Turks & Caicos - Where to dive? Who to dive with? Where to stay?

[mikeycanuk]

Technically there are three. There is a locally owned place in the south, Pat's place, but it's not visited too often. That reminds me of the burned up golf cart nearby. The day before we arrived there was a party at Porters and suddenly all the fire fighting crew took off. They arrived to find the fire chiefs golf cart ablaze and no water to put out the fire so they let it burn. In the ashes we saw trojans and empty Corona bottles, looks like someone was planning a party! Word was his Haitian moonshine leaked of whatever it was in and made its way to the exhaust and well...you know the rest of the story. Turns out the fire chief has an issue with alcohol. Love those small islands!

---------- Post added June 27th, 2013 at 03:15 PM ----------

It was a toss up between Blue Water and Smitty of GT Divers. We chose Smitty. Can't go wrong with either from what I've researched. The other op though lost their PADI license.

 

[diveTO]

royal west indies is a good choice with a great section of beach on grace bay
dive provo are great

---------- Post added June 27th, 2013 at 04:58 PM ----------

ohh and make a reservation at coco bistro for dinner - great place

 

[marine9]

Am I missing something or are there only 2 restaurants on Salt Cay? I never noticed that till now.

Really only two - "Coral Reef Bar and Grill" and "Porter's Island Thyme".
However, a local lady also offers dinner's at her home, but can only serve up to four people.

 

[cubbiegirlem]

Thanks for the wealth of information everyone! I think we've decided on Salt Cay or Grand Turk. Looking for more tranquility, and these seem to fit the bill in that regard more than Provo. Plus, I love the idea of getting back around lunch from a dive and having the rest of the afternoon free, as opposed to Provo where you spend much of the day on the boat.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Make sure that there is a flight out to SC on the day you arrive. There might not be one that day. When I picked our flight to Provo I decided to do a fri departure. It happens that only the week later did the holiday schedule start, meaning Saturday flights, which was the one we left on. I got lucky by arriving on Fri.

Use Caicos Express, well you don't have a choice if SC is your destination. If GT use CE as well. We had a great experience with them and were told they were a HUGE improvement over Air T&C. Lot more flight options to GT.


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[cubbiegirlem]

Thanks. We checked the Caicos Express website and they have a 3 pm flight on Friday which is perfect because we get in at noon. They also have a flight back Monday morning and we don't leave until late afternoon Monday. So we'll rent a car and explore Provo for a couple hours Monday I think.

We have a 3 hour layover Friday in Provo. Is that enough time to leave the airport and walk around? Or is it best to just stay put? Any lockers to store bags at the airport?

 

[mikeycanuk]

No lockers, not much of anything in the airport. Be glad you aren't leaving on a weekend!

You aren't walking anywhere! What a lot of people do is take a cab to Las Brisas restaurant and have lunch overlooking a beautiful turquoise lagoon. Our plans are to rent car upon arrival, hit Hole in the wall for lunch, get groceries and fly out to GT. way back probably just hit up Hole in the wall. It's a jerk place close to the airport. Just not close enough to walk to. No more walking anywhere from the airport, did that in Grand Cayman. Well tried and got hot, tired and sore feet. Soon found a cab. Distance on google maps in very deceiving.


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[diversteve]

There's really nothing to walk to from the airport - it's kind of by itself surrounded by fields. Providenciales International Airport - MBPV - PLS | Turks and Caicos Islands The airport itself is older and small. Besides the duty free there's a crafts shop in the departure lounge and a lunch counter with a few tables once past security.

The coffee shop near the check-in counters has Wi-Fi and decent food. We staked out a couple tables on our return flight there for a couple hours. Asked and were allowed to pile our gear up in the corner since there was no one to check us in for about an hour - the ticket counters were vacant before 10AM.

IDK about Friday but late Saturday morning the biggest line was to get thru Security (two desks). We watched it from the shop and got in line when it started to get long. Most of the stateside flights seemed to leave between about 1-3PM. Again ymmv on Friday.

 

[cubbiegirlem]

Thanks for the great tips! I didn't think about the fact that we can probably check our bags for the next flight when we get into Provo, and then take a cab/rent a car to do something on the island. We'll have a 3 hour layover the first day we get in, so that's probably time to take a quick trip to go grocery shopping or grab some lunch. Coming back I think we have about 5 or 6 hours.

Thanks so much! I will post and let you know how the trip goes.

 

[diversteve]

time to take a quick trip to go grocery shopping

There's a big IGA on the Leeward Highway. Wasn't very far from the airport. Graceway IGA - Turks and Caicos Islands