Turks and Caicos Diving

[wlecyt40]

Good Morning all!

The dive shop/club we belong to is looking into Turks and Caicos for a dive trip. I am in the research stage right now. We are looking at late August/September/early October 2024. We have questions......

Which is the best resort, all inclusive, that has diving that you have stayed?
What the best time of the year to go with the warmest water?
Which dive operator should we look into, if not one already associated with a resort?

We are looking at all recommendations and look forward to all input. Especially the ones to avoid.

Thank you!!

 

[rongoodman]

Don't rule out one of the liveaboards. Many of the best sites are long boat ride from the resorts. July through September appear to be the warmest months, but as you approach the fall, there's always the chance of a hurricane. My trip last September ran right into Fiona.

 

[Mike_4635]

I have been to Turks 13 time on the Aggressor Turks and Caicos live aboard. Heading back there June 23 on the same boat. Setup gear once and dive up to 5 dives per day. Go to places that day boats don’t get to. Great food and the crew is there to help with a smile. Since will be my 14 trip on this boat, must figure I like it.

 

[Damselfish]

That’s actually a somewhat tricky question for T&C. Are you looking for the AI to include diving, or just food and have a dive op convenient enough that can handle your group? (And how big a group?)
There are a bunch of AIs in T&C, but I don’t think most of them work well due to expense, location relative to dive ops and the best diving, or an op that might not work well for a serious dive group. “Dedicated dive resorts” are few compared to the number of general beach resorts. AIs that include diving are notorious for limiting the amount and quality of the diving included so something like Beaches or Club Med might not be what you are looking for.

A good choice for an AI group dive trip would be the Aggressor or Explorer liveaboards leaving from Provo. Easy to get to, all the food and diving you can take. The better T&C dive sites are a long day trip from Provo (starting with the drive to the dock, which will typically be on the opposite side of the island from anyplace you would be staying. You can’t fit in 4-5 a day from land there like on a liveaboard. There is diving on the Grace Bay side nearer the resorts, but mostly not the good stuff.)

Clearly Cayman (same group as Little Cayman Beach and Brac Reef resorts) bought a resort on South Caicos so that could be a good diving/food included choice. South Caicos area has nice diving (I did it long ago when there was a liveaboard doing the S Caicos/Grand Turk/Salt Cay area.) I haven’t been to the resort; some have said the diving around there gets blown out often, because much of it is on the wrong side of the island to be sheltered. So that could be something to research, or maybe someone will pop in here with the latest info on how they are handling it (like more diving off Grand Turk when the wind is an issue? I dunno.

Grand Turk used to have options that could work, but I’m not sure what if anything survived covid.