Not that I am lazy when it comes to unpacking, but, when I hauled my dive bag out of the basement to pack, I found the pair of blue jeans that I was sure I owned but couldn't find anywhere. Then, when gearing up for my first dive, my fin wouldn't fit until I took the alarm clock and compass out of the foot pocket, where they had been since last June. Oh well.
American Airlines, Best Western Miami Airport Inn, Sky King, Peter Hughes Diving.
Our original bookings called for us to make the entire Toronto to Grand Turk trip in one day, but we decided to overnight in Miami since we were not comfortable with a one hour layover. If the first flight were delayed by anything at all, we would have had trouble catching the boat. As it turns out, we may have booked too early, because there were a lot of other options available that may or may not have been there last August when we booked this trip.
The flights were a bit more eventful than I would have liked. Going down, all the passengers and their gear made it to the boat by Saturday evening, but, some of the passengers, including me, arrived on a different flight than did our luggage.
Miami has one busy airport. I am not sure I have ever seen it so crowded. I will give the staff there credit though for doing their best to ensure people catch their flights. On the way down, we were pulled to the front of the boarding pass line, (we were almost there anyway) since we were getting to within an hour of flight time. It seems that if you don't have your bags checked and boarding pass in hand by that time, you are out of luck. This happened to another couple on our boat. On the return trip, we were moved to the front of the immigration line because we were within an hour of our flight, and then, we were moved to the front of a very long security line because our flight was about to board.
One thing about American Airlines. We had a three hour flight leaving at noon. They did not provide lunch. I considered this to be chintzy.
As good as Peter Hughes cruises were, they are still improving. The latest goodie is that, when someone picks you up at the airport, they bring a cooler of soft drinks and brewskis. Once on the boat, the service was great and the food was fantastic. Just doesn't get any better than that.
The rules on Peter Hughes boats are much less stringent than they were on my previous trips with his company. What used to be hard and fast rules concerning buddy diving, drinking and diving, lights on night dives, etc, are now recommendations. The new approach is that we are all adults who can make our own decisions about diving. Gotta like that.
Most of the diving took place at Grand Turk, but we spent a morning at Salt Cay and a day at South Caicos. Water was 79 F and the visibility was great. I made 22 dives, for a total of 21 hours 8 minutes bottom time. The deepest I went was 82 feet.
The reefs were in good shape and there were lots of interesting things to look at. I saw hawksbill turtles every day. On a couple of days I saw a turtle feeding on a sponge. There were eagle rays, huge sting rays, and a big fat shark at South Caicos. There were lots of garden eels, and, in what seems to be a Turks & Caicos trademark, lots of cleaning stations. I also saw my first ever frogfish. It was sort of deep in the coral so I was not able to get a good photo. Later it came out though, and one of the other guests got some very nice shots.
There was also the friendliest fish I have ever seen. It is a Nassau Grouper on a dive site called Coral Gardens. It will swim right up to you. You can pet it or scratch its belly if you want. Mind you, I didn't dangle any fingers in front of its mouth. Once, Patti accidentally kicked it, but the fish simply did not care. Patti was thinking that this was a product of fish feeding but, it was only one fish, and nobody from our boat was feeding fish, and there are very few day boats there. I think it is just a friendly fish
All in all this was a great trip. The boat was comfortable, the food was great, and the diving was fabulous. Who could ask for anything more?
| Trip Dates2002-01-13 to 2002-01-19 | Trip Report Index |