TURKS AND CAICOS REVIEW

Quick review of a trip to TCI during the month of July 2014. Stayed at an all inclusive with the family for 10 days.

The dive shop at the resort required an orientation (in pool if you haven't dove for 6+ months, around a table if you have). I did the 20 minute topside orientation, and then they will allow you to sign up for as many dive days as you would like, with a limit of two-tanks per day. Other dives were available at an additional cost (night dives, private charters, etc.). I signed up for dives each day (all two tank dives).

I won't go into each site we dove, but I will say that if you have the good fortune to be on boats going to the North West Point, you won't be sorry. The boat ride is about 40 minutes each way, but well worth it. The alternative is diving in Grace Bay (a 5-10 minute boat ride). Grace Bay had some great sites (Arawak, Grouper Hole, Aquarium, Pinnacle and others), but the sites on the NW Point were amazing.

Highlights for me were Tiki Wall, Eel Garden, Land of Giants. These were wall dives, and it was amazing to swin over the ledge and then look down on blue water as far as you could see. There was not bottom, just blue. The DM's did make a point of warning the divers to check the depth gauging often. With no thermocline or dramatic change in the light levels, it was tough to know that you were at 100' depths. Coming from California diving, it was great to dive in no wetsuit and have 83 degree water at the surface and at 100'.

With regard to the dive operation. I would give the boat captains and all of the DMs I dove with 5 stars. They were eager to make sure we had safe and fun dives. By the end of the first day of diving, I felt like I knew them, and they knew me. All of them remembered and used my name for the rest of the 10 days, which was a nice touch.

My one observation about the operation, was that it had to cater to both novice and advanced divers at the same time. Each DM on the boat (up to 3) could have anywhere from 6-8 divers with them. What I found was that it would be a mix of advanced and novice divers. At first I was a bit let down thinking we would have to dive to the skills of the least experienced diver, but what I found was that the DM would watch them closely, and then allow the more advanced divers to do their own thing. I was able to buddy up with other divers of more advanced levels and then go off on our own and stretch our dives out to 60 minutes, while the less more novice divers were getting 35-40 minute dives. Overall, the diving turned out to be a real highlight for me, and the DMs and captains were GREAT.

Word of advice, if you have your own gear, bring it. I brought my own fins, mask, snorkel, dive computer, but left my regs/BCD at home thinking it would be a drag to carry the extra gear. While the regs/BCDs (Oceanic BCD and Scuba Pro regs) at the resort were fine (and included in the cost of the trip), they were not mine.

Dive gear is sort of like underwear...way better if you can wear your own and not someone else's.

Bottom line for me was that diving in Turks and Caicos was a real treat. I will have this on my list of places to return to, and look forward to more Carribean diving in the future.