 | | The Turks and Caicos Islands |
Provo, officially called Providenciales, is a small, low-key island located in the Turks and Caicos Islands, just southeast of the Bahamas. Provo is the one of the largest of the Caicos islands, and the primary tourist destination in the Turks and Caicos. It is one of the few Caribbean destinations that maintains a small, relaxed atmosphere.
Provo has some of the world's best beaches - the fine, white 12-mile long Grace Bay Beach was rated as one of the top ten beaches by Conde Naste. For divers, it offers something even better: dramatic, steep walls covered with brilliant soft corals and teeming with fish life.  | | Flying Gurnard |
The Diving
The diving around Provo is truly spectacular. Our first dive set the stage, and every dive after that was just as good. Just after entering the water at RGI (see below), we saw a small group of strange-looking fish with "arms", slowly swimming along the sandy bottom at the top of the wall. Having never seen this kind of fish before, we patiently followed them along the bottom, with Robin snapping pictures. Then, one of the fish unfolded its "arms" into a gorgeous set of wings! We found out after the dive that these were very rare fish, called flying gurnards. It was a great way to start a trip!  | | The wall at G-Spot |
Most dives are wall dives, and the corals are thick and healthy, with amazingly colorful soft corals. Since the top of the wall is usually not too deep, maybe in the 60-foot range, you can get great photos even without a strobe. And you'll have lots of opportunities. On one dive, we counted at least six queen angelfish on one small coral head! When diving the wall, take your time, and get close. There's no need to swim far too far from the boat, because every square foot of the wall is just packed with life. One of my favorite small critters to find was the flamingo-tongue snail, a beautiful little animal whose markings are actually part of the snail, not the shell -- it wraps its body around the outside of the shell. By moving slowly and looking closely we were able make some other great finds, like a Peterson's cleaner shrimp snuggled in next to a corkscrew anemone, and a tiny arrow crab.
Of course, larger marine life is everywhere too. On one dive, we came upon a large sleeping nurse shark, and on another a triggerfish that I believe was digging out a nest to lay eggs. Barracuda, parrotfish, goatfish, squirrelfish and jacks are common, and we even caught a glimpse of the occasionally reef shark.  | | Peterson's cleaner shrimp. |
Even apart from all the great fish and corals, the geography of the wall is an amazing sight. floating out over the sheer drop of the wall greatly enhances the feeling of weightlessness and free flight while diving. It's easy to spend a good while just marveling at that while on your first wall dive.
The only real drawback to diving in Provo is that most of the diving is done pretty far from shore. The three main areas for diving are the Northwest Point, West Caicos, and French Cay, all of which are 45 minutes or more from the main island of Provo. Other islands in the Turks and Caicos, such as Grand Turk and Salt Cay, offer closer diving, but they are more remote and have little tourist infrastructure. Depending on what you're looking for, this can be good or bad. Provo, however, does have excellent tourist infrastructure, including many resorts and restaurants.  | | The Conch Farm |
Other Stuff
Provo has quite a few large, luxurious resorts. There's no real downtown or city area with restaurants and shopping, so these resorts pretty much make up the entire shore-bound experience. Each resort has at least one or two restaurants, and there is at least one casino on the island. But even with these resorts, the island doesn't come across as loud and boisterous, like, for example, Cancun. Instead, it is a quiet place, with lush vegetation, low buildings and uncrowded beaches.
Provo has the world's only conch farm, and it is, ostensibly, open for tours. However, people in our group made a total of three trips there, all within their "normal" business hours, and every time they were closed for one reason or another. We did get to look around the outside a bit, but if you want to find out more, it's a good idea to call ahead. |
