TIL is a private island and at the most can handle 40 guests. The week we were there it had 18. Basically there were more staff than guests that week!! TIL is very private, and it's priced that way and worth it if you like solitude. After having been on one too many cattleboats, (DiviTiara in Cayman Brac comes to mind) it was sheer pleasure being on a boat with only 6 divers and two crew, a carribbean 6-pack! Since many of the guests were there to fish and not divers, it made for small groups on the boats.
Yes, it cost us more than we've paid before, but it was well worth the money. Click on the smiley in Mo2vation's first post and you'll see what I mean. Great pictures, btw!!
Imagine, a good book, a daiquari, in a hammock under a palapa....swaying in the trade wind breezes......looking out over the ocean and the beach and seeing NO ONE else!! It was heaven!! Only occasionally did I see anyone else in the afternoons....and I had to really look for them. Most of the guests spread out after dives.... reading, kayaking, napping. Ahhh.....it was soooo tranquil. I look forward to going back.
No loud noise, no crowds, no crying children....(btw, not a kid place, nothing for them to do). Just the sounds of the birds and the surf....amongst other creatures. In the evenings, Sherman the bartender, would play soft jazz or smooth raggae....but it was never overpowering....simply a melody in the background. There's even a small saltwater crocodile that lives in the mangrove near the dive shop....he's a cutie too!!
Critters we saw....spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, frogfish, lots of eels...big and small...green and speckled, schools and schools of game fish, silversides, permit, and others I haven't looked up yet. Also saw barracuda, nudibranchs, turtles galore....and of course the obligatory parrot fish, sgt majors, squirrelfish, even saw a blue triggerfish!! We also saw crabs fighting or mating?? :07: On one dive we saw two HUGE lobsters tugging on each other...I'm talking about 2 feet long at least!! Bet they would be tough to eat!
But now it's back to the grind of work.....alas.