Information on Turks and Caicos Trip?

[Mayor]

My wife and I are thinking about T&C to do some diving sometime in the next few months. Does any of the dive ops use large HP steel tanks? What are the must dive sites? How would you compare T&C to Cozumel, or St Croix? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I am assuming that you are going to Provodenciales and not Grand Turk, South Caicos or Salt Cay. I am not aware of any dive ops on Provo using steel 120's but you should certainly ask. There are several dive ops that can be recommended on Provo. My personal favorite is Caicos Adventures. The best diving is in the boat channel between Provo and West Caicos, off the west side of West Caicos, and near a sand spot called French Cay. There is also some average to above average diving in Grace Bay and off some of the cays near the northeast tip of the island. I have been to Cozumel many times and St. Croix once. TCI is known for its massive walls and large pelagics. There are no gurantees on any one dive but its not unusual to see several turtles, several sharks and some passing eagle rays on one dive. The diving can run hot or cold. I have had some of the best dives of my life in TCI but there have been other trips where I haven't seen a lot of big stuff. My favorite day of diving ever was off West Caicos and involved a humpback and her calf on the surface, dolphins in the water with us, so many eagle rays in a formation that I lost count at 25, and three caribbean reef sharks circling us on our safety stop.

 

[dave_w]

+1 for Caicos Adventures. My friends and I done a number of trips with them and always had a great time. They are very well equiped, professional and friendly. Also agree on West Caicos. Say hello to Tony the Grouper if you see him there. He's the one that likes his chin scratched, you can't miss him.

 

[Mayor]

Thanks for the information guys. I will email the op and see what tanks they have. Not that I hate Alum but I like to dive steel as much as I can. The hotel is on Providenciales. Other then reef diving any wrecks worth diving in that area.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

There aren't really a lot of wrecks in the TCI. I can't think of any of note except the Endymion (sp?) which is off Salt Cay. Its an old slaver that is all rubble to my knowledge.

 

[periwinkle888]

+1 more for Caicos Adventures. Love the boat, love the crew. You do steam for a while, but with the beautiful scenery and the dolphins swimming alongside, you probabaly won't care.

 

[vlkr]

actually the "steaming" they do is an indication of how good fifi's operation is imo. from what i have heard, most operators do not bother taking tourists all the way over to caicos which is where the best diving is. fifi does and that is a good thing.

 

[Mayor]

Thanks for the information. We will also be going with a non-diving couple so any top side must do's. Maybe will get them in the water but I do not want that to mess up my diving.

 

[wreckchick]

West Caicos and Northwest Point both have great diving although I'd give Grace Bay a miss.

The only op that *might* have steels is Blue Water Divers up in Leeward since (last I heard anyway) they did some tech training out of the shop.

We docked next to CA and although they have big boats, the dive groups are still small.

Rachel

 

[Mayor]

Caicos Adventures got back to me on the tanks, they have Alum 65's and 80's. Still going to call a few others and see what they have. Want to pack light and take an Alum backplate / wing.

With CA what about bottom times. Will you be able to dive the tank or do they set a time? What was the average dive time? Did you ever feel rushed? I don't use much air and my wife even uses less.

Aldora in Cozumel has me a bit spoiled. We were getting 90 to 100 min bottom times.