Trip Report Grand Turk April 19-25, Blue Water Divers

[FT]

A happy, undemanding return to diving, though the Caribbean still does not compare to Asia.

Southern sites were notably not very fishy. Cloudy weather didn't help the coral look its best, but there did seem to be a lot of tunicate and subdued colours, as well as a few definite spots of stony coral tissue loss disease.

Hawksbill turtles on several dives, and numerous reef sharks including one that shadowed us hopefully for half the dive. It was past whale migration season, but two people were sure they heard whale calls on one dive.

Nice variety of fish on the northern dives. The coral was better too. All the dives were wall dives, usually with some nice heads on sand at about 10 metres to finish. Good swim throughs and other topography.

Valet treatment, with one divemaster who also captained the boat. We could puddle around beneath the mooring if we had air left when the first folks went up, but nobody pushed much beyond 50-55 minutes. Max 7 divers. My instabuddy on two dives was great; the other days I "buddied" with the divemaster. Of course he kept an eye on all of us equally.

I didn't see a water bucket for cameras.

Two tank morning dives. Surface interval would be at a handy beach. Afternoon or night dives may have been possible but no one was clamouring. Keeping warm was a challenge - - my computer read 24C (75-76F) though actual may have been a touch warmer.

Topside activities were quite limited as islanders seemed ready for a rest after Easter and a busy winter. No bike rentals, sad. No kayaks. Staying at Bohio would have remedied both lacks, I think. Oh well. Non diving hubby does d a lot of walking and bird watching. Shore based snorkelling was underwhelming.

Service, facilities and restaurant at the Osprey were fine. Don't miss the Saturday BBQ night.

All the restaurants we visited offered friendly but s.l.o.w service. Go sit down well before you are starving.

Do yourself a favour and book with Caicos Express. The other domestic airline was stressfully unreliable. Some folks overnighted in Provo before their home flight just to be sure of making the connection.

As of May 1, the Turks and Caicos will drop their complicated preapproval process. Visitors will still need proof of vaccination.

Rental equipment was in decent shape. Full foot fins only.

 

[Hoag]

Was this intended to be posted twice?

 

[drrich2]

Two tank morning dives. Surface interval would be at a handy beach. Afternoon or night dives may have been possible but no one was clamouring.

Topside activities were quite limited as islanders seemed ready for a rest after Easter and a busy winter. No bike rentals, sad. No kayaks. Staying at Bohio would have remedied both lacks, I think. Oh well. Non diving hubby does d a lot of walking and bird watching. Shore based snorkelling was underwhelming.

I've never been to Grand Turk. When I do solo dive trips, I like to rack up a high dive count. When I do a 'dive trip disguised as a family vacation,' I need things for wife, daughter and sometimes mother-in-law to do (though I am still subject to the stink eye from my wife for not spending more time with them). Grand Turk sounds interesting for diving, but I struggle a bit to fit it in amongst competitor regional destinations in a priority list.

What led you to stay at the Osprey diving with Blue Water Divers, as opposed to staying at Bohio? Others researching who find this thread may find it useful to know.

 

[FT]

Bohio was full for our original intended dates. Shifted the vacation to April in hopes Mr T would be cleared to dive by then. Osprey had our deposit so it was simpler to stick with the plan of being in town, which is normally my preference over a resort anyway. Blue Water and Grand Turk Divers were both recommended by friends.

Dr Rich, I’d say if you ever put Grand Turk in your plans, it should be in high season. February humpback whales would be pretty awesome, and definitely more would be going on topside. The smells from the kitchen at Bohio were amazing, and dive friends who ate there were impressed. It’s not that horrendously far from town — nothing is. We saw little kayaks, a Hobie Cat, sailboards? And I think they have bikes. On days when cruise ships are in town there will no doubt be snorkelling and ATV tours, as well as visits to pet the stingrays if that’s your thing.

If Mr T eventually gets a green light to dive again, or my other dive buddy wins the lottery, gossip on the boat leads me to put Little Cayman Beach Resort on the priority list for a dive-heavy vacation.

 

[FT]

Not intentional, but I can’t figure out how to delete this one

 

[Draq]

Do yourself a favour and book with Caicos Express. The other domestic airline was stressfully unreliable. Some folks overnighted in Provo before their home flight just to be sure of making the connection.

Interesting that you say that. I have heard it the other way around, that InterCaribbean is preferred due to larger and newer planes. I have flown interCaribbean but never Caicos; I am just metioning what I have heard previously.

 

[FT]

Yes, I had also heard previously that the two provided comparable service. But it seems something has turned sour for ICA: when I started monitoring Provo-Grand Turk arrivals and departures it was clear that one of the two morning flights would be cancelled more than half the time, and that the evening flights could be very late indeed. Caicos Express was usually more expensive by $15-25 each way, but more consistent. On ICA we were about two hours late getting to Grand Turk. On our return we got a late call the night before asking if we’d like to switch from 10:45 am to the 8:30 am flight which had been de-cancelled, so as to be sure of making our connection. Yes we would. It made for a long wait in Provo, but better that than two stranded days if the mid-morning flight had not functioned.

 

[AggieDiver]

Interesting that you say that. I have heard it the other way around, that InterCaribbean is preferred due to larger and newer planes. I have flown interCaribbean but never Caicos; I am just metioning what I have heard previously.

We just took a trip to South Caicos in late March and my experience was that Caicos Express seemed to be running right on time with their flights, and ICA was a mess. My two flights with ICA were delayed by 3:45 and 1:30. The communication from ICA about what was happening during the nearly 4 hour delay was nearly non-existent, and what little we were told was wrong pretty much every time. The plane we flew from Provo to XSC on was like a relic from the early 70s. It seated 8, had no copilot onboard, and the left engine took 5 tries to get started.

 

[Cornellxc]

Intercaribbean has recently expanded into a lot of new routes around the region leaving TCI under serviced. I had exclusively booked IC up until the pandemic and now will do anything I can to not have to schedule with them. I'm sure they'll get their **** together eventually but for now, Caicos Express is the way.

 

[mje113]

But it seems something has turned sour for ICA: when I started monitoring Provo-Grand Turk arrivals and departures it was clear that one of the two morning flights would be cancelled more than half the time, and that the evening flights could be very late indeed.

Just curious, how do you monitor Provo-Grand Turk flights? I'm visiting Grand Turk in April and am booked on ICA and now feeling nervous.