Dive Compilation
Over the 2022 holiday break I was trying to plan my next dive trip. I had a couple places (Belize, Dominica, Isla Mujeres) in mind, and was working out the costs. Then at the last minute, I went completely off script and just randomly picked Tobago.
As I was finalizing my itinerary, Kathleen, from Tobago Dive Experience, asked what I was looking for, and I told her I was looking for a quiet relaxed vacation to just dive and read... and maybe see a manta ray. I've always wanted to dive with mantas in the wild, and I know they sometimes show up in Tobago.
She told me it wasn't really the season for mantas, there were some in December, but I would like the diving.
My exact response was "Yeah, I know... I'm just hoping maybe some of them are procrastinators like me." That is what we call foreshadowing.
The trip out was long, but uneventful. It took three flights and a hour-long car ride to get to the far side of Tobago, but it was absolutely worth it.
The diving was mostly drift diving, and despite the current, the visibility was still pretty good. The reefs were very healthy and lots of the usual suspects around.
So on the final full day, my plan was to get out and do some touristy things on-island. I had been diving with mostly the same folks all week, but Saturday was "changeover" day, so only a handful of divers were going out.
Matt had spoken to Mikey about possibly doing a lionfish hunt instead of a regular dive. All the remaining divers was okay with that, so that Saturday was going to be dedicated to hunting. As I've only ever tried lionfish hunting once before (and came back empty handed), I decided to skip Tourism-day and join the hunt.
The boat was having some engine troubles from the day before so we decided to stay in the bay between Goat Island and Tobago and go to some sites that aren't usually visited because they're not as pretty. But since we were hunting, that would mean more lionfish around. I was mediocre at hunting, but I still caught a few lionfish. Success!
On the last dive, on my last day, on a dive I wasn't even supposed to be doing, we dropped into "Batteaux Bay Drift". About three-quarters through the dive, I'm lining up a shot on a lionfish and Marvin starts banging on his tank.
I look up and see a hazy outline in the distance. I'm guessing eagle ray, but we'd not seen one this trip so I push out from the reef to get a better look. Then he gets closer, and it was a manta! And me with a pole spear in hand and no camera. I was literally yelling underwater and couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day.
Thanks to Simon W. for his footage of the manta ray going by.
Thanks to everyone at Tobago Dive Experience (Katheleen, Lappy, Mikey, Marvin, and Fedor) and my driver and occasional dive guide Kiki, everyone was amazing. :- https://www.facebook.com/tobagodiveexperience
Shoutout to all my dive buddies: Simon, Matt & Victoria, Alexis, Valarie, Nick, Amber & Will.