Beaches Turks and Caicos

[ScubaK-Dawg]

I just found a great deal to Beaches in Turks and Caicos for the last week in Feb. They advertise 2 dives a day as part of their all inclusive, but I'm not sure if that is beach diving right off the resort or boats dive (do they have their own boats at the resort?) Anyone whose been there know?

[caymaniac]

Hey Dawg, my wife and I stayed at the Alexandria which is close by to Beaches. We took a tour of their property. It is a nice set up. The dive boats from what those that used them mostly went diving in Grace Bay. We dove with Fifi and had between 4 and 10 divers that were diving with Fifi from the Beaches resort on our boat all week. The Beaches divers were complaining about the way the dives were set up and how they were treated. This was a year and a half ago so maybe it has gotten better... but I doubt it.

Caymaniac

[GeronimoDF]

Hello,
I stayed there twice so far. They have three dive boats right off their beach. They do not have any beach diving, just boat diving. Their dive boats are all Newton's 36. Two dives a day, rain or shine. They run a very good dive operation, with a very skilled staff. If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

Daniel

[Saturation]

I've been to Beaches T&C and would not go back. 30min bottom time, stay away from Grace's Bay its been bombed to nonexistence, its ultra dead of coral and life. Fifi is one of the best operations there. Since we had run of the boats at Beaches we were lucky to convince them to go to some of Fifi's sites, and they were great.

This all inclusive looks like any other and the food is beautiful looking but often tasteless, like cardboard. The 'fine' restaurants had 3 Star quality food. For the T&C, with much poverty surrounding the resort, this is probably very highly rated. One disturbing sight is often on late night walks I would see dumpsters raided by locals for the excess all-you-can-eat food that was dumped there en masse. It made it very hard to eat the food later on, considering how I thought of it. Our dive boats were stocked with such food, up to 5x the amount of food needed to feed the entire boat, and 90% was trashed.

Beaches Is fine if you want to take kids and insure they are safe in swimming pools, of which they have very many. However, as a dive vacation, its very poor value.

I had to go on a business meeting, I didn't go on purpose as Beaches is rated very badly by undercurrent.org and I found out in person how accurate Undercurrent is.

[ScubaK-Dawg]

Thanks guys for the advice. Is Fifi a dive shop? Do they have a website? If I decide to do some dives with Fifi, do you know if they would pick up from the resort, or would I have to take a taxi/car rental?

[Saturation]

Fifi's Caicos Adventures is a dive shop. They will pick you up in their bus from most hotels and if you check their website they have packages with various hotels for different rates.

http://www.tcidiving.com/ca_diverates.html

[ScubaK-Dawg]

Thanks everyone. Can you recommend some must see dive sites that I should go to? What are the best in Turks and Caicos? I'll try to convince the dive operator at Beaches to take me to those (since dives are included in the all inclusive). If they refuse I'll go to Fifi's.

[Tim Ingersoll]

Thanks everyone. Can you recommend some must see dive sites that I should go to? What are the best in Turks and Caicos? I'll try to convince the dive operator at Beaches to take me to those (since dives are included in the all inclusive). If they refuse I'll go to Fifi's.

We have been going to the TCI for years. The best diving is off the wall on West Caicos and French Cay. Unfortunately this means a 45 minute boat ride. Thats why they (Beaches) dump you in Grace Bay. Its quick and easy for them and bad diving for you. They may have stopped doing this but I would definitely ask where they are running before I got on the boat. Caicos Adventures in the premier dive op on the island. I would dive with them even if it meant paying extra. At the very least check out their three-tank Thursday dive (may be a different day now). They usually make the run to French Cay for the day. It is awesome and not to be missed. You can see the dive boat on the web site. It is by far the nicest dive platform I have ever been on. The cat design means you don't feel any motion. Truly relaxing. There are no bottom time limits and you are free to go your own way if you want to or follow the DM for your dive. We have seen whales, dolphins, sharks (every dive), eagle rays in packs of a dozen or more, turtles, etc. The reef and wall are unbelievable and vis tops out at 150+ in the late spring. Going to Providenciales and diving Grace Bay is like going to Mount Everest and not going above base camp. Do not repeat fo not do it. Grace Bay is indeed blasted and mostly devoid of anything interesting.
By the way I will be down there 2/14-2/21. I'll post a trip report right before you go. Anything you want me to check out while I'm there?

[ScubaTexas]

We have stayed at Beaches in the T&Cs and found the resort to be wonderful. Stay in the French Village; it's worth the extra $. The resort is beautiful with wonderful amenities. The food was very good and plentiful. Great pools and beautiful beach. As wonderful as the resort is, I would not use them for my diving again even though it's included in the price of the stay. While the staff was professional and knowledgeable, the boats were packed with divers and the dive sites were weak (when compared to what is available in the T&Cs) because they didn't want to spend the extra time and fuel to go farther than Grace Bay. Also, you cannot book your dives in advance to ensure you have space; each day for each dive run you have to wait in line and hope there's room. (There usually is, but I did see a few divers who did not get to go because the boats were full.) Now, if your budget is tight and you want to get away and do some diving, then you can't go wrong since it's included in the stay. Remember, as long as your diving...everything is good. If your budget isn't tight then pay a little extra to use an outside dive operation such as Fifi. You won't regret it for second.

[ScubaK-Dawg]

Thanks again everyone. I took everyone's advice and I decided to book three days of diving with Fifi, including the three tank Thursday dive. I think it's worth spending the extra money to ensure I'm gonna have a great dive experience. I'll also check out a day or two of diving though the resort, so I have something to compare them too. I'll let you all know how it goes, and post some pics.
Thanks!!