Snorkeling and scuba in Club Med,Turks and Caicos

We visited Prove, Turks and Caicos, 2nd time and stayed with Club
Med, also 2nd time, from Nov 15 to 29,2004. The resort was full
because the hurricane closed out their Punta Canta and Columbus Isle
resorts and because of that, there were a noticeable of a large
portion of visitors in the age of upper 50s, and there were times
that I heard elevator music playing over the speaker and the energy
level seemed tune down from my first visit two years ago. Neverless,
there are still pretty of energy around to keep the vocation mood up.
The beach was beautiful and weather was great most of the time. The
renovated room was clean and bright, The food was plentiful, but I got
tire of it after awhile. However, there were so much choices and
spices, I just made up my own dishes. Most of the staffs were great
and hardworking to please you, however there were two or three who
seem to be from "Club Dead" and got a attitude that "Don't speak
French, why are you here.". The chief of Scuba, Michael from Quebec,
seem to be one of these people(strictly my personal oppinion only) and
I decided not dive with them this time because I like to do business
with people that seem to enjoy what their doing. (I did have great fun
diving with CM at my first visit with a different chief from
Vancouver.) Since I had dove here before, instead this time, I went
to snorkeling at Coral Garden and Smith reef, even it was a hour walk
from the resort, and joining the CM snorkeling tours, which were not
good as the above two reefs. Then I did a day of diving in French Cay
with Caicos Adventure, a dive shop location half hour walk from the
resort.
Snorkeling at Coral Garden(Blight reef) was great, but doing in the
morning before it become busy. It is a Coral reef preservation area,
however, it seem many coral have died since I was there two years ago.
There were plenty of colorful fishes and a family of turtles swimming
around. However, there are many shallow areas full of fire corals,
make sure that you wear a fin or life jacket to keep you afloat
because it would be a disaster if one step onto these reefs.
Smith reef is also a beautiful snorkeling area and it is probably deep
enough for scuba too, it is an half hour walk west of Coral Garden.
Out of the four time I snorkeling, three times I saw eagle rays and as
many as ten at one time. This area is much bigger then Coral Garden
and requires a few minutes of swimming to the actual reef. It has a
rocky shoreline, but I found a sandy access and I marked with a big
rock before I went out so I could found my way back. In my oppinion,
these two reefs are the best snorkeling area in this island. The one
where CM snorkeling went usually have very little corals, the best
one is located on the east point of Provo, but still are not as pretty
as the above two reefs.
Diving at French Cay with Caicos adventure was good. They picked me
up at 8 am and launch the boat from the south side of the island.
There were more then twenty divers( it was a busy week) and it felt a
bit cramp on the boat. The boat ride is approxmately 45 minuties. The
dive is divided into three groups and each one lead by a dive master.
The dive master would lead the group circling the reef ones and then
do the second different circle with those who still has air. French
Cay is a small flat island and a protected bird santuitary area. Both
dives were a wall dive and the areas were cover with good healthy
corals and consisted many colorful fishes. The vis was roughly 50 feet
and I saw sharks on both dives. The u/w scenery is very much like West
Caicos and N.W. Point. I also enjoy the 3 minute safety stop at the
S.S.bar, it is quite fun to watch group of fishes go by while waiting.
If you have a disposal u/w(30ft) camera, tie it to the bar before the
tour and then take photos of the fishes when you do your safety stop,
the lighting is not bad at 15 ft.
Club Med is good place for those was like to have fun and not afraid
to try thing out. For Turks and Caicos, it is the most economical way
to enjoy the island because everything in the island are very
expensive($6us for a litter of milk.). There are many trip reports
already written about this Club Med in Google, so I will not repeat
the usual stuff here.