Instant Reader Report
on Caicos Adventures / Royal West Indies in
Turks and Caicos / French Cay, West Caicos on
2003/09
by
Tom Patton , RI, usa
Report Number 031019083252762

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 Bonnaire, Caymans, Curacao, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Caribbean all over 

Dive Conditions

No restrictions, dive to your computer was allowed. Greater than 60 minute
dives on both 1st and 2nd tank dives.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

Owner Fifi Kunz personally drove the dive van and picked us up at the Royal
West Indies Resort. Royal West Indies is a new beachfront condominium
resort and is every bit a 5 star accomodation. Landscaping and beach are
among top 20 resorts in the world. Fifi was very personable making
everyone on the van feel at home, while making other pick-ups at other
resorts on the island. When we pulled into the marina and we caught our
first glimpse at Fifi's boat the "Caicos Cat", it was basically
everone's general feeling that this was the best dive boat that they had
ever been on (day boats). The Caicos Cat is a custom built 43 foot
catamaran, impeccably clean and maintained, and very spacious with many
spots to lounge during the boat ride (upper bridge, front deck, dive deck,
inner cabin). There was even enough room that some divers had brought along
their non-diving companion for the day. 

We dove with Fifi for 8 days (17 dives) straight. Originally we had
planned on taking some days off, but each day on the boat was a "life
as it should be" day... we kept going back for more. We mostly dove
unchartered dive sites (no moorings) and only repeated one site twice
during the 8 days (by choice, it was worth going back to). Fifi mixed up
the destinations each day between West Caicos, Sanborne Channel, South
Wall, and French Cay. At each of these areas, he had his own secret or
proprietary dive sites to bring us to... apparently he has been pioneering
these walls since 1988 and is proud of his discoveries.

Of the 17 dives, there were only two dives that we did not see reef shark.
Not all the divers on the boat saw reef shark on these dives, but if you
are experienced and know how to scan the surroundings we found there to be
alot of big fish on these dives. We saw spotted eagle ray on approximately
half of these dives, often in pods of 3 and four at a time. Also of note
during the week was a humungous jew fish about 14 feet long, and one manta
ray that came in out of the blue to check us out. Plenty of dolphin on the
boat rides from and to. All dives were along tremendously vertical walls,
some walls with inverted angles.

For advanced divers, Fifi respected our experience. He let us dive our own
profiles dictated by our computers. Both dives each day averaged over 60
minutes, and we found this to be a big advantage over other operators.
Fifi is a perfectionest, and it shows throughout his organization- the
divemasters work ethic, spotless boats, maintained equipment. We felt very
comfortable from the first moments we climbed aboard the boat. The only
draw back to diving with Caicos Adventures, is that it is a long day.
Fifi, to his credit, lets the divers have their time during the dives,
lots of time and lunch between dives, and will detour during the boat
rides to chase dolphin. Basically, we left the hotel at 8:15 a.m and
didn't get back until 3:30 each day. Well worth it- some of the best days
ever.    

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