Today’s blogpost is brought to you via Guest Post by Doug and Rachele Lord about their Live-aboard trip to Turks and Caicos.
First of all we had an uninvited guest on our trip… Hurricane Joaquin which delayed us for 2 days at the Miami Airport. This also messed up the visibility in Turks & Caicos. Normally they have 100+ foot vis up to 150 foot and we were at 60-80 foot vis. One of the instructors and dive masters also got caught up at the Miami Airport so we spent a day and a half with her at the airport. She and her sister both work for Explore Ventures (they are British).
We stayed on a live aboard trip once we arrived in Turks and Caicos. Captain Bob was very good sea captain. He was also on some of the Deadliest Catch shows. One dive area we moved to they were looking for buoys. He said he can find buoys in 40-foot seas but the hurricane messed up 2 of the buoys. 
There were 3 dive masters, Jo, Mia, and Brant. It was a Scuba Radio dive trip so we met Greg the Dive Master who is host of the show, the Scuba Cowboy (Pup Morris), Phil Narcosis, Vinnie Two Tanks, Mermaid Tiffany (so there are pictures of Doug swimming with mermaids). There were 14 people on board one of those was Rene Dupree who is the Scuba Pro Rep that teaches the Regulator rebuild class. Catherine Castle who is the chief Editor of Dive Training Magazine.
Some of the first dives were off of West Provo. We dove a place called the Thunderdome, which was an underwater structure that the French built for a television program. It is now falling apart and it is a home to a variety of sea life.
We saw sharks on every dive (Caribbean Reef Sharks). Doug saw a huge Sting Ray. Jo said that was one of the largest stingray’s that she’s ever seen, it had to be 6-8 feet across.
You could do up to 5 dives per day, 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and a night dive. There was air or nitrox available. Our whole boat dove Nitrox.
Food and service on the boat was good. They catered to nutritional needs/requirements. The water was warm, nothing was seen below 84 degrees F. During night diving you got to deal with crustaceans known as bloodworms. They would swarm to your light and they’d be hammering your light so you’d turn your light off, let them swarm to the other diver and then turn yours back on.
Motto: Come as a guest, leave as a friend.
Sunsets are beautiful. We saw a Green flash – when the sun is setting on the water, just before it dips below the horizon you get a green flash, Doug caught it. Turks and Caicos is one of the places in the world that is known for that. One of the days that we were watching for the Green flash we looked off the other side of the boat and there was a Tornado.
Rene gave away $5,000 worth of ScubaPro gear on the boat.
French Kay – you were in 12 foot of water and you couldn’t see the bottom. It looked like you were looking into a bucket of white paint.
Set around and play board games, card games, talked during the evenings.
Once you get on the boat your shoes come off and you aren’t allowed to put them back on until after you get off the boat.
When you first get on the boat you have to aquire your sea legs but eventually You get your sea legs.
Meals were all you could eat, if you went hungry, it was your own fault.
Cold breakfast/hot breakfast (eggs to order, French toast, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches)
Dive
Snack
Lunch
Dive
Afternoon snack
Dive
Supper
Night dive
Hot cocoa, coffee, warm water to pour down your wet suit.
