Anyone Been to Salt Cay?

[tkscuba]

My wife and I just booked a week on Salt Cay. We are flying into Provo, spending the night and then taking the puddle jumper to the Cay, then our week on the Cay and puddle jumper back to Provo for two days. We've done a ton of research and know what we're getting into, sounds like the kind of get-a-way from everything, dive, and relax thing we've been looking for. Plus we hear the whales are just starting to make their way through.

Maybe a dumb question, but I don't know the answer so I'll ask. Can we dive the day before we head back to Provo on the puddle jumper or does the "no-fly" rule come into play here? It's a short flight and I can't imagine we get very high.

Any input on that, as well as any feedback from others who have spent time on Salt Cay would be greatly appreciated. We land in Provo March 1 and are really looking forward to it.

 

[Alex777]

My wife and I did the same a while ago. My understanding is that to fly less than 18 hours after diving you have to be on a plane which stays under 1000 feet. This flight will be much higher than that so the answer is "No".

You will love Salt Cay. Be sure to schedule a day trip (with diving) to one of the small uninhabited islands nearby.

 

[WSOPFAN]

24 hour rule to be safe......sounds like a good trip.....let us know how it goes.

 

[beaverdivers]

Interesting place, off the T & C radar, lost in time.

The diving is quite good.

Hopefully, you will see some whales passing by.

Just take the day off and ride bicycles over to the uninhabited beach.

It's great for snorkeling and beachcombing.

 

[WanderingGal]

I live and work in Grand Turk and go over to Salt Cay every few weeks or so. Do you have an dive operator selected over there? Also, you MUST go to Porter's and have some drinks, Porter and his wife, Haidee, are awesome and you'll feel like old friends in no time. The whales started arriving a couple weeks ago and let me tell you they are out of this world - just amazing. Happy to answer any questions you have, feel free to PM me.

 

[tkscuba]

Thanks for the input! We've snorkeled for years and still love doing it after a day of diving and on the no-dive days, so it's great to hear that the snorkeling is good there too. We've read about Porters and it's definately on our list of places to visit frequently during our stay. Now that everything is finally booked, we are counting down the hours! I'm looking forward to having a great 10 days of diving and will post a report when we return.

 

[tkscuba]

Well we're back from Salt Cay and I have to say it was an experience we'll never forget! The diving was great even though viz wasn't the greatest because it was very windy most of our stay. We ended up diving a lot of the same sites multiple times because we had to stay on the west side of the island due to winds. We didn't mind too much because there is always something new to see and it's fun to find the same nurse shark resting under the same coral ledge two days later.

We did see whales most days and attempted to snorkel with them once but we had 9 people on the boat and the noise of everyone jumping in cause the whale to move on. We did have a brief scuba encounter with a whale which was really cool and we heard them singing on many dives. That was really cool! The reef seemed in great shape and we saw so many fish that we just didn't know where to look. They were EVERYWHERE.

The island itself, and the accommodations are rustic to be sure, but we settled in quite nicely. The people on the island are some of the friendliest we ever met. And the other guests were really fun. Think about it, we all chose to spend time on a remote, sparsely inhabited island where donkeys, chickens and cows roam free. Everyone was sort of an adventurer and were just fun to be around. I don't know if we'll ever go back because there are so many other places to see, but we will always remember the experience we had on the "island that time forgot".

 

[iDreamOfBubbles]

Well we're back from Salt Cay and I have to say it was an experience we'll never forget! The diving was great even though viz wasn't the greatest because it was very windy most of our stay. We ended up diving a lot of the same sites multiple times because we had to stay on the west side of the island due to winds. We didn't mind too much because there is always something new to see and it's fun to find the same nurse shark resting under the same coral ledge two days later.

We did see whales most days and attempted to snorkel with them once but we had 9 people on the boat and the noise of everyone jumping in cause the whale to move on. We did have a brief scuba encounter with a whale which was really cool and we heard them singing on many dives. That was really cool! The reef seemed in great shape and we saw so many fish that we just didn't know where to look. They were EVERYWHERE.

The island itself, and the accommodations are rustic to be sure, but we settled in quite nicely. The people on the island are some of the friendliest we ever met. And the other guests were really fun. Think about it, we all chose to spend time on a remote, sparsely inhabited island where donkeys, chickens and cows roam free. Everyone was sort of an adventurer and were just fun to be around. I don't know if we'll ever go back because there are so many other places to see, but we will always remember the experience we had on the "island that time forgot".

Sounds amazing! I've heard a lot about the Turks, and just read an article about diving on the Turks and Caicos Agressoor II. It really sounds like a place that I need to visit!