bobfmdc
Contributor
Good report and happy to see you enjoyed Grand Turk.
My wife and I, plus friends, have been going there since 2002, maybe 8 or 9 times now. We are going back again in July, with a 4 day pre-trip to Salt Cay. We go to GT as much for the ambiance as the diving, and if you are looking for ACTION, stay in Provo. I know this sounds familiar, but the diving has significantly degraded in the time we have been going. It was not uncommon to see eagle rays (depending on season) and an occasional (non-nurse) shark on the northern sites. Plenty of grouper, turtles, lobsters, etc. and lots of small stuff.
Now, even the old-timer locals say it is over-fished. The grouper are scarce, and you even see very few conchs; once they were everywhere. Lobsters--every now and then. I attribute the lack of fish and turtles to a few locals (who are well known to the dive guides) who fish for the increasing number of restaurants. They also go after the turtles. The dive guides have the lion fish under control (or they have driven them to deep water). There was a severe warm water period in the fall of 2005 that resulted in a major die-off of coral within a six-month period. Last summer, we were happy to see a lot of it coming back, but it won't recover to what it was in 2002 in my lifetime.
In Coburn Town and farther north you only see the cruise ship people passing through on motor scooters, open buses, etc. To me they are not a bother. The cruise ship port is 2 or 3 long miles south of town so they don't just wander in. As in most places, the cruise line(s) have built a cruise ship city down there, so 90% of the people who get off the cruise boat simply go ashore to the cruise ship city, shop, get drunk and go back on the boat. I believe Oasis Divers has the contract to serve the cruse ship companies for diving and snorkeling, so you only infrequently see them on the Grand Turk Diving and Blue Water Diving boats. If you do, that means they booked separately and are usually ok divers. There are a number of diving spots near the cruise ship dock and that is where Oasis takes the cruise ship people, so you don't see them on the dive spots off Coburn Town and farther north (like the Amphitheater, Fish Pond, MacDonalds, etc.
And yes, the Sand Bar often gets raucous in the evenings--but the food is good and the ladies that own it are great. We usually stay in their Manta House guest house across 10 foot wide main road in Coburn Town. I also endorse Jungo Kim's opinion of the Osprey. They aren't cheap--the kitchen room he talked about is $190/night plus tax--but it is right on the beach. I recommend an upstairs room. Their barbeque night should not be missed, but the one at the Bohio is better. Of course, that is a $10-$15 cab ride from Coburn Town.
Finally, it IS expensive to dive, eat and sleep in Grand Turk, and it has just gotten more expensive due to a recently implemented 12% tax on tourist activity, including diving, in the Turks & Caicos. Don't expect much in the way of discounts there.
My wife and I, plus friends, have been going there since 2002, maybe 8 or 9 times now. We are going back again in July, with a 4 day pre-trip to Salt Cay. We go to GT as much for the ambiance as the diving, and if you are looking for ACTION, stay in Provo. I know this sounds familiar, but the diving has significantly degraded in the time we have been going. It was not uncommon to see eagle rays (depending on season) and an occasional (non-nurse) shark on the northern sites. Plenty of grouper, turtles, lobsters, etc. and lots of small stuff.
Now, even the old-timer locals say it is over-fished. The grouper are scarce, and you even see very few conchs; once they were everywhere. Lobsters--every now and then. I attribute the lack of fish and turtles to a few locals (who are well known to the dive guides) who fish for the increasing number of restaurants. They also go after the turtles. The dive guides have the lion fish under control (or they have driven them to deep water). There was a severe warm water period in the fall of 2005 that resulted in a major die-off of coral within a six-month period. Last summer, we were happy to see a lot of it coming back, but it won't recover to what it was in 2002 in my lifetime.
In Coburn Town and farther north you only see the cruise ship people passing through on motor scooters, open buses, etc. To me they are not a bother. The cruise ship port is 2 or 3 long miles south of town so they don't just wander in. As in most places, the cruise line(s) have built a cruise ship city down there, so 90% of the people who get off the cruise boat simply go ashore to the cruise ship city, shop, get drunk and go back on the boat. I believe Oasis Divers has the contract to serve the cruse ship companies for diving and snorkeling, so you only infrequently see them on the Grand Turk Diving and Blue Water Diving boats. If you do, that means they booked separately and are usually ok divers. There are a number of diving spots near the cruise ship dock and that is where Oasis takes the cruise ship people, so you don't see them on the dive spots off Coburn Town and farther north (like the Amphitheater, Fish Pond, MacDonalds, etc.
And yes, the Sand Bar often gets raucous in the evenings--but the food is good and the ladies that own it are great. We usually stay in their Manta House guest house across 10 foot wide main road in Coburn Town. I also endorse Jungo Kim's opinion of the Osprey. They aren't cheap--the kitchen room he talked about is $190/night plus tax--but it is right on the beach. I recommend an upstairs room. Their barbeque night should not be missed, but the one at the Bohio is better. Of course, that is a $10-$15 cab ride from Coburn Town.
Finally, it IS expensive to dive, eat and sleep in Grand Turk, and it has just gotten more expensive due to a recently implemented 12% tax on tourist activity, including diving, in the Turks & Caicos. Don't expect much in the way of discounts there.
