Turks&Caicos or Saba ???

[Scuba-QC]

Which one of these is offering the best dive? for animals and for corals ?

Which one would you choose at that time of the year?

Thanks

ps: If you haven't got to both island please don't answer...

 

[Scuba-QC]

is there anybody that did both islands ????

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Sorry, been to TCI many, many times and Saba is on the short list (January 2007?). I would say that one thing that will set them apart is the length of the boat rides. In Provo you are looking at up to an hour commute to the best diving. Grand Turk is probably only ten minutes commuting but it means the added expense of another plane flight to the out island.

 

[Tom Winters]

My wife dived Saba, Provo and Grand Turk, but she's not speaking to me right now so I can't help you. She did briefly mention the topside beauty of Saba over the relative pancakeedness of Provo and GT.
If Grand Turk was on the horizon, I would FedEx my gear there next time and avoid dealing with baggage on the island hopper, although I guess it's just a matter of time until the larger planes start landing there.
If you want to see larger critters on your dives on whatever island you choose, make sure you dive on an incoming tide. I dived Provo on outgoing tides and couldn't find diddly-squat even at 200+' out in the abyss.

 

[diver janet]

Which one of these is offering the best dive? for animals and for corals ?

Which one would you choose at that time of the year?

Thanks

ps: If you haven't got to both island please don't answer...

I've been to both....and actually prefer Grand Turk over Provo (same reason as above...longer boat rides if you're Provo-based) but also loved Saba. You would still have the additional plane ride if you did either Saba or Grand Turk since you'd most likely be flying into St. Maarten and then over to Saba on Windward.

You'd generally get bigger stuff off the walls of Grand Turk, especially if you go in the winter because the humpbacks cruise through the channel there, they frequently see manta and sharks and turtles.

Saba is known for its pinnacle diving; their signature dive is called "Eye of the Needle" and it's a fabulous dive. We did see some sharks on descending to the "needle" but not at any of the other dive sites when we were there. The rest of the diving is basic Caribbean diving.

Both Grand Turk and Saba feature smaller hotels and inns that are very diver-oriented. Provo is known for the bigger, fancier hotels and certainly much longer boat rides if you're land-based. The best T&C diving is from the liveaboards because you get over to French Cay,which is known for its inquisitive reef sharks, and West Caicos. Some of our group aboard the Aggressor last month saw a hammerhead and a manta off NW Point of Provo on our initial day of diving!

Both destinations are in the hurricane belt so if you're thinking of later this summer or fall, buy trip insurance (before the hurricane is named) and you'd be covered for any cancellations/delays.