Turks & Caicos – Providenciales

WHY?

Go to Turks & Caicos for an easy liveaboard trip. The islands are a short and easy flight from the U.S., especially from the east coast. Once you’re there, getting from the airport to the boat is straightforward and speedy. The water is warm and you’ll see all the usual caribbean flora and fauna with the added bonus of sharks on nearly every dive. There are also land-based options, but if that’s your style we’d recommend other Caribbean islands where you’ll have better day trips (shorter boat rides, more varied dive sites) and get a lot more value for your money on diving, hotels, restaurants, etc.

 

WHAT’S THE DIVING LIKE?

It is great caribbean diving. Turks & Caicos is made up of a couple of islands. Many of the dive sites are on the western coasts of the islands of Providenciales and West Caicos. The shoreline is rocky and almost immediately drops down to a wide ledge ~30-40 feet deep. A couple hundred yards offshore there is a dropoff that goes to 150+ feet. Visibility is usually 75-150 feet. 

 

Most of the dives are along the dropoff – the group jumps in, descends to the ledge, swims over the dropoff and explores the wall, then comes back up to the ledge and hangs there until it’s time to ascend. It’s easy to get in two great and completely different dives at the same spot just by going in opposite directions on the wall. You can also explore up on the ledge towards shore. No matter where you’re diving you will want Nitrox to avoid having to cut your dives short. The profiles nearly always include some deep time and there usually isn’t anything above except for the boat.

 

Despite the similarities in dive sites there are enough differences up on the ledge that it can stay interesting for a couple dozen dives – there might be a bunch of seagrass hiding some pipefish or coral bommies full of lobsters or the notorious thunderdome. 

 

You’ll get to see all the typical caribbean flora and fauna. There are usually a handful of curious caribbean reef sharks that will circle past throughout the dive. The ledge also has a good-sized collection of stingrays. The only watchouts come on night dives – lights sometimes attract blood worms (only slightly annoying) and sea wasps which you will want to avoid. When we went on the T&C Explorer the dive masters shared some great tips that made these a non-issue. For the blood worms, keep your flashlight on a low setting or cover it occasionally with your hand. The blood worms will leave to go find a better light source. For the sea wasps you probably only need to be worried when you’re getting back on the boat since they’re attracted to lights in the top few meters of water. If you think they’re there you can hold your octo in front of you and purge it as you ascend. The flow of bubbles will push away any jellies. 

 

French Caye, which is a tiny spit of sand south of the rest of the islands, has slightly different topography. The dive spots here used to be typical coral bommies interspersed with sand but a hurricane a couple of years ago swept away most of the sand. You can now see down to coral structures that have been hidden for hundreds of years. There are also frequently nurse sharks. They’ll swim around the dive sites lazily during the day and might bump into you at night when they’re out hunting.

 

Some things you won’t find much of in T&C: current, low-viz, wrecks, shallow dives, shore dives.

 

J F M A M J J A S O N D
Water C 25 24 25 26 26 29 29 29 26 26 26 25
Water F 76 75 76 78 78 84 84 84 79 79 87 76
Air F 77 77 77 82 82 93 93 93 87 87 87 76
Rainy days 3.3 2.9 2.1 3 2.8 3.2 3 3.5 4 6.3 6.2 6.2

 

WHAT LOCATION, DIVE OPERATOR AND HOTEL?

If you’re going diving you’ll be on Providenciales and will have two liveaboards to pick from. Overall the experience on both boats seems comparable so we would recommend going with whichever one is least expensive during your vacation window. Both boats are part of larger franchises. One is Explorer and one is Aggressor. They both run 7-day trips from Saturday to Saturday. They both follow similar five-dive-a-day schedules that kick off with a continental breakfast and then alternate eating and diving until you wrap up with a night dive after dinner. Usually it’s one dive site for the morning dives and a second dive site for the afternoon/evening dives. They do a few days off Providenciales, a few days off West Caicos and, weather permitting, a day or so at French Caye. The two boats tend to be within sight of each other for most of the week.They’re also both on the higher end of mid-range liveaboards with individual cabins, en-suite bathrooms, AC, plated meals, nice dive decks, multi-lingual crews, etc. 

 

The Turks and Caicos Explorer

is the less expensive of the two. The prices tend to be 15-20% less than Aggressor and you get slightly nicer rooms at each level. The cheaper rooms on Aggressor share a bathroom while the cheaper rooms on Explorer are en-suite. So to get the same cabin on each boat you’ll likely be comparing an Explorer room with an Aggressor room that is one level higher, bringing the price difference to 25-30%. Despite the price difference, the Explorer boat was phenomenal. 

  • Cabins – big with big windows and large (for a LOA) clean bathrooms. The AC works well. 
  • Food – varied and always really solid. The captain grilled a couple of times which was a nice treat. The boat also had the nicest coffee/tea station I’ve seen on a LOA (a dozen varieties of tea, a bunch of other drink mixes, lots of milk/sugar options) and a constant supply of good snacks including fruit, candy that changed throughout the week, and one or two baked goods each day.
  • Dive deck – spacious with a big camera table and enormous camera tank. A nice perk we don’t see much is that you could hang wetsuits over the compressor so there was a flow of hot air that dried them out pretty quickly. This was a game-changer when getting ready for a night dive! They also dry the dive deck towels a couple times a day and have hot cocoa with caicos cream, a sort of local irish cream, after the night dives.
  • Divers/guide ratio – there were 4 guides on the boat. Two were dedicated dive masters who alternated dives the whole trip. In addition the captain and the cruise director were dive masters and occasionally jumped in as well. But it was often 1 guide and 20 divers so it could get very crowded around the dive guides. The experienced divers pretty quickly started splitting off and doing their own dive plans (the briefings were solid so this was easy to do) while the less experienced divers stuck with the guide. This situation is pretty common across the caribbean but is always a bit of a letdown compared to Asian LOAs where there is often a dedicated dive guide for every 4-5 divers and you get to know the local macro a lot faster and see lots of things you would rarely find on your own. 
  • Dive entry/exit – this was a big plus and minus for us. The boat is designed to be stable above water but that means it swings a lot on the mooring. It can take 3-4 minutes for a full swing and covers enough ground that if you just jump in and go to the bottom you might completely miss the rest of the group if they descend on the other side of the swing. We like to have our own space while diving so this didn’t bother us. However, some of the less experienced divers wanted to be with a guide and this meant they would have to hang onto the line off the back of the boat for a while as everyone else jumped in. The boat was moving quickly so it was always a bit of a struggle to hang onto the rope and stay oriented. It quickly evolved into a bit of a game of each person trying to jump in last which really slowed down the dives. But the returns came when it was time to end the dive. The boat trails two lines that hang down about 25 feet. You could grab onto those lines and spend your safety stop flying underwater superman style. It was hard not to smile!
  • Hangout space – the typical indoor space with a couch and a TV as well as two levels with outside space.One with some lounges in the sun and one that is shaded. We would score it as a notch above your typical LOA.
  • Crew – when we went on the Explorer the crew was fantastic. They set a standard that was a step above any other LOA we’ve been on, including a couple of Aggressors, Mike Ball on the GBR and a nice one in Raja Ampat. They were cheerful and fun and clearly enjoyed their jobs and their coworkers. They also went out of their way to help the Aggressor tool by sending over tools and advice when something broke on Aggressor. This was nice to see, especially in an industry where competitiveness can sometimes override comradery. 
  • Other guests – it’s not a backpacker LOA so expect it to be mostly middle-aged couples. Because of the price difference vs Aggressor the average age will trend a bit lower (you’ll see more people in their 30s/40s) and you might get a group that is a little less fussy about the details. But the group will always differ from week to week so the week you end up there could be very different. 
  • Safety – the boat took safety seriously. Dive briefings were good, the dive masters kept a close eye on some of the less experienced divers, and there was a night watchman. They also have CCTV cameras in the public areas around the boat that can all be monitored from the bridge. In the post-Conception (and other unfortunate incidents) world this level of caution was very reassuring. 

 

The Aggressor

is the other option. The biggest difference from the T&C Explorer is the price. We haven’t been on the Aggressor but have collected input from many who have and it gets universally solid reviews. The biggest highlights are that the food might be a bit more on the “fine” side (vs “solid” on the Explorer) and there is a hot-tub. For us those differences aren’t enough to merit a 30% higher price, but if we ever get the opportunity to snag a cabin during one of Aggressor’s wonderful annual sales we wouldn’t hesitate to spend a week on this boat.

  • Cabins – keep an eye on the cabin descriptions while you’re booking. If it’s important to have an en-suite bathroom or to be on the main deck instead of down a level of stairs then you’ll only be able to go for the top tiers of cabins available. 
  • Good – normal high-quality Aggressor food. You won’t regret anything!
  • Dive deck – large with plenty of space for personal gear and cameras. Follows the usual Aggressor playbook with warm dry towels after every dive (occasionally delivered with a quick shoulder massage) and spiked hot cocoa after the night dive. The crew also does a bit more hand-holding while divers are getting ready for dives – it would be unusual to see them helping divers strap on fins or grabbing a wetsuit that someone just climbed out of and hanging it up for them. 
  • Divers/guide ratio – usually 1 guide in the water for up to 20 guests. 
  • Dive entry/exit – this is a large boat so it will swing a bit. However, the setup is a bit different than the Explorer so it will not swing nearly as much or nearly as fast. This makes it a little easier for newer divers to hang on while waiting for the rest of the group. It also makes it easier for those who need some extra time or an extra hand getting in or out of the water. If it’s not too windy/choppy this won’t matter that much, but if there’s any wind or if you’re out at French Caye and there are waves then this begins to matter. 
  • Hangout space – typical indoor spot plus one outdoor deck with lounge chairs, a covered section with some stools and a hot tub. If you get cold while diving that hot tub can make a big difference on your week. There are quite a few opinions out there on whether hot showers and hot tubs are a good idea or bad idea after diving. We would suggest reading DAN’s stance on this and following their recommendations.
  • Crew – sounds like a very solid crew that creates a great trip environment. 

 

At the end of the day you’ll have a great trip on either of these boats.

 

I’m sure that at this point some of you are still skimming through looking for advice for those who want to do boat diving day trips so here is a bit to get you going:

 

Providenciales

One of the perks of the boat-based diving is that you can access all the spots the LOAs go to so if you only have a day or two you can still see some of the best diving. But the downside is that the boat ride is easily 60 minutes each way so you’ll use up most of your day on a 2-tank dive trip. It’s pretty common to not get back to the hotel until after 3pm. Most people do a LOA when they return the second time. 

 

That being said, if you’re traveling with a better half that doesn’t like to dive, then aalnd-based operator might be your best bet. Below is our top boat op recommendation based on reviews and conversations with folks who’ve done it.

  • Dive Provo: great reviews. You can stay at the Ports of Call which shares a parking lot with Dive Provo and makes things very easy. They have a van that will shuttle you from the parking lot to the marina where you can jump on the boat. They are a “valet” service dive op so they’ll set up all your gerar for you, will rinse/store it for you overnight, and will give it a thorough cleaning when it’s time for you to head home. 

 

You’ll also need a hotel. T&C is pricey so be prepared to shell out. If you’re looking for something on the budget end then the best bet is to do a package deal with Dive Provo and make a stop at the nearby grocery store for most of your meals. But if that’s your situation then we would recommend picking a different destination altogether.

 

Grand Turk

This isn’t the top spot for diving in the caribbean, but if you happen to be on the island and want to squeeze in a few days of diving then you’ve got some nice options. Expect to see fewer sharks then Providenciales but a couple more turtles. 

  • Bohio – you can stay and dive with this resort. It’s easy valet diving and the dive sites are close to the resort. 

 

WHEN?

We recommend the spring, mostly because of the topside weather. The summer and early fall have a risk of hurricanes. They rarely make landfall in T&C but it could happen. But even if they’re hundreds of miles away they can create clouds, rain and wind which make the diving less pleasant. They also might disrupt flights, especially if you’re connecting through the Southeastern US. Late fall and winter is okay but the water is on the chilly side (for the caribbean) and it’s more than twice as likely to be rainy as it is in the spring. Currents and sealife around T&C don’t change too much. This leaves the spring. Warm weather, little rain, and a warm and calm ocean. 

 

The one exception to this would be if you’re excited about snorkeling with humpback whales. One of the T&C liveaboards (the Explorer) typically spends the winter on trips to the Silver Bank, Dominican Republic where you can do exactly that. I’m not going to go into more detail because it’s not diving and it’s not really T&C but if you’re looking for a trip in the winter months it might be a good option! 

 

HOW TO GET THERE AND BACK?

Fly into Providenciales Airport (PLS). There are direct flights from most big airports on the U.S. east coast. The airport is small and you’ll be spending time outside and in smallish rooms without AC so make sure you’re dressed in layers and can peel down to tropical weight clothing as soon as you’re off the plane. There aren’t gates so you’ll walk on the tarmac to the immigration & customs room. If another big flight got there right ahead of you the wait could easily be over 30 minutes so make sure you bring a full water bottle and a snack from the plane as well as a healthy dose of patience. After immigration that you can grab bags and head outside. There will be official airport personnel who will help you find your pickup. If you’re on one of the liveaboards you’ll turn right and walk ~100 feet to the area with the restaurant & the check-in counters and will find the representative there with a sign. 

 

It should be an easy twenty minute drive to the boat. If you’re a bit early they might drop you off at a hotel restaurant or in town to kill some time. Neither option is very exciting. The town has the full range of touristy shops. The most unique spots to visit are the two or three art galleries that have local photos and the puppy adoption center where you can play with the puppies. Eventually you’ll get picked up and taken right to the boat. Easy as pie.

 

Getting back to the airport after a liveboard is quite similar. If you have an early flight (before 11am) they’ll take you right to the airport. If your flight is later they’ll drop you off at a restaurant for brunch and arrange for a cab to pick you up when it is time to go to the airport. 

 

The airport is small and can get crowded very fast with a few big international flights. There is one lounge, the VIP Flyers Club, which might be worth considering. It’s pricey and not that big, but it does get you expedited check-in, expedited security, and a nicely air-conditioned spot to wait away from the crowds. It does come at a price though — recently $200 for the first person plus $75 for each additional person. If you don’t want to shell out for that, then the prime airport tip is to go to the second floor. Once you’re through security, do a you-turn and you’ll see the stairs back on the wall of the airport closest to where the check-in counters were. Most people never head upstairs so it’s less crowded and cooler. There’s a bar with food/drinks (and a much shorter line) as well as a small massage spot which we highly recommend. 

 

WHAT DOES IT COST?

Short answer – not bad for a LOA but a lot for land-based diving. If you go very lean on the land-based diving you might be able to squeeze in 10 dives for ~$2,400 but that still comes out to $240/dive. On the LOA you’ll probably spend a bit more but get nearly triple the number of dives so even if you do it at the high end you’re cost per dive is over 35% less.

 

Liveaboard 

    • Flights: $400/pp from a major east coast city
    • LOA: $3,000 base + $300 extras + $300 tip = $3,600/pp
    • Taxis: $50
    • Food (travel meals, final dinner/brunch): $100
  • TOTAL: $4,150/pp for 8 days and 27 dives ($155/dive)
  • How to make it less expensive: Get up to 30% off the liveaboard base price with an Explorer or Aggressor sale and get 25-40% off the flights with an airline sale = $3,000/pp

 

Boat diving

    • Flights: $400/pp from a major east coast city
    • Hotel: $800 (assuming double occupancy)
    • Diving: $160/day * 5 days = $800 (including taxes, fees/tips)
    • Food: $800 ($20 breakfast, $20 lunch, $60 dinner w/ drinks)
    • Taxis: $100
  • TOTAL: $2,900/pp for 8 days and 10 dives (five 2-tank trips) ($290/dive)
  • How to make it less expensive: find a less expensive hotel to cut 25% (that would be the most you can cut and you’ll end up away from the beach, no pool, etc.), make your own food instead of eating out to cut 30% food prices (even groceries are expensive on the islands0 = $2,400/pp.

 

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?

  • Currency – USD
  • Language – English (it’s a British Overseas Territory and citizens are full British citizens); creole
  • Tipping
  • Mosquitoes – they’re terrible onshore. Even if you’re going the LOA route, bring some bug spray for the last night.
  • Electricity – 120volt/60 hertz so all US appliances plug in and work just fine
  • Healthcare – modern hospital centers; 1 decompression chamber in Providenciales
  • Getting around – You can rent a car with most international licenses including US and Canada. They drive on the left-hand side and use left-hand steering columns so be prepared!