Turks and Caicos questions

[lilydog]

Our family is going on a vacation to turks and caicos this summer so I was wondering if you guys could give any tips/recommendations what dive shops and sites are best as well as good food and lodging. Is there anything else that would be good to know? Thanks!

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Do a search and you will find lots of good info. on the baords on this topic. That being said: My favorite dive op is Caicos Adventures. Brong lots of money. There are many great restaurants that all have one thing in common - they are pricey!!

 

[mikerault]

Which Island? Provo? South Caicos? Grand Turk? It really depends on where you will be. I know a lot about Grand Turk, but not a lot about the others.

http://www.scubamage.com/files/Diving_Grand_Turk.pdf

Mike

 

[jarhed]

Great Diving, if you're going to Provo, lot's of nice hotels along grace bay. Do not overlook the snorkeling out at the coral gardens in Grace Bay. Lot's of turtles and eagle rays just off the beach.

Be sure to check out the Conch Shack for afternoon snacks.

Wonderful place.
John

 

[dashark]

my favorite dives in Grace bay are Amphitheatre and Crocodile. have fun!

 

[fastro]

Hi,

I just wrote up an email on the T&C experts questions link that should give you some info. I recommend Dive Provo. They provided excellent service and really catered to our needs. 1 example is that they moved their normal Wednesday night dive to Tuesday for us since my wife and I were flying out yesterday. If you google them and go to their website you can see several of the dive packages that they have with the different hotels. My wife and I did the Comfort Suites package and the hotel was ok but not great. It was convienant since the dive shoip is 50 feet away from the hotel. After talking to several of the other guests, the Royal West Indies was good as well as the Sibonne and Sands. This is of course provided that you go to Provo.

I would recommend doing a multi day pass with the Gecko and I recommend Bacis, Shark Bite, Tiki Hut, and Hemmingways restaurants. Food is very pricey and ranges from $30-40 for the cheaper places to near $100 for the good places for 2. Most entress are about 25ish and the 10% sales tax is not that fun either.

As for dive sites, I prefered going to West Caicos and recommend the Spanish Anchor, Driveway and the Gully. All were good wall dives and we saw several reef and nurse sharks and some great coral. If you have any additional questions, let me know. Hope this helps.

Take care,
Dan

 

[jarhed]

Here's a few pics to wet your appetite:

Diving at West Caicos:




Snorkeling at Grace Bay:



Enjoy your vacation!
John

 

[SusanWH20]

If you want a smaller group on your boat and only want to do morning/early afternoon dives off of Provo, I reccommend Flamingo Divers. Mickey and Jane are wonderful. Our favorites were Rock Garden Interlude (lots of bottom time) and the Gully.

Have a great time!

 

[Big Blue Diver]

Come & try out Big Blue Unlimited... www.bigblueunlimited.com ...small groups & a great choice of dive locations depending on the weather & tides with no restriction on dive times. Also run a great selection of non diving activities including kayaking and biking.

 

[Myssi]

I went last year and dove off West Caicos with Caicos Adventures. The staff was nice, but the dive boats were way too crowded for my liking (25 - 30 divers). We stayed at the Sands, which was pretty nice but had a lot of kids. The rooms are large and the beach is one of the nicest streches on Grace Bay. I would avoid the Beaches resort as it was very crowded and on a very thin stretch of beach. We ate at Hemmingway's (restaurant at the Sands) alot because the prices were very reasonable and the food was very good. Tiki Hut is also good, but beware of the flies that swarm the conch pizza :yuck:
I second the recommendation for snorkeling at Coral Gardens - we saw 3 turtles up close!