T+C Coral+fishlife health

[peterjmaerz]

Hello Wet Ones,

Considering a jaunt aboard the Turks and Caicos Explorer II in July. I'm well versed on the boat, but am curious about the health and abundance of corals and fish life in the T+C's these days.

With the reported withering of the reefs throughout the caribbean, and the spectacular Pacific liveaboards I've been lucky enough to enjoy lately, I'm afraid I'll be disappointed, though of course I don't expect to be bowled over.

What's the good word?

ps...whatever has become of the good Doc Vikingo?


Thanks very much,


Best,

 

[Rwhiting]

I spent a week on Provo last July, and was impressed with the health and abundance of life on the reefs off W. Caicos and French Cay, the areas you'll likely be diving on the T&C Explorer. I agree that Carribean diving is not quite the riot of color and variety that you see in the Pacific, but (IMO) the diving in Turks and Caicos - on a good day - is as good as most of the top places in the Carribean. We saw a great combination of large and small stuff, with sharks, stingrays, Nassau groupers, lots of shrimps, arrow crabs etc. in and around very healthy coral walls and gardens on almost every dive. It was very hot in July, but you might have nice breezes being on the water the whole time. We stayed at a gorgeous villa on Sapodilla Bay, but needed to take advantage of the AC, not to mention copious use of bug spray.

Have a blast! The reefs are fine.

 

[tvictory]

I spent the week before Christmas on the T&CEII. Conditions were nice: calm, water 81F, good visibility. There was some bleaching of the corals, apparently due to very warm water temps in the Summer and Fall. There were abundant sharks and rays in the French Cay area, where we were able to spend most of the week.

 

[BurBunny]

Was on the Turks & Caicos Aggressor this past August. It does almost an identical itinerary to the Explorer (we were moored within sight of each other most nights). You can view my gallery at Turks & Caicos 2005. If you look especially at the wide angles, think you'll like what you see of the reef health.

Oh, and by the way, we were saying the vis wasn't great that week - Wilma formed over the top of us, the fish were more scarse than the previous week, and it was still that clear and beautiful. Highly recommended!

 

[zippy]

I am on the T&C II next week (actually Sat.) I'll try to post when I get back.

 

[peterjmaerz]

I'm feeling encouraged! Thanks for the pix, BurBunny. Also encouraging. I'm also glad to hear of consistent shark sightings, tvictory and RWhiting. Always fun and so much a part of the T+C reputation (at least on French Cay and West Caicos).

If I can stash the cash (on top of my Raja Ampat outlay for November) I just might give it a go.

Thanks again,


Best,

 

[zippy]

Just a quick update.
First off the new boat is very, very nice. It is so far superior to it's predecessor, it's great.

Due to wether considerations we spent nearly the entire week at French Cay, and a couple of half days at West Caicos. The reefes are in fine shape with good coral populations. The only thing was some small areas on a few gorgonians that seemed unhealthy but overall very healthy looking reefs. Fish life was abundant, schools of wrass, horse-eyed jacks and snapper were present on most dives. Reefies and eagle rays were in great supply on French Cay. (On one dive 18 eagle rays and 6 sharks were counted.)
We saw a fair number of 3+ ft Nassau groupers. Also present we found a good poplation of critters, banded coral shrimp, golden shrimp, crabs and lobsters of all sizes and even a neck crab.
And th usual suspects, crynoids (stationary and walking), brittle stars, file clams, urchins.
A highlight was a farly large octopus out in the daylight.
But the Humpbacks breaching ~1/4 mile was was awesome. (We did hear singing on a couple of dives but never saw them underwater.

All in all the diving was quite good as is the boat. Hope this helps a little.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Just did my first trip to the Pacific and have been diving in the TCI for over a decade. TCI is among the best in the Caribbean but is about half what I saw in Palau.

 

[peterjmaerz]

For the rapid response update! Appreciate it. I'm still weighing cost/indulgence factor. Tim, I would figure that the best in the Caribbean would be about half the value of good Pacific sites. The TCI trip for me would be a sort of "intermediate", since it's close to home and about a third the price of a two week Pacific liveaboard trip.

Best to you,