Trip Report – Beaches Turks and Caicos

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Mike126

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Location
Herndon VA
My family and I just returned from Beaches T&C this week. Here’s my trip report.

First I’ll start with the resort. Beaches is the all inclusive family resort owned by Sandals. There are 4 villages where you can stay on the property. We selected the Key West village. This is by far the quietest of the 4 which was exactly what we wanted. The other three (Italian, French and Caribbean) were more resort-like with swim up bars at the pools and a lot of daily activities. I would characterize the atmosphere similar to a cruise.

The resort is very clean and the staff are very friendly and helpful. Included in the room price is food, drinks, and various water sport activities (sailing, snorkeling, wind surfing, diving etc). While you can check out the water sport items there are time limits of generally 30 minutes to an hour. This kind of gives you a feeling that things are rushed.

The beach is clean and was not crowded (most people hung out at the pools which I never understand why when you are at a beautiful beach). One thing that was annoying at the beach are the local vendors for parasailing and banana boat rides. It was a constant yelling of “PARASAILING, BANANA BOAT!, which kind of spoiled the atmosphere.

Now for the diving… Going there I knew that Beaches was not going to be a normal dive resort. I was ok with that given this was a family vacation and I am currently the only diver (my 15 year olds are thinking about getting their OW cert). They offer 2 tank morning dives and a single tank afternoon dive that is included in the room fee. For an extra price you can sign up for a night dive as well as a private dive.

Originally I planned on doing an afternoon dive on Wednesday (we arrived on Monday). That plan was cancelled due to thunderstorms even though the boat went out. There is something about diving when lightening is striking off the coast. On Thursday I did a morning dive. Upon boarding the boat the captain announced that he wanted to be back by 12:30 (normal return is 1:30 or 2:00). At first I was ok with that. We arrived at our first site Ampatheater on the northwest wall. There were 3 groups of 8 divers on the boat each with their own DM. I told my DM that I need extra time on descents and ascents due to equalization issues. He was ok with that. Once hitting the water the group was organized and we did a free descent to about 50’. On the way down I took it slow and arrived on the bottom with no ear issues. We proceeded to the drop off of the wall and dove for about 30 minutes. After the first person reached about 1000 psi we ascended. Again I took it slow and did my normal safety stop. During the dive we saw a few lobsters the usual reef fish and a turtle. The reef was in ok shape and the viz was about 50’. Temps were 82F at 60’.

For the second dive we moved over to Grace Bay and dove the Aquarium. This was about a 60’ dive. Once in the water the DM was in a hurry. This time I ended up descending too fast and developed a middle ear barotrauma as a result. The reef was in about the same shape as the first dive and overall did not see anything new. Viz was about the same as well.

Overall for the diving I was disappointed. While it was my mistake to continue on the second dive when I should have called it, I did feel rushed on the descent by the DM. Overall I would say that the diving operation was not comparable to the overall resort operation in that the level of service was not on par and there was definitely a feeling of being rushed in and out of the water so they could get back. I was disappointed in the briefings as there were basically none other than saying we will return at about 1000 psi and surface. Talking to a few other divers later in the week they felt the same way.

Due to my barotrauma, I was not able to dive the rest of the trip but did do a lot of snorkeling. Ironically, I saw more snorkeling, including an octopus, than while diving.

My overall rating for the resort would be 4 ½ stars. The room was immaculate and the staff was very friendly. The only downside was the food selection was somewhat limited (very heavy dishes) and the amount of time you could use a sailboat or kayak etc was pretty limited.

My rating for the dive operations was 2 ½ stars. I was disappointed in the service and overall friendliness of the DMs as well as the hurried feeling during the dive. As others have mentioned, this is not a dive resort so the level of service and structure of the dives are probably not on par with an independent dive shop.

If I were to go back to Beaches T&C, I would probably spend the extra money to go out with Dive Provo or an independent dive shop for at least one day and maybe do one or two days with the resort.


Safe diving.... :)
 
If I were to go back to Beaches T&C, I would probably spend the extra money to go out with Dive Provo

I would recommend that as well. Much like on a cruise, the activities organized/scheduled by the resort are usually not up to par with ones you do on your own.

I love T&C, as well as Dive Provo, and would go back there every year if I could.
 
Some lessons to be learned from your report. The main diving lesson is don't rush and don't let yourself be rushed when it comes to equalization. You take the time you need absent some extraordinary situation which was not present in the scenario you described.
 
Some lessons to be learned from your report. The main diving lesson is don't rush and don't let yourself be rushed when it comes to equalization. You take the time you need absent some extraordinary situation which was not present in the scenario you described.

Totally agree that I should have called the dive. At the time I did not realize that it was going to result with a barotrauma. Once I got to the bottom my ears had equalized but I guess the damage was done.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Sorry to hear about the disappoint diving. I am a TCI addict and typically dive with Dive Provo if not on the Turks and Caicos Explorer. I highly recommend Dive Provo your next time there, laid back and fun group of people. Also you might want to check out Flamingo Divers max number of 8 on the boat, Jayne and Mickey are great but you have to book well in advance.
 
we had the opposite experience with the beaches dive op in march.
very organized and professional
we did 10 dives and we saw sharks,turtles,tons of life on every dive!
the dive masters were there to lead, not babysit,and we all dived at our own pace
we even went out to west caicos and had some great dives there!
sorry about your ear-hard lesson learned the hard way!
you're right-the resort is beautiful! we had a blast sailing the catamarans!
have fun
yaeg
 
Not to beat up on the OP, but was the visibility that bad? When descending as a group, you should be fine as long as you can see everyone else (or at least one other). So let them descend fast while you take your time. They weren't dropping int the abyss. You can hover 40 feet above them and still see them as you slowly descend. You clearly have learned that you don't jeopardize your health to follow an idiot, but there might be other options besides calling a dive. Now if visibility doesn't permit visual contact, then you have to do something different.

I was also a little disappointed with T&C diving, but only because it is fairly monotonous. Same wall, same corals, same fish. I'm sure there are some more interesting things to see, but I only had time for a couple of dive days. I crave variety in diving.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.
 
Not to beat up on the OP, but was the visibility that bad? When descending as a group, you should be fine as long as you can see everyone else (or at least one other). So let them descend fast while you take your time. They weren't dropping int the abyss. You can hover 40 feet above them and still see them as you slowly descend. You clearly have learned that you don't jeopardize your health to follow an idiot, but there might be other options besides calling a dive. Now if visibility doesn't permit visual contact, then you have to do something different.

I was also a little disappointed with T&C diving, but only because it is fairly monotonous. Same wall, same corals, same fish. I'm sure there are some more interesting things to see, but I only had time for a couple of dive days. I crave variety in diving.


iPhone. iTypo. iApologize.

The viz was not that bad that I could/should have maintained a comfortable depth. Definitely in retrospect I should have done that or called my dive.

J Yeager - I was expecting the same experience that you had based on you earlier reviews. My experience as well as other divers there was not as positive. Must have been a bad week. Maybe the crowds and heat got to them.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
i wonder if they rotate the staff out?
they are all from jamaica-all the resort staff also
getting people that are fresh from a week off would certainly make a big difference!!!!
they went out of their way to show us a wonderful time,but a couple weeks into it may burn them out .
better diving wishes for you in the future!
have fun
yaeg
 
we had the opposite experience with the beaches dive op in march.
very organized and professional
we did 10 dives and we saw sharks,turtles,tons of life on every dive!
the dive masters were there to lead, not babysit,and we all dived at our own pace
we even went out to west caicos and had some great dives there!
sorry about your ear-hard lesson learned the hard way!
you're right-the resort is beautiful! we had a blast sailing the catamarans!
have fun
yaeg

I agree, my trip there was great. I was the only diver in my group so I would do the two tank morning dives every day and be back in time for lunch to spend the rest of the day with the family. For me this worked out perfectly and I would defiantly go there again.
 

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