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Twenty-one years ago, one of our regular great travel writers, Doc Vikingo, visited South Caicos and the now-defunct Ocean Haven Resort. Here is what he had to say.
Diving almost exclusively takes place along the south shore, a protected area where fishing is verboten. There are about 20 sites within a 10- minute boat trip, some with surface moorings, some with subsurface moorings, and others where they drop anchor. The check-out dive takes place in 45-55 feet on the scattered partial remains of a crashed Convair. Inside the fuselage, I found a small aggregation of jacks, a few schoolmasters and French grunt, and a lovely lone gray angel. Our merry band of 11 experienced divers, having passed the muster, immediately began to do our own thing, as we agreed with management before we made our booking. I usually dropped down the wall to 115 feet, then worked up enjoying the overhangs, crevices, and spur and groove reef planted with impressive plate coral and stovepipe sponges. I cannot envision a more hospitable environment for properly trained divers wanting to go deep -warm water (76-78F in March) - good vis (80 feet, yet still a bit disappointing), easy navigation, and minimal current with no surge below 40 feet. On the first dive of the day, others and I occasionally dropped well below 130 feet, seduced by the 7,000-foot wall of the Turks Island Passage....
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