Turks and Caicos dive report.
Awesome place, water 82 at the surface and goes up to 84 down below, say at 120. The only time not to dive the island is late May or first week in June when the jellys spawn ( I think this is what happens) either way its bad diving for a week, so call first and make sure this already happened if you are planning on traveling during this time.
The plane flew into provo (providential) and life is great. I did my research and the person to dive with is Fifi and his company is Caicos Adventures (he has a web site).
Why fifi you say? Because he has a 43 foot catamaran and it can take the seas, and his boat is the only one that can go the distance to the great sites - even in bad weather. Also because he makes an effort to take you where you want to go, and to match you up with a buddy that will dive the way you dive (or you can go with the air consumption group if you choose).
Day one -I pair up with a professional diver, who dives cold waters for a living studying marine life on grants. Great guy, his name is Dan. Initially I thought Dan to be one of those enviro-nazi types so I stayed clear of that conversation. However, as I got to know him his personality was very similar to mine.
First dive was at West Caicos Brandywine depth 144 feet total dive time 43 minutes, sac 0.4. The dive was great and Dan wanted to do 144 just to get the feeling out there with no dry suit. I was fine with it; the reefs were in awesome shape there. Absolutely incredible! Large Sponges, Brain corals or different types, sharks, great dive.
Dive Two West Caicos Magic Mushroom - 118 feet for 48 minutes - 11 minutes on the deco and SS. Great dive, barracudas on the safety stop, more sharks, and all the rest you would expect from a top-notch dive spot.
Back to the hotel. We choose to stay at the Royal West Indies, fine place. Everything is expensive everywhere, including food.
We took the shuttle to the store and since our room had a kitchen we cooked in most every night. I did this because after diving sometimes I just do not feel like going out to a sit down dinner - it just takes too long. I want to sit in the sand, drink some beers, take the hobby cat out and just relax. Sometimes I just do not feel like sitting in a restaurant for 1-2 hours waiting for food. I want to get my dive gear ready and think about tomorrows dive with a beer in hand on the sand! (To each their own).
Second Day We dive - The Gulley - Dan is not with me today, and I get stuck with three others who all say they can dive, two guys and a girl. The two guys are friends and the Girl is saying she wants to stay above 65 feet ( ya right) - she has a new computer. I offered to walk her through so she understands how it works but she says no. Well I made it clear that my plan is to go over the wall myself and leave the group on the top. I make this very clear to everyone and they agree.
Failure - Mr. Guy diver is trying to get down, obviously WAY under weight, I am pissed - what an idiot, I tell him to go up and he keeps struggling to fin down, so I hand him some rocks and tell him again to go up and get weight, he just ignores me, fine. The girl is over by the wall by herself so I figure I will let the two male friends figure out their weighting and get with the girl so she does not kill herself. She is the slowest finner in the world. I have never seen anyone swim so slow in my life. Im pissed. She will not stay with me, and is constantly staring at her computer. Coming back we have quite a way to go to get to the boat and she is ever so slowly not moving at all. No we are low on air, and I am telling her to move, swim, lets go ----- nope! Now we have to surface 100 yards from the boat and I am pissed. To this day I do not know what she was doing!
Dive four Devils Horn I am paired up with the same 3 people, I should have blown them off, but I am a nice guy and here we go. I tell them I am on 32% and I am going over the wall, I will meet up. Well this dive goes as planned, the two guys are swimming with the slowest girl in the world and I am over the wall in front and can see their bubbles behind. I come up to them after 30 minutes and turn the dive and let them again deal with trying to make her swim back. She is staring at her computer and I know she is in deco. So I take her hand and help her through it. She (little miss. I will not go below 65 feet) has an 11 minute deco obligation. At the top after we are done she tells me I am the best buddy in the world. Great dive, basically solo, and what a site. Larger reef sharks, barracudas, corals, tubes, wow! Max depth 108 feet for 52 minutes with about 7 minutes deco.
Next day dive 5, This is Thursday and Fifi does his 3 dive day. I am Back with Dan today and we are both on 32 percent.
Dive 5 Anchor There is a 5 foot tall anchor in the reef among the coral, a ship obviously got stranded, it is very old and a site to see as the coral is growing around it. Fifi is great, He blasts the music on the way out and on the way in, and it is really a great atmosphere! 100-foot max. 50 minutes, sac 0.4
Dive 6 The Driveway 100 foot max, sac 0.40, great dive, fire coral everywhere (as with all the dives), life is great
Dive 7 Tons of sponges max depth 76 feet, sac 0.36. I found a large lobster in a barrel sponge, it was the talk of the town. After Dan was finished shooting pics, I called over the guides so they could show the divers the lobster in the sponge. It was the talk of the town. We also had a large Barry follow us for about 10 minutes. He looked hungry, occasionally shaking his head. Wow, there were sponges. Awesome third dive of the day. Usually the third dive is not so good because of bottom time, but what a great spot for dive three with all the corals and eye candy you could almost want for a third dive of the day!
So now I am screwed cause fifi has a private charter and his second boat is full so I am forced to dive with Art Pickerings Turtle Divers. Art Pickerings sold off, and the new owner still uses his name for the last 2 years. Very nice person, but what a bunch or amateur divers on board.
First dive, Dive 8 - the amptheatre - We have a girl who is shooting and writing for SCUBA DIVER magazine. Well guess what, her max depth is 70 feet. Whatever. The rest of the crew is not much better. I am starting to feel sick, and I think I am catching a cold. I have a sore throat and I thought well I probably should have taken he day off but too late now. Max depth 95 and the sac 0.35
The dive was ok, not that great, but I am really starting to get sick, shivering, etc.
Dive 9 The Crack - Another lackluster site. I am still sick and cant wait to get back to the hotel. But both sites were really not the best and poor choices. Cant wait to get back to fifi! Max depth 91 and sac 0.51 ( I am really shivering and sore throat and want to go home!) The SAC shows the story. The only good thing about the boat ride is a newly married couple who were very nice, and we talked quite a bit.
I called fifis wife Donna and told her I could not dive Saturday because I was sick. Fifi was going to take me to French key a longer boat ride, but I did not want him to have to go there for me since I was not going to be on the boat. I took two days off gargling with salt water and I am ready to dive again! The Cold is gone.
Monday - On board with fifi and he tells everyone we are going to French Key I know he is doing this for me. We are becoming friends and he has two kids - Curtis age 11 and his daughter I think about 8 years old. They are great! They are on the trip almost every day and they are REALLY good kids!
Dive 10 The Garden - max depth 100 and sac .35, life is great. We saw dolphins on the ride out, wonderful corals, way more sharks, spotted eagle rays. What a great dive. 62 minutes. In the shallows are mating sharks. There were about 7 of them - we were joking that they were having a little orgy.
On the way to the second spot fifi sends a guy over the rail to check vis, it sucks so we continue to move on.
Dive 11 The G-Spot, max depth 100. The Girl I am talking to says its hard to find but once you are there its totally worth it. Ok, I thought we were diving . (I am flying the next day so even though its fine I want to be a little cautious and keep it at 100 or above and no deco. 57 minutes 99 feet. Great dive. On the way home is mostly over shallow bottom, but a long ride home. A big ray moves over the front of the boat even though we are cruising at about 24 knots. More dolphins. Its quite rough coming back as a storm has blown in, but fifis boat can handle it and you can trust that he was the only boat out there that day! And it totally made my last day of diving!
Well thats the story - What a place!
Next stop Bonaire !!!!!!!
Awesome place, water 82 at the surface and goes up to 84 down below, say at 120. The only time not to dive the island is late May or first week in June when the jellys spawn ( I think this is what happens) either way its bad diving for a week, so call first and make sure this already happened if you are planning on traveling during this time.
The plane flew into provo (providential) and life is great. I did my research and the person to dive with is Fifi and his company is Caicos Adventures (he has a web site).
Why fifi you say? Because he has a 43 foot catamaran and it can take the seas, and his boat is the only one that can go the distance to the great sites - even in bad weather. Also because he makes an effort to take you where you want to go, and to match you up with a buddy that will dive the way you dive (or you can go with the air consumption group if you choose).
Day one -I pair up with a professional diver, who dives cold waters for a living studying marine life on grants. Great guy, his name is Dan. Initially I thought Dan to be one of those enviro-nazi types so I stayed clear of that conversation. However, as I got to know him his personality was very similar to mine.
First dive was at West Caicos Brandywine depth 144 feet total dive time 43 minutes, sac 0.4. The dive was great and Dan wanted to do 144 just to get the feeling out there with no dry suit. I was fine with it; the reefs were in awesome shape there. Absolutely incredible! Large Sponges, Brain corals or different types, sharks, great dive.
Dive Two West Caicos Magic Mushroom - 118 feet for 48 minutes - 11 minutes on the deco and SS. Great dive, barracudas on the safety stop, more sharks, and all the rest you would expect from a top-notch dive spot.
Back to the hotel. We choose to stay at the Royal West Indies, fine place. Everything is expensive everywhere, including food.
We took the shuttle to the store and since our room had a kitchen we cooked in most every night. I did this because after diving sometimes I just do not feel like going out to a sit down dinner - it just takes too long. I want to sit in the sand, drink some beers, take the hobby cat out and just relax. Sometimes I just do not feel like sitting in a restaurant for 1-2 hours waiting for food. I want to get my dive gear ready and think about tomorrows dive with a beer in hand on the sand! (To each their own).
Second Day We dive - The Gulley - Dan is not with me today, and I get stuck with three others who all say they can dive, two guys and a girl. The two guys are friends and the Girl is saying she wants to stay above 65 feet ( ya right) - she has a new computer. I offered to walk her through so she understands how it works but she says no. Well I made it clear that my plan is to go over the wall myself and leave the group on the top. I make this very clear to everyone and they agree.
Failure - Mr. Guy diver is trying to get down, obviously WAY under weight, I am pissed - what an idiot, I tell him to go up and he keeps struggling to fin down, so I hand him some rocks and tell him again to go up and get weight, he just ignores me, fine. The girl is over by the wall by herself so I figure I will let the two male friends figure out their weighting and get with the girl so she does not kill herself. She is the slowest finner in the world. I have never seen anyone swim so slow in my life. Im pissed. She will not stay with me, and is constantly staring at her computer. Coming back we have quite a way to go to get to the boat and she is ever so slowly not moving at all. No we are low on air, and I am telling her to move, swim, lets go ----- nope! Now we have to surface 100 yards from the boat and I am pissed. To this day I do not know what she was doing!
Dive four Devils Horn I am paired up with the same 3 people, I should have blown them off, but I am a nice guy and here we go. I tell them I am on 32% and I am going over the wall, I will meet up. Well this dive goes as planned, the two guys are swimming with the slowest girl in the world and I am over the wall in front and can see their bubbles behind. I come up to them after 30 minutes and turn the dive and let them again deal with trying to make her swim back. She is staring at her computer and I know she is in deco. So I take her hand and help her through it. She (little miss. I will not go below 65 feet) has an 11 minute deco obligation. At the top after we are done she tells me I am the best buddy in the world. Great dive, basically solo, and what a site. Larger reef sharks, barracudas, corals, tubes, wow! Max depth 108 feet for 52 minutes with about 7 minutes deco.
Next day dive 5, This is Thursday and Fifi does his 3 dive day. I am Back with Dan today and we are both on 32 percent.
Dive 5 Anchor There is a 5 foot tall anchor in the reef among the coral, a ship obviously got stranded, it is very old and a site to see as the coral is growing around it. Fifi is great, He blasts the music on the way out and on the way in, and it is really a great atmosphere! 100-foot max. 50 minutes, sac 0.4
Dive 6 The Driveway 100 foot max, sac 0.40, great dive, fire coral everywhere (as with all the dives), life is great
Dive 7 Tons of sponges max depth 76 feet, sac 0.36. I found a large lobster in a barrel sponge, it was the talk of the town. After Dan was finished shooting pics, I called over the guides so they could show the divers the lobster in the sponge. It was the talk of the town. We also had a large Barry follow us for about 10 minutes. He looked hungry, occasionally shaking his head. Wow, there were sponges. Awesome third dive of the day. Usually the third dive is not so good because of bottom time, but what a great spot for dive three with all the corals and eye candy you could almost want for a third dive of the day!
So now I am screwed cause fifi has a private charter and his second boat is full so I am forced to dive with Art Pickerings Turtle Divers. Art Pickerings sold off, and the new owner still uses his name for the last 2 years. Very nice person, but what a bunch or amateur divers on board.
First dive, Dive 8 - the amptheatre - We have a girl who is shooting and writing for SCUBA DIVER magazine. Well guess what, her max depth is 70 feet. Whatever. The rest of the crew is not much better. I am starting to feel sick, and I think I am catching a cold. I have a sore throat and I thought well I probably should have taken he day off but too late now. Max depth 95 and the sac 0.35
The dive was ok, not that great, but I am really starting to get sick, shivering, etc.
Dive 9 The Crack - Another lackluster site. I am still sick and cant wait to get back to the hotel. But both sites were really not the best and poor choices. Cant wait to get back to fifi! Max depth 91 and sac 0.51 ( I am really shivering and sore throat and want to go home!) The SAC shows the story. The only good thing about the boat ride is a newly married couple who were very nice, and we talked quite a bit.
I called fifis wife Donna and told her I could not dive Saturday because I was sick. Fifi was going to take me to French key a longer boat ride, but I did not want him to have to go there for me since I was not going to be on the boat. I took two days off gargling with salt water and I am ready to dive again! The Cold is gone.
Monday - On board with fifi and he tells everyone we are going to French Key I know he is doing this for me. We are becoming friends and he has two kids - Curtis age 11 and his daughter I think about 8 years old. They are great! They are on the trip almost every day and they are REALLY good kids!
Dive 10 The Garden - max depth 100 and sac .35, life is great. We saw dolphins on the ride out, wonderful corals, way more sharks, spotted eagle rays. What a great dive. 62 minutes. In the shallows are mating sharks. There were about 7 of them - we were joking that they were having a little orgy.
On the way to the second spot fifi sends a guy over the rail to check vis, it sucks so we continue to move on.
Dive 11 The G-Spot, max depth 100. The Girl I am talking to says its hard to find but once you are there its totally worth it. Ok, I thought we were diving . (I am flying the next day so even though its fine I want to be a little cautious and keep it at 100 or above and no deco. 57 minutes 99 feet. Great dive. On the way home is mostly over shallow bottom, but a long ride home. A big ray moves over the front of the boat even though we are cruising at about 24 knots. More dolphins. Its quite rough coming back as a storm has blown in, but fifis boat can handle it and you can trust that he was the only boat out there that day! And it totally made my last day of diving!
Well thats the story - What a place!
Next stop Bonaire !!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing your experience.
