Thanks jmdive!
It was a great trip; expensive, but definitely worth it. For ease of making our 8:20am departure back to Miami from Providenciales, we broke the trip into two parts. The first seven days were spent on Grand Turk, the rest in Provo; it was almost like taking two vacations back-to-back. We particularly enjoyed Grand Turk.
The flight over to GT from Provo takes about 25 minutes via Turks & Caicos Air puddle-jumper, and costs about $160 round-trip per-person. They only allow 50 lbs of luggage per-person, so pack light if you’re thinking about going. Topside, the island is still suffering from Hurricane Ike of last year, but the reef is doing very well. With only a handful of places to eat, and few other attractions, there is really nothing to do there but dive and hang-out, which is exactly what we were looking for. We'd chill on the beach for hours and never see another person; no boats, no planes; zero – perfect! One year after Ike and the island is still without any TV service; just doesn’t get much better than that!
We stayed at the Osprey (great place, clean, good location), and did our diving with Blue Water. There are a few other small dive operators to choose from, but they're all pretty much the same. The slow, quiet, laid-back atmosphere, combined with old-school Caribbean colonial charm and hometown vibe were what really pulled us in – plus the diving is awesome. They have about 30 permanently moored sites along "the wall", which drops strait down to about 7000 feet. Drop-in is anywhere from 20ft-50ft of depth in 85 degree water with no current; very relaxed diving. We managed over and hour on most of the dives.
As for Provo; totally different vibe. Much more commercial, with large condo developments everywhere and plenty of shopping. Grace bay is beautiful, but there are a lot of people around. We went in low season, so I can only image that it could be pretty crowded during busier times of the year. We stayed at the Caribbean Paradise, which we very much enjoyed. It’s about 100 yards from the beach, but is a lovely older property with lush landscaping and reasonably priced. Local food is excellent.
For Diving, we went with Caicos Adventures. This operator is one of the best organized I have ever gone diving with, and have excellent large twin-hull boats for trips out to Northwest Point, West Caicos, and French Caye where the good diving is. Unlike the 10 minute trips in a small boat over on Grand Turk, diving from Provo is an all day excursion. The diving is great with similar profiles to GT, but perhaps a little deeper in-n-out. We were riding our NDL everyday. Good as it was, Grand Turk has better diving in my opinion.
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
