Turks 2012

We headed back down to Provo again this January for some fun in the sun and diving. It seems that the island has bounced back from the 2008-10 recession and it was packed. Not so long ago, commercial flights down were few and only on certain days- usually on the weekends. Now, the gates are packed with tourists and the ramp is full. I took a few different dive setups with me this trip (no rebreather however) and after completely restoring a U.S. Divers Royal Aqua Master double hoser (it was built in 1970) I felt this was the perfect trip to put it through the trials needed to certify it sea-worthy. I had so many people ask if this was a new regulator being released to market and after letting them know that it was built the year I was born, they couldn't stop asking questions. It was really fun explaining the regulator and even comparing it to one of the other Conshelf 21 regulators on-board. Also, I took down a new repro vintage backplate that I picked up on vintagedoublehose.com, this thing is screaming awesome and huge congrats to Luis and Bryan for their hard work on bring this back to life. Below are some pictures from a week of diving at West Caicos and my favorite spot, Northwest Point. Enjoy...

West Caicos
Located 10 miles southwest of Providenciales, West Caicos is an uninhabited island offering pristine walls and numerous pelagics. Caribbean grey reefs sharks, black tip reef sharks, and eagle rays are often seen along the sheer walls. This is your best chance to spot wild flamingos, osprey and brown pelicans above water. West Caicos is approximately 45 minutes boat ride from Provo.

January 22, 2012 Riviera Wall and The Driveway 
West Caicos

Driveway (aka Skislope aka

Yankee Town)

40-100 feet

A sand area with scattered coral heads lies under the mooring in about 40 feet of water and leads into a sand chute that heads down through the reef from 50 feet to a ledge at about 80-100 feet where the wall drops vertically to the deep. All along the wall, as at many of the dive sites around West Caicos, divers find black coral and purple tube sponges, with yellow-headed jawfish, golden-tailed morays, groupers, black durgons, etc. The ledge area features some excellent growth of plate and star corals.

The double hoser

The grotto

3 foot grouper

Dinner

colors under water are amazing

Soft and stony corals

Look closely... hint in the center

Yellowtail Jack (Lutjanus chrysurus) and Brain Coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis)

Turtle at 150' deep

Riviera Wall

Garden Eels in "The Driveway"

 

Dive Profile

Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 75 feet
Max depth: 151 feet
Mix: 21% Air

Dive time: 45 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask

January 23, 2012 The Anchor and Magic Mushroom

West Caicos

Whiteface (aka

The Anchor)

70-100 feet

The name of this dive site comes from the steep cliffs along the shoreline as well as the old pirate ship anchor encrusted in the swim-through. Along the top of the wall is an expansive reef with some impressive stands of pillar coral.

Fish include barracuda, parrot fish, French angelfish, longsnout butterflyfish and groupers. Just north of the mooring is a crack in the wall with a large anchor from the mid 1800's embedded at 70 feet. The wall is well undercut to a depth of about 100 feet. Keep your eyes out for the many white-spotted morays along this site.

 

"Fang" and his girlfriend "Sparkle"

Slipper lobster- rare find at West Caicos

Shark!

Vintage camera setting- A la Cousteau

Coming in for a close encounter

Hanging out at around 130 feet

Perfect buoyancy

Deep blue

Just hanging around...

Who's your big double hoser?

The Anchor, do you see it? Look closely on the right.

Extreme Swim-through, straight down to 7,000 feet

Radial view of the reef

Sea fans galore

Just hanging out... over 7,000 feet of bluewater

Huge coral

Blowing water rings under the cat.

Dive Profile
Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 54 feet
Max depth: 135 feet
Mix: 21% Air

Dive time: 46 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask

Magic Mushroom

20-85 feet

The site is named after the rock formation near West Caicos that is shaped like a giant mushroom. The wall is buttressed with sand chutes covered with rope sponge and black coral leading down the wall. Look for the huge black coral tree at about 80-85 feet. On top of the wall, for a

shallow 2nd dive, the large coral heads are home to numerous fish, eels, and conch.

The "Magic Mushrooms"

Dive Profile
Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 51 feet
Max depth: 76 feet
Mix: 21% Air

Dive time: 42 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask

 Northwest Point

Malcolm Roads beach and the Northwest Point dive sites, are approximately a 40 minute boat ride from the southside of Provo. The wall starts at 35 feet and plunges to more than 3,000 feet. Divers will see black coral, tube sponges and wire coral with abundant schools of fish such as Creole Wrasse and Mahogany Snapper

January 24, 2012 Chimney and Tiki Huts

Northwest Point

Chimney:  

90-100 feet
  Starting at about 50 feet, divers swim through a ravine and exit on the wall at 90 feet. The wall is a nearly vertical drop to about 200 feet with scattered wire coral, soft corals, and crinoids in many of the holes. Keep your eyes on the blue water for the occasional shark and eagle ray.

fish... and loads of them

Puffer

Chimney entrance

Grouper in the chimney

Sponge in the chimney

 Dive Profile

Visibility: 100 feet plus

Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F

Average depth: 54 feet

Max depth: 96 feet

Mix: 32% Nitrox

Dive time: 44 mins

Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit

Gear: Poseidon Cyclone, Dimension BC, Freediving fins/ mask

Tiki Huts

40-45 feet

Just offshore from the Amanyara on Malcolm Roads Beach, this site starts at about 40-45 feet and great for blennies and gobies. Knobby and corkscrew anemones are common with golden and beaded crinoids found in many of the nooks and crannies. Gray angelfish are also often seen on this site. As a huge fan of sharks, this was the best dives of the trip for me. As you'll note below, I took many photos and video of them.

Dive Profile

Visibility: 100 feet plus

Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F

Average depth: 56 feet

Max depth: 89 feet

Mix: 32% Nitrox

Dive time: 47 mins

Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit

Gear: Poseidon Cyclone, Dimension BC, Freediving fins/ mask

January 25, 2012 The Gulley and RGI (Rock Garden Interlude)

West Caicos

The Gully

50-70 feet

The Gully gets its name from a cut in the reef that forms two distinct sections before dropping off vertically. The wall begins in about 50 feet and the top of the wall is a dense coral reef with many cleaning stations. Divers begin by swimming through this cut and dropping onto the wall at 85 feet. The vertical wall here has many undercuts covered in sponges, black corals and long tentacled anemones. If you're real lucky, you may see a red-banded lobster at about 75 feet.

Conch

Conch on da move, mon...

Dive Profile
Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 57 feet
Max depth: 92 feet
Mix: 31% Nitrox

Dive time: 52 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask

Boat Cove (aka Rock Garden Interlude)

40-130 feet

The top of the wall is a sand plateau with many small coral heads. The sandy area attracts many rays and flatfish as well as yellow coral shrimp. The reef on top of the wall has small clumps of staghorn coral and is home to grunts, snappers, groupers, rooster-tail conch, and many juvenile fish. Lots of fish found on this site.

Dive Profile
Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 56 feet
Max depth: 84 feet
Mix: 31% Nitrox

Dive time: 48 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask

Brandywine

55-120 feet

The top of this dive site starts at 55 feet and drops down the sheer wall to about 120 feet. Sand chutes lead down to the wall and create overhangs where fish can hide. You will find giant sea anemones, blue tangs, soft corals, tiger-tailed sea cucumbers, and white spotted filefish.Watch for azure vase sponges as well along the wall and on top of the reef. 

Dive Profile
Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 56 feet
Max depth: 101 feet
Mix: 32% Nitrox

Dive time: 52 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask 

The Gully

50-70 feet

The Gully gets its name from a cut in the reef that forms two distinct sections before dropping off vertically. The wall begins in about 50 feet and the top of the wall is a dense coral reef with many cleaning stations. Divers begin by swimming through this cut and dropping onto the wall at 85 feet. The vertical wall here has many undercuts covered in sponges, black corals and long tentacled anemones. If you're real lucky, you may see a redbanded lobster at about 75 feet.

Dive Profile
Visibility: 100 feet plus
Bottom Temp: 79 degrees F
Average depth: 57 feet
Max depth: 88 feet
Mix: 32% Nitrox

Dive time: 47 mins
Thermal: 5-4-3 wetsuit
Gear: Phoenix RAM double hoser, Deepoutdoors harness/ VDH backplate, Mares fins/ VDH mask

Pirates were here! Yes, these are authentic markings from the 1800's made by pirates. Anne Bonney and Mary Read (of the famous Calico Jack crew) are rumored to have settled here waiting to ambush ships laden with "booty." Could these actually be from their time here? You be the judge...
West Caicos Hideout Cove

Topside shots at da Conch Shack

That's all from this trip...