Responsible shark diving destinations/shops?

[diversteve]

there is something very special and relaxing about being on a boat in the middle of the ocean, especially in the evenings under the moon when you're not diving.

On their boat I slept about 1/2 the week on the flybridge - covered but open. Seagulls hovering and squawking 10' away woke me most mornings. It didn't dawn on me till later that they were waiting for breakfast - a ship that big uses the same moorings weekly.

One night after the ship had gone quiet I heard a thrashing off the dive deck, the sharks had moved to the back to feed in those lights. It was almost eerie to see their teeth flashing 10' away in the darkness...

One of the best liveaboard trips we've done. And between buddy and I that's about 6 all over the caribbean/south pacific.He's been to and shot video at Socorros which is why I mentioned it for later - one scene he's hanging with about 100 Hammerheads just floating along...

 

[DiverDownD3]

@herman pretty much nailed it. Just wanted to add another vote for NC. Later in the summer you can find sharks on the inshore wrecks (~60') but it's certain like some of the offshore wrecks.
I dove the Caribsea and Atlas a few weeks ago, each had 20+ sand tigers

 

[scubadada]

@jmfitzgi

@diversteve and @EVMia have steered you straight. My son and I visited T&C a while ago and had a wonderful time. I've never seen so many reef sharks, some seen on nearly every dive off West Caicos and French Cay. One dive at Boat Cove was one of the best shark encounters I've had

That being said, I have a few caveats. My son and I did the trip with a land-based operator. The trip out to West Caicos or French Cay is quite long, limiting your diving to 2 or 3 dives per day with a really substantial travel time. If I were to return, I would certainly do it on one of the available liveaboards. I would reinforce the recommendation to get more experience, which may include getting AOW, and being nitrox certified, before going to T&C. The top of most of the walls is a bit deeper than many comparable locations such as Grand Cayman. Personally, I think nitrox is requisite as is reasonable experience in deeper diving.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Hoag]

@jmfitzgi

Get your AOW and go on the Turk & Caicos Explorer. As @EVMia said, your skills will improve dramatically over the week, and one of the best things is that you will be having so much fun that you won't even realize it as it is happening. One dive toward the end of the week you will just suddenly realize that you are simply so much more comfortable and so much better than you were at the start of the week. Live aboards have that effect on new divers.

Now, as a point of disclosure, I know EVMia and I would trust her without question. If there is anything you want to know, do not hesitate to contact her. She won't steer you wrong. I have also been on the Turks & Caicos Explorer, so I am familiar with the boat.

First thing that you need to be aware of is that there are usually a couple Canadians of the crew including JF, the Captain, so if you show up with a pound or two of "Timmies" they will really appreciate it. More importantly though, the boat and crew are incredibly welcoming. It won't take long before you will be treating it as your home and the crew will be treating you as family. The diving (for at least the week that I was there) was very "sharky". We saw sharks every day, and often they would weave their way through the divers as if a neighbour would coming over to say "Hello" to the new family on the block. On one dive site, G Spot, there was a small Nurse Shark who stayed with us the whole dive. It was as if it knew that we were not only no threat to it, but if it was near us neither was anything else. Although TCI diving has an abundance of sharks, it also has many other qualities that make for great diving. The "typical" dive site will be a flat sandy shallow at 40-60 feet that leads to a spectacular, shear wall that drop off into the abyss.

I do not think that you would go wrong with a trip on the Turks & Caicos Explorer.

 

[KeithG]

Another vote for Provo in the Turks & Caicos. You will generally see a shark on every dive doing natural shark things. They appear to be curious and routinely do a fly by over the top edge of the wall.

I am unaware if Grand Turk is as sharky?

Provo is best done from a liveaboard, as the travel time for the day boats is very long. The liveaboards anchor off Northwest Point (provo), West Caicos and if the weather is great French Cay. We have gotten to French only about half the time. The day boats dive the same sites as the liveaboards, only 1 boat per site.

Air Canada has a direct flight from Toronto to Provo on Saturdays. We recently returned from a week on the Explorer and have just booked another week in November. There was only 1 day boat running out of the Caicos Marina (where the explorer docks) on the south side a few weeks ago, all others came from the north side (turtle cove?).

 

[KeithG]

Another vote for Provo in the Turks & Caicos. You will generally see a shark on every dive doing natural shark things. They appear to be curious and routinely do a fly by over the top edge of the wall.

I am unaware if Grand Turk is as sharky?

Provo is best done from a liveaboard, as the travel time for the day boats is very long. The liveaboards anchor off Northwest Point (provo), West Caicos and if the weather is great French Cay. We have gotten to French only about half the time. The day boats dive the same sites as the liveaboards, only 1 boat per site.

Air Canada has a direct flight from Toronto to Provo on Saturdays. We recently returned from a week on the Explorer and have just booked another week in November. There was only 1 day boat running out of the Caicos Marina (where the explorer docks) on the south side a few weeks ago, all others came from the north side (turtle cove?).

P.S. Westjet also does a Toronto to Provo flight on saturday as well.

 

[Hoag]

I am unaware if Grand Turk is as sharky?

During the 10 days that I was on Grand Turk, I only saw sharks on one day. We did see more turtles though than I had seen in roughly 20 years of diving up to that point.

 

[jmfitzgi]

Wow, thanks so much to everyone for the great responses! Lots of information - I had been looking at the usual suspects for popular dive sites (Roatan, Cozumel etc) so it's really great to see some places recommended that hadn't even occurred to me. North Carolina seems like a great option for a shorter & more affordable trip once I've got some more experience under my belt and Turks and Caicos may now be a long-term goal for me. I was thinking about doing my AOW during a trip, but now that I'm looking at these options, it might be wiser to get the training out of the way here in cold, murky Canadian waters so that I can focus on the good stuff during a liveaboard, etc.

Keep the recommendations coming!

 

[KeithG]

Wow, thanks so much to everyone for the great responses! Lots of information - I had been looking at the usual suspects for popular dive sites (Roatan, Cozumel etc) so it's really great to see some places recommended that hadn't even occurred to me. North Carolina seems like a great option for a shorter & more affordable trip once I've got some more experience under my belt and Turks and Caicos may now be a long-term goal for me. I was thinking about doing my AOW during a trip, but now that I'm looking at these options, it might be wiser to get the training out of the way here in cold, murky Canadian waters so that I can focus on the good stuff during a liveaboard, etc.

Keep the recommendations coming!

You do not need AOW for Turks & Caicos. As long as you have OW they will let you dive. No current and great viz.

You do need to be aware that the shallow part of the dive is generally 40 feet or deeper so gas consumption may be an issue. On our last trip one of the divers doubled their total dive count by doing all 27 dives.

 

[Damselfish]

I expect one of the Turks & Caicos liveaboards would be a good Caribbean option. But the most sharks we saw there was in a channel off South Caicos, which had a parade of sharks and eagle rays passing through pretty much constantly. (I don't think either of the current liveaboards hits that area on their regular itineraries, I don't know if either does any special trips, or what is available for accommodations and dive ops on South Caicos itself currently.)

The Bahamas are of course known for sharks, but I imagine at least some of the liveaboard trips do a feed during the week. Even though it's easy enough to not go on a day boat that's doing a feed, I wonder if you will see feed influenced behavior in more commonly dove areas even when they're not doing a feed. We dove one site where we were told the sharks used to be fed and hadn't been in years, but there were _lots_ cruising around like they were still hoping for a handout.

We did a handful of dives in St Maarten last year, which is not really a major dive destination. We lucked out and got some nice dives, and saw a surprising number of sharks.

We dove Guanaja a few months ago and there were more sharks than I recall seeing at Utila or Roatan, except at some feeding site. Mostly nurse sharks, but out and swimming around rather than tucked away like most nurse sharks. Many dives there would be at least one around doing the puppy dog thing. Don't know what created that behavior but it seemed more like curiosity than a food thing.

Long term, look into a liveaboard to Tubbataha in the Phillippines. There were so many sharks I actually got bored of seeing them, and we did see a couple whale sharks. Then head to Malapascua for the thresher sharks.