TURKS AND CAICOS

October 6 - 13, 2001

Testimonials

I thought you might enjoy reading the following info I got from Kelly Rockwood (from Dive Magic). I'd asked her about her experience aboard a liveaboard when she went to the T&C last Dec. What a wonderful reply ~ Lisa

"We did the Turks and Caicos on the T&C Aggressor. I highly recommend a live-a-board for that area because that is the only way to get out to the best reefs. For instance, we went to French Cay. The diving was incredible. Saw 20 eagle rays and 5 Carribbean Reef Sharks on my first dive out there. They have scooters and rebreathers on the boat so you can have as many different experiences as you would like.

The live-a-boards park at night in calm bays. However, depending on the seas, and what your travel destination is, you may have a few hours tossing. The boat capitains try to minimize discomfort for everyone but must offset that against the customer's wishes.

SEPTEMBER 1999 - FROM THE LOG OF CAPTAIN NIGEL

Dateline: August 18, 1999, Turks and Caicos Islands, MV Sea Dancer

The crew fires up the engines at 7:00 A.M for transit along the coast of West Caicos; destination and first dive: Highway to Heaven. A squawk on the radio informs us of the presence of a pod of 6 Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins heading our way...

All thoughts of breakfast disappear when the passengers hear about the dolphins, and so it’s mask/fins/snorkels instead of knives and forks! All visitors and crew take station outside and search for signs of the dolphins. Someone points to the distance, and many spot a fin, so there’s a mad scramble to get in the water and make a fast but quiet swim over to the area...

BAM! Out of the blue we are in a huge plankton field, frozen on the surface by a tideline. No dolphins, but no matter. There were big Manta Rays everywhere!! The "fin" we had seen was actually a manta’s wing tip breaking the surface!

The mantas were cruising back and forth, grazing on the plankton in the water, and it was difficult to count them as they kept swiming in and out of visibility, often close enough to touch! One had a stump where it’s tail should have been, but with a ten foot wing span still very, very impressive. We snorkeled with the mantas, burned up film and video, and began to return to the boat after a fantastic 45 minutes or so...

50 yards from Sea Dancer, and BAM again! Suddenly the pod of dolphins pitches up! Three swimming in tight formation, three more just buzzing around and harassing everyone! Amazing, even by Sea Dancer’s standards. The dolphins would imitate you when you did a free dive, and stay right in formation with you. Very, very unusual for wild dolphins. Film and video here as well, with some of the guests getting real stunners!

It’s always a great day when you’ve had TWO fabulous encounters before breakfast, and the only member of our party who was NOT pleased was our legendary cook, Stanley. He can’t imagine why anyone would leave a perfectly good breakfast to go swim with mantas and dolphins, but it’s happened enough times that he just wears his famous smile and whips up something special for lunch!

(If any of the passengers on this trip wish to share their manta/dolphin photos, please indicate by hitting "reply". Even if you do not have electronic "files" of the photos, we can make them for you from photos/slides, and include them in next months Divemail...)

NEWS: While Hurricane Floyd captured headlines around the nation last month, Sea Dancer was in a Florida shipyard for routine maintenance. Not only are we reporting no damage, but are pleased to announce that Sea Dancer is also completing some major refitting to provide future passengers even more comfort!)

(editors note: Captain Nigel is, of course, Nigel Beatty of the MV Sea Dancer. When not diving with mantas, guests, and dolphins, you will usually find him in the wheelhouse of Sea Dancer!)

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