Dumb question about Grand Turk

[razor]

I used to goto Grand Turk(1982 timeframe) when I was alot younger and had no interest in diving. The was a military installation on that Island that supported launches from Cape Canaveral. Is that the same island that I hear about on this board. If my memory serves me it was pretty desolate and some of the guys I went with said the snorkeling was amazing.

If this is the same Island I would love to go back and do some diving there!

Can anybody add any insight.

BTW I used to goto Ascension and a large Island in the Bahamas called Andros. Does any body know of diving at those locations?

Regards

Ray

[donacheson]

razor once bubbled...
I used to goto Grand Turk(1982 timeframe) when I was alot younger and had no interest in diving. The was a military installation on that Island that supported launches from Cape Canaveral. Is that the same island that I hear about on this board. If my memory serves me it was pretty desolate and some of the guys I went with said the snorkeling was amazing.

If this is the same Island I would love to go back and do some diving there!

Can anybody add any insight.

BTW I used to goto Ascension and a large Island in the Bahamas called Andros. Does any body know of diving at those locations?

That's the same Grand Turk. Diving is very good there. It's still a bit quaint, but I suspect nothing like it was 20 years ago.

Small Hope Bay Lodge operates on Andros Island, quite near the US Navy facility. I haven't been there for several years, but SHBL used to be a lovely, rustic place offering varied (reef, wall, bluehole, and wreck) diving. The last time I was there, there weren't many large fish to be seen.


Regards

Ray

[5615mike]

razor

Do a search under Grand Turk. There are several people on this board who have huge amounts of info on GT and they have posted it on the board. I plan on making that trip next year myself. Did quite a bit of research on GT myself and the diving is outstanding. I like that fact that it is quite and not many people there. Very small island.

[donacheson]

donacheson once bubbled...


Interesting! The last 2 paragraphs of the previous mesage I posted were attributed to Razor. A bug? It appears as if one can edit the quotatation of the content of an earlier message.

[Tim Ingersoll]

5615mike once bubbled...
I plan on making that trip next year myself. Did quite a bit of research on GT myself and the diving is outstanding. I like that fact that it is quite and not many people there. Very small island.

I'll be there in January, 2004. When you going?

[ggunn]

donacheson once bubbled...


Interesting! The last 2 paragraphs of the previous mesage I posted were attributed to Razor. A bug? It appears as if one can edit the quotatation of the content of an earlier message.

If you type in your reply before the "end quote" tag, it looks like this...

whereas if you type it after the tag it looks like this.

[tvictory]

It's the same Grand Turk. The military installation is long-abandoned but is in fact the place where John Glenn was retrieved from his original space shot. The diving on Grand Turk is excellent. The island is quaint with wild horses and donkeys about. I've heard that in December large cruise ships will start calling at Grand Turk which will undoubtedly alter the island's character.

Small Hope Bay Lodge still operates on Andros. It's still a good place to stay but in recent years algae has overwhelmed the reef.

[scubaho]

Island is 6 miles long and 2-3 mi. wide. Small and friendly folks. I just got back mid Aug. from there and diving is one of the top 3 destinations in the caribbean.(IMHO). Most dive sites are 5-10 minutes away! Surface intervals are spent back at the dive shop. We dove with Oasis divers and stayed at the Osprey. Great wall dives and enjoyed the pier dives! At the pier you will find 2 varieties of seahorses, Shortsnout Batfish, Octos, Squid, puffers, and lots of other goodies! Some of our group saw spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, 1 hammerhead was spotted also!

Spend the $125.00 extra and goto Grand Turk and forget Provo!

Hope this helps!

[Tim Ingersoll]

scubaho once bubbled...
1 hammerhead was spotted also!

I have never seen a spotted hammerhead!
:D

[ScubaRon]

Yes it's the same Grand Turk.

Diving is very very good, but there is absolutely nothing else to do on the island. There are basically 4 small hotels, one restaurant and a small but nice museum. Oh, and 4 dive centers! No shops, no nightlife.

Diving is quite easy: the wall runs parallel to the coastline at about 200-600m distance. Small boats take you there and in between dives you usually go back to shore.

Snorkeling is quite poor except for a small reef at the far northern point of the island.
:snorkel:ScubaRon

[DocVikingo]

Actually, there about twice that many hotels, including:

Osprey Beach
Turks Head Inn
Salt Raker
Arawak Inn
Guanahani
Arches
Island House

Plus guesthouses like Manta House.

As for 4 dive ops, what is the 4th op that has joined Sea Eye, Blue Waters & Oasis? Wasn't anything else when I was there not too long ago.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

PS: Cruise ships scheduled to start visiting in December.

[ScubaRon]

I didn't count the guest houses/B&B's, but they are good places to stay too.

I don't remember the name of the 4th dive operator. They were in Cockburn Town on the main road at the ocean side. I think they were next to a bar. I quickly passed them as the outfit didn't look very professional at all.

I did my diving with Oasis and SeaEye and both were very good.
:snorkel:ScubaRon

[Tim Ingersoll]

DocVikingo once bubbled...
Cruise ships scheduled to start visiting in December.

Say it ain't so Doc. How many and how big? I'll be there in January and the thought of throngs of tourists all covered in oil gives me the willies.

[ggunn]

Tim Ingersoll once bubbled...


Say it ain't so Doc. How many and how big? I'll be there in January and the thought of throngs of tourists all covered in oil gives me the willies.

As a long time and regular visitor to Cozumel, I can only say, "Welcome to our world."

[DocVikingo]

You may get lucky as there is some talk of a later, like March '04, opening date, but it's going to happen. Holland America will be the first, with Celebrity & Royal Norwegian to follow.

Not sure what they plan to do with the passengers as GT isn't exactly a mecca of tourist shops & activities (other than diving). However, I suspect that in short they'll ruin the Gibbs Cay stingray feed & picnic.

It is so painful to think of.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

[dallasM5]

Ahhhh, you'd be surprised at how much "culture" will suddenly spring up when there's a buck to be made!

You bring the tourists and I'll show you the "culture".

Sad, but true.

[Tim Ingersoll]

DocVikingo once bubbled...
You may get lucky as there is some talk of a later, like March '04, opening date, but it's going to happen. Holland America will be the first, with Celebrity & Royal Norwegian to follow.

Not sure what they plan to do with the passengers as GT isn't exactly a mecca of tourist shops & activities (other than diving). However, I suspect that in short they'll ruin the Gibbs Cay stingray feed & picnic.

It is so painful to think of.

Best regards.

DocVikingo

Well if Grand Cayman is any reference I don't know if they will "ruin" the Gibbs Cay stingray experience. The stingrays will probably prosper from the hand-feeding and become almost domesticated. If they keep it to an off-shore anchor/tender operation I would hope that the impact would be minimal. I do hope that if they decide to allow for further cruise ship development they consider the deep water port facility proposed for East Caicos.

[DocVikingo]

Somehow the tres relaxed atmosphere of the desolate Gibbs Cay stingray feed & picnic would be degraded for me by the presence of a Breitling watch outlet & Carlos n' Chalies style beach bar on the cay, not mention possibilities like jet skies & parasailing, etc. Also, the resident conch population would soon be depleted & the conch salad chow-down as it is now consitituted would soon pass. They'd have to be brought over or farmed in some fashion.

We'll see.

DocVikingo