean, what do you need to know. Go with an open mind and be patient chill out and enjoy the restfulness of every dive, make sure you protect yourself from the sun when on boats believe me when I say burnt legs whilst sitting in a Shorty hurts and doesn’t look good on the beach the next day. Most dive centers charge in US dollars and diving isn’t as cheap as say in Egypt but most certainly worth it for the intimatecy and small number groups I have never dived with more than four people ever.
Try to pre book with your chosen dive centre that way they can pre plan for you and fit in with any dives you may particularly want to do.

Caribbean the best place on earth I love it I am sure you will to.

Can I come with you???

Until next time

Dive safe

Nick Hopes

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