I'm always a little wary about claims that one place or another has "the best scuba diving in the world," even if those plaudits come from a travel magazine, a SCUBA publication, a poll of divers, or a group of trip operators. Just how exactly do you compare the sharks you saw in Fiji with the teeming life of the Meso-American barrier reef in Belize or the Great Barrier Reef in Australia?
Some places, however, do stand out. One of them, for me, was Turks and Caicos, a dive destination that has been on my radar for years. One of the reasons diving here stood out was Dive Provo, a dive and snorkel operator that offers all-day adventure dives to more remote reefs.
Like most other tourists to Turks and Caicos, I was staying in Grace Bay, the location of the vast majority the country's hotels, condos, and resorts. My temporary home at Ocean Club Resort overlooked the beach at Grace Bay, which Travel and Leisure readers voted the "best in the world." (There's that "best in the world" thing again).
Ocean Club has its own on-site dive operator, which makes diving right out of the resort convenient. However, scheduling issues led me to nearby Dive Provo, located a short shuttle from Ocean Club (and even closer to Ocean Club West; transfer service provided by the dive operator). Dive Provo offers an all-day "safari" three-tank dive that heads to far-flung and sometimes uncharted reefs not often visited by divers on one- or two-tank dives. I only had a few days, and, as is typical for me on a jaunt to the tropics, I was trying to get underwater and stay there for as long as possible. Provo let me book the most dives, and the adventure dive was an added plus, so that's where I went. They also include computers in the rental equipment and the opportunity for non-Nitrox-certified divers to do a supervised Nitrox dive (on the three-tank dive), both of which allow for even more underwater time.
Provo makes an effort to ensure that divers get to explore different sites on each dive. Sensibly, the boat trips are correlated with the number of dives: On the three-tank adventure dive, we rode out about an hour; rides to the two-tank dives were about half an hour or 45 minutes, and single-tank dives stayed closer to home.
Independent Scuba Diving in Turks and Caicos
But what is different about diving with Provo is that they treat certified divers as -- certified divers. This is unusual: As you know if you're a diver, the vast majority of commercial scuba operators keep divers in a tight group, following a dive master, or at least require buddy pairs to stay in sight. It's rare to find a dive operator that will let you and a buddy wander off on your own. It's a sensible policy when dealing with heavy current, not to mention divers who may not be very experienced, or who may not be able to navigate a complicated underwater topography. But experienced divers, including certified instructors and dive masters on a bus-man's holiday, can chafe under the restrictions.
Provo gives divers a choice. A lot of diving in Turks and Caicos is wall diving. Because underwater navigation is so easy along the walls, you and your buddy can either go off on your own. Or you can follow the dive master, who takes any unpaired solo divers along with him. Currents affect how the dives are choreographed, but on the days I was diving, the currents were slow-to-nothing, and it was easy for divers to follow a simple out-and-back pattern.
The basic choreography is that the dive boat takes divers to a wall, and everyone descends to a starting point at the edge of the drop-off. The dive leader leaves a flag to mark the spot. From there, divers drop down the wall to a recommended depth and can explore it in either direction according to the currents. When they've used up half their air, they ascend to a shallower depth, and swim back to the flag. When there, you can hang out till your air supply dwindles to the safety stop level, then ascend to a hanging bar to take your safety stop. In between dives, there is the chance to snorkel during the surface interval, or simple hang out on the boat.
For two and three tank dives, the operator provides snacks, light sandwiches, and some drinks.
The freedom to dive without being herded into a group is one of the things that made diving with Provo stand out. It's always more fun underwater when you aren't worrying about someone else's fin in your face. I especially liked having the time to poke around and focus on whatever happened to catch my interest.
And that's another thing that made diving Turks and Caicos live up to the hype: The water was extremely clear on all three days I dove there, at every dive site. And there was plenty to see: I saw sea turtles and reef sharks on every dive, rays on some of the dives, large healthy schools of reef fish, and lots of bright soft coral. The walls and canyons were fun as well, with most dives having an interesting swim-through or a chimney to explore.
It's hard to say what makes a dive destination stand out: We all look for different things. For me, Turks and Caicos offers a combination of clear visibility, great wall diving, and lots of underwater life. And the combination of three-tank adventure dives to outlying reefs with the opportunity to dive independently (with a buddy, of course) gave me two things I wanted: As much time as possible underwater, and the opportunity to enjoy it at my own pace.
Karen Berger - Karen Berger is the author of 15 books. Please click on her name to read her full bio.
