New Dive Service

[Steve Wooler]

I recently received word of a new dive service now operational in Tobago.

Although several firms get regular high praise in the myTobago forums, Stuart Sampson is by far the most often mentioned and personally named and recommended dive master. Over recent years he has been chief insturctor and/manager at Extra Divers (Crown Point and Speyside) and more recently Aquamarine in Speyside. He therefore has intimate knowledge of all Tobago's dive sites.

Stuart has now set up a personal dive service offering a tailor-made private service for up to 3 divers at a time. With chartered boats in both Speyside and Crown Point, diving can be offered anywhere in Tobago. The service is suitable for both novices and advanced divers and a variety of courses can be offered. However, because of the nature of the service, divers are advised to bring their own wetsuits, fins and masks and ideally their own full equipment.

Stuart is operating under the trade name CaribStu. A website is coming, but in the meantime he can be contacted on [email protected].

[Kevin Hampson]

Hi Steve,
I'll defiantly be booking a few dives with Stuart the next time I'm in Tobago. He was running Aquamarine at BWI for Alice the last time I was there. We had some stunning dives even I sites I'd done before.

Yve & I wish him the best of luck with the new venture.

Regards
Kevin

[Ernst L.]

Vaughn - see thread Tobago dive experience from Feb. 11 - is right, Caribstu was booked out at this time, because we, me and my son Paul where diving with him '8)'. Stuart Sampson, that´s the name behind the trade name Caribstu is a very nice guy and well known as excellent dive guide and instructor on Tobago. He worked for the Extradivers in Crown Point and Speyside and other dive shops before he decided to found his own company. Stuart lives in Charlotteville and offers his services all over the island. From Speyside we went together with him and his boat captain Smithy to wounderful diving spots like "Cathedral" or "Favorite" and we also made a trip Crown Point where Stuart goes out with another boat. The dives are very nice and relaxing because there is no rush or a crowded dive boat where you hardly can move. This very individual service offered by Stuart was the main reason to dive with him, and it was worth every cent.

Stuart, in case you read these lines (and I´m sure you will): we wish you all the best and hope to see you again next year.

Ernst & Paul

PS: Stuart´s homepage http://www.caribstu.com is online in the meantime and has a lot more of informations for all who are interested in this very special diving experience.

[Mark Neil]

We used CaribStu last week so I'd just like to share our experience.
We are a family of 4 (kids aged 12 and 8)and none of us had dived before. We booked a 'discover scuba' session with Stuart, having found his details on this site. We had a fantastic time - Stuart is a really nice guy, and of the several dive operators I emailed before our trip, he was far and away the most helpful. Safety is the absolute priority for Stuart, and he would not decide whether to let my 8 year old dive until he met her (she was fine however).

Before the dive Stuart came to our apartment (Top River Pearl) and spent some time with us going through the theory. He was exceptional with the kids, drawing pictures and using analagies to ensure they understood. He then ferried us all over to Speyside for the dive. When we arrived we saw a small boat returning with at least 12 divers packed on board - we were very glad we had decided on stuart who does small groups only.

The dive itself was also great - Stuart took us all out close to to Little Tobago, and then dived with us 2 at a time (one adult, one child). Again, he was very good and patient with the kids, and we all practised the skills before goiing off on the dive. There were plenty of fish to see, and the water was beautifully clear.

On the way back stuart spotted and rescued another diver who had lost his group and surfaced in the middle of the channel. His dive boat was approx 500 metres away, and the boat captain and his son were fishing and paying no attention to their divers! This was very fortunate for the lost diver - the 'washing machine' current in that location would have carried him out to sea and beyond help very quickly. Stuart always insists that his boat captain follows him (using the air bubbles) on every dive. It was because of safety issues like this with the other operators that Stuart decided to go it alone and start his own dive service.

In summary, I very highly recommend stuart to anyone diving on Tobago. We will definitely use him if we decide to return to Tobago to do our full PADI course.

Cheers
Mark Neil
Andover,
UK

[Caribstu]

Mark

Thank you for the complimentary report on your DSD experience. If i may, I would just like to correct something you have written

Quote "Stuart always insists that his boat captain follows him (using the air bubbles) on every dive"

This is not actually correct, when diving in open water, i use a surface safety marker not just bubbles. The only time i might not use one is when the sea, currents and weather conditions are appropriate and my experienced boat captain agrees that it is safe for us not to do so, and i will carry a delayed SMB. However ALL my clients are given their own safety markers attatched to thier BCD for the duration.

It was slightly different for you as we were diving in a very controlled "confined water" environment, away from boat traffic chanels with our boat for surface support.

concerning the man and his son fishing, well that was my boat captains conclusion, im too shortsighted to see that far.

Im glad your family enjoyed your diving experience.

Stuart

[Lisa Keith]

Hi,

I'd like to reassure regular readers of this forum that the 'fishing' dive boat to which Mark refers, was in no way connected to Tobago Dive Experience.

Best regards,
Lisa.

[Caribstu]

Lisa

Obviously i cannot say anything other than to likewise reassure your clients that you are absolutely correct, Nothing to do with TDE.

Caribstu

[Krista And Mike]

Hi,

we went diving with Stu in Nov and had 17 great dives with him
His service was professional and safe. We can recommend Stu and would advice everyone, who want to do more then one or two dives to spend the extra cash and dive with him.
If we should ever come back to Tobago, first thing we will do, is contakt him and book up for some more dives.


We saw, turtles, eagle ray, sting ray, sharks, a sea horse -my husband found that one - a huge squid family of 15, lots more and fantastic coral life

Stu, thanks for everything....