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Blue Water
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Frequently
Asked
Questions: Overnight
Visitors Where will
we be diving? How big is
the dive group? How do we
get to Grand Turk? To reach the island of Providenciales from the U.S., U.K. or Canada, there are a number of direct flight options. The list below is not comprehensive but should give you a good idea of the airline choices. From the
United
States: From the
United
Kingdom: From
Canada: From the
Bahamas: Due to seasonal service, the number of flights per day and the days of the week when these flights are available does vary. Please check the airline's website for current information and flight details. Grand Turk is serviced from Providenciales by Air Turks and Caicos You can check availability, obtain pricing and book flights on their website at http://www.airturksandcaicos.com/. How do we
get to the dive shop? How do we
get to the dive boat? What is the
snorkeling like? How do I
learn to Scuba Dive? An alternative for our visitors staying on island is to take a PADI Open Water Certification course. This course requires approximately four days of elapsed time and includes all books, materials, tanks, weights, instruction, rental equipment and certification. In addition, it includes shallow water training and your checkout dives. Upon the successful completion of this course you are certified to dive. If you would like to take either an "introduction to scuba diving" or PADI Open Water Certification course, you will need to complete a PADI Medical Form in advance of beginning your training. Contact us if you would like a copy of this form sent to you via e-mail. How do I
make a reservation? What is the
Blue Water Divers Refund Policy for Dive Packages? There
are several reasons one
may miss a day
of a dive package: All understandable reasons not to dive, but does not alter the fact that we have held your dive package reservation as well as space on the boat, whether you were able to use it or not. Most divers have traveled enough and are aware that is standard practice in the dive industry, but for those who are not, I just like to offer this helpful bit of insight. Please try to understand what a significant impact it can have on a small dive operation. If
you are uncomfortable with
that type of
arrangement, I have two suggestions: Thanks for taking the time to read and understand this side of dive travel. Your business is crucial to me and I look forward to diving with you again soon! I am
visiting Grand Turk by cruise ship. Can I make a reservation with
you to go diving or snorkeling instead of booking an excursion through
the cruise ship? Our trips carry fewer passengers than the cruise ship excursion boats, offering you a more personal (and less crowded!) experience. Our boats are 24-28' Carolina skiffs which we limit to a maximum of 8-10 divers or 12-16 snorkelers, and most often our groups are much smaller than that. What trip
options does Blue Water Divers offer for cruise ship passengers?
Scuba Diving, Even Smaller Group (max 4-5 divers): For certified divers only. Requires a minimum of two certified divers. $150 per person for a one tank dive, including rental gear. $200 per person for a two tank dive, including rental gear. "Introduction to Diving" course: Requires four participants. $150 per person for a one tank dive, including rental gear. $200 per person for a two tank dive, including rental gear. Dedicated Snorkeling trip: Requires a minimum of four participants. $50 per person including snorkel gear for two sites. The first site is in shallower water (depths of less than 10 feet) which allows snorkelers to see the reef and marine life up close. The second snorkel site is chosen from one of the over 40 sites along the famous Grand Turk "wall" in the marine park. The wall is actually a coral reef drop-off that begins in depths of 25-30 feet and plunges to depths of over 7,000 feet!. Private Charter for diving and / or snorkeling: No minimum number of participants. Rates available upon request. To help determine which of these trips might be best for you, please take the time to consider the following questions: Certified Divers should think about your most recent dive and ask yourself: Was I comfortable and relaxed in the water? Was my buoyancy well under control? Was my air consumption reasonable? Am I able to perform the basic underwater skills of clearing my mask and my regulator? Would I be comfortable in the water with my dive buddy if a dive instructor was not present? If the answer to one or more of these questions is "no", you should consider our "Scuba Diving, Even Smaller Group" trip, our Snorkeling trip, or a private charter. ANYone considering a snorkeling OR diving excursion should ask yourself: Am I in reasonable physical shape? Can I climb up a boat ladder to re-board a 24-28' skiff from the water without assistance? Are my health and physical condition both well suited to participation in an outdoor sport which is subject to weather and sea conditions? If the answer to one or more of these questions is "no", perhaps a different type of excursion would help you get the most enjoyment from your time on Grand Turk. It is not our intention to dissuade people from either diving or snorkeling activities, but simply to encourage careful thought about the type of excursion best suited to your needs and personal situation so you will have fun during your short time here on our island. As we are a small operation, not every trip type is available every day, and departure times may vary depending on the ship schedule. Please e-mail us with your date of arrival, cruise ship name, number in your party and trip type preference so we can check specific trip availability for you.
I want to
go to Gibbs Cay and snorkel with the stingrays, but don't see that
listed as a trip option. Can you take cruise ship passengers to
Gibbs Cay? My cruise
ship arrives in the wintertime. Are there special trip
considerations at this time of year? Also, for ships arriving in the afternoon, please note that our dive boats must be back on shore before sunset as we have no docks or lighted areas available for boat loading and unloading. This may mean that you can only fit in a one tank dive during your visit, depending on your ship arrival date and time. Where will we be diving? What is the
snorkeling like? Do I need
to make a reservation in advance of arriving in Grand Turk? How do I
make a reservation? What is your refund policy? When we make reservations, we will also need the following information from you, depending on the type of trip you are reserving: Scuba Diving trips (certified divers only):1. Diver name (and age, if a minor) 2. Certification agency and level (i.e. PADI Open Water, etc.) 3. Date certified (you will need to present C-card on arrival) 4. Estimated number of dives since certification course completed 5. Date of last dive 6. Rental gear needed and sizes 6a. Buoyancy Control Device (BCD): Small / Med / Large / XL 6b. Regulator: Yes / No 6c. Wetsuit: Yes / No 6d. Mask/Snorkel: Yes / No 6e. Fins: Yes / No "Introduction to Diving" courses: 1. Diver name (and age, if a minor) 2. Rental gear needed and sizes 2a. Buoyancy Control Device (BCD): Small / Med / Large / XL 2b. Regulator: Yes / No 2c. Wetsuit: Yes / No 2d. Mask/Snorkel: Yes / No 2e. Fins: Yes / No 3. Completed PADI Medical Form (can be e-mailed to you upon request) Snorkeling
trips: After we run your deposit, we will send you a booking confirmation by e-mail. If you are not able to keep your
reservation, and you call, fax or e-mail no later than 24 hours prior
to your scheduled trip, we will retain only a 10% administrative fee
and refund the balance to your card. If for ANY other reason you
do not go on your scheduled trip - sickness, weather, etc., and we do
not receive notice at least 24 hours in advance, the cost of the trip
is non-refundable. However, if Blue Water Divers deems it unsafe
to go on an excursion due to weather and cancels the trip, we will
refund the
cost of the trip. We are located in town, approximately 4 miles from the cruise center. As we are not the dive operation that does the cruise ship excursions, we are not allowed to pick you up at the cruise center. It is a short taxi ride costing roughly $5 per person each way from the cruise center into town. Once you reach our office, you will be met by our staff to sign in. How do we
get to the dive or snorkel boat? 1. Simply relax and move slowly. Marine life is less threatened by a relaxed snorkeler. Swimming slowly is not only more comfortable for you, but also is less likely to intimidate the wildlife we have all come to observe. Many creatures are extremely sensitive to vibrations in the water, and in fact depend on this sense for their survival. Quick motions of snorkelers are easily perceived as potential threats by many fish and invertebrates. No matter how strong you are, humans simply cannot out swim animals such as whales, rays, turtles, fish and squid. Although the impulse may be to pursue these animals for a closer look, this will only scare them away. The relaxed diver/snorkeler will find that aquatic mammals (including your buddy), fish, and invertebrates will continue their natural behavior, while allowing you to approach them much more intimately. 2. Minimize contact with the reef. Learning to control our movements and position in the water benefits our own comfort and safety as well as the health of the reef. Both are important! The Leave-No-Trace motto of "take only photos, leave only foot prints" doesn't quite apply to scuba divers and snorkelers, who don't leave footprints. However, scuba divers and snorkelers sometimes leave fin-marks. For example, beginning divers may inadvertently kick a coral reef and destroy an entire community of living organisms. Or a snorkeler may carelessly stand on living coral and smash it. One of the world's most complex ecosystems, coral reefs are vulnerable to diver and snorkeler impact. Reefs are constructed primarily by colonies of coral animals called polyps. By secreting a limestone skeleton, covered with a thin veneer of living tissue, over many years these slow growing creatures essentially create their own geology. Although the limestone is durable, the soft-bodied polyps can easily be damaged by contact with hands, fins, etc. Hands, fins, etc. can also cut through the coral's protective outer tissue, letting in bacteria and micro-organisms that can kill it. While the loss of one polyp or a cut in the outer tissue doesn't appear to be such a big problem, this spot will be more susceptible to infections and can cause further mortality on the colony. Besides the impact on the coral, accidentally bumping into the reef can also harm you. Coral will easily cut through your soft skin, especially after you have spent some time in the water. Cuts in general, and coral cuts in particular, will heal slowly in the tropics, and are more susceptible to infection. Be aware. Diving and snorkeling take place three dimensionally. Divers move not only forward and backward, and side-to-side, but up and down, as well, Paying attention to what is behind (watching feet and fins), and remember that metal tanks and fins can cause severe damage when banged against coral. For the mutual benefit of the reef and ourselves, we believe it’s both prudent and responsible to master the skills needed to minimize accidental close encounters with coral. 3. Live and let live. In contrast to its initial appearance of grandeur, living space on the reef is very scarce. Every little niche is or will be occupied soon by an organism of some type. Empty shells are a valuable part of the ecosystem, and they get recycled many times. Besides the obvious environmental concerns, some "live shells" can be quite dangerous. Some of the most beautiful (cone shells for example) contain animals that are highly toxic and when "captured" can cause serious problems. We discourage any shell collecting, other than items found above the high tide line. 4. Leave nothing but bubbles. Although you don’t see as many signs as along a typical highway, littering under water is just as inappropriate as it is on land. We always carry trash containers on our boats. Please use these containers rather than disposing refuse in the water. Pick up any trash you may come across and bring it back to the surface. Pay special attention to plastic bags. They blow away easily, and once in the water they closely resemble jellyfish, the main diet of many turtles. 5. Fish feeding. While dispersing "food" in the water seems an easy way to attract large numbers of fish, it will often attract just certain species that usually chase other species away. Clearly, this alters the natural behavior (and diet) of fish we have come to observe. We discourage feeding the fish. Express concerns to dive operations that feed or put out chum, or ask that it not be done. 6. Smaller group advantage. Smaller groups are less likely to bang into each other, thrash about, and generally bump into (and damage) the coral. This is especially true on night dives. Smaller groups are also able to receive more instruction and supervision from the dive master. Using the guidelines above should enhance the diving/snorkeling experience for you and the reef, and help preserve both for generations to come. For booking you can email us or call the number below. Please let us know if you have any other questions, and we look forward to seeing you soon! Mitch
Rolling Blue
Water Divers |
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