Tim Ingersoll
Contributor
Just back from Providenciales in the Turks & Caicos. Left on Valentines Day and returned last night. Travelling with the family this time. The trip started with an early morning flight out of Buffalo on Delta. That meant getting up in the middle of the night and driving and hour but hey it was cheaper by over $100 a ticket. Travel went fine until we tried to land in Turks and Caicos. The island has experienced so much development in the last few years that the one runway airport can't keep up. We were delayed leaving Atlanta due to the rain. That meant we circled and circled when we arrived at TCI because we were now arriving at the same time as other jets. Oh well, hurry up and wait.
We stayed at a property owned by one of my clients. I traded work for the stay so it didn't cost me anything but time. It was a two bedroom beach front suite at Point Grace. If you have piles of money to throw at accommodations then this is the place for you. We rubbed elbows with the rich and nearly famous for the week. Nice people but a rarefied (read snooty) atomosphere all around. The pool is a "quiet zone" where children are not allowed to make noise. Tell that to a five year old. Turns out there were a lot of children there that week and the pool was definitely not a quiet zone while we were there. As per our usual we shopped at the IGA and made our own breakfast and lunch for the week. Warning to the budget conscious - eating out on Provo is expensive. Family dinner for five at a modest restaurant will run you over $120.00 and dinner for two at a fine restaurant with drinks, apps, entree and desert will run over $150.00. If you want a really good meal make sure you check out Coco Bistro. The lamb chops are heavenly.
I dove with Caicos Adventures. I have dove with them for the past six or seven years and highly reccommend them. That being said I did not enjoy this trip as much as I have in the past. The first two days were on Fifi's little boat. Fifi was in Miami at a boat show and he doesn't let his employees take out the big boat when he is not around. The smaller boat can be seen on the site at http://www.tcidiving.com/CA_boats.htm It is indeed smaller and really wasn't what I was paying for. Not what I was used to. C'est la vie. Fifi returned for the third and fourth days of diving and we took the big boat.
Here are the dives in order:
1. Boat Cove, West Caicos. All of the dives below are wall dives of one sort or another. This site got its name becuase is sits off West Caicos near a place where the ironshore has worn into a small cove. Years ago I swam over to the shore and climbed the ironshore to look at the graffiti left there by shipwrecked sailors in the 18th century. Very cool although I don't think Fifi will let you do it anymore due to liability issues. There were nine divers and two DMs on the little boat but it didn't seem that crowded. We were told that there was a depth limit of 85 feet. This was a first for me. Once again I attribute this to Fifi being away. I took Asa aside and told him I was AOW and intended to go deeper. Not a problem. The vis was well over 100 feet on the wall. I dove to 105 feet. Total time for the dive was 45 minutes. Saw a good sized reef shark, southern stingray and a Flamingo Tongue as well as the usual suspects. I found a spotted scorpionfish. Quite poisonous and apparently quite rare. Check it out: http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesRECNUM.asp?recnum=FI0152
2. The Gulley, West Caicos. 85 feet for 45 minutes. Nice swim-through that dumps out over the wall at about 85 feet. Once again saw a shark that sort of shadowed us for the dive. Tons of groupers including two that appeared to be courting or establishing turf. Water temp for these two dives was 78 degrees Farenheit. Vis was over a 100 feet. The reef was in good shape and there were tons of schooling fish.
3. Gorgonia Wall, Boat Channel. 105 feet for 45 minutes. This site is in the boat channel between Wes Caicos and Providenciales. We went there to see eagle rays and thats what we saw. One very large speciman cruising off the wall. We also saw two to three sharks and a spotted moray eel.
4. West Caicos Dive Site No. 1. 85 feet for 45 minutes. This site doesn't have a name that I am aware of. It is simply the first site attributed to West Caicos and not the boat channel. Saw an eagle ray, a small turtle and a crab. I was pretty chilled due to sunburn by the end of the dive.
5. Tons of Sponge, Boat Channel. 133 feet for 45 minutes. This was probably the best dive of the week. We were on the big boat for the first time and Fifi was back. The dive limits were now only recommendations. On this dive there was a point where I was watching three eagle rays and two sharks at the same time while listening to whale songs. It was incredible. I also saw two spotted eagle rays including one that was free swimming. Saw a King Mackeral which was a first for me. I can see why they are good game fish since the one we saw certainly looked very powerful.
6. Sugarloaf, Boat Channel. 105 feet for 40 minutes. Decent wall dive but not much to see. I only recorded a lobster. My Suunto Fusion made this a deco dive. Three minutes at fifteen feet.
7., 8. & 9. Southwest Reef. 105 feet for 45 minutes, 104 feet for 48 minutes and 104 feet for 45 minutes. This was the three tank dive day. Unfortunately bad weather drove the dive ops to Southwest Reef due to its protected reef. The diving there is okay but certainly not the caliber of French Cay where Fifi usually heads for the three tank. The clouds cleared off but the wind never stopped and it made for a cold dive day during intervals. I wore a second three-mil shortie over mine and was warm enough for the second and third tanks (don't forget to throw an extra 3 pounds on your belt to compensate for the extra suit). The highlight of these dives was the intense whale songs. They sounded like they were just out of sight in the abyss as we cruised the wall. We didn't really see anything big although the vis was over a 100 feet on all of the dives. A few sharks, a few southern stingrays, a turtle. Lots of schooling fish. It was hard to keep an eye on depth while listening to the songs and I ended up too deep on the second and third dives. That led to considerable deco obligations (six minutes on the second and ten minutes on the third). I must say that a hot shower and a cold beer tasted pretty sweet after this long day of diving.
All in all it was a good trip although not as good as last year (no whales, no dolphins). Six weeks to Cozumel. I am spoiled and life is good.
We stayed at a property owned by one of my clients. I traded work for the stay so it didn't cost me anything but time. It was a two bedroom beach front suite at Point Grace. If you have piles of money to throw at accommodations then this is the place for you. We rubbed elbows with the rich and nearly famous for the week. Nice people but a rarefied (read snooty) atomosphere all around. The pool is a "quiet zone" where children are not allowed to make noise. Tell that to a five year old. Turns out there were a lot of children there that week and the pool was definitely not a quiet zone while we were there. As per our usual we shopped at the IGA and made our own breakfast and lunch for the week. Warning to the budget conscious - eating out on Provo is expensive. Family dinner for five at a modest restaurant will run you over $120.00 and dinner for two at a fine restaurant with drinks, apps, entree and desert will run over $150.00. If you want a really good meal make sure you check out Coco Bistro. The lamb chops are heavenly.
I dove with Caicos Adventures. I have dove with them for the past six or seven years and highly reccommend them. That being said I did not enjoy this trip as much as I have in the past. The first two days were on Fifi's little boat. Fifi was in Miami at a boat show and he doesn't let his employees take out the big boat when he is not around. The smaller boat can be seen on the site at http://www.tcidiving.com/CA_boats.htm It is indeed smaller and really wasn't what I was paying for. Not what I was used to. C'est la vie. Fifi returned for the third and fourth days of diving and we took the big boat.
Here are the dives in order:
1. Boat Cove, West Caicos. All of the dives below are wall dives of one sort or another. This site got its name becuase is sits off West Caicos near a place where the ironshore has worn into a small cove. Years ago I swam over to the shore and climbed the ironshore to look at the graffiti left there by shipwrecked sailors in the 18th century. Very cool although I don't think Fifi will let you do it anymore due to liability issues. There were nine divers and two DMs on the little boat but it didn't seem that crowded. We were told that there was a depth limit of 85 feet. This was a first for me. Once again I attribute this to Fifi being away. I took Asa aside and told him I was AOW and intended to go deeper. Not a problem. The vis was well over 100 feet on the wall. I dove to 105 feet. Total time for the dive was 45 minutes. Saw a good sized reef shark, southern stingray and a Flamingo Tongue as well as the usual suspects. I found a spotted scorpionfish. Quite poisonous and apparently quite rare. Check it out: http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesRECNUM.asp?recnum=FI0152
2. The Gulley, West Caicos. 85 feet for 45 minutes. Nice swim-through that dumps out over the wall at about 85 feet. Once again saw a shark that sort of shadowed us for the dive. Tons of groupers including two that appeared to be courting or establishing turf. Water temp for these two dives was 78 degrees Farenheit. Vis was over a 100 feet. The reef was in good shape and there were tons of schooling fish.
3. Gorgonia Wall, Boat Channel. 105 feet for 45 minutes. This site is in the boat channel between Wes Caicos and Providenciales. We went there to see eagle rays and thats what we saw. One very large speciman cruising off the wall. We also saw two to three sharks and a spotted moray eel.
4. West Caicos Dive Site No. 1. 85 feet for 45 minutes. This site doesn't have a name that I am aware of. It is simply the first site attributed to West Caicos and not the boat channel. Saw an eagle ray, a small turtle and a crab. I was pretty chilled due to sunburn by the end of the dive.
5. Tons of Sponge, Boat Channel. 133 feet for 45 minutes. This was probably the best dive of the week. We were on the big boat for the first time and Fifi was back. The dive limits were now only recommendations. On this dive there was a point where I was watching three eagle rays and two sharks at the same time while listening to whale songs. It was incredible. I also saw two spotted eagle rays including one that was free swimming. Saw a King Mackeral which was a first for me. I can see why they are good game fish since the one we saw certainly looked very powerful.
6. Sugarloaf, Boat Channel. 105 feet for 40 minutes. Decent wall dive but not much to see. I only recorded a lobster. My Suunto Fusion made this a deco dive. Three minutes at fifteen feet.
7., 8. & 9. Southwest Reef. 105 feet for 45 minutes, 104 feet for 48 minutes and 104 feet for 45 minutes. This was the three tank dive day. Unfortunately bad weather drove the dive ops to Southwest Reef due to its protected reef. The diving there is okay but certainly not the caliber of French Cay where Fifi usually heads for the three tank. The clouds cleared off but the wind never stopped and it made for a cold dive day during intervals. I wore a second three-mil shortie over mine and was warm enough for the second and third tanks (don't forget to throw an extra 3 pounds on your belt to compensate for the extra suit). The highlight of these dives was the intense whale songs. They sounded like they were just out of sight in the abyss as we cruised the wall. We didn't really see anything big although the vis was over a 100 feet on all of the dives. A few sharks, a few southern stingrays, a turtle. Lots of schooling fish. It was hard to keep an eye on depth while listening to the songs and I ended up too deep on the second and third dives. That led to considerable deco obligations (six minutes on the second and ten minutes on the third). I must say that a hot shower and a cold beer tasted pretty sweet after this long day of diving.
All in all it was a good trip although not as good as last year (no whales, no dolphins). Six weeks to Cozumel. I am spoiled and life is good.
