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Dive Review of Tobago Dive Experience in/Manta Resort in
Trinidad and Tobago/Speyside

Tobago Dive Experience in/Manta Resort, Aug, 2014,

by charlie johnston, TX, US ( 1 report with 1 Helpful vote). Report 7707 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 3 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments If you fly into Trinidad make sure your luggage is on board with you (have enough time for your connecting flight to transfer the luggage)if not you will encounter two problems, a missed island transfer on Caribbean Air which then you are place on standby if there is room and if not then plan on a $200 plus room at a local hotel (Holiday Inn Express, very nice, clean and it has free shuttle service)otherwise to reach downtown to the more known hotels is a min $40.00 cab ride each way. If you want to take a chance the airline will tell you it will get your bags to you but from reading about the location of Speyside and after having the experience, wait on your bags.
So the next morning with bags in hand at 5:30am we show up at the Caribbean Air counter only to be told that we are standby and to check back every thirty minutes to see if we made the cut. At 10:30am we have tickets in our hands for the 11:15 flight. Once at the gate 11:15am comes and goes and then an announcement is made the flight is delayed, to make a long story short, we boarded a flight at 1:00pm.
We arrived at Manta Lodge after a scenic drive along the coast (the only road going up that side of the island) backed up to the rain forest, really on the back deck you can touch the mountain side and the folks there could not be nicer, the rooms are very basic (no TV, no phone, no blow drier (my wife’s issue)). The bar is on the honor system, there is Wi-Fi in the lobby and restaurant only, and the meals are filling.
The dive shop will set tanks out and if you are going you assemble your BCD and Regulator together each morning and then they will transport them to the dive pier/boat in the back of the pickups which is also your transports to the pier/boat.
Once on board you have the normal briefing and then you roll into water and they hand you your cameras. The reef structure will remind you of what Cayman/Cozumel/Bahamas looked like 25 years ago, it was colorful and beautiful. We saw turtles nearly every dive, schools of smaller fish, day time octopus, nurse sharks but not a lot of large fish. There are enough sites to spend a week there and not hit the same one twice, a must do in my book is a site call bookends. I will be back and will take a direct flight into Tobago next time.
Websites Manta Resort

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Cozumel, Cayman, Bonaire, Bahamas, Bali, Sipadan, etc
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy, cloudy Seas choppy
Water Temp 79-82°F / 26-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 50-75 Ft/ 15-23 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Depth and suggested time, after a few days the dive master would wait on you.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 4 stars
Small Critters 2 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

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

Subject Matter 4 stars Boat Facilities 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 3 stars Shore Facilities 3 stars
UW Photo Comments There was not a place for cameras or videos but a compartment in the stern served us well enough. The crew was very helpful in handing and taking the cameras to and from us.
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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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