Turks & Caicos

The Turks & Caicos Islands sit at the southeastern edge of the Bahamian archipelago, where a shallow carbonate bank drops abruptly into the open Atlantic. The signature diving experience is the wall: a fringing reef tops out at 12-15 m (40-50 ft) on sand before falling as a near-vertical face to depths of thousands of feet, with West Caicos and Northwest Point walls beginning between 35-55 ft and plunging past 6,000 ft. Because the Turks Islands group is small, with no rivers or runoff, the water is exceptionally clear, often exceeding 30 m (100 ft) of visibility. The diving concentrates in four areas reached from Providenciales by day boat or by liveaboard: the dramatic walls of Northwest Point (Provo), the sheer drop-offs of West Caicos Marine National Park, the remote shark-rich atoll of French Cay, and the Columbus Landfall National Park wall off Grand Turk. Caribbean reef sharks and nurse sharks are the most commonly encountered species (French Cay sightings are near-guaranteed), alongside spotted eagle rays, hawksbill and green turtles, Nassau grouper, and walls draped in elephant-ear and barrel sponges and deepwater gorgonians. From January through April, an estimated several thousand North Atlantic humpback whales pass through the deep Columbus (Turks Island) Passage en route to the Silver Bank to mate and calve, making Grand Turk and Salt Cay world-class whale destinations. Water runs about 24°C in late January and up to 30°C by late summer; conditions are calmest in late summer, which overlaps Atlantic hurricane season.

• Turks & Caicos is defined by wall diving: the fringing reef tops out on sand at about 12-15 m (40-50 ft) and then drops abruptly to depths of thousands of feet. The walls off West Caicos and Northwest Point begin between 35-55 ft and plunge to more than 6,000 ft, with visibility that often exceeds 100 ft (30 m).
• From late January to early April, an estimated several thousand North Atlantic humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrate through the deep Columbus (Turks Island) Passage between Grand Turk/Salt Cay and the Silver Bank to mate and calve, making Grand Turk and Salt Cay among the world's premier humpback viewing areas, with in-water snorkel encounters offered in season.
• French Cay, a remote cay roughly 18 miles southwest of West Caicos, is one of the best shark dives in the country: Caribbean reef and nurse sharks are near-guaranteed, with grey reef, hammerhead, bull, lemon and occasional tiger sharks also recorded, plus eagle rays and turtles cruising walls smothered in deepwater gorgonians and elephant-ear sponges.