The Scuba Shack travel team of Jeff & Donna Cinciripino and Dennis & Tammy Bosse embarked on this inaugural trip to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos to complete four days of diving with Dive Provo, a great outfit run by Alan & Claire Jardine with seasoned crews and well maintained, clean, comfortable boats.

Check out the photo gallery with more than 25 images from this trip!

Fortunately, Hurricane Earl moved north and the flights to Providenciales were on time allowing for all to go as planned. The base for the trip was the Comfort Suites hotel; a nice property, well maintained and very convenient to the dive shop, restaurants, groceries, and shopping. Our first stop was the dive shop, literally 100 feet from the lobby of the Comfort Suites. Lynne checked us in quickly and gave us all the info needed for our first dive the next morning.

Next stop, the pool and time to unwind from the journey south and cool off (the heat is on in TCI in September). There are plenty of lounge chairs and the bar is close at hand to quench a diver’s thirst.

Our four days of diving started from south Providenciales. Dive Provo has three boats that run out of Caicos Marina and Shipyard in the south and Turtle Cove Marina on the north side. We boarded Crusader, a 36 foot Newton dive boat with our captain Bill and divemaster Steph for a trip to West Caicos for dives at The Gulley and The Driveway. These two wall dives offer an abundance of sea life and a dramatic shear wall with lots to see. The top of the wall starts at about 60 feet and drops to over 6000 feet. Good buoyancy and NITROX are a must for T&C. Our visibility was around 60 feet, a little lower than normal thanks to Earl. As the first divers hit the water, we were greeted by 7 – 9 foot grey reef sharks. Each dive provided anywhere from 2 – 5 sharks, stingrays, spotted eagle rays, turtles, and many smaller sea creatures.

On day two we headed from the north side on Challenger, a smaller but comfortable boat to Northwest Point on the tip of Providenciales with captain John and divemaster Holly. Our dives included The Chimney and Eel Garden. On Northwest point the top of the wall starts at 35 to 40 feet with the same drop off into the deep. The Chimney is a crack in the wall where you can descend and come out at 85 to 100 feet. The Chimney is open for exit at any point on the descent. Both dives offered the same abundance of big and small fish with visibility around 80 feet.

Saturday saw us head south again aboard Conquest, another 36 foot Newton dive boat with captain John and divemaster Selma. The trip took us to French Cay, a small uninhabited island about 18 miles south of Providenciales. Our dive sites included Rock & Roll and G Spot. The top of the wall at French Cay is about 40 feet. The wall is covered with enormous barrel sponges that are quite colorful when hit by our lights. Beautiful eagle rays paid us a visit as well. As we made our way back to the dock we tied up in front of the Turks & Caicos Explorer II live aboard getting ready for a trip. The proud captain was more than willing to give us a quick tour before his guests arrived.

Our final dives were back at French Cay on Crusader with captain John and divemaster Steph. The current was a little stronger as we dove Dax’s Canyon and Rock & Roll after kicking Explorer II off the mooring. Again an outstanding set of dives with numerous visits by things big and small.

The staff from Dive Provo were fantastic. Truly what a vacation is meant to be – RELAXING! It was no rush diving with all our dives going over 50 minutes with depths of 70 feet or more. All our surface intervals were well over an hour which gave us plenty of time to off gas and enjoy a light lunch of sandwiches and banana bread. The boat rides are a little longer than some destinations (about 45 minutes to 1 hour) and we were normally underway by 9 am with a return to the dock around 2:30 in the afternoon. Dive Provo took care of rinsing, storing, and getting our gear to the boat for our next dive. Our afternoon drop off at Comfort Suites by 3 to 3:30 gave us ample time to visit the beach, do a little shopping, or desalinate in the pool with a favorite beverage.

Comfort Suites proved an extremely convenient location with a very nice supermarket and deli across the street and a few steps from Jimmy’s Dive Bar for a quick dinner. Several other restaurants are within walking distance including “Pizza Pizza” and Danny Buoy’s (Irish Pub). The dive team also had dinner at Shark Bites on Turtle Cove and “Somewhere on the Beach” located somewhere on the beach at Coral Gardens.

Prior to leaving we had a nice chat with Alan (owner of Dive Provo) about various options for divers coming to Providenciales. Whether it is to complete certifications, do some diving, or a full dive package, Scuba Shack can work with Dive Provo to meet all your diving needs on Turks and Caicos.

Although our travel team was small, the adventure was big on the Scuba Shack First Annual Summer Sundown Trip to Turks and Caicos. The planning has started for number two when we hope to have an entire Scuba Shack boat in 2011.

Ensure you bring a pot luck dish to share, we’re providing the grill.

Admission at Brownstone Park is $26 and includes free parking. Ensure you take the day off and come early to check out all of the activities at the park … zip lines, wakeboarding, cliff jumping, rock climbing and more! But don’t wear yourself out … you’ll be diving after all that fun!

The weathermen predicted overcast skies and showers, man were they off..  again!  We had probably one of the top five days of the summer. Sunny and not a drop of rain in site.

Having some divers freshly out of their open water training, this was a great place to head out into the great blue ocean. Unfortunately, the sea Gods were not as generous as Mother Nature. The viability was five to eight feet, but the dives were still great. Although the sea life was plentiful, we did not hear of anyone seeing any of the tropicals that are known to head this way in the summer months.

After the first dive, we promptly started our feast with dessert. Deco-brownies were the treat of choice (thanks Tammy and Mike). After our second dive, the grill came out, the salads were passed around, and everyone had their fill.

Seeing as everyone had such a great time, our next adventure was planned for August 14, we will be heading out to Kings Beach. If you would like to join us, please contact the shop and get on our mailing list. There will be plenty more opportunities to hit the water.

We have more than 50 pictures from the day at Ft. Wetherill up in the gallery so check them out.

Keep Diving!

-Dennis

Everyone worked hard, learned a lot, and gained valuable knowledge on five more disciplines of diving.  We all made new friends and dive buddies.

The result: Joe, Glenn, Steve, Mike, Sara, Christian, Charles and Kurt earned their PADI Advanced Open Water certification. Congratulations!

The PADI Advanced Open Water class opens your world to new dive experiences. The certification offers a taste of the additional opportunities available, with additional specialty courses and the PADI Rescue Diver program up next.

Advanced divers can now safely go a little deeper, navigate a little further and ultimately are more comfortable in the water. More comfort equals more fun!

Thanks to all for helping make this a great Drive & Dive event! Below is a few images from the weekend, but be sure to check out the full photo gallery.

Using Orange Hill Beach Inn as our base of operations, the long weekend kicked off Wednesday with a pre-dive briefing poolside with a plethora of empty Kalik bottles to attest to the duration of the not so brief briefing. Dinner was held alfresco at Capriccio’s, where everyone was able to meet their fellow divers (and the two snorkelers).

Thursday dawned bright, sunny and calm – quite the departure from last year. The staff at Stuart Cove’s efficiently registered everyone, assigned us our boat and crew. This year we had an entirely new crew, but our reputation had preceded us and we were treated as royalty. Clee J was captain, Kayla and Ryan served as divemasters, and Vicky was our on board paparazzi.

Together with our 28 people, the boat was rather full, but fortunately with the incredibly calm seas, we were able to spread out and never felt cramped. Diving off New Providence Island did not disappoint, we dove on wrecks, Hollywood sets, walls and shallow reefs. Peter Walden was able to complete his advanced open water course and by the smile on his face, seemed to enjoy it. We saw the usual suspects during our dives: sharks, rays, eels, lionfish, turtles and assorted pretty fish. We were entertained by pods of dolphin during our boat rides to the dive sites.

Our routine after diving included the post dive debrief poolside with the ever present Kalik followed by dinner out at Café Matisse, one of our favorite haunts. Friday night dinner found us at Senor Frog’s where Bobby G. entertained the entire crowd with his diving prowess off the porch railing into the briny. This was followed by karaoke renditions by Craig and Bobby.

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was on Saturday, the off island adventure to Exuma, a two hour boat ride south of New Providence. We left early, had a moment of trepidation when we passed through a small rain storm, but arrived to bright sunshine and calm seas. I was somewhat taken aback when the crew asked me where we were supposed to dive, it was their first trip to Exuma and while they had a basic idea of how it ran, they were relying on me to orchestrate the trip. Fortunately, I chose wisely and we did two dives on the same terrific site. I don’t know what was better, the incredible swim through that we entered at 55 feet and put us out on the wall at 95 feet or the hammerhead shark. Perhaps if you see Kevin Krebsbach or Jimmy Drew who were able to get close and personal with the shark, they will give you an idea of what the diving was like. It was an adventure just getting to the lunch site, but with a little creative boat handling we endeavored to persevere. Needless to say, it was a full day of adventure in the sun, yet a diehard group was able to rally that evening for drinks and appetizers at the renowned Compass Point Resort.

Sunday, our last dive day, found us at Bacardi Reef/Port Nelson wreck where we encountered a resting nurse shark, multiple schooling fish, eels, and a lone octopus out for a walk. The other dives included the Shark Arena, where a number of people were able to find shark’s teeth, and the James Bond Wrecks. We packed a lot of adventure in four days of diving. Sunday night was highlighted by a sumptuous barbeque put together for us by Judy, owner of Orange Hill Beach Inn. An impromptu party with the dive staff of Stuart Cove’s followed in the Orange Hill bar and lounge area. Monday arrived far too quickly and people started heading home. Fortunately, this year, those of us flying American Airlines were not delayed in our return to the States. I am happy to report that our two snorkelers, Tyler and Angela, have vowed to return next year as certified divers after having to endure days on the boat listening to excited divers returning from their exciting visits to the aquatic realm.

Rachel sent this great note to Peter after her trip in April, and posted a detailed report on her blog.

Hi Peter!

I passed with flying colors and got the good version of “who trained you?” I think most of my problems during the practice session involved the back style BCD (just not used to it). But I used a jacket for all my training sessions. I LOVE SCUBA!

I had sooooooooooo much fun and it was even more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I am so glad we did the buoyancy exercises on the pool wall during the review. It was so helpful to know you can adjust buoyancy just by breathing differently. I really got the hang of it on my last few dives! It’s amazing how everything you taught us just kind of mentally snaps into place.

My instructor was mad at me because he says I saw more in 3 days than he saw in 100 days of diving. I saw a nurse shark and a moiré eel up close (both were hiding under a ledge—as pointed out by my instructor), I saw a lionfish, tons of huge parrot fish, a lobster, a spotted drum (my favorite) and two turtles! Of course I saw so many different other fish as well…but those were the highlights.

I even went on a deep dive on the last day after being certified. We went to trinity caves and it blew my mind. I wrote all about it on my blog and even gave a shout out to Scuba Shack if you want to check it out.

Thank you so much for the amazing teaching! And I hope to see you back at Scuba Shack for continuing scuba education!!

Take care,
Rach

Jeff has been diving with his wife Donna and son Matthew since 2004. His passion for diving led him to the PADI professional ranks in 2006 with the goal of helping new divers discover the thrill of underwater adventure. He has numerous dives off the islands of Maui and Lanai and continues to explore new sites across the Caribbean and the Northeast. Jeff completed the PADI Instructor Examination and became an instructor in the fall of 2009.

Congrats again Jeff!

The weather was spectacular, with warm temperature and a nice breeze. Visibility was in the 10 to 15 foot range with a bottom temperature of 68 degrees.

Summer time just doesn’t get any better than this in New England. Click on an image below to see a larger size.

Over 25-plus feet on the Poling, and a good 20-plus on Pickett’s Ledge. I think I have found my new favorite New England (non wreck) dive with Pickett’s!

I would like to thank all who made it out for a great day of diving; Mark, Jeff, Matthew, Tim, Tom, Ken and Bruce.

For those that could not make it, here are a few pictures of what you missed!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Dennis.R.Bosse/CapeAnn_August_02_2009#

We were able to try new dive sites such as the BBC’s wreck, Blue Plunder. This year we did dive Hole in the Head and have the pictures to prove it.

This trip was characterized by juvenile spotted drums, turtles and the ever present lionfish.

One of our “regular” dive sites, the wreck of the Willaurie, became more interesting with the addition of skeletal remains left by a movie company.

We were fortunate to have Vivian and Barry back as our crew.

The Exuma trip was a bit of a trial for our group, but all survived and enjoyed it. All the fun was not limited to the water. We had a great meal at the Marley Resort and Spa surrounded by the memorabilia and music of legendary Bob Marley. I would have to say the “highlight” of the trip had to be the evening at Senor Frog’s. With Craig’s stirring karaoke and Bobby G’s leading the crowd in “YMCA”, the evening was a resounding hit.

I am happy to report that the hardcore blackjack players did make a dent in the Casino’s bank, with most players leaving the table with more than they started. Roulette Red started out well, but may have been overdone with the Casino scoring numerous consecutive runs of Roulette Black! Sunday night was our barbecue and farewell party with the Stuart Cove dive staff at Orange Hill.

The Three J’s held court in Orange Hill’s bar and although I recall having an adult beverage or two, my bar bill seemed to indicate I treated the entire Island!

The trip was a resounding success do to a great group of people who really know how to have a good time!

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