Grand Turk/Osprey Hotel & Oasis Divers

[triggertravel]

Does anyone know anything about Oasis or the Osprey Hotel? Is the $20 / day pp for breakfast and lunch worth it? Any suggestions for food?

Thank you,
Will

 

[DocVikingo]

Osprey is right on a nice beach & largely renovated (bought by woman who owns the Saltraker Inn across the street. Just make sure you get a completely refurbished room & not an incompletely done one.

Food deal is debatable as quality is just so-so & service can be quite slow. Unless this has changed drastically, I'd suggest just walking up to Turks Head Inn for b'fast & Water's Edge for lunch.

All 3 dive ops on the island are within walking distance & all are excellent. Oasis does a fine job. You'll like the owner, Dale, and she can answer any island questions that you may have.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[triggertravel]

Doc, Thank you for you response. We initially booked at Turks Head hotel but the owner decided to close the place and use it to film movies. Oasis Diver's, who we booked through, was vary accomodating and helped us get a room at Osprey.

My wife and I were hoping to eat and drink (a couple beers each a day) for around $50 to $70 / day. Is this realistic?

Thanks again Doc...we always value your feedback!

Do you know what our chances of snorkeling with whales will be?

Best regards,
Will

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Osprey is right on a nice beach & largely renovated (bought by woman who owns the Saltraker Inn across the street. Just make sure you get a completely refurbished room & not an incompletely done one.

Food deal is debatable as quality is just so-so & service can be quite slow. Unless this has changed drastically, I'd suggest just walking up to Turks Head Inn for b'fast & Water's Edge for lunch.

All 3 dive ops on the island are within walking distance & all are excellent. Oasis does a fine job. You'll like the owner, Dale, and she can answer any island questions that you may have.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

Hey Doc when we were down there this month the rumor was the Sea Eye Diving was on the verge of going belly up.

As to the food questions I would say that $50 to $70 per day per person would be doable if you are conservative. If you are talking about two people eating for that a day I would say you are clearly pushing it. Its possible that the Waters Edge was open for lunch but it sure looked deserted. If you want to save money see if you can get a room with a fridge and buy sandwich fixins. That saved us quite a bit during the week. Its one of the reasons I always look for a place that has a kitchenette. You pay a liitle more for the room but you make up for it by not being forced to go out for every meal.

Good luck! I heard the high season for whales was from mid-Feb. to mid-March.

 

[DocVikingo]

If you mean 3 meals a day plus a couple of beers for both of you, then IMHO $50-$70 is not realistic.

I didn't see mention of when you are planning to travel, but Feb-Mar your chances of snorkeling with humpbacks are quite good.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

 

[ScubaBurt]

Hello TriggerTravel,
On our last trip to GT we stayed at Arawak Inn. It had just finished a total remodeling. The apartments have full kitchen facilities, if you want to save money on meals. They are very nice inside. It has a nice restaurant and Oasis will come and pick you up for your dives. Oasis has tanks at the hotel if you was to shore dive. The only drawback for Arawak is it is about 3 miles from town. We rented a car and had no problems(renting is better than paying taxi fare, plus we could go and come as we pleased). The grocery store is small but nice and has good selection of foods(sometimes the fruit runs out until next delivery), the bakery is wonderful(better get there before school lets out, kids clean out the days inventory) Remember, this is an island and all food is inported, hence higher prices. As for places to eat, the Water's Edge is the local meeting place for evening entertainment(very local, especially after a few beers). Lots of the divemasters go there. There are other places if you like local food, Regal Beagle, Mooky Pooky Pizza Palace. Both are on the main highway, just a ways from Oasis Dive Shop. There was discussion on bringing cruise ships to the island, so there may be some changes since we were there.
The best part of the island is the fabulous diving. You are only 15 minutes or less from the dive sites. You will enjoy meeting Dale, a transplant from Atlanta, GA. DM Paul is a local and knows all the great place sites. If you go, tell him Burt and Flo said "Hi". (Paul is one of the local singing talents that you may hear at the Waters Edge).
Hope this has helped. One thing you should know, the flight from Provo to GT is a commuter type plane(was originally used to sightseeing in Grand Canyon). Luggage is weighed and sometimes you have a small fee for extra weight.
You will definitely enjoy GT. If you rent a car, be sure to tour the island. Very small, however very quaint. Check out the lighthouse on the upper end of the island. Very beautiful sight from up there.
Hope you get to go and have a wonderful trip.
Dive Safe.
Burt

 

[triggertravel]

Thank you Doc, Tim, & Burt for all the advice. We're flying out February 28th and I can hardly wait. I'll definetly tell DM Paul that Burt and Flo say hello. Looks like I need to pack some munchies...sounds like the food is expensive...I gues it's a small price to pay for great diving and the chance to see a humpback whale.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Will

 

[triggertravel]

Does anyone remember the price of beer at the local store and restraunts?

 

[triggertravel]

oops. Tim I just reread your review and discovered...

The beer. A case of Heineken was $41.00. You be the judge. A beer at the bar was $4-5.00. $2.50 if you went to one of the "local bars".