Anybody been to Beaches T&C?

[ScubaJS]

We're looking at a possible trip to the Beaches resort in Provo because of our 3 year old son. Does anyone have any recent trip reports or experiences to share about the dive operation at that resort in particular? Any info would be appreciated.

 

[MarkUK]

'Fraid it is over three years or so since I was there, but at the time, the diving was very restrictive for experienced divers. Everyone was limited to strictly enforced table diving, regardless of what your computer said, and this got exceedingly tiresome very quickly. I flagged this up as an issue when I did my article on the place (as otherwise it was spot on, good restaurants, excellent kid's club, lots to do for all the family, etc), and I believe that they have now changed and run two boats on the old style, for newbies, etc, and one or two boats where divers can follow their computer profiles.

I would check out that this is the case. If it is, then that is the one issue I had with the place dealt with, if they are still running only table diving, forget it, unless you don't mind very short dive times!

Mark

 

[divenutny]

My last visit was about three years ago also. I visited Beaches T&C a number of times since 2001. The Dive Op crew changes so some of the policies may have changed. Most of their divers are new to diving and they cater their business to that. Be prepared to show some basic skills in a pool, regardless of your Certification Level. (Mask clear, reg recovery, fin pivot). This gives the crew a sense of who to keep an eye on. You need to signup for dives daily, early in the morning.

They will restrict your time and depth. They may restrict OW divers to 60 ft dives, requiring Adv cert or proof of ability for 80 ft dive, following PADI guidelines. They typically do a multi-level dive, 80 ft/60 ft on the first dive and 60/40 on the second. Guided dives were 30 minutes. At that time, if you were Adv diver and had a computer, you could dive on your own, limiting your time to 40 minutes. The 30/40 minute limit is an insurance requirement.

The last time I dove there, the dives were great, the reefs where fantastic. I hear the reefs are bleaching. Hope that the winds allow you to use the southern harbor as the dives on West Caicos and South Cay offer the best sites. There are many sites on Provo, West Caicos and South Cay.

Beaches offers baby sitting while you dive. I found the food to be great. I doubt you will be disappointed with you visit provided you do not mind 30/40 minute dives.

Hope you have a great time - Tom

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

If you want a better dive experience bag the dive op at Beaches and check out Caicos Adventures. BTW its French Cay not South Cay.

 

[ScubaJS]

Well, we're back from our trip. I'll focus on the diving issues here. You do have to go through a pool checkout no matter what your experience or certification level. You also must sign up for diving ahead of time in order to hold your place. Some times of the year this may not be a big deal but we're getting to the time of year where it is a problem. Because of seasonal swells out of the north we were not able to dive Grace Bay except for one day. Instead, they would take you in a bus to a southern marina and then by boat to West Caicos or Northwest Point. Those dive sites were pretty good, water temp between 80 to 82. I dove both without protection and with a 3mm full and was comfortable either way. The problem with the far dive sites is that you would report to the dive center at 815 am but not get back until 3pm for two tanks. The closer sites in Grace Bay were very convenient time wise when we did get there but the visibility was poor due to the north swell.

Once you get on the boats they make you sign what pressure is in your tanks before and after your dives. Also they split the groups into OW and others and guide both groups. The OW folks are limited to 60 ft and the others are able to go deeper. Guides keep the groups pretty much together and usually finish the dive before bottom time or pressure was close, usually based on time.

It appears to be a very safe operation, but there's only two tank opportunities every day. The people are nice but the main selling point of Beaches is that its a great vacation place for your family and particularly kids that happens to have diving.

 

[divenutny]

ScubaJS - Glad to hear you had a good time and for the trip report. Sounds like the operation has not changed much since I was there last. It is a resort that offers diving, not a dive resort.

What condition were the reefs in? I heard they bleached a lot over the past few years. I'm considering a trip on one of the liveaboards.

Tom

 

[ScubaJS]

I thought they were in pretty good shape although I don't have any past experience there to make comparrison. I thought the reefs and fish were better in Cozumel but not by a huge amount. The reef sharks in T&C are a plus for me. I'll certainly spend more of my dive dollars in that neck of the woods when I find some

 

[gypsyjim]

It's been a few years since we stayed at Beaches T&C. Were there several times 6-7 years ago. It sounds pretty much the same. Decent dives, pretty good dive crews, pretty relaxed. Nice wall dives north side, weather permitting, but you are limited to two tanks a day unless you can hook up with 5 or 6 other divers and canget an extra or night dive going, which we usually could. Been diving Curacao and Bonaire more recently, and we are addicted to the unlimited shore diving opportunities of Bonaire!!! Probably would not hesitate to go back to T&C/ Beaches again, someday. I did not mind the pool "check outs", as I could see their value to the operators, and I got the chance to check out potential buddy opportunities, in case I needed to line up more divers for a night dive during our stay. I have seen a lot of "experienced" divers with higher certs, that were so rusty that those simple pool sessions were eye opening!!! You and your buddy get to see who to avoid being teamed up with pretty quickly that way, and hey, even a pool session lets me get wet.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I don't think I could handle 40 minute dives. What are they using 63 or 50 cu ft tanks. Cause if it's anything bigger they must not have to do anything but top off tanks, an hour is minimum for me. Let's see 40 minute dive max depth 60 ft with perhaps 20 of that at that depth- That'd be about 1000-1200 psi out of an al80.

 

[gypsyjim]

As someone mentioned a bit earlier in the thread Beaches T&C does caterto the family experience, more than to the avid divers. For this reason they have a large number of occasional and newer divers who do blow through their air fairly quickly. I found though, that after you've dived there a couple of days, and if the crew gets comfortable with your skill levels they tend to group the more experienced divers together, and let them expand their dive times by first entry/ last exit. I guess that would depend on your rapport with the crew, and the crew's motivation(tip?). One fellow I've dived with has proved that a really good tip at the beginning of the dive or dive week goes a LONG way toward getting extra consideration.