stuck in indecision: provo or grand turk?

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sea otter

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I'm thinking of going to Turks and Caicos in early April with my fiancee. I've been reading the other posts, but I can't quite get a fix on the difference between Grand Turk and Provo. Also I'm wondering if anyone can give some kind of comparison between the walls in Turks and Caicos and the walls in Little Cayman. I've been to Little Cayman and loved it, and a comparison with Turks and Caicos would be informative for me.
I am an experienced diver, and my girlfriend just wants a nice beach where she can swim. San salvadore also seems intriguing, but I don't know much about that.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice
 
sea otter:
I'm thinking of going to Turks and Caicos in early April with my fiancee. I've been reading the other posts, but I can't quite get a fix on the difference between Grand Turk and Provo. Also I'm wondering if anyone can give some kind of comparison between the walls in Turks and Caicos and the walls in Little Cayman. I've been to Little Cayman and loved it, and a comparison with Turks and Caicos would be informative for me.
I am an experienced diver, and my girlfriend just wants a nice beach where she can swim. San salvadore also seems intriguing, but I don't know much about that.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice

I have been to both Provo and LC. I would say that diving (with Caicos Adventures) would be comparable. CA goes to West Caicos mostly which is a wall area. The diving starts a bit deeper than LC at about 50ft. for the edge of the wall. The plus is that you will see more pelagics in T&C than LC. The plus about LC is there are more colorful sponges, red, yellow, azure, and more variety of sponge. The shallows off LC have more small fish. The viz is a bit better at LC. On some of the West Caicos dives we saw hugh stingrays, gray reef sharks, hammer head, dolphin, these can be seen in LC but in T&C we saw some or multiple on each dive. The ride to the dive sites is quite long, it can be 45 min. or more, yet it's a relaxing ride and the water is the most beautiful color of turkoise. The beach in Provo is quite spectacular, quite different from LC, Sandy Point doesnt really compare to the miles of beach on Grace Bay. Also, there are quite a few restaurants in Provo. LC is more intimate and quiet and the stars at night are awesome. Provo would take you days to explore with a car. Both are the best choices in the Carribean for diving from my point of view.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac
 
I vote for Grand Turk but I haven't been there since 1999 so things have probably changed quite a bit. The rides to the dive sites are short (5-10 minutes), the dives were guided by a DM (we convinced him to let us do our own thing though) and in June the place was practically deserted. We stayed at the Arawak Inn and dove with Oasis Divers. The inn is an old apartment building so all the rooms have kitchens and living areas and I hear it has been remodeled recently. They had a salt water pool when we were there and it looked out over the beach. It was a pretty primitive island, not much night life, but that's what we wanted.

That was my first experience in salt water and it felt like I was diving in an aquarium.
Ber :lilbunny:
 
If you want any sort of night life then Provo is definitely the choice. I have been to all three islands within the last three years and was on Grand Turk in Jan. 2004 and Provo in Feb. 2004. Listen to what Caymaniac said about the differences in diving. If given the choice I would probably hit Provo just to have the choice of all of the fabulous restaurants. Other than that it is a toss-up. If your biggest problem right now is this choice then you truly have a blessed life!
 
caymaniac

Your comparison with Little Cayman was really helpful. The possibility of seeing more pelagics from Provo sounds exciting.

sea otter
 
Don't we all love the anticipation that comes with planning? And yes, I do feel blessed (I'm getting married in July).
 
On LC, we might see sharks, dolphin, eagle rays, and stingrays but it involves a week of diving muliple times per day. So if you are only diving once or twice your chances are greater on T&C, plus I'm telling you, the beach is beautiful on Grace Bay. Another thing my wife and I did one day was to kayak over to lizard island with a guide. It was interesting even though I think they charge too much. We went with "Big Blue", which is also a dive Op. We took the conch farm tour which is interesting if you like that sort of thing...at least you have some options, on LC all you can do is dive which is fine with my wife and I, but we also like to explore topside abit.
We are thinking about returning to Provo next year for spring break.

Dive Safe,
Caymaniac
 
Provo was definitely eagle rays and sharks on almost every dive. The best dive last February was one where I was watching three eagle rays and two sharks at the same time for most of the dive. It was almost like they were trying to interact with us. Throw in the restaurants and Fifi's dive boat and Provo is the winner. Then again I would really like to hit LC again for that wall and all that color. Hmmmmm. . . oh well I guess Cozumel in eight days will have to do for now!
 
The diving in Grand Turk is similar to the diving off West Caicos and French. However, it's a long run out from Provo to West Caicos and its only a few minutes from Grand Turk out to any of the dive sites on the wall. If you're doing a land-based trip, I'd vote for Grand Turk. The beaches are nice too, but don't go if you're looking for mightlife.
 
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