Diving South Caicos? Is it any good?

[Cornellxc]

I was probably on Grand Turk when y'all were diving in south. There were a few rough days where we were blown out and the south Caicos boats were out on the wall. We mainly just chuckled in our beers. From what I understand, the operators arent spending any time getting local knowledge from the GT shops. The days we've seen them come over were certainly not worth the trip and I'd be pissed if I took a boat ride over in those seas being told it'll be good diving. Anyways, Having to dive on the windward side is certainly a huge problem for the south Caicos operation (especially during the winter).

FYI, anytime you see a northerly swell on windguru for TCI, you're almost certainly going to have **** vis in both GT and south Caicos.

 

[tridacna]

We never even tried to go to GT or EC. Winds were really bad.

 

[Cornellxc]

The reality is that west coast diving in Tci is always going to give you a higher percentage chance of good diving in the winter. Grand Turk, salt cay and live aboard diving are generally your best bet for winter swells. I can vouch for how good of shape the reef is between GT and south caicos, the Endymion wreck is a high point. Ymmv but there’s a reason i love GT.

 

[AggieDiver]

The reality is that west coast diving in Tci is always going to give you a higher percentage chance of good diving in the winter. Grand Turk, salt cay and live aboard diving are generally your best bet for winter swells. I can vouch for how good of shape the reef is between GT and south caicos, the Endymion wreck is a high point. Ymmv but there’s a reason i love GT.

What are the conditions like in the spring? We have a late March trip to South Caicos planned for 2022.

 

[Cornellxc]

Generally speaking there are more northerly swells in the winter. Summer has the most flat days by a long shot (also, hurricanes). The south caicos guys are running much larger boats than the skiffs in GT so I assume they can get people out in significant seas. GT just has the advantage of the island acting like a shadow for the swell. I’ve had great weeks of diving every month of the year but there’s no guarantees. March can be really good for whales and big stuff in my experience.

 

[AggieDiver]

Generally speaking there are more northerly swells in the winter. Summer has the most flat days by a long shot (also, hurricanes). The south caicos guys are running much larger boats than the skiffs in GT so I assume they can get people out in significant seas. GT just has the advantage of the island acting like a shadow for the swell. I’ve had great weeks of diving every month of the year but there’s no guarantees. March can be really good for whales and big stuff in my experience.

Thanks for the info. The possibility of seeing/hearing whales was a big part of why we picked March instead of June or July for our first trip there.

 

[eleniel]

I just got back from a trip to South Caicos diving with Reef Divers - it was okay but don't expect to dive if the swells are approaching 5 feet or more. 4-5 foot swells were pretty rough in the boat Reef Divers was running and they wouldn't take anyone out once the swells got higher than that (not that I blame them).
We heard whales on a few dives but didn't see any, the visibility varied a lot (30-60 feet depending, probably averaging 40-50), and the dive op was more about covering distance than it was about letting divers check out interesting areas.
If you want to see rays or sharks though it's a good area but they don't do night dives (something about permits/licensing for the boats).

 

[AggieDiver]

I am pretty sure I would be the one calling the dive if the swells are 5 feet or more. That is a one way ticket to a miserable afternoon feeling seasick for me to try to dive in conditions like that. I assume in the 4-5' swells they were doing the surface intervals back at the dock?

 

[tridacna]

I am pretty sure I would be the one calling the dive if the swells are 5 feet or more. That is a one way ticket to a miserable afternoon feeling seasick for me to try to dive in conditions like that. I assume in the 4-5' swells they were doing the surface intervals back at the dock?

We had 4’ swells on one day. Surface Intervals at sea. Was not that bad. Getting back on board after each dive was the challenge.

 

[AggieDiver]

We had 4’ swells on one day. Surface Intervals at sea. Was not that bad. Getting back on board after each dive was the challenge.

Probably not bad for most people, but I can get seasick in a hammock. Surface intervals in 4-5' seas is a pretty surefire way to guarantee that I puke off the back of the boat at some point during the surface interval.