7DaysinParadise
Diving => Diving => Topic started by: Tuss on November 04, 2008, 06:01:49 PM
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I just booked a last minute AI package to Beaches Turks and Caicos. The brochures say unlimited diving at the hotel. Anyone been?
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Hi Tuss,
We haven't been to beaches turks, but we've been to beaches negril and sandals halcyon in St. Lucia, and yes it is "umlimited" diving, in so far as how many times the boat goes out. Turks may be different as there's probably some amazing diving right off shore, like in Curacao, that was truly unlimited, you didn't need a guide, and you could get as many tanks as you'd like, included in your price. I hear the diving in Turks is spectacular and it's on our list of places to dive. We almost went there last december, but ended up in St. Lucia.
Congrat's on booking, and I can't wait to hear how the diving is.
:float:
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You're going to love Turks :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
One of my co-workers went and loved the diving, and the beach. He said that the sand is so soft you sink up to your knees.
I've heard that Beaches is a little "old" but still nice. It's a family resort so you'll probably run into a lot of kids. I can't wait until they build a Sandals in Turks.
Two dives per day are included in your package, and I recommend going on the two tank dive in the morning because they take the resort course divers out in the afternoon for a shallow dive.
You can book a night dive at an additional cost.
Chances are you will be diving with the dolphins. They follow the divers, and they swim around the beach every morning.
Beaches was hit with Hurricane Ike and closed for repairs, it re-opens November 14.
Congrats on booking....when are you going?
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We leave November 16 for 1 week. Thanks for the advice on diving - it's about what we expected. We're hoping that the hotel is not too full given the construction and the season. We'll see...
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I just got back from the dive shop where I bought a new mask and fins. I loved my old mask, but it got broken in my bag while in africa (the seal broke and it leaks, no way to repair it as per 2 different dive shops). I also have trouble getting fins that fit my small feet that aren't childrens sized (ie half the length so you have to kick twice as much) so i bought them as well. Shopping is such fun!
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Enjoy Turks & Caicos Tuss.
This is one place I always dream about going to. I've heard diving is amazing and the beaches look totally spectacular in every pic I've seen
Beaches is building a new section to the resort - The Italian Village. It looks like it will be gorgeous
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I leave tonight to toronto and then tomorrow morning from toronto! Just getting packed and tidying the apartment.
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Have a great time, Tuss. You'll be expected to fill out a full dive report on your return! :ROFL: :ROFL: :ROFL:
Have Fun! :icon_thumright:
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Have a great trip. We look forwards to hear all about the diving!
:jump:
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I'm back! I did a total of 10 dives. I'll start by saying that Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) took a real beating from hurricanes Ike and Hanna. One of the islands was completely destroyed. The reef really suffered and many of the dive masters were diving for the first time since the hurricane and were amazed by the poor condition of the reef.
We stayed at Beachs Turks and Caicos. The hotel advertised all inclusive diving and they did not disappoint. A brief word about the hotel - it caters exclusively to familys and children. We would have been bored to tears had the diving not worked out. There is literally nothing to do at this hotel that isn't sesame street related. The vast majority of guests were families with small children. There was no adults only area and getting away from the screaming children was a huge challenge. There wasn't even an evening show for adults - just the Elmo and Friends show at 6pm. We ended up in our hotel room every night in bed by 9.
The hotel makes you do a mandatory "dive orientation" before you are allowed to dive with them, which severly limits the diving on your first day. The orientation was basically a review course on land and in the pool. Annoying for sure. The hotel also takes safety to a whole new level and to the point of annonance. They have a 60ft limit for open water certified divers (they claim PADI recommends that OW divers don't go below 60ft). Well, the walls all start at 60ft, so they don't let you go down along the wall at all unless you have your advanced open water. definitely annoying! Our last day we had a more relaxed divemaster that allowed us to go down to 75ft so we could actually see the wall rather than just looking down on it from the top. The equipment was good and we felt safe the entire time. They do a 2 tank dive every day leaving at 8:30, a 1 talk dive leaving at 9:30 (but this is cancelled if they have to leave from teh south side of the island which happened during most of the week). They do the resort course divers, junior divers and those doing their OW course in an afternoon dive. They have 2 dive boats - the recently purchased brand new dive boat sunk in September during the hurricane and there are no plans to replace it.
The first day after our mandatory orientation we went on a 1 tank dive on the reef just in front of the hotel. The visibility was good, but the reef was in horrible condition and mostly dead. Saw some lionfish, stingrays and lots of small fish. The second day we went on the 2 tank dive. The water was rough in front of the hotel with an approaching storm so we went to the northwest point. The wind continued to build with huge swells, people vomiting etc. The diving was crap with 10ft visibility - didn't see much at all. A decision was made that it wasn't safe to return the dive boat to the beach hotel, so they drove us around to the south side of the island and sent us back to the hotel by cab. The third day - the storm was in full force with crazy wind. the beach at the hotel was closed. We were told that it would be calmer on the other side of the island and the dive was still on. 10 brave divers went out - the boat ride was insane with huge swells, brisk wind. We were all soaked and freezing when we got to West Caicos island. ONe of the divemasters jumped into the water and reported extremely poor visibility. We took a vote a decided to try the other side of west caicos. Another hour later and we got to the spot. The visibility was equally bad here, but after so long on the boat we all decided we should try a dive. Horrible visibility and we couldn't find the wall. We all decided to skip the second dive that day and got back to the hotel around 3pm. The next day we figured it would be cancelled but got to the dive shop and were told it was a go. Since there was nothing else to do we decided to brave it. We went to west caicos again, leaving from the south of the island. This day was the best day! There were so many sharks! At one point we had 3 different sharks circling around us looking very hungry (grey reef sharks, but about 6ft long and bigger than me). The last few days were mostly the same; diving west caicos which had the calmest water during the storm on the wall with lots of reef sharks checking us out.
Overall, I wouldn't rate it as one of the best dive sites in the world as it's been severely destroyed by the recent hurricanes. If you have a family and want to leave them at the resort and do some diving Beaches would be a great spot. There are opening a new section in January that caters exclusively to familys with all 2 bedroom family suites, so the children situation will only get worse for adult-onlys like us! Also, the hotel was only at 30% capacity the whole week and even with the crappy weather there was a waiting list to go diving every day. I would think when the hotel is full that getting out every day might be more of a challenge.
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Thanx for the report Tuss,
that's sad to hear that the reefs have been trashed by the hurricanes, at least you had a good shark encounter and got to see a lot of the area from the water. That's the first time I've heard of them doing the dive orientation, When we were at sandals St. Lucia they had us do a "checkout dive" which basically was a shallow dive to observe our abilities, other than that we were limited to 75' as advanced divers as max depth for any dive. Both Heather and I got "quacked" by the dive master a couple of times, our max being about 90'. Nothing was said, but we were given a stern look a couple of times. :roleyes:
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Thanks so much for all the details. :notworthy: T&C has been on my list for a while now, but after reading your review I think I'll wait a bit longer to see how things improve.
I'm glad you got to see some sharks. It's always an inspiring encouter.
Oh, and just for fun I checked with PADI Website, and the dive shop was acutally correct. The "reccomended" limit for open water divers is 60 ft. ( Padi basic Scuba limit is 40ft.) You need to have your Advanced Open Water, to be certified for up to 130 ft. I know loits of places that let you go much deeper that you are certified for, but I've also seen people get into trouble that way.
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thanks for the update Tuss, and welcome back :icon_thumright:
It's so sad when we hear of Reefs destroyed by hurricanes, but the good thing is they usually come back bigger and healthier than before.
Cozumel was completely wiped out by a hurricane, and now the Reefs are very healthy and the marine life bigger than ever.
so where are you off to next? Any luck finding an apartment and office?
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Got an apartment and an office and somehow people have tracked me down and started sending me resumes for a secretary position that i haven't even posted yet (word travels quickly). I'm still off until January and enjoying every second of the free time. Trying to book movers currently and find a way to ship my car east (decided that there is no way i want to drive it cross country in December). As for my next trip? No clue! I still want to go to Roatan, and now Cozumel is on the list too. Not sure when i'll be able to find time for a vacation; just have to start the new job and see what life brings.
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:hellowave: Hi Tuss. What do you do?
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:hellowave: Hi Tuss. What do you do?
M.D.