Snorkelling conditions

[Bob Emmett]

A superb website for all things Tobagon, well done all those responsible.

We have been coming to Tobago regularly in late January, early February for six or more years. Last year the hurricanes and prolonged rain just before we arrived, cause many landslides resulting in the sea being very cloudy, making the snorkelling rather disappointing.

How long did this take to clear and what are the conditions currently?

Regards, Bob Emmett

[Steve Wooler]

Hi Bob

Welcome aboard!

You would have been there at the same time as us last January. We got the last five days of the rains, up in Castara. Yes, I remember all of Castara Bay being totally brown, but it cleared remarkably quickly. In some places it was only a matter of a few days. In other places it tooks some weeks or even months, particularly where reefs had been covered in sediment and run-off.

I can't say I've heard any reports within the last month or two, but certainly back in April/May I was hearing that most places had cleared considerably. Unless they have a really bad end to the year, you'll be fine on your next visit.

[Kevin Hampson]

Hi Bob,
I have dived and snorkelled off Speyside for the last few years around October and November. And coditions in the water can really change very quickly. Last year we arrived about a month after Ivan and the vis was poor down to about 5 meters and it was like this for about 3 days then on the 4th day we has 20m vis and it stayed like that for the rest of the 2 weeks.
The other tip is to look at few sites we had poor vis snorkelling around Englishmans Bay so didn't stay to long and moved down to Mt Irvin Reef and it was fine there.

Regards
Kevin

[Sue And Steve Felgate]

hi there from Castara Bay

As I email this, the water is transparently clear, and has been for about a week- went for a swim early this morning and the visibility was perfect all along the edge of the bay, right out to the point. Paul T has forecast heavy showers for later in the weekend, which will no doubt mean the streams will empty mud into the water, but it seems to settle very quickly this time of year. This is our third consecutive summer stay here, and the snorkelling has always been great, and the water usually very calm.

Hope this helps!

Sue at Castara Retreats