Hi All,
First time poster long time lurker. Just got back from a week of diving from Beaches Turks and Caicos (a Sandals owned all-inclusive property.) Before going Beaches TCI has its own dive operation that is included with the resort. Our family was a mix of experienced divers (me), newly certified divers (daughters 14 and 11) and non-divers (wife and her friends). We choose Beaches property hoping that it would have something for everyone and it did not disappoint. Before going I read two very useful, but older posts on this forum and wanted to share my experience to update/augment the previous reviews (not mine), one from 2019 and a more recent from 2022. There wasn't much out there online about diving Beaches TCI specifically so these posts were very helpful. Here's my experience:
I'll try to not to repeat what was said in the other two linked reviews other than that most of their experiences held true in my own experience. Best summary is this is a vacation with diving, not a DIVE vacation, but if you're looking for a family vacation with a mix of divers/non-divers this is perfect. To echo some of the previous reviews, very conservative dive profiles, expect depths 50-60 ft, for 30-40 min, groups will be a mix of new and experienced divers, divemasters were a mix of some good some not so good. If you have that expectation set ahead of time you won't be disappointed.
Check in: Previous reviews still holds. Make sure your log shows a dive within 6 months of you'll have to do a dive checkout in the pool before you can go. I didn't have to do this since the kids were certified a month prior and I upgraded to rescue at the same time. It may take a day or so to get this done so come with a checkout or dive in the last 6 months to avoid this. 2+ years and you'll have to pay for PADI refresh with the resort. We went to dive shop on the day we got there and showed our C-cards and signed health screening and waivers. This is their "orientation" which I didn't realize, so if someone asked you if you did "orientation", that's what they were referring to. They also let us sign up to dive for every day we were on the resort (other than last day of course). This also seemed to be mixed bag because other divers I talked to were told they could only sign up for 1 day in advance. Other guests I talked to were told the "boats were full" on days I dove and it was clearly not. There's no penalty for no shows (and there were lots), so sign up for whatever days you "might" want to go. I've read they only allow you to dive 2 tanks a day, but they told us we could "do as many as we wanted". It wasn't a factor because most days they only offered 2 tank morning dives (more on that later). Lesson here is there seems to be some inconsistency in policy at the dive shop, so if you don't get the answer you wanted, ask again. We were also there at an off-peak time so policies may be tighter when things are full.
Check it for dives was 0745 and starting loading at 0800, boats (or shuttles) left around 0820. We were assigned a divemaster and boat in accordance with our cert level and experience. My two were Jr OW and youngest was restricted to 40 ft because she was 11, so they accommodated that as well. It was both kids first ocean dives so I was happy they put us in less experienced group. They would also take walk in's day of and I never saw anyone turned away so if you really want to dive, show up at 800 and you'll likely get on.
Dive ops: Dive boats were nice, 46" Newton dive boats, held up to 40 divers (most days were they packed it full one day) and marine head. Crew bought snacks and waters for ride/surface intervals. Diving was divided into two boats (training boat for those getting OW, AOW and Discover scuba, certified diver boat). Both boats went to similar sites each day and returned around the same time. I wasn't on the training but from the dock both boats looked the same. They also had a third smaller boat that they didn't use while we were there. Probably because of numbers and the fact that I didn't do any afternoon dives (more on that later).
For most of the week they we left from a pier south of the resort due to "rough seas", so they could not leave from the resort dock. It seemed pretty calm to me (2 ft swells, long period) but I'll trust the captain's experience.
Pro's and cons of leaving from south dock. Pro's we go to visit sites not normally seen. We went to rarer sites Rock n' Roll and Double D, near the French Cay, Elephant Ear and Rock Garden, near Grand Caicos, and Chimney, Eel Garden, Amphitheater, The Crack, Black Forest Reef near NorthWest Point. Great sites with lots to see. We saw sharks on 80% of the dives and lots of big and small animals. Turtles, Sharks, Conch, lobster, crabs, rays, puffer fish, huge barrel sponges, and more. Topo for most dives was a wall that started at 50-60 feet. Mix of sandy bottom/corals prior to the dropoff/wall. The sandy bottom dives also offered lots to see with rays buried in the sand, flounder, highways to Conch shells, and garden eels. Most of my dives were limited by depths of my daughters so we stayed either above the divemaster or didn't go "over the wall". A few groups that did go to 80 ft or so, but most dives were limited to 60 (even for experienced divers).
Con's: LONG DAY. We didn't get back until 1330 at the earliest from a 2 tank dive. Most days we got back around 1400. After rinsing gear, getting something to eat, there was little time for other activities before sunset/dinner, so the non-divers felt a bit orphaned during these days. Long boat ride ~1 hr each way was mostly to blame. Even with a relatively shallow dive (50 ft), short dive (30-40 min), and short surface interval (40 min) it still took a long time. Adding to the long day was the poor logistics and planning on most of the trips. We would have to take a 15 minute shuttle (12 passenger vans) ride to the dock from the resort and back. It was a crap-shoot as to how many and when the shuttles would show up. A few times it took 30-45 minutes to get everyone to the dock or resort, due to lack of shuttles. Other times when the shuttles were plentily, the boats didn't show up until after 30 or 40 minutes of waiting, and another day we had to wait for over 30 minutes while the staff went back to the resort to get the manifest. In short, we never left the dock before 0900-0930 so it compounded the long boat ride. But its vacation and island time, so you make the most of it. Make some new friends and move on!
Also because the resort pier was "closed", the afternoon 1 tank was not an option on these days, nor was the night dives. There was some momentum to put together a night dive for Monday, but we left on Sunday.
Last two days of our vacation the boats were moved back to the main pier (still couldn't tell why, the conditions looked identical to earlier). There dives were much shorter rides and left right on time (no shuttles or boats to ferry) made all the difference. I was a little sad at first since I had heard the nearby reefs weren't as good, but this was thankfully not my experience! The reefs near the Grace Bay were excellent. Lots of corals, sponges, small and large fish. We saw nurse sharks, barracuda, turtles. I'm no biologist, but I didn't observe any bleached or dead coral. Overall, the reefs in TCI and Grace Bay looked very healthy. I enjoyed Aquarium, Pinnacle, Cathedral and Piranha cove just as much as the longer-range dives but was grateful for the variety. If you don't have much time to dive or your schedule only allows you one tank afternoon dives, it was still well worth going to Grace Bay reefs! It was really nice change of pace getting back between 11-12pm versus ~2pm the earlier days.
First time poster long time lurker. Just got back from a week of diving from Beaches Turks and Caicos (a Sandals owned all-inclusive property.) Before going Beaches TCI has its own dive operation that is included with the resort. Our family was a mix of experienced divers (me), newly certified divers (daughters 14 and 11) and non-divers (wife and her friends). We choose Beaches property hoping that it would have something for everyone and it did not disappoint. Before going I read two very useful, but older posts on this forum and wanted to share my experience to update/augment the previous reviews (not mine), one from 2019 and a more recent from 2022. There wasn't much out there online about diving Beaches TCI specifically so these posts were very helpful. Here's my experience:
I'll try to not to repeat what was said in the other two linked reviews other than that most of their experiences held true in my own experience. Best summary is this is a vacation with diving, not a DIVE vacation, but if you're looking for a family vacation with a mix of divers/non-divers this is perfect. To echo some of the previous reviews, very conservative dive profiles, expect depths 50-60 ft, for 30-40 min, groups will be a mix of new and experienced divers, divemasters were a mix of some good some not so good. If you have that expectation set ahead of time you won't be disappointed.
Check in: Previous reviews still holds. Make sure your log shows a dive within 6 months of you'll have to do a dive checkout in the pool before you can go. I didn't have to do this since the kids were certified a month prior and I upgraded to rescue at the same time. It may take a day or so to get this done so come with a checkout or dive in the last 6 months to avoid this. 2+ years and you'll have to pay for PADI refresh with the resort. We went to dive shop on the day we got there and showed our C-cards and signed health screening and waivers. This is their "orientation" which I didn't realize, so if someone asked you if you did "orientation", that's what they were referring to. They also let us sign up to dive for every day we were on the resort (other than last day of course). This also seemed to be mixed bag because other divers I talked to were told they could only sign up for 1 day in advance. Other guests I talked to were told the "boats were full" on days I dove and it was clearly not. There's no penalty for no shows (and there were lots), so sign up for whatever days you "might" want to go. I've read they only allow you to dive 2 tanks a day, but they told us we could "do as many as we wanted". It wasn't a factor because most days they only offered 2 tank morning dives (more on that later). Lesson here is there seems to be some inconsistency in policy at the dive shop, so if you don't get the answer you wanted, ask again. We were also there at an off-peak time so policies may be tighter when things are full.
Check it for dives was 0745 and starting loading at 0800, boats (or shuttles) left around 0820. We were assigned a divemaster and boat in accordance with our cert level and experience. My two were Jr OW and youngest was restricted to 40 ft because she was 11, so they accommodated that as well. It was both kids first ocean dives so I was happy they put us in less experienced group. They would also take walk in's day of and I never saw anyone turned away so if you really want to dive, show up at 800 and you'll likely get on.
Dive ops: Dive boats were nice, 46" Newton dive boats, held up to 40 divers (most days were they packed it full one day) and marine head. Crew bought snacks and waters for ride/surface intervals. Diving was divided into two boats (training boat for those getting OW, AOW and Discover scuba, certified diver boat). Both boats went to similar sites each day and returned around the same time. I wasn't on the training but from the dock both boats looked the same. They also had a third smaller boat that they didn't use while we were there. Probably because of numbers and the fact that I didn't do any afternoon dives (more on that later).
For most of the week they we left from a pier south of the resort due to "rough seas", so they could not leave from the resort dock. It seemed pretty calm to me (2 ft swells, long period) but I'll trust the captain's experience.
Pro's and cons of leaving from south dock. Pro's we go to visit sites not normally seen. We went to rarer sites Rock n' Roll and Double D, near the French Cay, Elephant Ear and Rock Garden, near Grand Caicos, and Chimney, Eel Garden, Amphitheater, The Crack, Black Forest Reef near NorthWest Point. Great sites with lots to see. We saw sharks on 80% of the dives and lots of big and small animals. Turtles, Sharks, Conch, lobster, crabs, rays, puffer fish, huge barrel sponges, and more. Topo for most dives was a wall that started at 50-60 feet. Mix of sandy bottom/corals prior to the dropoff/wall. The sandy bottom dives also offered lots to see with rays buried in the sand, flounder, highways to Conch shells, and garden eels. Most of my dives were limited by depths of my daughters so we stayed either above the divemaster or didn't go "over the wall". A few groups that did go to 80 ft or so, but most dives were limited to 60 (even for experienced divers).
Con's: LONG DAY. We didn't get back until 1330 at the earliest from a 2 tank dive. Most days we got back around 1400. After rinsing gear, getting something to eat, there was little time for other activities before sunset/dinner, so the non-divers felt a bit orphaned during these days. Long boat ride ~1 hr each way was mostly to blame. Even with a relatively shallow dive (50 ft), short dive (30-40 min), and short surface interval (40 min) it still took a long time. Adding to the long day was the poor logistics and planning on most of the trips. We would have to take a 15 minute shuttle (12 passenger vans) ride to the dock from the resort and back. It was a crap-shoot as to how many and when the shuttles would show up. A few times it took 30-45 minutes to get everyone to the dock or resort, due to lack of shuttles. Other times when the shuttles were plentily, the boats didn't show up until after 30 or 40 minutes of waiting, and another day we had to wait for over 30 minutes while the staff went back to the resort to get the manifest. In short, we never left the dock before 0900-0930 so it compounded the long boat ride. But its vacation and island time, so you make the most of it. Make some new friends and move on!
Also because the resort pier was "closed", the afternoon 1 tank was not an option on these days, nor was the night dives. There was some momentum to put together a night dive for Monday, but we left on Sunday.
Last two days of our vacation the boats were moved back to the main pier (still couldn't tell why, the conditions looked identical to earlier). There dives were much shorter rides and left right on time (no shuttles or boats to ferry) made all the difference. I was a little sad at first since I had heard the nearby reefs weren't as good, but this was thankfully not my experience! The reefs near the Grace Bay were excellent. Lots of corals, sponges, small and large fish. We saw nurse sharks, barracuda, turtles. I'm no biologist, but I didn't observe any bleached or dead coral. Overall, the reefs in TCI and Grace Bay looked very healthy. I enjoyed Aquarium, Pinnacle, Cathedral and Piranha cove just as much as the longer-range dives but was grateful for the variety. If you don't have much time to dive or your schedule only allows you one tank afternoon dives, it was still well worth going to Grace Bay reefs! It was really nice change of pace getting back between 11-12pm versus ~2pm the earlier days.
