Sher

My husband and I will be in Provo for a week in November.

I have been researching tours and they all seem to have boat rides on some part of them.

In Bali, I took a chartered boat tour with a group of friends. I was so horribly sick. So, I am very reluctant to sign up for a tour in which a boat ride is included. I really don't want to take a chance that I will be sick again.

Maybe there just is not enough to see to make a land tour of the island.

Thanks

beachdreams3

Most of the tours on Provo are on boats, because the true beauty of the island is its beaches and water. The only all-land tours I am aware of are the ones offered by the same company that runs a shuttle around the main tourist areas (Grace Bay and Turtle Cove). Here is a link to their tour offerings, but I don't really know if these tours are worthwhile. Most people seem to just rent a car for island/beach exploring.

http://www.thegecko.tc/tours.htm

I sympathize with you on the seasickness problem. I sometimes get sick on boats too. I had been thinking about taking a boat tour on Provo, but didn't do it on my trip in April/May. Next time, I definitely will do it though. I took some Dramamine non-drowsy formula before a catamaran trip on my trip to St. Lucia last year and was fine.

Sher

Thanks for the information.

I was so miserable in Bali that I just do not want to chance it. My husband had a grand time. The staff on the boat had a marvelous lunch and even cleaned and grilled the fish he caught. I guess I could send him.

It's funny. It must be the small boats because on the one cruise we took I was fine even one of the days when many people were seasick.

We are renting a car, so I think maybe I will do more research and plan to explore on our own.

mymoosie

Since you will have a car, you can definitely just explore on your own. It's a small, flat island, so relatively easy to do your own exploring. Check out Blue Hills and have some conch at Da Conch Shack. Go to Malcolm's, though you need a high clearance vehicle as the road is rough. Check out Sapodilla, Taylor Bay, Chalk Sound, Pelican Beach, Long Bay. Lots of beautiful beaches. Take a tour of the Conch Farm, pretty interesting, good for an hour of your time.

If you're up to it, take a daytrip by plane to Grand Turk. A totally different pace than Provo.

Enjoy!

blamona

On the plus side, Provo and the cays are protected by an outer reef-the water seems to be consistently calm. This is not the case in Bali, where the water is not protected by an reef, and the water seemed (to me anyway) to be chooppier.

You can look out that morning, if the water seems calm on the beach (85% of it being calm) then it should be safe for you to venture out on a boat. The waters there are also more shallow, and boats travel, for the most part, inside the reef. If you see breakers out on the reef, don't go.

My advice:wait until the last minute. Check out the beach at 8:30 AM-if water is calm-set up an excursion. If water is choppy, rent a high clearance vehicle and check out Malcolm's Beach. Or take a picnic to Sapadilla Bay.

Good luck!

Sher

Thank you everyone.

I don't mind spending the tour money, but most of them are not cheap and I don't want to be sick.

But I will check out the water. I didn't realize the difference in the chop.

I think we are going to rent a high clearance vehicle anyway. All of the posts say that is the best bet if you want to explore all of the island.

We haven't driven on "that" side of the road since Ireland. It should be interesting.

dawnie9

Sher, I agree with one of the other posters, the beauty of Provo is the beaches and the ocean. The island itself is simply scruffy and flat. I've been there 4 times for scuba diving and the boat rides to the reefs are fairly long (35-45 min.) If the water is choppy a lot of people due tend to get queesy so dramamine may be a good idea if you take a tour. The island is extremely easy to navigate by car aside from the left side driving. Though I will say that the last time I was there (about 3 years ago)my rental car was vadalized while I was snorkeling off a beautiful beach. They broke the window which was aggravating with having to waste precious vacation time to file a police report and get a new vehicle. The police (who at the time didn't even carry guns) told us that they were just starting to have a crime situation (mainly vandalism) on Provo for the first time ever (they blamed it on the illegal Haitians coming to the island.) Just giving you a heads-up so if you rent a car you don't leave anything of value at all. Provo is a great island specifically for scuba diving and snorkeling. As I mentioned, it's not lush "pretty" looking island other than the beautiful water!!

Sher

We do not snorkel or dive. But we love the beach.

We picked this particular destination for a number of reasons:
beautiful water
no cruise ships land in Provo.
beautiful beach.
we do not care about night life.
same time zone as US.
we don't care about casinos.
considered safe.
a good selection of nice restaurants for a small area.

We are used to renting cars in Europe and one never leaves anything in those cars. So we will just have to use the same caution. But thank you for reminding us.