Salt Caye in the Turks & Caicos

[SayNo2Snow]

We've recently booked our winter vacation (end of Feb) to Salt Caye and I'm having trouble locating much in the way of comments about Salt Caye, yeah I know it's a tiny place, but all the comments here on SB (that I've found) are circa 2007 - 2008.

Can anybody share anything more recent. Humpback Whale encounters,Diving, favorite spots, visibility, fish species, topside recommendations. favorite food, beverage. Tips and tricks for provision your accomodations.

Thanks a bunch all!

 

[cubbiegirlem]

I was there a few years ago (2014 I think?). Not terribly recent but more recent than the reviews you describe.

There are only about 60 people who live on the island as I recall unless things have changed drastically. There is basically one dive op: salt cay divers. I was very happy with them and thought it was fantastic. We went out on small skiff with just the DM. He was great and found so many amazing critters. Be aware however there was no one left watching the boat when it was anchored because the DM was driving the boat and also diving with us. I never felt unsafe but I understand this makes some people uncomfortable. I was there in the summer though, just before they closed for hurricane season. I think they may have more people working at the dive op during the higher season in fall so it's possible it's more than just one DM with the boat.

The HUGE advantage of this dive op is the fact that the dive sites are so close to the shore. We did all of our surface intervals at the Coral Reef bar and grill. You come back during your surface interval after the first morning dive and have a coffee or soda. It's a max 5 min boat ride. Then you place your lunch order and its waiting for you when you get back From the second dive.

And as far as I can tell, there are basically two operators on salt cay since it's such a tiny island. You have salt cay divers and the coral reef bar and grill; there is a hotel there as well. All of these are owned and operated by Debbie who runs the dive operation and is friendly as can be.

Porter and Haydee run the other two "major" tourist operations; castaways and porter's island thyme restaurant. I stayed at castaways and it was perfectly lovely. Perfect bungalows and an isolated beach. (Im a diver. So by perfect I mean clean, not fussy, and comfortable.) I don't know how the competing hotel by the dive shop is but I'm sure either would be great. Porter's island thyme is a great place for dinner and drinking. Porter seems to control the import of booze to the island and as a result, the locals respect him a great deal. The benefit of this was we never had to worry about anything or even lock our cabins--everyone knows everyone else's business and I got the sense that there is an informal sense of order deterring any crime. Namely any characters who might otherwise be inclined to engage in petty robbery understand that if they do so they will lose their booze connection. seems to be such a deterrent that you can leave your rooms entirely unlocked.

While Porter runs porters island thyme, castaways, and the weekly beach party, Debbie controls the diving and understandably warns you to stay away from the hooch. Either of them can hook you up with good whale watching at the right time of year if you reach out via their websites. (I was there in summer so this was not an option.) And they can also arrange a golf cart to take you around the island---FYI if is considered polite if you are driving by someone walking along the side of the road to offer them a ride as far as you're going. If this is not your style this is probably not the island for you. Somehow the entire island will know exactly who you are within about 5 minutes, so it's best to be polite. I personally loved this--I felt welcomed by the whole community. But I can see how some people could feel a bit uncomfortable with this.


Overall my 4 day trip to this island was one of my favorites. But what I've just described is literally all there is to do there. You will truly be away from the crowds of tourists and cruise ship folks. I loved the fact that there were basically 2 restaurants and 2 bars on the whole island with nothing else to do. But it's not for everyone. it was perfect for me (and I imagine it would be perfect for a lot of divers who are looking for great diving and simple pleasures), but don't go expecting 5-star swankiness.

 

[SayNo2Snow]

Perfect thank you so much for your detailed report! That is great information. We have been conversing with Debbie an are going to be staying at one of her water front cottages. Still several months away, but I'm getting excited. We will need her to provision our cottage and then on a non dive day take the ferry to Grand Turk to restock.

Cheers!
Ann

 

[mikeycanuk]

We spent 8 days way back in Dec 2010. Had loads of fun. We took meat with us and Debbie got us some supplies. I guess you could go to GT to stock up but we didn't. We did go to GT the next Dec/Jan for 2 weeks. Much more friendly in SC IMO. Like Ann said after you get back from your 2nd morning dive lunch in ready as you ordered it during your SI. The BEST.

We weren't bored in the slightest, my 11yr old did enjoy driving the golf cart. Porters is still one of the best restaurants for food and atmosphere in all our travels. I know they were trying to sell it as of 2years ago. Shame, but I don't know how people handle living on such small islands. We couldn't.

We then spend 7 days in Provo, we were gobsmacked when we hit the IGA in Provo. Went from a small shack "grocery" with dodgy looking frozen meat in shopping bags to Whole Foods, wow. LoL. I've posted a how to travel with frozen foods somewhere here or on tripadvisor.

SC was one of the more fun trips we've been on.

 

[SayNo2Snow]

Hey Mikey- thanks a bunch! We will also need to have Debbie provision for us, coming from Edmonton, we've go too many flights and a short connection in Provo to SC to trust bringing meat along particularly when trying to travel as light a possible. and our dive gear not including cameras is 38# each.
Can you tell me if people can buy fresh caught and cleaned fish for the local fishermen to take home to grill? I really enjoyed doing that in Ambergis Caye, Belize. About 4pm theyed coming in clean the fish on the pier and you could buy what you wanted from them right at their boat.
Can you give me a brief idea of what items are stocked at the grocery on the island?

cheers and thanks again to you and cubbiegirlem

 

[mikeycanuk]

Don't dismiss taking meat down, I used dry ice and vacuum sealing and it would take a day or 2 to thaw out. Plus its not like you can even buy decent stuff on the island. Maybe someone else has bought the mystery bags in the deep freeze can tell you what it is.

Lots of dry and tinned goods. Nothing really fresh to speak of. I would not plan on getting anything other than snacks, pop, pasta and sauce. I got Debbie to get us bread, booze and some veg. There is a lady who bakes bread who owns the store next to Porters, get Debbie to order a loaf for you. One of the stores had UK Cadbury bars, I was in heaven!!!!

No idea on the fish as I don't eat it but I don't see why it shouldn't be available.

It would be cheaper even with all the extra bag fees to take stuff down.

This was some advice I posted a few years ago:

There are tricks to use. We always take down meat and I've posted here about it.

We use a beer can cooler inside a small suitcase. Buy all you meat at once and pack it in the cooler THEN freeze it. Makes everything more snug. Learned that the hard way. Another trick is easy for me to pull off. Buy some dry ice the day before, thankfully I have a place minutes from my shop where I can easily buy a few lbs for $1/lb. Also makes for nifty science experiments for my 12yr old son.

With gloves on I place a towel over the frozen meat and dump the dry ice on top. This is done with the cooler in the chest freezer. All this does is drop the temp way down. Minutes before the taxi arrives I remove the dry ice except for a few cubes take the cooler out and duct tape it shut.

When we arrived in Salt Cay around 5pm everything was frozen solid. We left the house at 6:30am. Also worked in Cayman Brac with an arrival at 9:30pm however that time I placed the dry ice in the cooler just before we left. In that case you have to have 5lbs or less and declare that you are shipping dry ice. Not a huge deal but we had to take the suitcase to a special luggage area in the terminal. For some reason the staffers managing this area are grouchy and condescending. So to avoid this next time I did the night before trick only to have our dive bags suddenly become "special luggage" unlike the time before. And true to form the staffer was as I mentioned. No escape!!!

 

[jasonrandlett]

We just got back from Salt Cay, and the diving was fantastic. Richard is the dive master for Salt Cay divers and he does a great job. They use fairly small boats for diving, but the dive sites are only 5-10 minutes away. We had a Seahorse on our first dive, and grey reef sharks on almost every dive on the North end of the leeward side. No whales yet, but they had sited them already in Provo. Debbie will do a fantastic job of taking care of you. Bringing meat helps, but you can buy it in Provo if you are overnighting there. Be VERY CAREFUL flying Air Canada, we had an awful experience with them. They missed our connecting flight and stranded us in Toronto, and then lost my bag with my dive gear. We also had issues with our luggage on the return trip. The people on the island are fantastic. You can talk to Debbie about getting fresh fish and Conch. You can actually go lobster and conch hunting if you want, it is free diving, but fun if you are up for it. Salt Cay is a very laid back island, so plan on bringing books to read, and remember bug spray. Bring snacks, and ask Debbie to order you things you normally eat for lunch. Bring your own coffee, and peanut butter. They have bread, butter, jelly, etc. bring your own cheese. Dinners will cost you about $50 per person if you drink, $25 - $35 if you don't. Rent a golf cart if you want to shore dive, it is a 10-15 minute swim from the beach to the wall. Feel free to email me if you have questions. Jason_Ran@hotmail.com

Enjoy your trip.

Jason

 

[SayNo2Snow]

Thanks Jason! Are the local stores on Salt Cay open on Sunday? We're supposed to arrive late Saturday and will need ice for our bevies...
I hear you with Air Canada, they make me crazy especially flying on their Aeroplan points. They've already moved our flight 3x... and send itinerary updates in French...Aghh I don't speak French. When I try to call to change it to English I get placed on hold for over an hour then the phone disconnects. We better not get stuck in Provo due to missing a connection.