Turks & Caicos (Provo) - French Cay vs. West Caicos

[scubadada]

My favorite site was Boat Cove, went there twice in a week, second time upon request. Nice steep wall. There is a cut in the wall where, on both dives, several Reef Sharks swam in and out, paying little attention to the divers.

 

[KeithG]

We have done the T&C Explorer LOB a number of times and my impression is that the French Cay sites anchored much shallower than West Caicos or Northwest point. I could be wrong? T&C dives are generally very deep (50 ft+)

No question is that French Cay is only dove when the weather is great. We have done about 10 T&C trips and only seen French Cay about 5 times. YMMV.

 

[Mia Toose]

I work for Turks & Caicos Explorer LOB (Explorer Ventures) and used to be the Purser on board (now am shorebased on island). French Cay has always been a favourite for everyone, but it is unprotected so is very weather dependent - usually needs to be the calmest of the calm before day boats head out there, but is well worth it if you happen to be around on one of those days. West Caicos is more frequently done and is all wall diving with some top reef to explore depending on where you are on the wall. Northern tip (Elephant Ear Canyon, which is next to Highway to Heaven) has always been our crew/guest favourites for both teeny macro critters as well as sharks and rays. And as you head towards the south there are more coral heads in the sandy top reefs. The biggest hits are Gully and Spanish Anchor as well as Boat Cove. All the dive ops usually hit these up. Even if you end up diving off of Provo it's quite nice with interesting topography.

I've dived with Provo Turtle Divers, Aqua TCI, and Dive Provo (who sell my Truli Wetsuits for women in their retail store!) are all highly recommended by me

Enjoy! And feel free to get in touch if you would like any specific advice about the island/diving etc.
Mia

 

[ScubaWanderer]

Thank you everyone who have already responded!

Would anybody know how night dives are from Provo? I know Caicos Adventures does a shore night dive to Coral Gardens. My understanding is this is a very shallow dive, but from what I've been able to gather, people seem to enjoy it.

Any other night dive destinations that we should consider on Provo? We'd want to do 2 night dives.

 

[KeithG]

Thank you everyone who have already responded!

Would anybody know how night dives are from Provo? I know Caicos Adventures does a shore night dive to Coral Gardens. My understanding is this is a very shallow dive, but from what I've been able to gather, people seem to enjoy it.

Any other night dive destinations that we should consider on Provo? We'd want to do 2 night dives.

I would be less worried about night destinations and more worried about availability of night dives.

Every night dive I have done is awesome.

 

[ScubaWanderer]

Report back! Dove with Caicos Adventures (Bernard was our DM). Great outfit. Unfortunately my wife was feeling sick so we could only do one two-tank dive and a night dive. The upside was we got to enjoy quite a bit of other island activities. Below is a summary of the dive trip:

Caicos Adventures picked us up right on time from our hotel. The two tank dive went out to West Caicos. The catamaran was out for repairs, so we went on the Hercules (a smaller boat). There were just three other people with us. The weather was nice, but the sea was choppy, which made for a fairly choppy 40 minute ride. We didn't mind as we had good company. We opted to dive Nitrox. The DM analyzed the gas on each tank in front of us.

First dive was to Pickering Place. We saw four reef sharks on the first dive (plus a lot of other cool things). We spent the surface interval in the private protected harbor of the abandoned resort where the sea was very calm. We were provided sandwiches, chips, and non-alcoholic drinks. Second dive was to Tons of Sponge, where we saw four more reef sharks at the same time (including a six footer which followed us for a good 5 minutes). I would say the second dive site was more impressive, although both were great.

The night dive was from the shore of Coral Gardens hotel (where Caicos Adventures has a small shop). It was a private dive with Bernard. The dive is very shallow (our max depth was no more than 30 feet), which gave us over an hour dive time (with about 800 PSI still left for me). Really cool experience. We saw a ton of lobsters (including a Spanish lobster), an octopus, many puffer fish, a turtle, and quite a few sleeping fishes. I'm told reef sharks occassionally visit the area as well.

I was also lucky enough to be there on the last day of the glow worm mating (five days out of the month). Bernard wasn't sure if we'd be able to see any glowworms, but promised he'd try. On the first try we didn't see any and decided to keep going. Prior to ending the dive, Bernard signaled to try a different site. After getting onto our knees in a sandy area and turning off our flashlights, the glowworms began their dance, which was a really cool experience. I highly recommend you check this out if you're there during the days when they're mating.

Overall I was very happy with the outfit, our divemaster Bernard, and the dive sites were excellent. The reefs at our sites weren't as colorful as I recall of Cozumel, but the large pelagic life is clearly superb (8 sharks on two dives isn't a bad haul!). The two gentlemen who were a part of our dive group saw a hammerhead a few days before and sharks on most dives.

A few words about the island: the beaches are absolutely incredible. Definitely check out Taylor Bay Beach, Long Bay Beach, and Sepadilla Bay Beach if you're ever staying at Turks & Caicos.

 

[Mia Toose]

Sounds like so much fun!

 

[Jeff85248]

Hello. Just got back from diving Turks and Caicos last week.

Here's my best "new" info and updates.

I asked y'all about diving in T&C before making plans. you all told me that it's between Dive Provo and Caicos Adventures. I contacted both. I was stayed at Club Med. and the reviews of Club Med were about ten years old but still I did not feel comfortable using them. also I found that even as a guest of Club Med the cost was higher at Club Med than other dive shops. I spoke with the dive masters at Club Med and found them nice but I just didn't feel comfortable with them. I only bought a shirt at the dive shop. it seems they do two snorkeling trips a day there but I did not find anyone that dove with them.

Back to my experiences. I called both Caicos adventures and Dive Provo. I told them I would be wanting to do at least 3 days of diving and maybe more. I wanted the three tank dive on Wed. and I would like a night dive.

Caicos Adventures told me on the phone that if they did not have enough people to go out (low season) they would cancel my "prepaid" dives. I said I would be traveling thousands of miles and if I prepay I would expect to dive. they told me they do not gaurantee their dives.

When I called Dive Provo, they said the prepaid dives are guaranteed and if I sign up they go even if it is me and the dive master alone. So... I signed up with Dive Provo. Each of the days I was there they had enough people to have two boats go out. But they did cancel my three tank dive and just did the two tank dive. also no one was doing night dives last week. weather and conditions.

I would recommend Dive Provo and would be happy to dive with them again if and when I return to T&C.

I also spoke with a couple that was diving with Provo Turtle Divers. they said they dove with them before and enjoyed it and was diving with them again.

while on the boat I asked a lot of questions to the captain and dive masters.

here's their response:
Club Med too sketchy.
Caicos Adventures has a large catamaran dive boat for large groups and one small boat. (makes sense that they would cancel trips if they didn't have enough people) also my friend used them for a dive group trip and said he didn't get the warm fuzzies from working with them. he would not use them again.
there are a few more dive groups but don't work the off season becuase they have very small boats and can't afford the off season.

final analysis. Dive Provo has a great group of people and more apt to take you on a great dive.

there were also a few LOB ships in the area. I can see why people use LOB in the area.

Hope this helps someone.

Jeff

 

[ScubaWanderer]

Thanks Jeff. The two guys who dove with us on the Caicos Adventures boat were both actually staying at Club Med and are regular visitors to TCI.

I talked to them about their thoughts on Club Med's diving operations. They said the hotel was sold a few years ago to a Chinese company and the diving is now managed by a third-party (Safari). They said Club Med's Safari dive operation rarely goes to French Cay/West Caicos (the best diving sites) as they are based on the other side of the island. I understand most of their diving is either in Grace Bay or Northwest Point.

We snorkeled in Grace Bay and Northwest Point. I don't think I'd be overly excited about diving Grace Bay, but Northwest point had quite a bit of fish life.

I definitely agree that if you are seeking a primarily diving vacation, the LOB route is the way to go. Might as well since you're coming back every day of diving late in the afternoon (~3:00PM). Which dive sites did you dive and how were the sea conditions?

 

[Jeff85248]

First day of dives. North point. Dive sites.
Chimney And The crack. It was a bad weather day. Lightening and bad seas. The wildlife was probably not out because of weather.
Day two. French cay. Double D and the G spot. Nice wildlife. Good amount of sharks. Both reef and nurse. Scorpion fish. Lobsters. Nice dives. I can see why this is a very popular spot.

Day three. West Caicos. Dive sites. Tons of sponge. And The rugged ledge. Tons of sponges is the favorite site of our dive master Danny. And I can clearly see why. If you have an opportunity to dive this site. Do it. If not. Make your dive crew take you there. The area is what diving is all about. The formations and wildlife is amazing. If I go back to Turks and Caicos I will definitely spend more time on this reef. Can't get enough. I was not alone. A few divers on the boat suggested that we just do a few dives on this reef. We just couldn't get enough.

And I agree with your assessment. The liveaboard boats just stayed in this area. If I do a liveaboard I will vote for these areas and stay there for a few days.

Hope this helps.

Jeff