Beaches Turks & Caicos or Sandals Jamaica

[Scubagal]

We stayed at Beaches Turks and Caicos in January 2002. We enjoyed our stay, lots of dining options (great crab legs at Schooners!), great snorkeling just a short walk up the beach. The pools and grounds are nice, and the spa was great. That trip we traveled with a non-diving couple and their 17 month old. We would have breakfast with them, go diving and meet up with them later. The resort was great for a mix of divers and non-divers.

That being said, if we returned to Beaches T & C we probably wouldn't dive with them again. They require a mandatory pool session prior to diving with them. Doesn't matter how many dives are in your log book, your certification level, or the last time you dove. The pool session is done on one day, then you can dive the next day, provided there is space. We were lucky and were able to do the pool session the day we arrived. They are extremely conservative, however considering that many of the people diving with them are either newly certified or haven't been diving in quite a while, I guess it's understandable. In addition, there is no place to store dive gear, so we had to haul it back and forth to our room every day. At least there wasn't 3 years ago.

I have a few pictures of the resort at Tropic Travel Online if you're interested. Feel free to email me directly if you have additional questions.

 

[Modman]

We were at Beaches TCI in March and are headed back end of the month. We loved the diving. The Grace Bay dives are usually limited to the Resort divers - tho you can get on the boat. The better option is the 2 tank which goes to northpoint or West Caicos for the day. All in all the water is clear and warm and the reefs are vibrant so you can get a great dive in no matter what.
The TCI crew is conservative but will break the groups up and do different profiles to match the divers. They won't break 100' so if you want more depth - try an outside option.
The shore program at Beaches is full service (but not Ritz Carlton butt kissing)

Have not dove in Ocho - but have 50+ dives at Sandals Montego Bay - all good dives with nice variety but not neccesarily "superstar" locations.

If you want to see photos - let me know

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

We were at Beaches TCI in March and are headed back end of the month. We loved the diving. The Grace Bay dives are usually limited to the Resort divers - tho you can get on the boat. The better option is the 2 tank which goes to northpoint or West Caicos for the day. All in all the water is clear and warm and the reefs are vibrant so you can get a great dive in no matter what.
The TCI crew is conservative but will break the groups up and do different profiles to match the divers. They won't break 100' so if you want more depth - try an outside option.
The shore program at Beaches is full service (but not Ritz Carlton butt kissing)

Have not dove in Ocho - but have 50+ dives at Sandals Montego Bay - all good dives with nice variety but not neccesarily "superstar" locations.

If you want to see photos - let me know

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