This sleepy little island felt practically deserted during both my visits, first in 1996 and again in 1997, and it became my favorite diving spot in the Caribbean. Peace and quiet, beautiful beaches, and coral cliffs that drop from 30 feet to over 7,000 feet within 300 yards of shore. The political capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands for over 400 years, many believe that Grand Turk was Columbus' first landfall in the New World, fitting his journal description of a low-lying "bean-shaped" island with ponds in the middle. The Old-World charm of Grand Turk is evident on touring the island. Each building has a walled courtyard to keep wandering horses and donkeys from dining on the foliage. Flamingos forage for their meals where North Creek meets the sea. Grand Turk is a bit of a pain to get to, with a puddle-jumper required from Provo, but maybe that's why it's so unspoiled. I'll definitely be going back.
My friend Derek van Bever and I were alone on the first trip; on the second Derek didn't come but I was joined by my family. We stayed at the Guanahani Beach Resort and dove with Sea Eye Diving on both trips and have no complaints about either. Connie and Cecil, the owners of Sea Eye, are the nicest dive operators I've ever encountered. Here's Cecil with a pet:
The rooms at the relaxed and funky Guanahani are unremarkable but we didn't spend much time in them anyway.
The diving, either from shore or via a 3-minute boat ride, is simply superb by Caribbean standards. Big animals are regulars here, from manta rays (in summer) to dolphins to humpback whales migrating from the nearby Dominican Republic (early spring) to whale sharks. Plenty of interesting small fish and critters as well, from octopi to slipper lobsters and conch. Among the best dives I had here was a night shore dive from Guanahani's beach. We had a leisurely 30-minute surface swim out to the wall just before sunset and worked our way back to shore as night fell. On the second trip we had family along and did a day trip / picnic / snorkel to nearby Gibbs Cay, which was fun. Day trips to the nearly-uninhabited Salt Cay are also possible.
Here are my dive log entries for the 1996 trip:
| Dive No. | Date | Dive Site | Max Depth | Bottom Time | Night? | Notes |
| 134 | 3/25/96 | Ampitheatre | 87 | 0:42 | N | 1st dive w/new Mares suit. Nice reef w/cool cut onto sheer wall. Huge Nassau grouper being cleaned @start, another in sponge later. Big file fighting damsel, queen trigger @end. Cold - water temp 77-78. |
| 135 | 3/25/96 | Finbar | 33 | 0:50 | N | Used 2 suits - plenty warm, but bouyant! Borrowed 2lbs fm D. Nice patch reef, lots of queen triggers, big hermit in conch. Curious Tilefish, flamingo tongues, big silver snappers, yellow-headed wrasse. Nauseous fm surge & excess bouyancy. Big pillar coral |
| 136 | 3/25/96 | Library | 64 | 0:00 | Y | Night dive over top & into cut to nice 60 ft wall. Lobster, fabulous pr banded shrimp, lots of tubeastrea, big spider crabs, tubular jellyfish, DM & incompetent divers inflated pu'er. |
| 137 | 3/26/96 | Black Forest | 90 | 0:42 | N | Lush wall, tons of black coral. Forgot Suunto(!), D. had trouble clearing. Nice Nassau grouper, parrots on top. Sun finally shining on G. Turk. |
| 138 | 3/26/96 | The Anchor | 60 | 0:53 | N | Great dive. Big old anchor upright in sand at top of wall, big chain going over wall. Lots of 'cuda. Indigo hamlet & grouper on wall, played w/Nassau under fan, then pod of 8 dolphin!!! swam by. Great wall. |
| 139 | 3/27/96 | Gorgonian Wall | 91 | 0:52 | N | Gorgeous, aptly-named site. Jacks, 'cudas, queen angels. Big rainbow parrot cruising wall top. Grouper cleaning, huge ray in sand at end. |
| 140 | 3/27/96 | English Point | 57 | 0:56 | N | Beautiful site at south end of island, sandy slope to wall w/cuts, scattered coral heads. Garden eels, a big starfish, nice hogfish, sgt. majors. Sat in coral-encrusted lawn chair. Dozens of shells (small conch?) cruising in sand. Others saw batfish. |
| 141 | 3/28/96 | Ampitheatre | 63 | 0.05 | Y | Shore night dive in front of Guanahani - 1/2 hr swim to wall, down at dusk. Nice moonlight & sparklies. Squirrelfish came to my mask, luminescent jelly crashed into fan. 2 baby squid, 2 big crabs, D. tortures little red hermit. |
| 142 | 3/28/96 | MacDonald's | 82 | 0:52 | N | Cool arch fm sand onto wall. Big jacks, others saw dolphins. |
| 143 | 3/28/96 | Coral Gardens | 65 | 0:56 | N | Great fish feed to amazingly tame groupers who we held & petted. Big school of yellow-tailed jacks. Green moray in hole, profuse coral & fish. |
| 144 | 3/29/96 | Library | 49 | 0:58 | Y | Huge spider crab, orange ball corallimorphs, gigantic elephant ear sponges, several species of lobster, nice banded shrimp, octopus eyes peeking out fm under coral, basket star, hermit in conch. |
| 145 | 3/29/96 | Aquarium | 101 | 0:46 | N | Deep slope & channel to not-too sheer wall, perfectly covered w/big plate coral. Small turtle, small nurse shark in hole. Video trouble. DM Malcom says he saw free-swimming seahorse. |
| 146 | 3/29/96 | Connie's Reef | 59 | 1:03 | N | Heard whalesong! Friendly grouper, spotted moray, anemone crab. |
| 147 | 3/30/96 | Cecil's Reef | 79 | 0:50 | N | Louder whalesong (Sebastian & Stella saw whales early AM fm hotel). Lots of pillar coral, gorgonians. Ocean triggers off wall. |
| 148 | 3/30/96 | Coral Gardens | 47 | 1:02 | N | Friendly groupers again, little blennies in sponge holes. Video'd Derek in shades. |
and here's the log of the 1997 trip:
| Dive No. | Date | Dive Site | Max Depth | Bottom Time | Night? | Notes |
| 179 | 4/27/97 | Black Forest | 92 | 0:49 | N | Lousy (30-40') viz in shallows (surf, wind, plankton); better off wall @60' & below. Cold, will wear double suit tomorrow. Big trumpet, huge conch. |
| 180 | 4/27/97 | The Anchor | 66 | 0:53 | N | Viz much better than 1st dive. Beautiful spot (no dolphins this time, though). Pair of ocean triggers, big peacock flounder, small 'cudas, queen trigger. |
| 181 | 4/28/97 | Gorgonian Wall | 105 | 0:50 | N | Warmer w/2 suits, put extra 1-lb weight in right BC pocket which levelled me out nicely. Uneventful but relaxing dive. Nice little spotted drum, big black durgons. |
| 182 | 4/28/97 | Library | 65 | 1:05 | N | Beautiful site, big friendly groupers followed whole dive looking for a handout. Queen trigger, puers, lots of snappers, grunts, chub, etc. on top of wall. Big hermit in conch shell. Good viz. 78 - 80° temp. Gorgeous honeycomb cowfish. |
| - | 4/28/97 | Gibbs Cay | SNORKEL | - | - | Nice picnic in afternoon. Fat pair of squid, juvenile French angel, spiy lobster. Tame family of stingrays came to be fed in a few inches of water at the beach, along with a 30" reef shark! |
| 183 | 4/29/97 | MacDonalds | 112 | 0:49 | N | Poor viz on top, better off wall. Nice eagle ray came pretty close at 100'. Weird jelly tube thing about a foot long, 1/2" diameter, antenna'd bulbs at each end. Big grouper being cleaned in sand above arch. |
| 184 | 4/29/97 | Finbar | 71 | 1:09 | N | Macky, Chris Mohr from Ohio, and me. Scrawled file, golden spotted moray, flushed small turtle out of hardpan close to boat. Pair of orange files, queen angel. Mediocre viz; lots of plankton. |
| 185 | 4/29/97 | Library | 66 | 1:14 | Y | Great, great night dive. Slipper lobster in wall cut @ start, orange ball corallimorphs, lots of banded shrimp, handled free-swimming spotted moray, all kinds of lobsters, humongo reef crabs, 10" free-swimming eel (looked like garden eel). Chris & Mary saw octopus, Mackie & Japanese inflated puer. Unbelievably fabulous luminescent string jellies like at Tent Reef, Saba. Crazed, writhing silver fishy thing (possibly fish attacked by predator), big jack cruising, basket star on fan. |
| 186 | 4/30/97 | The Tunnels | 110 | 1:03 | N | Cool tunnel down chute & onto wall. Great coral, esp. top of wall. Fingers cleaned by Pedersen shrimp. Good-sized spotted moray. Thermocline @100'. Plankton storm on sandy areas reduces viz greatly. Strange hamlet w/black spot & blue lines on face. |
| 187 | 4/30/97 | Coral Gardens | 71 | 1:03 | N | Fed Alexander & 3 other groupers. Mackie boxed Alex. Yanked tail of 3' nurse shark under coral head. |
| 188 | 4/30/97 | Black Forest | 70 | 1:40 | N | Awesome shore dive from Guanahani beach w/Chris about 4:00PM. On the swim out,m saw what loked like a dead (upside down, head in hole) nurse shark, with a smaller live juvenile. I yanked the "dead" one's tail and it woke up & swam off. A plethora of fish on wall top. Another nurse shark in sand on the way in, 2 peacock flounder, scrawled file, big gorgeous slipper lobster(!) cruising(!) on top of rock pile in 6' of water. Orange legs, purple antennae. Noticed a recurring theme: Pedersen shrimp outside a hole occupied by a curly anemone and a pair of hard-to-see reddish shrimp behind the anemone. Saw this setup repeatedly during the week. Good "ugly reef" just south of Guanahani beach. 46 PSI at end! |
| 189 | 5/1/97 | Ampitheatre | 120 | 0:57 | N | Better viz, cool cut/arch onto wall. Spent most of dive laying on vast sand slope watching magnificent midnight blue parrot grazing. Pair of scrawled files, huge grouper at wall top under shelf. Mackie poached 2 huge conch. Chased flounder around. |
| 190 | 5/1/97 | English Point | 72 | 1:08 | N | Hugged inside of wall most of dive. 4 small stingrays, Pedersen shrimps cleaned hand, nice pair of curious ocean triggers. Lots of small conch, got close to small cuda. German diver couple nuzzling in sand under boat. Couldn't find batfish or lawn chair. |
| - | 5/1/97 | Guanahani Beach | - | - | - | Great afternoon snorkel. Found the slipper lobster out in the open again. |
| 191 | 5/1/97 | Library | 52 | 1:09 | Y | Terror at 40' - inflator valve stuck 'on', managed to get under control before any permanent damage. Makie found huge octopus, its head about 6" diameter. Free-swimming at first at about 30', off the wall. We chased it a bit & then it settled on wall, where I touched its tentacles and it sucked on my fingers. Pale brown, didn't change colors. I wnet over wall top & sat in the dark looking at sparklies, then Mackie's nephew found small blue/green octpus (about 12" dia. overall). Chased it around the rocks for a few minutes but it wouldn't let me touch it. More good luminescents, then found 5-6 small squid and a big (20") "box" jellyfish under boat. |
| 192 | 5/2/97 | Rolling Hills (Cecil's reef) | 127 | 0:56 | N | Tremendous variety of coral. Nicely-lit ridge had lots of swarming fish action. Got low-battery warning on Cochran transmitter for the first time. |
| 193 | 5/2/97 | Coral Gardens | 71 | 1:05 | N | Last dive of trip. Fed groupers, Françoise & Garance snorkelled. Nice indigo hamlet, group of 4 queen angels travelling together, one quite large. Couple of good-sized jacks, pod of 7 'cuda lurking at end. |