Little Cayman or Providenciales for diving

[nkir707]

Hi

Could someone please help me decide between Little Cayman or Providenciales/ somewhere in Turks and Caicos for diving?

If you recommend Turks and Caicos, where in particular? Which area has the best diving?

Would like to keep the trip under $4,000 per person for around a week.

Thanks
Natalie

 

[diversteve]

Arguably the best diving in Turks/Caicos is French Cay and West Caicos. I'm not recommending them particularly but Caicos Adventures details the logistics of diving there from Provo on their website. Daily Group Diving at Some of the Finest Wall & Reef Spots in the World! Reserve with CaicosAdventures Now! There's also good diving a few minutes off Provo at both NW Point and off Grace Bay.

Grace Bay is a really nice beach one of the best in the world according to the T/C Tourist Board. It seemed like it to me but we only spent two afternoons there. With your budget you should be able to find a lot of options for accommodations. Everything there is fairly expensive.

Another option would be the liveaboards, either the Aggressor or the Explorer. We did the Explorer a couple of years ago - some of the best Caribbean diving I've done. Mike Southard did it a couple years b4 us - here's his trip report. We saw everything but the dolphins. http://www.awoosh.com/Saudio/Saudio_Turks&Caicos.html

Grand Turk is another option, it's a lot smaller. The cruise port is there though. In a couple of places the wall is shore accessible from there also. Bohio Dive Resort is there. In winter months (Jan-Mar) the Humpbacks go by there on their way to the Silver Banks. Both liveaboards follow them there but that is snorkel only. There's also diving off Salt Cay but I know very little about it.

I've never been to Little Cayman.

 

[They call me Tater]

I would suspect an AI at LC would be cheaper. Depends on what you want to do. Dive dive dive..do a liveaboard. AI in the Cayman is a good value for 3 dives a day. Beach and nightlife Provo would be the choice and for peaceful and relaxing Grand Turk.

 

[dab]

Having been to LC and Provo within the last year, I would choose LC. Longer boat rides, generally 2 dives a day and not as convenient were the drawbacks for me in Provo. The diving was great but if I went back I would do a live aboard. LC was great, stayed at Little Cayman Beach resort and had a great week.

 

[mikeycanuk]

2 totally different experiences. We did Salt Cay for 8 days then flew back to Provo for 7. Next year did 15 days on Grand Turk. Also done the Brac twice.

Boat rides are a drag on Provo, but a lot more to do there. Grand Turk also had short boat rides but we found ourselves bored. Oddly had more fun on Salt Cay. I liked the diving better there two. There might only be 2 places to eat on SC but Porters is a restaurant that we missed in GT.

Provo is probably better on a LOB. LC does require a twin otter flight from Grand Cayman. Not the most reliable for my experience.


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[pugdiver]

I am a Provo fan but a love a good boat ride. As others have said most sites require a decent ride. There is not really any shore diving from Provo. If you like sharks Provo is the way to go. If you can do a live aboard I would do the TCI Explorer. Last April 27 dives 26 of which had multiple shark sightings.

The he only downside to live aboard is missing the great restaurants on Provo.

Feel free to contact me for more Provo info if you decide that way.

 

[sullivan]

We just returned from a week in Provo (7th trip) and we were disappointed by the quality of the diving this time as compared to other trips. We don't mind the 45-60 minute boat trips for the best diving to West Caicos and French Cay as we're out on the water. If you want more than 2 dives in a day, Caicos Adventures and I think 1 other operator, offer a 3 tank all day excursion on at least 1 day. One thing we noticed this trip is that Provo, which was always on the expensive side, has gotten even more expensive (in addition to high prices, there is 12% tax on everything and the $10 Coronas at dinner establishments just seems like gouging to me). For off days, the beach in Grace Bay is second to none. If you need to recharge the batteries and plan to lie around the beach some days, tough to beat Provo and depending on which resort you choose, you can almost have a section of the beach to yourself (we've been to 5 different resorts).

We researched Little Cayman and will be going for our next fall trip; I'd choose Little Cayman if you want to do more diving and it is probably a little cheaper.

 

[BDSC]

Little Cayman is hard to beat. I have dove both areas but we keep going back to Little Cayman and staying at the Little Cayman Beach Resort. Great rooms, food, staff, and diving operation. We really love the place. I think diving along Bloody Bay Wall is as good as it gets in the Caribbean. We always do the dive package that includes the afternoon dives so you get in 17 dives for the week. You should easily be able to do that within your budget.

 

[Malpaso]

I see a lot of negatives about the long boat rides in Provo. We dove there last year and two of the three days we stayed in Grace Bay, and were in the water within 20 minutes of leaving the dock. They were the best dives of my (short and limited) experience. So I think you have options. I have not dived in the Caymans, so I can not comment there.

 

[diver 85]

LC is my vote........

EDIT..:cuz of 2 words---Bloody & Bay....well maybe 3--Wall........very hard to beat..