turks and caicos diving top notch?

[vfox]

In 2015 ansd again just 2 weeks ago my husband and I went to Provo and both times have loved it, specifically for the diving. Our trips involve diving every day except the last, gear drying day, so we were good with our limited topside being a few shops and restaurants.

Both trips we stayed at Ports of Call, across the street from Grace Bay, quickly, easily able to get to the beach if desired. It’s not the plush, luxurious choice but it has absolutely everything we need, it’s nice, and it fits our budget nicely allowing for more diving. It’s also across the street from a nice grocery store so you can lay in some drinks and munchies for your room or even get some meals from their deli.

We dove with Dive Provo, just across the parking lot from the hotel and have LOVED them as a dive op. Their staff is great, the boats are nice, and they’ll rinse and store the gear each night. The boat rides can be long but the vis was great and critter sightings plentiful: sharks, spotted eagle rays, lobsters, channel clinging crabs, nudibranchs to name a few.

Since our trips are dive centered we will likely go back to Provo and when we do we’ll stay at Ports of Call and dive with Dive Provo.

 

[scubadada]

My son and I did a land-based trip to Providenciales. The diving was very good but the trips out to West Caicos and French Cay were very long, even on the very comfortable cat from Caicos Adventures. We got in only 2 dives most days 3 on one day. We did a mediocre night dive from shore one night form Coral Gardens. The diving was really pretty good but not 1st tier Caribbean. It was a great spot for Reef Sharks on nearly every dive. If I were ever to return, I would do one of the liveaboards.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Where did you shore dive there? Hadn't heard of shore diving there, and good shore diving destinations are of interest!

Richard.

Dr. Rich, Coral Gardens in Provo. I was teaching an instructor class there and we had sharks and turtles almost daily for a month on the island.

 

[scubadada]

Dr. Rich, Coral Gardens in Provo. I was teaching an instructor class there and we had sharks and turtles almost daily for a month on the island.

I would wager this was back in the day. Our night dive in 2009 was really quite mediocre, very beat up

 

[KathyV]

We've spent a total of 2 weeks land-based on Provo, and another 2 weeks on liveaboads out of Provo; our last trip was about 5 years ago so we haven't been there post-hurricane and we have never visited Grand Turk.

We have stayed at the Port-of-Calls and it is nice, but Provo is very expensive so we now prefer a place with a kitchen - so that we can prepare some simple breakfast and lunch meals and then go out to eat once per day. We stayed in a 1-bedroom suite in the Royal West Indies and it was lovely and it's right on Grace Bay Beach which is a spectacular beach, better than the 7 mile beach on Grand Cayman IMO. The water is astonishingly beautiful!

As others have said, there are long boat rides to the reefs, and the best, easiest diving is available from liveaboards.

You are likely to see reef and nurse sharks, eagle rays and sting rays, turtles, eels, octopus, and lots of fish life.

I think that Provo is a great place and it may be what you are looking for, but everyone has different definitions of "great". TCI is expensive, they use the US dollar so there is no exchange rate, but the dollar doesn't buy a whole lot. I think that a rental car is necessary. Grace Bay Car Rental was a good vendor.

They've had some outbreaks of norovirus in the past so we always drink bottled water, but I don't know if it has been a recent problem.

The mosquitos can be terrible; there's a lot of great outdoor dining, but if the wind drops you will get eaten alive.

But we've enjoyed some of the best cracked conch in the Caribbean on Provo!

 

[tendi]

The third trip was to Grand Turk, and I stayed at a resort called Bohio. The diving in Grand Turk is similar to that near Provo, in that it is all wall diving. The big difference is that the dive sites are so close that you are already in your wetsuit before you get on the boat. Rides were typically less than 10 minutes (often less than 5 minutes). After the first dive, we would come back to the Bohio to place our lunch order during our surface interval. After the second dive, let the wait staff know you are back, go to your room & shower and get dressed and when you get back to the restaurant, your lunch order will be ready for you. (Count on 2 dives per day.) I personally had a lot of fun at Bohio and would go back tomorrow, but if you are looking for nightlife, it may not be a good fit for you. There is a huge difference between the nightlife in Grand Turk and in Vegas.

One thing to keep in mind is the time of year that you go. If you happen to go in the spring (both of my shore based trips took place in March) the Humpback whales are migrating through the area. You will likely hear them on most dives if the timing is right.

I'm thinking about going to GT and staying at Bohio. I'm curious...on their website they say you can do a third dive. They drop you at the site and you swim back. Did you do that?

It seems like a good place - about 30 feet from the room to the bar/beach/boat. My kind of place! Do they have any sort of entertainment?

 

[Hoag]

I'm thinking about going to GT and staying at Bohio. I'm curious...on their website they say you can do a third dive. They drop you at the site and you swim back. Did you do that?

It seems like a good place - about 30 feet from the room to the bar/beach/boat. My kind of place! Do they have any sort of entertainment?

The only diving that I did in the afternoon was into a hammock for a nap. All joking aside, it was a very relaxing trip. We did the two dives in the the morning and then just chilled in the afternoon. I think that one day we did an afternoon dive, but if we did, it was just like the morning dives. The boat was there when we surfaced and it brought us back. (I don't have me log book handy to check if we did an afternoon dive or not, but I do know I didn't swim back from any dives.) I was there a couple years ago in March, and the Humpback Whales were migrating through the area. You could hear them singing on almost every dive. It was very cool!

There is some entertainment, but it is certainly not what I would call night life. There is a local band that shows up a couple nights and there is a BBQ one night a week.

One thing that I really should mention are that Tom & Ginny who run the Bohio are a couple of Canadian expats. It is very much a family run resort and you will be treated like family while you are there. By the end of the first day, they will greet you by name. "Hi Tendi how was your dive?" By the second day, don't be surprised if Ginny also greets you with a friendly hug.

If you are looking for a place that is laid back and has some really good diving, then I recommend the Bohio.

 

[robint]

We just did a cruise in May that stopped in Grand Turk. We did 2 dives, both walls. Loved them.
I would say the wall was similar to many destinations, like Cozumel but no swimthroughs, and fishlife was different...more eagle rays and reef sharks, less angels and mid-sized fish. Current was almost non-existent, so that is my guess as to why the reefs were lower profile, less large sponge clusters and such.
I would still say, Cozumel beats it hands down overall.

As far as topside...it didn't seem like there was any "nightlife" at all. Just a few hotels, and a few hundred residents who we gathered stay to themselves. I wouldn't call it a party destination by any means.

I did 2 videos, one of each dive to give you a taste:


We enjoyed the dives, and would dive there again on another cruise. Not sure we would go there for a week trip. Just my 2 cents.

robin

 

[KathyV]

I'm thinking about going to GT and staying at Bohio. I'm curious...on their website they say you can do a third dive. They drop you at the site and you swim back. Did you do that?

It seems like a good place - about 30 feet from the room to the bar/beach/boat. My kind of place! Do they have any sort of entertainment?

You may be thinking of roatan, some resorts offer drop off shore dives after a boat dive.

 

[tendi]

You may be thinking of roatan, some resorts offer drop off shore dives after a boat dive.

They may do that in Roatan but this is from an email from the resort on Grand Turk:

SHORE DIVING:

Shore diving is free and unlimited in the afternoons as long as accompanied by a dive buddy. The Grand Turk Wall is a 15-20 minute swim from shore although there are rocky ledges close in to explore. If a guest wants to shore dive then we recommend that after their two morning boat dives they have lunch and then let the Dive Master drop them on the Wall before he puts the boat away, this then saves their air on the swim out, they can always snorkel back in if low on air. So, the shore diving is great once you're at the Wall but it's a long swim if you don't get dropped by boat can be arranged once here with our dive master. It is preferable to have us drop you on our dive boat at the famous wall 300 yards off our beach and return on your own"