Dive Review of AquaTCI/VRBO in
Turks and Caicos

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AquaTCI/VRBO: "Trying T&C for Diving", Nov, 2023, by Francis Loncar, WI, US ( Contributor 15 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 12831.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	T&C is all wall diving, thus it can be intimidating for novices, one needs control as the wall plunges down 150+ feet from a top of 50 feet deep. At first the diving was fairly blah, all the dive spots looked the same, particularly since it took 45 to 115 minutes of boat time to get there. The three major dive areas are NW Corner, West Caicos and French Cay. We did have a bad start with constant rainstorms and then a tropical storm that passed just west of the island. This may have contributed to the suppressed fish life, because as the weather cleared the fish life increased by the day. This gave us a much better impression of the diving before we had to leave. A shark sighting was common for each dive, but usually 100 feet off the wall in the blue. We saw only one turtle while diving, but usually spotted them on the surface between dives. Stingrays were found on about half the dives. All the usual eels, lobsters, crab, barracuda, etc were seen. Some of the small life was interesting, like lots of yellow headed jaw fish. The diving areas are part of marine parks and it appears no fishing is enforced considering the number of yellow fin tuna swimming around. The coral itself is severely bleached but the owner stated it generally comes back over the winter. Our boat captain came here from the US in 1971, and helped establish the diving business when the island had no resorts or modern amenities. So interesting history. Diving is fairly pricey with all the fees and taxes levied. A few of the resorts have their own dive ops, so the number of independent dive ops to choose from is limited. Water is warm even in Nov with the DMs only wearing a vest and the divers that opted for a wetsuit wore at most a 3 mil shorty. The boats are Newtons, well equipped, and the number of divers are limited allowing for elbow room. We brought our own dive gear, but the rental gear looked in good condition, all ScubaPro. Dive computers are mandatory. One interesting item is that the dive ops are scrupulous over cert cards, never had to be requested to send photos of all my dive cards, front and back. We also tried 2 trips with Dive Provo, who mainly serve the once a year resort divers, but for experienced divers as long as you have a buddy you are free to go where you like, just be at the safety stop after 55 minutes. Meanwhile the rest of the divers are herded around in bright yellow shirts, a simple expedient for the DMs. Driving around the island is on the left side of the road with rental cars being a mix of right and left hand drive. Most everything is on island time except for driving which is adult bumper cars, and the dive boat leaves on time.
Websites	AquaTCI
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Kauai, Cozumel, Fla Keys, Wisconsin, Palau, Maui, Grand Cayman, Aruba, St Lucia, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos
Closest Airport	PLS	Getting There	American and Delta are the main US airlines serving PLS, although I saw a SWA plane
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm, choppy
Water Temp	80-85°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	50-100 Ft/ 15-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Stay within sight of the DM, but lots of freedom once they trusted you, max dive time 60 minutes
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The reason for the rating is that the visibility actually decreased as the weather grew nicer and calmer. Most pictures unless they were macro were not great. No fault of the dive op

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Dive Review of AquaTCI/VRBO in Turks and Caicos

AquaTCI/VRBO: "Trying T&C for Diving", Nov, 2023,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of AquaTCI/VRBO in
Turks and Caicos