Dive Review of Carib Stu/Cholson Chalets in
Trinidad and Tobago/Charlottesville, Tobago

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Carib Stu/Cholson Chalets, May, 2007, by Jamie Levy, IL, USA . Report 3557.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	My husband and I traveled to Tobago the first week in May, 2007 from Chicago. Tobago is a lovely island with fantastic diving. However, it is not easy to journey there. We flew to Trinidad through Miami and spent a night in Trinidad. Apparently, most people must overnight in Trinidad on their way to Tobago. I would suggest staying anywhere near the airport as there is a lot of traffic around the island and it isn’t worth driving 45 minutes to sleep only 6 hours. Be forewarned, the sleeping establishments close to the airport are a little bit scary. The following day, we hopped a flight to Tobago where we rented a car to drive to the north side of the island. The drive is a beautiful 90 minutes along the cost. We stayed at Cholson Chalets in Charlottesville, which is a quaint little fishing village in the north of Tobago. The Chalets consist of three buildings: two antique two-storied buildings with wooden upstairs and varnished wooden floors; and one (1) cottage. We rented a two bedroom apartment fully equipped with a kitchen. The apartment was charming, however, there was no air-conditioning and we were incredibly hot. We bought food at one of the grocery stores near the airport but never ended up cooking any meals. The restaurants in Charlottesville and Speyside are very good and very cheap. Most are located on the beach and dinner cost around $20 for two. We ate lunch every day at Cheryl’s, our boat captain’s wife’s restaurant. Her food was just delicious and ready for us after we finished diving. The food is essentially the same at each establishment and offers the same Caribbean/Creole menu of beef, chicken, or fish. We dove with Stuart Sampson from Carib Stu . We were able to get in three dives per day and finish around 1 pm. He offers an exclusive private guide service for Divers who want something special. You can check out his website at www.caribstu.com. This was the first time my husband and I hired a private dive guide and now we never want to dive on a crowded dive boat again. We were most definitely spoiled from the impeccable service and individual attention we received from Stu. He runs a topnotch operation by focusing on fun with an emphasis on safety. Tobago has some serious currents. During each briefing, he not only described the site but also explained how to maneuver through the currents and how to avoid problems when caught in strong currents. We were able to dive our own profiles based on our computers. He was an excellent guide pointing out critters and such but also letting us explore on our own. We were fortunate to see the usual suspects including lobsters, crabs, turtles, barracudas, eels, tarpon, different species of shrimp, and snapper. In addition we saw a Hammerhead, Blacktip Sharks, Mantas, Rays, and fantastic Corals. We were lucky enough to have a close encounter with over 50 Squid. They are curious little buggers that checked us out and copied our every movement. They really were fascinating. Stu took us to dive sites that he founded and that the other operators do not frequent. Even topside, he was great company and loved to joke around. After each day, Stu would rinse and store our gear for the next day. Overall, we absolutely would recommend diving with Stu. (We saw some of the other dive operations and they appeared to be very unsafe and had no regard for any other dive groups.) In my opinion, there is no better dive operation than Carib Stu. We loved diving off Speyside in Tobago and hope to return soon.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	My husband and I have been diving in Cozumel, Belize, Turks and Caicos, Tobago, Bonne Terre Mine, Quarries.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	currents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	40-75 Ft/ 12-23 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We were able to dive our own profiles. Safety was always enforced.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There is plenty to photograph. We did not have any freshwater to store our camera on the boat. However, at the end of our trip, we were told that one would have been provided for us if we just asked.

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Dive Review of Carib Stu/Cholson Chalets in Trinidad and Tobago/Charlottesville, Tobago

Carib Stu/Cholson Chalets, May, 2007,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Carib Stu/Cholson Chalets in
Trinidad and Tobago/Charlottesville, Tobago