In praise of Caribstu!
Posted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 10:36 am
We have just returned form our first visit to Tobago, having spent 4 days diving with Caribstu. We cannot recommend him highly enough. Yes, at first sight, he does appear to be quite a bit more expensive than the usual dive centres, but you are talking a totally different experience. You pay more but you get more! We are a family of three, used to diving by ourselves in Bonaire and we have got used to not having to dive as part of a large group. We like to dive for as long as possible, slowly, often quite shallow, with time to take photos and look for macro stuff. We are also very keen on diving safely. From the moment we met Stuart we were taken by how thorough he was. He came to our accommodation and spent well over an hour discussing with us what we wanted to get from the diving, checking our logbooks thoroughly, showing us his dive credentials and explaining how he would tailor the diving to suit our wishes/abilities and the weather. He is a friendly, funny guy but he takes diving and safety seriously.
We dived out of Speyside for 3 of the days, in a boat driven by Mr Smith. He was an excellent captain and I noticed, when I stayed on the boat while the menfolk went diving, that he keeps his eyes on the water the whole time - no fishing or sleeping! (I also noticed that his boat had 2 working engines whereas the boat used by one of the more poular dive centres only had one - not a good idea with some of those currents!) Stuart carried kit spares, a phone, a VHF radio and oxygen every day. He also provided drinks,fruit and biscuits for the break between dives and then arranged for lunch to be ready for us when we got back to shore. (I can thoroughly recommend Cheryl's in Speyside). Our final day of diving was shore diving (especially for me because I didn't want to do the boat/drift dives) down at Arnos Vale and Store Bay, followed by a night dive also in Store Bay. This time the diving was tailored absolutely towards me - very long, shallow and with time to look in every nook and cranny.
At the end of each day's dive Stuart took our kit back to his place and washed and dried it.
The one service Stuart doesn't offer is a pick up from Castara. This meant that we had to drive to Speyside for 3 of the days but this wasn't a problem as we had hired a jeep for the week anyway, and in fact the drive through the forest each day was one of the hilights of the holiday - it's lovely early in the morning.
So, to anyone wondering about whether to dive with Caribstu we would like to point out the following:
Was he more expensive? Yes
Was it worth the extra cost? Yes
Did we get absolutely what we wanted form the diving? Yes (well, except we would have liked to see a Manta - but we can't blame that on Stuart!)
Did we feel safe at all times? Yes
Would we dive again with him? Yes
Would we recommend him? Absolutely!
If anyone wants to ask us anything about Caribstu, or the diving, feel free to e-mail us.
We dived out of Speyside for 3 of the days, in a boat driven by Mr Smith. He was an excellent captain and I noticed, when I stayed on the boat while the menfolk went diving, that he keeps his eyes on the water the whole time - no fishing or sleeping! (I also noticed that his boat had 2 working engines whereas the boat used by one of the more poular dive centres only had one - not a good idea with some of those currents!) Stuart carried kit spares, a phone, a VHF radio and oxygen every day. He also provided drinks,fruit and biscuits for the break between dives and then arranged for lunch to be ready for us when we got back to shore. (I can thoroughly recommend Cheryl's in Speyside). Our final day of diving was shore diving (especially for me because I didn't want to do the boat/drift dives) down at Arnos Vale and Store Bay, followed by a night dive also in Store Bay. This time the diving was tailored absolutely towards me - very long, shallow and with time to look in every nook and cranny.
At the end of each day's dive Stuart took our kit back to his place and washed and dried it.
The one service Stuart doesn't offer is a pick up from Castara. This meant that we had to drive to Speyside for 3 of the days but this wasn't a problem as we had hired a jeep for the week anyway, and in fact the drive through the forest each day was one of the hilights of the holiday - it's lovely early in the morning.
So, to anyone wondering about whether to dive with Caribstu we would like to point out the following:
Was he more expensive? Yes
Was it worth the extra cost? Yes
Did we get absolutely what we wanted form the diving? Yes (well, except we would have liked to see a Manta - but we can't blame that on Stuart!)
Did we feel safe at all times? Yes
Would we dive again with him? Yes
Would we recommend him? Absolutely!
If anyone wants to ask us anything about Caribstu, or the diving, feel free to e-mail us.