Noobie Diver, First dive trip to Provo, Turks and Caicos

[Cherrynyc]

My boyfriend and I were recently certified last Summer in NYC and have booked our first diving trip to Turks and Caicos.
We are staying at the Alexandra on Provo 2nd week of March and looking to do 3 days of diving.
I have been to Provo back in '06 with my sister on a "spa and beach" trip so clueless when it comes to diving...

Upon further research, I realized the wall diving in Grand Turks is not to be missed.

Do you think that maybe taking a day trip to Grand Turks is worth it? It'll be additional $130pp for just flight itself; or will Provo suffice?
As stated, this will be our first time so we will have no comparison, but do not want to miss it if it's that spectacular. I'm trying to reason cost, travel time, etc.
Any suggestions will be appreciated!

Also, looks like Caicos Adventures and Flamingo dive shops are highly recommended on this board. Any idea how I should choose?

 

[diversteve]

I can't speak to the Grand Turk wall as I've never been there but the deep walls off West Caicos or French Cay are pretty spectacular also. The one off West Caicos drops 6000'. On Caicos Adventures website they list all three. Caribbean Diving Includes the World's Best Wall Dives! Caribbean Diving With Caicos Adventures Leads You to Explore Famous Walls!

It's about a 45min. run on a fast boat from Provo, I know Caicos Adventures does both, IDK (anything) about Flamingo.


moved to Greater Caribbean...

 

[Cherrynyc]

Thanks Steve! I think I was getting too ahead of myself there...

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

The flight from Provo to Grand Turk is short (less than a half hour) but you will find plenty of wall diving in Provo to keep you busy. Be aware that the dive days in Provo are long. The ride out to the wall from South Dock is a good forty minutes to an hour. That was what was nice about Grand Turk - the boat rides were ten minutes at most. I highly recommend Caicos Adventures for your diving on Provo.

 

[sullivan]

I've been to Provo 8 times and the diving is varied enough and amazing such that I would not add the complexity, travel time and cost of making a trip over to Grand Turk. Have dive with both Flamingo and Caicos Adventures. We prefer Caicos Adventures only because their large boat, Caicos Cat, makes for a very comfortable ride when you take the 45 minute ride out to West Caicos and French Cay (2 of the better dive locations). Although the Caicos Cat is larger than Flamingo's boat, we never felt like things were crowded as the boat is so big and can accomodate many more divers than we ever encountered.

 

[Cherrynyc]

Thanks everyone! I have decided not to make our trip more complex than it is. We have booked through Caicos Adventures for 3 Day dive, with 1 being 3 tank dive, and their customer service has so far been very good with their email replies. I'm very excited yet nervous for my first diving trip!!

 

[pugdiver]

Cant really go wrong with Caicos adventures or Flamingo, although Flamingo books very early due to 8 people max on the boat. Also check out Dive Provo have dove with them 5 times also and never been disappointed. Caicos Adventures runs a 3 tank dive on Thursday and Dive Provo runs a 3 tanker on Wednesday, these tend to be to West Caicos or French Cay area.
Enjoy your trip if you have any restaurant questions let me know. I am heading there again in April but on the Turks and Caicos Explorer for a week of diving my face off.

 

[New Scuba Guy]

My boyfriend and I were recently certified last Summer in NYC and have booked our first diving trip to Turks and Caicos.
We are staying at the Alexandra on Provo 2nd week of March and looking to do 3 days of diving.
I have been to Provo back in '06 with my sister on a "spa and beach" trip so clueless when it comes to diving...

Upon further research, I realized the wall diving in Grand Turks is not to be missed.

Do you think that maybe taking a day trip to Grand Turks is worth it? It'll be additional $130pp for just flight itself; or will Provo suffice?
As stated, this will be our first time so we will have no comparison, but do not want to miss it if it's that spectacular. I'm trying to reason cost, travel time, etc.
Any suggestions will be appreciated!

Also, looks like Caicos Adventures and Flamingo dive shops are highly recommended on this board. Any idea how I should choose?

My wife and I dove Provo in 2010. Hurricane Earl rolled in the day after our first dive day so we didn't get back into the water for another 3 days. First day diving the wall we had about 100' of vis. 3 days after Earl, diving "The Aquarium", we had "only" about 75' vis. Great diving in Provo. We went with Art Pickering's Provo Turtle Dive and I would definitely use them again. Incidently, Turks and Caicos was our first dive vacation after we were certified.
Enjoy!

 

[krawlings]

my wife and I are going on a cruise in JUNE. we will be stopping in Grand Turk for a day .And I am going to do some diving. I'd like to know what the dive conditions are like? (currents ,water temps ,surge ect....)