This spectacular destination is a short 3 hour flight from Atlanta. Turks and Caicos is an archipelago of coral islands in the Atlantic Ocean, directly north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The islands’ history has been tumultuous, with lots of nations exerting their influence on these tiny islands. Currently, these islands are a British Overseas Territory with self-rule. Visitors to the islands fly into Providenciales, the home to the world-famous Grace Bay Beach. The islands have seen so much change. Back in 1984, Club Med was the first resort and while Provo focused on beaches and resort, Turks focused on diving.
From a diving perspective Turks & Caicos is an amazing vacation destination and I would be aboard the Aggressor II. I together with my 15 other shipmates would have an opportunity to explore the third largest barrier reef on the planet.
I can’t say enough about the diving on this trip. We saw reef sharks nearly every day. The reef was extremely healthy, teeming with life and we saw rays and turtles. One green turtle got up so close and personal with our video pro that he nearly kissed the camera! So whether you want to see big things like reef sharks and rays or little creatures like blennies or tiny nudibranchs, you can see it all during your 7 days on this liveaboard.
Dive Briefings
Before every dive, each diver attends the dive briefing and learns about the dive site. To get the most out of each dive, we need to understand the dive site description, environment, conditions, dive profile, including max depth and bottom times to plan our dive. The crew did an excellent job telling us what we might expect to see, and we were never disappointed.
Another fun aspect of the dive briefing is the dive sight drawings done by the dive guide. Often they are temporary works of art! In the briefing area, there is a whiteboard that is used to illustrate the underwater environment. The drawing orient you to the dive location and point out particular areas of interest such as swim-throughs, lobster hotels, sand shoots, cleaning stations, or other highlights.
My Highlight
My highlight of the trip our night dive at G Spot. This is a location only accessible if you are on a liveaboard. During the dive briefing we were told there would blood works in the water, several nurse sharks feeding around the coral heads and we might even meet the location’s resident celebrity. We were in for a treat.
The nurse sharks did not disappoint. I counted at least 15 nurse sharks buzzing all around, using our dive lights to hunt. There were a couple of large tarpon who joined in the fun. It was amazing. Coolest of all was meeting Steve, a massive Cubera snapper. Now I know why his is a celebrity. He weight upwards of 80 lbs and is the largest “fish” I’ve ever seen outside of a Goliath Grouper. After the dive we were greeted with the hot cocoa and rum cream. We were all smiles the rest of the night. We couldn’t stop talking about it.
If you’d like to read more about our week, check out the Turks and Caicos Aggressor II adventure log from the trip.
Our Aggressor II Staff
Instructor and Super Awesome T&C local: Alizee Zimmermann
I can’t say enough about our hosts and fellow dive enthusiasts. They were amazing! Those smiles on their faces weren’t for show. It was clear that they enjoyed working together and enjoyed having us aboard their board.
Alizee Zimmermann especially told us all about the island, explained what it is to be a “Belonger” – a native of Turks & Caicos. Although there are 48,000 people living on the islands, only 7,800 are Belongers and can vote. The people here are relaxed, resulting in a low-key, slow-paced environment. Alizee passion for the reef clear. It was as if it was a part of her, which is why I was so happy to hear that she is now the Executive Director of TCRF.
Our Photo Pro, Sofia Arnus, helped me earn my first SSI specialty, Underwater Photography. She was an absolute master. White balance, white balance, white balance. She explained what to look for is a good underwater camera and was part of the reason why I was able to get so many great underwater shots on this trip. Thank you Sofia!
You Need To Go!
If you are looking for an amazing dive experience, look no further than the Turks & Caicos Aggressor II. You will be pampered by the staff, taken to some amazing dive sights and I promise this you. You will not be disappointed. I could not have picked a greater place to celebrate my personal milestone of 100 dives.
D&W
