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| From John Gross - Turks & Caicos . . . I'm writing this dive report on my palm while flying at 28,000 feet on our way home from three great days of diving in Provo, Turkes & Caicos. Our journey started on April 26. I worked in my office until 9:00 PM. I got home around 9:30 PM. Pat & I packed our bags and stopped at WalMart in Ephrata for some last minute items. We then proceeded to the PA turnpike and onto Philly Airport. Our flight left on time and we arrived in Charlotte for our connecting flight to Provo, Turkes & Caicos. After we arrived we took a taxi to Comfort Suits, our home in Provo. Right across the street was our dive shop, Dive Provo. Everyone at Dive Provo was friendly and helpful and prepared. I barely said hello when Tracy said you must be Pat & John. She asked us to bring our dive gear to the shop and she would see that it got on the proper boat the following morning. After checking our cert cards we were off to get lunch at the Bare-Foot Cafe. We learned quickly that things aren't cheap in Provo. A hamburger & fries were $9.00 (US) and an iced tea was $3.00. Friday morning we went by boat to the dive site - End Zone. Air temp was 89 degrees - water temp around 80 degrees. Pat & I decided to follow our divemaster to see if he found anything exciting. This dive site was a series of high rolling reefs and the divemaster warned everyone that it is really easy to get lost especially with the 40 foot viz. We saw the usual Angel Fish, Parrotfish, and Fan Corals, etc. As we proceeded over the rolling hills of the reef I was counting the hills to help when we returned. The divemaster turned the group around and started heading back. According to my count we still had one more hill to cross when I saw the divemaster turn around and starting moving away from the boat. You guessed it the divemaster was lost! I told Pat if he dove Willow Springs we'd probably never seem him again. That was the first and last dive we did with the group. The rest of our dives we did on our own and we never got lost. In fact we brought two other divers back with us. They got separated from the group and decided to follow us. Our second dive Friday was Eagle Ray Pass. Again we were disappointed with the 40 foot viz and the routine fish. Saturday found us heading south by boat for 1 1/2 hours to Pine Cays. Our dive site was called Gully! The weather wasn't the best. It was raining, overcast, and cooler. With the sun hiding behind the clouds I was expecting poor viz. I was wrong. Viz was much better, about 60 - 80feet. We decided to go off by ourselves and we found a swim through that came out along a deep wall. Our depth was 134 feet when we exited the swim through. Even at that depth everything was very colorful. We saw a lot of fish including pufferfish, barracuda, and a school of gray angelfish. During our surface interval it continued to rain and we never saw the sun. Our second dive was called Highway to Heaven and it truly lived up to its name. The reef was very dense with plenty of coral, fan coral and all kinds of fish including turtles, sharks, and rays. Sunday found us heading south again this time to French Cay area. During our bus ride from the dive shop to the marina we hard a loud thumping noise that turned out to be the tire tread on the front right wheel. Every time the wheels on the bus went round and round we heard thump and thump. Amazingly we all arrived safely at the marina. During our 1-hour boat ride to the dive site the skies started to get cloudy but we didn't have any rain. Our first dive site was Rock & Roll. It was a beautiful dive. The reef was dense and as far as you could see in every direction. Viz was 60-80 feet and water temps around 80 degrees. I couldn't believe how hard it was raining as I climbed the ladder onto the boat. This dive site lived up to its name (Rock & Roll) during the surface interval. The surface interval was spent hiding from the rain and wind and the air temp was colder then the water temp. Our divemaster told us our second dive site was called G-Spot. She explained that it was a hard to find spot (kind of a bend) in the wall. She went on to explain that must men have difficulty finding it. Despite that information we did find the G-Spot maybe because Pat was leading me. What a way to end this wonderful dive trip by finding the G-spot, dive site that is. On this 45-minute dive we saw it all. There were three eagle rays and one shark, several barracuda, a grouper in a cleaning station and many more. This last dive made the entire trip worthwhile. I have a t-shirt that has the following printed on it: dive...dive...dive...eat...sleep...eat...dive...dive...dive That pretty well sums up diving in Turks & Caicos. There isn't a lot to do besides diving. Yes they have jet-skies and para sailing. But you need to travel by taxi (they are expensive) or rent a car to get to them, also expensive. To sum up here are a list of good and bad: The Good
The Bad
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