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Dive Review of Blue Waters Dive'N/Blue Waters Inn in
Trinidad and Tobago/Speyside Tobago

Blue Waters Dive'N/Blue Waters Inn: "Tobago's Atlantic Side- Fishy & Current", Feb, 2019,

by Jeanette Hartshorn, MO, US (Contributor Contributor 19 reports with 17 Helpful votes). Report 11323 has 2 Helpful votes.

Photos Submitted with this Report


Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 3 stars
Service and Attitude 3 stars Environmental Sensitivity 3 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 2 stars
Advanced 4 stars
Comments Getting to Tobago from Port of Spain, Trinidad is a quick flight over, taking you to the SW end of the island. Getting to Speyside on the East end of the island is an adventure in-and-of-itself, driving on very narrow, winding and hilly roads, on the left side, and taking about 1.5hrs. It's a beautiful drive, best done in daylight hours.
Blue Waters Inn is a very comfortable place, situated on beautiful Batteaux Bay with fabulous scenery around. Our room was a suite with a kitchenette- nicely appointed, comfortable, clean and a good size. Also with a nice balcony water facing.
The restaurant at Blue Waters Inn served good food, but the service was abysmally slow, whether it was breakfast, lunch or dinner, and it was also expensive compared to the restaurants in town. It was not uncommon to wait for 2hrs for dinner (once they took our orders), so after 1 night of that, we headed into town for local cuisine which was delicious and typically served up much quicker than at the Inn.

The dive operation is right on site; it's a small operation but a PADI 5 star facility. Their dive operation is pretty typical laid-back Caribbean style, but they do adhere to safety practices. This end of the island (Speyside) is the Atlantic and as such, the currents can be a little unpredictable and strong. On any dive, our group was only 2-5 divers, not including the Divemaster (Instructor certified). The Divemaster always carried a line with a safety sausage for the topside boat to keep watch on us (all drift dives).
Underwater life was very fishy with abundant filefish species, angels, lobsters, morays, cowfish, butterflyfish, trumpetfish, wrasse, chromis, etc and tons of fryfish. Nice to see that much life. We saw a couple of turtles over the 10 dives we did in the week, a few nurse sharks and 1 stingray, but we were disappointed to not see more rays, no eagle rays or mantas. Decades ago, this area was known for the mantas, but sadly not now.
Overall we enjoyed the diving, but realized you have to be prepared for unpredictable currents. On one dive, the current carried us over a reef (very fast!), then we headed out into the blue where we actually encountered a down current. We rented the operations' BC's, which I would say were marginally maintained with sticky valves which in a down current situation is less than ideal.

Topside, there is very good hiking across the ridgeline in the ancient forest; the Gilpin Trail being the most notable. And scenery around the island is gorgeous if you have a car and just spend 1-2 days exploring around.

Read more on my blogsite:
[underwatersplendor.com link]
Websites Blue Waters Dive'N   Blue Waters Inn

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Bahamas, Florida, Atlantic, Lake Champlain, Caribbean, Mexico, Indonesia, Maldives, Hawaii, Cocos Island, Galapagos
Closest Airport TAB Tobago Robinson Getting There MIA to POS (Port of Spain, Trinidad) to TAB

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy Seas choppy, surge, currents
Water Temp 79-80°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 50- Ft/ 15- M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile no
Enforced diving restrictions No deco diving
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? no

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles 1 or 2 Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 3 stars Large Fish 2 stars
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 3 stars Boat Facilities N/A
Overall rating for UWP's 2 stars Shore Facilities 1 stars
UW Photo Comments Nothing on the boat for cameras. Rinse tank at the dive shop often didn't have fresh water in it.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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