rwhiting

Just got back from a great 1st trip to Provo. Travel on U.S. Air through Charlotte was uneventful. We rented a car from Avis, and while the full sized Rodeo was expensive, we were glad for the better ride it afforded on the rough island roads (which was most of them).

Accommodations:
We rented the top floor of a villa called Crystal Sands, on Sapodilla Bay on the south side of the island. Highly recommended - right on a fabulous beach, newly built, beautifully furnished and landscaped, reasonably priced. The view from our second floor veranda was spectacular! Gorgeous sunsets and incredible crystal blue water colors. Some of these rentals that look great online can be dumps when you get there - this is not the case here. We loved the privacy and space the south side location offered, and it’s only 10-15 minutes from the dive boat dock, IGA grocery store, Turtle Cove and Grace Bay restaurants. Owners Scott and Dana were very helpful, prompt and informative in replies to all our questions, which were many.

Restaurants:
I kind of divide the places to eat into 2 categories – the resort areas have more elegant ambience, but you pay for the privilege. Then there are the local eateries, with more authentic Caribbean cuisine and much lower prices. In the first category:
Aqua – ***/$$$ - expensive, but we were able to save money by asking for the lunch menu – even at 6:00. Very good, nice Turtle Cove marina view.
Hemingways - **/$$$ - decent food, great Grace Bay views
Caicos Café - ***/$$$ - best food preparation of the expensive restaurants – outstanding Caicos shrimp (grilled), grilled snapper, veggies with each that had a delicious spicy sauce – but the tab was $140 for 3 of us (only ordered 1 beer with dinner too).
Tiki Hut - **/$$ - we went for the Wed Chicken and Rib special – good food, nice Turtle Cove view.
Shark Bite – **/$$ - Had a great lunch there – try the grouper sandwich done jerk style – yum! Lunch prices were reasonable.

In the hole-in-the-wall category:
Hole In The Wall - ***/$ - Outstanding jerk chicken and curried conch, accompanied by tasty beans and rice. Entries $10 or less.
Smokies - ***/$ - Local hangout in Blue Hills area – great fresh seafood – again, entries less than half the price of Grace Bay, but very well prepared.
Bugaloos - ***/$ - All conch, all the time – literally brought from the ocean to your plate - very nice!

Diving:
Caicos Adventures is a great dive op. Everyone on the crew - Andy, Clair, Ollie, Richard, Lil and Ollie - could not have been more helpful, professional and fun to dive with. The boat is spacious, well equipped (full sized head!) and very comfortable - all very important on the 45 - 60 minute runs to West Caicos and French Cay. We dove primarily on W. Caicos, with one day to French Cay and one dive on the channel off W. Caicos. (More complete dive report posted on Scubaboard.com)

Misc.
The island itself is not particularly attractive, but the powdery white sand beaches, incredible water colors, and the diving are among the best in the Caribbean.
Bring bug spray and anti-itch stuff. Especially early evening and anywhere that there’s not a beach breeze blowing, you can get eaten up.
There are a lot of feral dogs on the island – very sad, but the local SPCA is very active, and you can even adopt an animal if you want to help.

The trip turned out to be everything my non-diving wife and I wanted – picture perfect beaches and total relaxation for her and lots of first rate diving for me. If anyone wants more details please feel free to PM me.

Rich

barginhunter

Rich, Thanks for an informative trip report appreciate the Prices. I know you dive, did your wife do any snorkeling? We are planning on going next summer, and are considering taking a resort corse and then diving with Ciacos Adventures. I love snorkeling but am a little leary to take the Dive. Any advise is welcome Thanks again...

travelenthusiast

Thanks for the great trip report. I'm sure we'll use some of your suggestions this fall.

rwhiting

Hi Barginhunter,
We did some great snorkeling at Smith's Reef - very large, healthy reef starting only 20 - 30 yards from shore. Unfortunately, the people building a villa there have fenced over the easiest beach access, so it's a bit of a hike to get to the best entrance now. My son did the resort course, and I HIGHLY recommend doing the resort diving course with Caicos Adventures. Unlike some resort courses, theirs includes one afternoon in the pool (and the ocean - Grace Bay) and then the next day you go on the same 2-tank trip as the regular divers. Although you're limited to 40 ft. depth, there is still a ton of exciting things to see at this depth. My son and I saw sharks, barracuda, lobsters, stingrays, Moray eels and more. The crew from Caicos adventures could not have been more helpful, patient and supportive - always at arms length for security. Don't be leary - it is well worth it! But be warned - once the diving bug bites, you're doomed to a lifetime of seeking out exotic destinations to see the amazing things that you only scratch the surface of while snorkeling.

barginhunter

Rich, Thanks so much for the pep talk, and the good feedback for Caicos Adventues, 40 feet is just enough for the first time, I'm sure you are right about catching the bug, our vacations are all about snorkeling now, which is perfect since we still have little ones, but I am hoping my oldest will want to take the dive with us. I just won't mention the sharks. Thanks again for all your info we were going back and forth between renting a 4x4 or not is the rodeo big enough for 3 kids? The Crystal Sands Villa sounds wonderful, we had looked into it because of all the great reiviews, and the fact it is away from everything, but it just destoys our vacation budget. I think I would rather spend the extra on excursions. Looked for your report on the scuba sight , didn't have any luck. Thanks for all your input it will diffenitly help us with our planning!

rwhiting

Barginhunter,
The Rodeo should be big enough for 3 kids, and there are minivans available that might be even better. If you're staying at one of the resorts to keep expenses down, you might not even need a rental car. Most have shuttles (as does Caicos Adventures) and there is an island bus called the Gecko that does a loop around the main areas you'll want to get to. There's a flat fee you can pay for unlimited rides that I think is quite reasonable. Have fun!