Diver DiversityOur group of 26 left Omaha, Nebraska for Grand Turk Island on a cold and snowy Sunday. The group's diving experienced ranged from a dive store owner to a couple on their second, open-water excursion. We had young couples and the young-at-heart with us. All of us had something in common -- we were divers that lived in the landlocked Midwest. We also had worldwide travelers John and Suzanne Titus in our group. John taught us humility in diving as he is usually wheelchair- bound but an expert underwater photographer with no underwater mobility limitations. We were also fortunate to have a chiropractor and a doctor in our group for those times when vacationing is not so fun -- always essential in remote areas. And we all shared the same love for diving and telling stories.
Coming, going and the value of packing lightIt took quite a while to get to Grand Turk which proved to be an adventure in itself (just getting to Miami with the airlines). I wasn't aware of the weight limitations on luggage transported from Provo to Grand Turk by Sky King so paying a $.30 per pound surcharge for going over 45 lbs. per person really hurt! But who's heard of divers traveling light with dive gear? I guess I shouldn't have packed so many books for reading and reef creature identifications! There is also a $15.00 departure tax so they get you coming and going!Seems like another planetUpon reaching the island, we thought we were on another planet. The weather was awesome during our stay with constant, cool breezes at night and sunny, warm days. No phones, beepers, pagers, fax machines, or computers clamoring away at us. And it's certainly a unique experience to share restaurant experiences with cats, dogs, and whatever else decided to walk through your legs. Wild donkeys and horses also free-roam the island. More on that later.
Accommodations during our stayOur group stayed at the Sitting Pretty Hotel (now called the Osprey Beach Hotel). The amenities were limited in comparison to US standards for resorts but the hotel has a pool, outside bar, running water, and beds. So who's complaining? I just ignored my husband when he was smashing a few cockroaches with the beer bottle. Some things are best heard and not seen. The Osprey Beach Hotel is only a block away from where Mitch and Jena stayed last year. We were right across the street from Sea Eye Diving and Blue Water Divers.I wondered about divers that left their gear outside their rooms at night and whether donkeys would take off with such but nobody complained. We all had oceanside rooms, which lulled me to sleep every night. All their water is desalinated or they catch rain water. This is the reason for skimpy showers and sometimes a "no water" period in the hotel rooms. Since that happened to us on our last day at the hotel, you can imagine how our group smelled on the flight home! Each morning we literally were rousted out of bed by the roosters across the street and local donkeys. After a light breakfast provided by the Salt Raker/Osprey Beach personnel, we'd book on down the beach to head out to the first dive site of the morning.
The dive operationOur group of 26 went diving with Oasis Divers (Everett and Dale). Everett is a local guy and Dale is an import from the Atlanta area. They have an assortment of local hands who assist divers each day. Oasis Divers provided our group three or four boats as necessary each day to take us out to the reef. It was great to have our gear on board and set up on the tanks for each dive. All we had to do was collect ourselves.Grand Turk currently has 20 buoyed dive spots. We hit ten of them on this trip. The boats are quick, Carolina skiffs that quickly launched us to the dive sites. Sometimes we had dolphins following us. We didn't have any dolphin's stay with us to play when we were in the water they were quite shy, and swam on after satisfying their initial curiosity with our skiff of divers. I thought the diving was about as effortless as you could get. Hop in the boat, have gear put on your back by ID, Paul, or Dale, and fall off backwards. There weren't any strong currents at any location we dove at which was a treat. The visibility was outstanding (80-100'). The topside was quite pleasant, no one got seasick from any diving excursions. And we never had to abort dives like Mitch and Jena Carl mentioned in their dive log. Most of our problems (hoses popping and etc.) were fixed quickly or dive gear was loaned out to remedy the situation. ID was my group's divemaster. ID was a local, very soft-spoken, and normally quiet. [We never learned what ID stood for, but we figured it was an abbreviation for "I Dance" after watching him do the "Dollar Dance" at the Turk's Head Inn. We think ID had been eating too much raw conch before he danced. The locals claim part of the conches system is virile, and many in our group went for it.]
Reef Fish GaloreThe coral reef fish were plentiful. We saw many schools of blue tang, grunts, and jacks. The lobsters and crabs on the reef were enormous! I kept rubbing my stomach every time I saw one indicating to my dive buddies my taste for the crustacean. I also got some nice photos of them marching across the sand bottom in daylight.We identified the following fish out on the reefs: hinds, snappers, queen triggerfish, spanish hogfish, bluestriped, french grunts, yellowtail snappers, black durgons, jacks, honey, and yellowtail damselfish, banded/spotfin/foureye butterfly fish, scrawled filefish, goatfish, highhats, drums, trunkfish, nurse/lemon/blacktip sharks, spotted eagle rays, morays of all sorts, southern stingrays, deep sea/blue/spotlight/redband parrotfish, hogfish, wrasses of all sorts, gray/french/queen angelfish, squirrelfish, indigo/blue/barred hamlets, coneys, graybys, barracudas and of course nassau groupers (yum yum). I couldn't keep up identifying all the different gobies there were. We also saw predominantly smaller fish varieties on the reefs. On McDonald's dive site we were treated with a discovery of a small sea horse. Paul our divemaster spent 40 minutes to find him, but we were all glad he made the effort. It was definitely a unique event. On another dive, our entire group was treated to seeing a hawksbill turtle. He was quite happy to pose for our camera happy bunch and didn't mind staying with us. After the first dive, we usually came to shore to warm up. We then returned to the reef at a different location. Our group only did two dives per day as part of our package with Oasis dive operation. However, on the last dive day we were treated to three dives. NOTE: Make sure you arrange extra dives with the dive operator well in advance of your trip -- especially night dives. This allows them time to get dive operation staff lined up. Shore diving was possible, but the reef wall is a fair swim off shore -- about 300 yards. Once there it is an abyss. Some of our group would snorkel at night just off the beach of our hotel. We found batfish and sharks there. The water was 77 F, and for a wimp like me, was downright cold after being in it awhile. I can see why the locals were layering three wetsuits after their first dive. We were fortunate on one night in being treated to a Reef Fish Identification Presentation (Paul Humann slides) by Dale of Oasis Divers at the Turk's Head free of charge. This helped our group out immensely with fish identification on future dives. Whale watching disappointmentWe split our group up into three different days of whale watching outings (this is optional and expensive: $45.00 US per person). Everett takes the boat to the passages, leaving about 2:00 p.m. after the second dive of the day. The "Neptune's Revenge" hit people on the whale watching trips and proved to be very disappointing. Only one person out of our group of 26 saw a humpback whale and even managed to catch it on video. The week we were there, three days out of six no one saw a whale even though the locals claim a 80% sighting success rate.The day my husband and I went out we experience 8-10 foot swells (no kidding!). We wouldn't have seen a whale breach under these conditions unless it met us eye to eye on the top of a roller. The only thing that breached that day was our stomachs. That was an expensive 3.5 hour boat ride. Other activities topsideFor those of us that were adventuresome, we hiked our way around the island after diving. My husband and I located the local dump and cemetery on the far side on one of our strolls. It was cohabited by the donkeys. We enjoyed the windward side of the island as it was not populated much and one could sit back for reflections on life. I warn you not to stroll past the salt ponds right on edge of the town unless you have nose plugs. One of our more favorite things to do outside of diving was walking the sandy beaches for snorkeling down on the south end of the island. We found numerous conchs at these locations.We spent one day at Gibb's Cay. Our group did this (optional cost $40 per person) the day before our flight home. We fed fish to the stingrays, and had the pleasure of feeling their silky skin. Our group went free diving for conch in between the islands and was fortunate to get 30 conch. The locals filleted the conch for us and we had conch salad on Gibb's Cay along with burgers/hot dogs, and chips. Most of us managed to grill our bodies also in the process. The tops of my feet resembled lobster kabobs after that day after my sunscreen wore off from walking in the sand. Dining ExperiencesWe ate at several different restaurants on the island, Salt Raker, WaterFront, Turk's Head, and all were pricey but good -- especially the lobster, grouper, shrimp. The burgers were even great at Water Front but be patient with service and getting your bill. It's definitely an island time type of place. In addition, if going in large groups, warn them ahead of time that you are coming so they can be prepared. Unfortunately, we learned that the hard way a few nights.Come preparedMake sure you take lots of sunscreen and a full assortment of other drugs and toiletries when you visit Grand Turk. There are no grocery store/Walgreen's chains on this island. Buying food from the local marts is quite expensive: one 6-pack of beer, two 6-packs of pop and a bag of cheetos cost us $26.00 US. A 12-oz. bottle of water is $1.50 US.Overall, I had a very, very peaceful, relaxing stay on Grand Turk. A thanks to the locals for that. I also appreciate seeing the varied fish life and the healthy hard corals. As the locals said when we left, "Invite your friends and have your friends invite their friends." So if looking for a laid back, off the planet place to dive, go to Grand Turk Island.
© Jan Bostleman 1999-2001, All Rights Reserved.
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