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Diving with Provo Turtle Divers, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Island, July 24 August 3, 2004
Provo Turtle Divers is THE BENCHMARK dive operation upon which I will now compare all other dive operators. http://www.provoturtledivers.com/
DIVE OPERATOR Provo Turtle Divers
I spent a month conducting Internet research regarding the various dive operators on the island of Providenciales in the TCI. While there are several operators on Providenciales, the one that stands out above all others is Provo Turtle Divers (PTD). My first experience with PTD came from Melinda who keeps the operations office running like a Swiss watch. (Shes not only the Office Manager, but also a very capable Dive Instructor). No matter how many stupid questions I would fire off to her via email, she always answered my questions in a timely manner and with great detail. I greatly appreciated her personally answering each of my questions and not providing me with canned answers or referring me to their web site (like several other operators responses) for answers. Melinda always encouraged me to email if I had any further questions (she didnt know what she was getting into with me).
The PTD boat crew includes Murray, Steve, Jean, and on occasion Riquez. This is the FINEST group of Dive Instructors and boat handlers that I have ever had the pleasure of diving with in my 29 years of diving experience. Safety is the number one issue with the PTD crew. Their outstanding professionalism is only exceeded by their great attitudes. No aspect of my PTD diving experience was left out or over looked by these wonderful crewmembers. They really make sure that your boat and diving experience is exceptional. I was particularly impressed by the way they make every diver feel welcomed and at ease, no matter how long its been since your last dive; and this through no extra effort on their part. They make themselves available to answer any question or help with equipment issues. Capt. Dave, Murray, Steve, Jean, Riquez, and Melinda work exceptionally well together and clearly love their work. They are like one big happy family who wants to invite you into their home and spend as much time as possible with you.
PTD operates a 42-foot Newton custom dive boat (Chucks Honey) that can handle as many as 30 divers. Luckily, Captain Dave does not allow more than 19 divers on the boat at any time. 19 divers sounds like a lot of divers on the boat, but the boat is so spacious that I never felt crowded. One of the many enjoyable aspects of PTD begins on the first day of diving. As we headed out to the first dive site of the day, one of the crewmembers (Jean) came by and asked each diver the level of their diving experience. Based upon a divers experience, divers are divided into 2 or maybe 3 groups of divers (the number of dive groups depends upon the number of divers on the boat). The most experienced divers are assigned to Group 1 and usually dive with either Murray or Capt. Dave. I dove with Group 1 divers the entire time I was with PTD and at no time were there more than 4 divers with a Dive Master; it was awesome. Experienced divers are not required to take the guided tours with the Dive Masters, provided that they dive according to their computers and do not exceed 130 feet. DECO DIVING IS NOT PERMITTED ON Chucks Honey. BE ADVISED THAT THERE IS A STRICT RULE OF NO BANANAS ON CHUCKS HONEY (Its a long story). Dive Groups 2 and 3 usually dive with either the ever popular and extremely experienced Steve or Jean.
Prior to each dive, Capt. Dave used his fantastic artistic abilities as he drew on a white board the area on which we would be diving. His level of pre-dive detail is astounding regarding the coral, the walls, and the marine life you can expect to see at each dive site.
The dive boat (Chucks Honey) provides: 2 freshwater showers, 2 coolers - one for underwater cameras and one for drinks that you might bring on board (not necessary however), a dry table, various tools for repair and cleaning equipment, good amounts of cover from the tropical sun, a large upper deck for sunning during surface intervals, a very CLEAN marine head (you could eat off of the seat if you so choose), and the amazing Wonderbar. The Wonderbar is a single-handled, multi-dispenser of ice colds drinks including cranberry juice, island punch, and water to name a few. Also available during the surface interval are 3 types of fresh fruit, chips, crackers, vegetables and peanut butter.
I was able to make 12 dives to 12 different dive sites during my time with PTD. Any dive site selected by Capt. Dave did NOT disappoint me. The dive locations took place off of the Northwest Point of Providenciales and off of the island of West Caicos. The dive locations visited off of West Caicos included: Rock Garden Interlope, Brandywine, Magic Mushroom, Whiteface (a/k/a The Anchor), and Driveway (a/k/a Yankee Town). The Northwest Point dive locations included: Black Coral Forest, The Crack, Two-Step, Amphitheatre, and Eel Gardens. The last two dives took place in the Grace Bay area and included Aquarium West, and Grouper Hole.
All of the dives were Wall Dives; and the corals were in excellent condition with bright beautiful colors. Every dive was spectacular! I was able to dive with either Murray or Capt. Dave because I wanted an experienced Dive Master to show me things I might miss if I took off on my own. Both Murray and Capt. Dave have keen eyes for spotting many types of marine life. Some of the marine life we encountered included Caribbean Reef Sharks, Dolphin, Nurse Sharks, Rough tail Stingrays, Spinney Lobster, Hawksbill Turtles, Octopus, Red Banded Lobster, Eels, Burr Fish, and Barracuda. For those of you who like the smaller creatures we saw Wire Coral Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Jaw fish, Sea Urchins, Diamond/Secretary/Arrow Blennies. Visibility at all the dive sites was easily in the 80 foot range or greater.
My wife is a non-diver, but that did not spoil our vacation. Bubble watchers are allowed on Chucks Honey for a mere $30/day and that includes fins and snorkel equipment and access to the fresh fruit, snacks and cold drinks; quite a deal I must say. The crew really helped my wife feel at home and gave her the run of the ship.
TRAVEL
This was our first trip to the Turk & Caicos Islands. We traveled on American Airlines from Austin through Dallas and Miami and finally into Providenciales. On Saturday, July 24 we took a 6AM flight out of Austin and landed in Providenciales at 8:30PM (14.5 hours for those keeping score at home), then it was an half-hour taxi ride from the airport to the Alexandra Resort and Spa (Timeshare property) NOT RECOMMENDED.
PTD provides complimentary shuttle service between ALL the resorts on Providenciales and the PTD office/dock. This was a nice touch due to the cost of gasoline ($4.00/gallon) on the island if you rent a car. By the way, no gas station on the island takes credit cards or travelers checks; its CASH ONLY. Although renting a car costs roughly $400.00/week (that includes the additional daily insurance) (Avis or Hertz), I would recommend getting a car because the taxis will cost you a minimum of $20 per one-way trip for two people. (Make sure you agree with the taxi driver upon a price for each taxi ride prior to entering the taxi).
DINING
On our first day on the island, we stopped at the local IGA grocery store to buy lunch provisions; that also saved us a bundle of money on food. We mostly ate at the local restaurants for dinner. We brought breakfast food from home.
Recommendations:
Hemingways at The Sands Resort: wonderful menu variety and excellent preparation. They serve very good Conch Chowder.
Baci Ristorante Turtle Cove Marina area. Fabulous Italian Food. The Veal Marsala was magnificent. They also have a separate Pizza Menu outstanding Pizzas.
Tiki Hut Turtle Cove Marina. Wednesday evening is the BBQ Ribs and Roast Chicken dinner, each for $10. This is a MUST for dining. The rib meat falls off of the bone with a delectable island sauce.
Chinson Chinese Restaurant Grace Bay Club area. As of July 24, 2004, the restaurant was 2 weeks new. Ask for Anthony, he will take good care of you and the food is excellent.
Caicos Café Ports of Call area. The best Conch chowder on the island. Excellent Filet Mignon and fresh fish.
Sharkbite Grill Turtle Cove Marina area. Good burgers, and good Snapper with Pineapple sauce; excellent variety on the menu. Be advised that management will include a 15% gratuity to every bill no matter if you eat by yourself, a party of two, or a larger party.
Bay Beach Bistro at Sibonne Beach Hotel. Wonderful menu and exotic drinks. Try the Rib Eye Steak and Shrimp Scampi combination outstanding.
If there is any information I may have inadvertently omitted, or you need additional detail regarding our trip, please email me at redseal@scubadiving.com.
Provo Turtle Divers is THE BENCHMARK dive operation upon which I will now compare all other dive operators. http://www.provoturtledivers.com/
DIVE OPERATOR Provo Turtle Divers
I spent a month conducting Internet research regarding the various dive operators on the island of Providenciales in the TCI. While there are several operators on Providenciales, the one that stands out above all others is Provo Turtle Divers (PTD). My first experience with PTD came from Melinda who keeps the operations office running like a Swiss watch. (Shes not only the Office Manager, but also a very capable Dive Instructor). No matter how many stupid questions I would fire off to her via email, she always answered my questions in a timely manner and with great detail. I greatly appreciated her personally answering each of my questions and not providing me with canned answers or referring me to their web site (like several other operators responses) for answers. Melinda always encouraged me to email if I had any further questions (she didnt know what she was getting into with me).
The PTD boat crew includes Murray, Steve, Jean, and on occasion Riquez. This is the FINEST group of Dive Instructors and boat handlers that I have ever had the pleasure of diving with in my 29 years of diving experience. Safety is the number one issue with the PTD crew. Their outstanding professionalism is only exceeded by their great attitudes. No aspect of my PTD diving experience was left out or over looked by these wonderful crewmembers. They really make sure that your boat and diving experience is exceptional. I was particularly impressed by the way they make every diver feel welcomed and at ease, no matter how long its been since your last dive; and this through no extra effort on their part. They make themselves available to answer any question or help with equipment issues. Capt. Dave, Murray, Steve, Jean, Riquez, and Melinda work exceptionally well together and clearly love their work. They are like one big happy family who wants to invite you into their home and spend as much time as possible with you.
PTD operates a 42-foot Newton custom dive boat (Chucks Honey) that can handle as many as 30 divers. Luckily, Captain Dave does not allow more than 19 divers on the boat at any time. 19 divers sounds like a lot of divers on the boat, but the boat is so spacious that I never felt crowded. One of the many enjoyable aspects of PTD begins on the first day of diving. As we headed out to the first dive site of the day, one of the crewmembers (Jean) came by and asked each diver the level of their diving experience. Based upon a divers experience, divers are divided into 2 or maybe 3 groups of divers (the number of dive groups depends upon the number of divers on the boat). The most experienced divers are assigned to Group 1 and usually dive with either Murray or Capt. Dave. I dove with Group 1 divers the entire time I was with PTD and at no time were there more than 4 divers with a Dive Master; it was awesome. Experienced divers are not required to take the guided tours with the Dive Masters, provided that they dive according to their computers and do not exceed 130 feet. DECO DIVING IS NOT PERMITTED ON Chucks Honey. BE ADVISED THAT THERE IS A STRICT RULE OF NO BANANAS ON CHUCKS HONEY (Its a long story). Dive Groups 2 and 3 usually dive with either the ever popular and extremely experienced Steve or Jean.
Prior to each dive, Capt. Dave used his fantastic artistic abilities as he drew on a white board the area on which we would be diving. His level of pre-dive detail is astounding regarding the coral, the walls, and the marine life you can expect to see at each dive site.
The dive boat (Chucks Honey) provides: 2 freshwater showers, 2 coolers - one for underwater cameras and one for drinks that you might bring on board (not necessary however), a dry table, various tools for repair and cleaning equipment, good amounts of cover from the tropical sun, a large upper deck for sunning during surface intervals, a very CLEAN marine head (you could eat off of the seat if you so choose), and the amazing Wonderbar. The Wonderbar is a single-handled, multi-dispenser of ice colds drinks including cranberry juice, island punch, and water to name a few. Also available during the surface interval are 3 types of fresh fruit, chips, crackers, vegetables and peanut butter.
I was able to make 12 dives to 12 different dive sites during my time with PTD. Any dive site selected by Capt. Dave did NOT disappoint me. The dive locations took place off of the Northwest Point of Providenciales and off of the island of West Caicos. The dive locations visited off of West Caicos included: Rock Garden Interlope, Brandywine, Magic Mushroom, Whiteface (a/k/a The Anchor), and Driveway (a/k/a Yankee Town). The Northwest Point dive locations included: Black Coral Forest, The Crack, Two-Step, Amphitheatre, and Eel Gardens. The last two dives took place in the Grace Bay area and included Aquarium West, and Grouper Hole.
All of the dives were Wall Dives; and the corals were in excellent condition with bright beautiful colors. Every dive was spectacular! I was able to dive with either Murray or Capt. Dave because I wanted an experienced Dive Master to show me things I might miss if I took off on my own. Both Murray and Capt. Dave have keen eyes for spotting many types of marine life. Some of the marine life we encountered included Caribbean Reef Sharks, Dolphin, Nurse Sharks, Rough tail Stingrays, Spinney Lobster, Hawksbill Turtles, Octopus, Red Banded Lobster, Eels, Burr Fish, and Barracuda. For those of you who like the smaller creatures we saw Wire Coral Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp, Jaw fish, Sea Urchins, Diamond/Secretary/Arrow Blennies. Visibility at all the dive sites was easily in the 80 foot range or greater.
My wife is a non-diver, but that did not spoil our vacation. Bubble watchers are allowed on Chucks Honey for a mere $30/day and that includes fins and snorkel equipment and access to the fresh fruit, snacks and cold drinks; quite a deal I must say. The crew really helped my wife feel at home and gave her the run of the ship.
TRAVEL
This was our first trip to the Turk & Caicos Islands. We traveled on American Airlines from Austin through Dallas and Miami and finally into Providenciales. On Saturday, July 24 we took a 6AM flight out of Austin and landed in Providenciales at 8:30PM (14.5 hours for those keeping score at home), then it was an half-hour taxi ride from the airport to the Alexandra Resort and Spa (Timeshare property) NOT RECOMMENDED.
PTD provides complimentary shuttle service between ALL the resorts on Providenciales and the PTD office/dock. This was a nice touch due to the cost of gasoline ($4.00/gallon) on the island if you rent a car. By the way, no gas station on the island takes credit cards or travelers checks; its CASH ONLY. Although renting a car costs roughly $400.00/week (that includes the additional daily insurance) (Avis or Hertz), I would recommend getting a car because the taxis will cost you a minimum of $20 per one-way trip for two people. (Make sure you agree with the taxi driver upon a price for each taxi ride prior to entering the taxi).
DINING
On our first day on the island, we stopped at the local IGA grocery store to buy lunch provisions; that also saved us a bundle of money on food. We mostly ate at the local restaurants for dinner. We brought breakfast food from home.
Recommendations:
Hemingways at The Sands Resort: wonderful menu variety and excellent preparation. They serve very good Conch Chowder.
Baci Ristorante Turtle Cove Marina area. Fabulous Italian Food. The Veal Marsala was magnificent. They also have a separate Pizza Menu outstanding Pizzas.
Tiki Hut Turtle Cove Marina. Wednesday evening is the BBQ Ribs and Roast Chicken dinner, each for $10. This is a MUST for dining. The rib meat falls off of the bone with a delectable island sauce.
Chinson Chinese Restaurant Grace Bay Club area. As of July 24, 2004, the restaurant was 2 weeks new. Ask for Anthony, he will take good care of you and the food is excellent.
Caicos Café Ports of Call area. The best Conch chowder on the island. Excellent Filet Mignon and fresh fish.
Sharkbite Grill Turtle Cove Marina area. Good burgers, and good Snapper with Pineapple sauce; excellent variety on the menu. Be advised that management will include a 15% gratuity to every bill no matter if you eat by yourself, a party of two, or a larger party.
Bay Beach Bistro at Sibonne Beach Hotel. Wonderful menu and exotic drinks. Try the Rib Eye Steak and Shrimp Scampi combination outstanding.
If there is any information I may have inadvertently omitted, or you need additional detail regarding our trip, please email me at redseal@scubadiving.com.
