Questions about Grand Turk vs Provo
 

1. Water
How is the water for diving and snorkeling in late January - I know it varies but as a general rule? Is ti choppy or smooth? Also, is it warm or at least comfy for snorkeling? Is the water better at Grace Bay or elsewhere on Provo in January?

2. Can you go on a glow-worm cruise (or whatever) from GT?

3. Keep reading mixed reviews. Is diving better on GT or Provo? Or one of the other islands?

Thanks much.

grand turk does not really have a lot going on yet. the island is just starting to amp up tourist services because they've installed a cruise ship pier. not many hotels, 2 or 3 dive companies, few restaurants.
provo has many resorts and some excellent dining opportunities.
dive companies from either island will go to some of the same spots. wall diving is the big deal and the walls drop off all the island.
most of the companies list the spots they normally use and why on their web sites.
whether you can do glow worms depends on the time of month. here's link to one company that does a glow worm trip from provo:
http://www.sailprovo.com/glowworms.htm
and here's a moon chart:
http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon/in...&Submit=Go
the appropriate time is a few days after the full moon. and of course depends on if it's too windy those evenings.
re weather: air temp will be 75-80.
it should not be very windy.
?10mph. water is cooler than more southern islands, but if you are taking dive suits you should have no problem with it.
grace bay beach has 2 good snorkel spots. one directly in front of coral gardens resort. the other smiths reef near turtle cove marina. malcolm road beach has good snorkeling as well.
hope this helps...

Thanks for the great info and the links.

Glow worm tours are from Provo only, they don't have them over in Grand Turk. January is a mixture, I have been the last 5 Januarys in Provo, with daytrip to Grand Turk (weather.) It's usually always sunny, but the "Christmas Winds" can brew up (actually they usually affect most of the Caribbean-in Jan. I have seen Virgin Islands, Anguilla, even Cozumel and Playa Del Carmen choppy waters.) But I have also seen incredible like glass waters in Turks and Caicos. In Provo, in Jan, I have snorkeled just fine without any wetsuits, etc. and not gotten cold. We just returned from Ocean City Maryland, I personally found the water to be colder than the water in T&C in January. In all fairness though, the water was calm and it was warm the last 2 years in Jan in T&C, but about 7 years ago, in Jan, we had a horrible week in T&C, the water was choppy, waves were crazy, and the water was too cool to stay in long. Weather is just that, weather, there is nothing you can do about it.

I've been lucky, every time I've gone to Grand Turk, the water has been calm like glass. I have know and talked to people, that everytime they've gone to Grand Turk, the water has been rough.

We will be in T&C in Dec and Jan, so I think the weather overall has been phenominal for us on average.

Diving is slightly better in GT, it is a dive destination, however, Provo's diving, in my experience, is better than a majority of Caribbean destinations. It's on par with Caymans.