Questions about Bohio and Grand Turk

[saholz]

I've arranged for a 9 day trip for myself and a group of friends at the Bohio on Grand Turk. Our trip will be February, 2007 and we'll be diving and snorkeling the whole time we'll be there. We like smaller, laid back locations and are all experienced Caribbean travelers who have visited and dived many different places around the various islands. I chose Grand Turk for several reasons....good diving, whale watches, excellent walls, good dive ops, no big crowds. I chose Bohio because of the universally positive comments I've gotten from other divers and from travel sites. I asked for comments about my choices on another board and got back a reply that stunned me. Here, in part, is what that response was:

"...the accomodations are barely three stars with cracked walls etc. The street approaching the so called resort is lined with trash and garbage as is the whole island. The service is absolutely non existant. They had our money and treated us like we were imposing. The diving didn't even save the rest of the pitiful place. Maybe we were there at the wrong time but we found the diving dreadful. It was so bad and unsafe that we only went on two dives at supposedly the best two sites. I'd get your money back and go to Marlin Bay Resort in Fiji."

First of all, there's no way our group is going to Fiji. That's an absurd recommendation given the expense and travel time involved for a group. It may a fantastic destination for a future trip, but it's not a practical suggestion for a post asking about the Bohio and Grand Turk. I have not previously heard any negative comments about the island, the resort, or the diving. My communications with Kelly at the Bohio have been wonderful and she's been totally accommodating. (I forwarded her the post and am awaiting her reply). This response just goes against everything I have learned about the resort and the island.

I'm not looking for a five star resort here....just a comfortable place to be at while we lay on the beach and dive. Our group has had superb trips to Roatan, Curacao, Cayman Brac, Cozumel, Bonaire and other destinations in the past with no problems at all. Do these comments about the Bohio and Grand Turk have any validity at all? I hope not, since the trip is already booked and paid for. :shakehead

Thanks for any comments.

Stan

 

[Amy WJ]

I'm not familiar with Bohio but did recently spend a week on Grand Turk. It's true there's lots of trash on the island and service in many places tends to be slow but it's a small caribbean island that hasn't been influenced much by tourism yet. Our hotel had mice and mosquitos but we still had a good time and enjoyed the trip. It's an experience, no doubt. The diving was good, not spectacular, but as good as many Caribbean locations. Try finding a bag of ice on the island! That itself was an adventure. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. Just don't expect ritz and glitz. We dove with Oasis while there and they were great. Be sure to dive the Black Forest and also go to the site with the friendly grouper.

 

[pilot fish]

I've arranged for a 9 day trip for myself and a group of friends at the Bohio on Grand Turk. Our trip will be February, 2007 and we'll be diving and snorkeling the whole time we'll be there. We like smaller, laid back locations and are all experienced Caribbean travelers who have visited and dived many different places around the various islands. I chose Grand Turk for several reasons....good diving, whale watches, excellent walls, good dive ops, no big crowds. I chose Bohio because of the universally positive comments I've gotten from other divers and from travel sites. I asked for comments about my choices on another board and got back a reply that stunned me. Here, in part, is what that response was:

"...the accomodations are barely three stars with cracked walls etc. The street approaching the so called resort is lined with trash and garbage as is the whole island. The service is absolutely non existant. They had our money and treated us like we were imposing. The diving didn't even save the rest of the pitiful place. Maybe we were there at the wrong time but we found the diving dreadful. It was so bad and unsafe that we only went on two dives at supposedly the best two sites. I'd get your money back and go to Marlin Bay Resort in Fiji."

First of all, there's no way our group is going to Fiji. That's an absurd recommendation given the expense and travel time involved for a group. It may a fantastic destination for a future trip, but it's not a practical suggestion for a post asking about the Bohio and Grand Turk. I have not previously heard any negative comments about the island, the resort, or the diving. My communications with Kelly at the Bohio have been wonderful and she's been totally accommodating. (I forwarded her the post and am awaiting her reply). This response just goes against everything I have learned about the resort and the island.

I'm not looking for a five star resort here....just a comfortable place to be at while we lay on the beach and dive. Our group has had superb trips to Roatan, Curacao, Cayman Brac, Cozumel, Bonaire and other destinations in the past with no problems at all. Do these comments about the Bohio and Grand Turk have any validity at all? I hope not, since the trip is already booked and paid for. :shakehead

Thanks for any comments.

Stan

Just a fast few words on your upcoming trip to Bohio on Grand turk. I just saw the outside of the hotel from the Oasis dive boat, as we picked up divers staying there, and it looked nice to me. The divers I talked to on our boat said they liked it and it was Ok. The one big concern I'd have is the price of food there. I heard it was expensive. Town for you would be a bit of a walk, I think. Ask some other divers that stayed there what they did for restaurants.

If you can, dive with Oasis Divers. They are very good and will pick you up and drop you off by boat each day. I did not see any garbage in streets at all. I stayed at Osprey Beach Inn Hotel, which was nice.

The diving was real good, to very good. No complaints at all. You'll like it.
If I can be of any further help let me know. I think you will be OK there.

 

[ddawson]

I toured the Bohio December 2005 along with several other places on Grand Turk.
See
http://www.ece.clemson.edu/crb/dawson/scubareports/scubareports.htm

I talked about alot of places I toured and also about the diving on Grand Turk
Here is what I said about the Bohio Beach Resort: This is a very nice property with an onsite dive operation and restaurant. You can shore dive Black Forest, one of the best dives on Grand Turk, from their beach via scooter. The rooms are nice and clean with a view of the beach (Some rooms have mini-kitchen some, do not). If cost is not an issue, then this is the really the way to go. If you want to go to town, you will need transportation. It is pretty far away from town. http://www.bohioresort.com/

The food is very high at this resort but I was told by many people that the best food on the island is at the Bohio. I think if I was leading a group of divers, this would be a pretty good place to stay given your options on Grand Turk.

here is what I said about the diving

We found the diving on Grand Turk to be mixed – some of the sites we dove were outstanding, while others were somewhat mediocre. Several sites contained abundant colorful large sponges and hard and soft corals – great wide-angle stuff. In terms of marine life, we saw a decent number of fish, especially on top of the reefs. Most of the standard reef fish were there. We came across turtles on every single dive. We saw quite a few butterflyfish on most dives (all kinds) but not many angel fish. We only found one spotted drum, and never saw a single scorpionfish. Schooling creole wrasse were seen on many dives, as were groupers of all sizes, from small to quite large. We saw nurse sharks a couple of dives. Our two night dives were excellent – we saw crabs, lobsters, squid, octopi, etc. both times. One major disappointment was the complete lack of macro critters – we literally saw only a couple of banded coral shrimp on one night dive, occasional flamingo tongues, a total of 3 Pederson cleaner shrimp (all on one dive) – not a single arrow crab, nudibranch, or other small creature. In comparison to other dive destinations we have visited (the East End of Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, the Bahamas, Belize, Bonaire, Cozumel, the Kona coast of Hawaii, Utila Dominica, and Roatan), we found the diving here to be better than Cozumel, Bonaire or the Bahamas; about on par with the Utila and Roatan (though very different from the Bay Islands); and a step below the Caymans and Dominica.

 

[saholz]

Just a fast few words on your upcoming trip to Bohio on Grand turk. I just saw the outside of the hotel from the Oasis dive boat, as we picked up divers staying there, and it looked nice to me. The divers I talked to on our boat said they liked it and it was Ok. The one big concern I'd have is the price of food there. I heard it was expensive. Town for you would be a bit of a walk, I think. Ask some other divers that stayed there what they did for restaurants.

If you can, dive with Oasis Divers. They are very good and will pick you up and drop you off by boat each day. I did not see any garbage in streets at all. I stayed at Osprey Beach Inn Hotel, which was nice.

The diving was real good, to very good. No complaints at all. You'll like it.
If I can be of any further help let me know. I think you will be OK there.

Thanks for the comments. I know about the steep price of food at the Bohio's restaurant, so I'm arranging for a couple of rental cars. We should be able to eat wherever we want and will try the Bohio's Guanihini when we're in the mood for something special. Also, two of our group are getting suites with kitchens, so we'll have the ability to have light meals without having to go out to eat.

The person with the complaints did PM me about this, and I have no doubt the problems were real. My personal feeling is that it was bad timing and circumstances, rather than any inherent problem with the hotel or island. I know the hotel did take some damage from a very recent storm, and they lost their boat for a while as well as beach chairs and other minor things. I did bring this up with the Kelly at the Bohio and I'll see what she says about it.

We have a group of 10-12 divers and snorkelers who travel together every year, and I'm the guy who picks the spots and makes the arrangements. So far, over the past several years, we've had very good luck and managed to dive a good portion of the Caribbean. I do a ton of research and use the various message boards, publications, and travel sites extensively. No place is without some drawbacks, but our group isn't looking for five star accommodations...just a comfortable place to hang out while we dive. Since four in our group are also avid tennis players, I also look for access to a tennis court. Grand Turk does actually have one, solitary tennis court on the southern end of the island. The Bohio actually offered to drive us back and forth to the court when we wanted to play. We won't need that service because we'll rent cars, but it was a very gracious offer.

So, all I can do is hope that the majority of positive reports about the resort, the island, and the diving are the norm and that the one really bad experience was not. If not, I may be ousted as the great trip arranger.

 

[Damselfish]

Sometimes people don't do their research or are just used to a certain sort of experience, so they have inaccurate expectations about a place. And sometimes they have an axe to grind. I wouldn't place much stock in a info from someone that suggests a specific resort in Fiji as an alternative to Grand Turk, that's just silly and makes me think they're clueless.

 

[saholz]

Excellent observations and really informative trip report on the December trip. It does sound like I made the right choice for our travel group. Our last trip was this past February when we hit Sunset Waters on Curacao. That's a two star resort, had gotten some scathing reviews mixed in with lots of good ones, and we had a ball there. We all just loved it. None of us like glitzy resorts or high rise structures, and all of us enjoy a quiet beach and small dive operators, so I am feeling better about the Bohio now.

I will post Kelly's response to the negative comments if she actually answers my email about this.

Thanks again.

Stan

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

I've been to Grand Turk several times, and have always enjoyed it. It is a very small island with limited resources at times, and they are currently experiencing a few growing pains as of late because of the cruise ship terminal. You will find that it is not a LUXURY island. But the people are very kind and helpful and will generally go out of their way for you. The diving is nicer than anywhere else I've been in the Caribbean. I've even seen a humpback whale on one occasion. I have never stayed at Bohio, I usually prefer to stay closer to Oasis, but I have eaten there many times, it is the only place on the island to get a really nice meal. On my last trip there in February, I did meet a couple who were on their 3rd trip and highly recommended the accomodations at Bohio. I can give you names of people to talk to on the island if you have any other questions or you can PM me if you like.

 

[pilot fish]

Saholz, you'll be fine with the Bohio Hotel. It has a nice beach and seems quiet and clean. Again, this was a view from 20 ft away and a few conversatins with divers that were on my boat. They all seemed satisfied. It's good that you know about the food expense at this hotel. What will you do for breakfast? Seems that you have done your homework. I was there in May 06.

The island is not especially dirty at all and, to me, resembled most other spots I've been to in the Caribbean, even a tad quieter, which we thought was fine.
Whom will you be diving with? I can recommend Oasis Divers, who will pick you and your gear up to sign in and drop you and your gear off at the end of the week. They will also send the dive boat for you and drop you off at the end of each day. If you would like to dive with Oasis Divers email Dale. They are a good outfit.

Thanks for the comments. I know about the steep price of food at the Bohio's restaurant, so I'm arranging for a couple of rental cars. We should be able to eat wherever we want and will try the Bohio's Guanihini when we're in the mood for something special. Also, two of our group are getting suites with kitchens, so we'll have the ability to have light meals without having to go out to eat.

The person with the complaints did PM me about this, and I have no doubt the problems were real. My personal feeling is that it was bad timing and circumstances, rather than any inherent problem with the hotel or island. I know the hotel did take some damage from a very recent storm, and they lost their boat for a while as well as beach chairs and other minor things. I did bring this up with the Kelly at the Bohio and I'll see what she says about it.

We have a group of 10-12 divers and snorkelers who travel together every year, and I'm the guy who picks the spots and makes the arrangements. So far, over the past several years, we've had very good luck and managed to dive a good portion of the Caribbean. I do a ton of research and use the various message boards, publications, and travel sites extensively. No place is without some drawbacks, but our group isn't looking for five star accommodations...just a comfortable place to hang out while we dive. Since four in our group are also avid tennis players, I also look for access to a tennis court. Grand Turk does actually have one, solitary tennis court on the southern end of the island. The Bohio actually offered to drive us back and forth to the court when we wanted to play. We won't need that service because we'll rent cars, but it was a very gracious offer.

So, all I can do is hope that the majority of positive reports about the resort, the island, and the diving are the norm and that the one really bad experience was not. If not, I may be ousted as the great trip arranger.

 

[saholz]

What will you do for breakfast? Seems that you have done your homework. I was there in May 06.

Whom will you be diving with? I can recommend Oasis Divers, who will pick you and your gear up to sign in and drop you and your gear off at the end of the week.

For breakfast we might eat at the hotel. Their breakfast menu seems to be comparable in price to most of the other places on the island. It's the dinner menus that get very steep, but it is the only fine dining on the island. The Bohio does a couple of barbecue nights on the beach every week, and those prices are also much more reasonable. We also figure on eating out a few nights so we don't have to do the fine dining routine as an every night meal ... that can get expensive quickly.

For diving, we'll try the Bohio's in house dive op. I spoke to a few people who've used them and they were generally very pleased. They have Nitrox, their own boat, on site gear storage, DPV's, and the DM's are supposed to be good. I know Oasis is good, but I think Bohio Divers should work out fine. If not, we can always switch.

I still can't figure out why this one person had such a miserable experience on Grand Turk. He and his wife left for Provo after only two days and two dives, totally disgusted with the island, the diving, and the resort. As another poster mentioned, unrealistic expectations may have been an issue. Personally, I think it was just bad luck ... wrong place at the wrong time.