Dive Review of Tobago Dive Experience at Manta Lodge/Manta Lodge in
Trinidad and Tobago/Speyside

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Tobago Dive Experience at Manta Lodge/Manta Lodge, Jan, 2010, by Janna Poll, co, usa ( 2 reports). Report 5346.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Mosquitoes still active with 25% deet, they didn't care. Plan for landscape photography, but not so much underwater. Scenery on island is incredibly beautiful and unspoiled. Very few tourists. Most locals know each other, especially up in the NE by Speyside. friendly. Island is clean and water was safe. Tobago dive experience doesn't do much of any service and they don't have their own dock. You haul all your gear from hotel, into the truck, onto the dock, setup, into the boat, between dives and then in reserve. No rinse tanks and had to use a city hose on the dock. Little water, a few awful cookies, low service. This isn't a liveaboard, Dorothy! The shuttle flight to Tobago from POS (tee hee-Trinidad's code) is quite informal and they allow two 50lb bags to be checked. If you get off your flight in POS quickly, you CAN make the last shuttle to Tobago. They roads in Tobago are good, but very twisty and I wouldn't want to drive them at night and from the left side. Our hotel included shuttle and that was good. However, it is nice to have a car to tour if you are adventurous. FOOD IS OUTRAGEOUSLY priced on these islands. Typically very tasty, clean, and lots of fruits and veges, but expensive. They typically charge 30-40US$ for dinner and that's just one course and not drinks. Hotels are very basic and really get the tourists on meal expense. Local places are safe and offer lunch for around $15ppUS without drinks, which is closer to reality (usually fish, beans, rice and veges). Locals are sometimes aloof and you have to take the initiative to chat with them (esp the women). Then they are sweet and wonderful. Dialect can be challenging, esp for europeans that know non-slang english. They basically drop the consonants, but can slip into nearly regular english for visitors. If you spend time in Trinidad, go to the local fair up by the university at night around 8 for great local food and for really cheap. It's safe, good and more of what you want to see. Our first night we got into Hyatt at Port of Spain later, so we hit the restaurant. WOW! $170 and that was no drinks, no dessert, just two entrees. Do go to the bird sanctuary where the red ibis flock.
Websites	Tobago Dive Experience at Manta Lodge
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Indonesia, asia, palua, truk, hawaii, fiji, british columbia, calif, florida, baja, mexico and cozumel, grand turk, caymans, puerto rico, st maartin, saba, honduras, belize
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas
Water Temp	79-°F / 26-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	70-100 Ft/ 21-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	DM arthur wouldn't let anyone go more than 45 minutes. came up with 1200-1500 # each dive. Said he didn't want to get too much nitrogen in his system. Makes it very expensive for divers...and disappointing.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 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	N/A
UW Photo Comments	No rinse tank. Only got 13 oz for personal drinking for two dives, certainly not enough to rinse camera. scenery so bland that I didn't bother to assemble the gear I hauled in. Unlike Undercurrent report that the current is too wild for camera, not true. DM said with some NE storms they get some rippers, but we sure didn't have much.

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Dive Review of Tobago Dive Experience at Manta Lodge/Manta Lodge in Trinidad and Tobago/Speyside

Tobago Dive Experience at Manta Lodge/Manta Lodge, Jan, 2010,

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 Tobago Dive Experience at Manta Lodge/Manta Lodge in
Trinidad and Tobago/Speyside