FredWreck
Guest
Just returned from Turks & Caicos Provo on Sunday night and wanted to do a trip report.
Im not much good at turning thoughts into words but Ill give it my best shot.
In a nutshell it was great. The weather was perfect the entire time with water temps hovering around 80 degrees and air temps in the mid to upper 80s.
I dove with Provo Turtle divers for three of the four days I dove and found them very accommodating with knowledgeable and friendly staff which allowed you to dive your own profile up to 45 min. bottom time.
I stayed at the Beaches resort and dove with them one day and even though the dives were included in the price I opted to spend the money with Turtle divers. The Beaches boats and crew were top notch but it was follow the dive master only diving and since I was having a blast on my first foray into underwater photography, I got tank banged a few times for lagging back and trying for the best shot.
We dove Grace Bay 2 days and West Caicos 2 days. The only day the boat went to Northwest Point I was not diving. I had to spend some time with my wife I guess.
West Caicos was by far the better of the two. Its a uninhabited island about an hours boat ride from Provo with a very sheer wall starting around 50 feet down to 6000 with and abundance of sea life. Rather than list all the fish I saw suffice to say there was the usual assortment of brightly colored marine life that I couldnt get my fill of watching and photographing. Hopefully some of the 8 rolls I took will be keepers.
Grace Bay is just off the beach from all the major resorts on Provo itself and makes for an easy boat ride to the sites. These are all shallower reefs that drop off to about 140 to the first shelf. The coolest was a site called Graceland, which just so happens to have a resident Barracuda by the name of Elvis. Hes about 5 foot long and just seems to hang around the mooring line waiting for handouts Im sure.
The highlight of the trip though was the Humpback whale encounters. On West Caicos the Capt. spotted a pair as we headed back to Provo. He stopped the engines and two dive masters and two paying costumers were able to get fins and mask on as the whales turned around and swam directly under them within 10 feet.
They were pumped, to say the least, as they climbed back on the boat. I went for my topside camera as I had already stowed all my gear and I regret not ripping it out of my bag and going overboard with them.
My turn did come on my last day of diving on Grace Bay. As I got back on the boat from dive #1 they had just spotted one moving by. One fellow got in and was treated to about a 10 second stare off as the whale just stopped near the bottom and checked him out. The rest of us got in after that and the boat Capt. was able to kinda coral him/her, dont know which, to within about 15 to 20 feet of us. It was only maybe 20 to 25 feet long but was an awesome sight to behold as it glided effortlessly by. Really makes you realize how out of our element we are below the surface.
Bottom line it was a wonderful vacation with some awesome diving. Now I cant wait to get back into these "warm" Jersey waters and try my new CLX 450 dry suit I just picked up last night. Soon, very soon.
Im not much good at turning thoughts into words but Ill give it my best shot.
In a nutshell it was great. The weather was perfect the entire time with water temps hovering around 80 degrees and air temps in the mid to upper 80s.
I dove with Provo Turtle divers for three of the four days I dove and found them very accommodating with knowledgeable and friendly staff which allowed you to dive your own profile up to 45 min. bottom time.
I stayed at the Beaches resort and dove with them one day and even though the dives were included in the price I opted to spend the money with Turtle divers. The Beaches boats and crew were top notch but it was follow the dive master only diving and since I was having a blast on my first foray into underwater photography, I got tank banged a few times for lagging back and trying for the best shot.
We dove Grace Bay 2 days and West Caicos 2 days. The only day the boat went to Northwest Point I was not diving. I had to spend some time with my wife I guess.
West Caicos was by far the better of the two. Its a uninhabited island about an hours boat ride from Provo with a very sheer wall starting around 50 feet down to 6000 with and abundance of sea life. Rather than list all the fish I saw suffice to say there was the usual assortment of brightly colored marine life that I couldnt get my fill of watching and photographing. Hopefully some of the 8 rolls I took will be keepers.
Grace Bay is just off the beach from all the major resorts on Provo itself and makes for an easy boat ride to the sites. These are all shallower reefs that drop off to about 140 to the first shelf. The coolest was a site called Graceland, which just so happens to have a resident Barracuda by the name of Elvis. Hes about 5 foot long and just seems to hang around the mooring line waiting for handouts Im sure.
The highlight of the trip though was the Humpback whale encounters. On West Caicos the Capt. spotted a pair as we headed back to Provo. He stopped the engines and two dive masters and two paying costumers were able to get fins and mask on as the whales turned around and swam directly under them within 10 feet.
They were pumped, to say the least, as they climbed back on the boat. I went for my topside camera as I had already stowed all my gear and I regret not ripping it out of my bag and going overboard with them.
My turn did come on my last day of diving on Grace Bay. As I got back on the boat from dive #1 they had just spotted one moving by. One fellow got in and was treated to about a 10 second stare off as the whale just stopped near the bottom and checked him out. The rest of us got in after that and the boat Capt. was able to kinda coral him/her, dont know which, to within about 15 to 20 feet of us. It was only maybe 20 to 25 feet long but was an awesome sight to behold as it glided effortlessly by. Really makes you realize how out of our element we are below the surface.
Bottom line it was a wonderful vacation with some awesome diving. Now I cant wait to get back into these "warm" Jersey waters and try my new CLX 450 dry suit I just picked up last night. Soon, very soon.