Dive Review of Dive Provo/Sibonne Beach Hotel in
Turks and Caicos/Providenciales

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Dive Provo/Sibonne Beach Hotel, Aug, 2006, by Marshall Welch, WA, USA . Report 2971.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	As far as I'm concerned, Dive Provo is the only two words I need to know as far as shore-based diving on Provo. Seemed like a professional, well-run operation. Boats were pretty full but I didn't consider them crowded. Nice, helpful divemasters/crew, good pre-dive briefings. Efficent reservations process- call in advance for reservations- they have a stateside toll-free number. Advance reservations have lower rates than for walk-ins. They picked me up at my hotel at 8 AM both days, and then take all divers to their dive shop. There you find out which boat you are assigned to, show C-cards, sign waiver forms, pick up rental equipment, etc. First day everyone on our boat was first time diving with them, and we dived in Grace Bay, a short boat ride. This was OK with me- reasonable to make sure everyone is comfortable with bouyancy and so on before going to the bigger stuff. The second day the boat I was on left from a different dock, on the South side of Provo, and went to West Caicos, about an hour-long boat ride away. We dived two really nice sites there- both wall dives- Driveway, and Boat Cove (aka, Rock Garden Interlude) I dived on those same sites later in the week when on the Aggressor. We were back at the dive shop by about 2:45 pm. They don't allow big roll-aboard dive duffel bags on the boats- takes up too much room. They want you to use a mesh bag for your gear; they loan you one if you need it. Plenty of beverages and snacks on the boat, but no lunch provided. My old depth guage leaked after the first day- I only use it for back up; I have a computer. I inquired if they had any depth guages for sale, and their reply was that it's hard/expensive to maintain an extensive inventory of dive equipment in the islands. The shop did have a few masks, snorkels, fins for sale and I did buy a pair of lycra booties for the same price one would pay on the mainland U.S. As others said in the 2005 Chapbook, Sibonne Beach is a pleasant, casual little hotel nestled in between some bigger glitzier new hotel/condo developments. Glad I stayed there. Hope it doesn't get gobbled up. The restaurant there is great, but at $5.00 each, beer can get expensive. You can buy local public bus/van ("The Gecko") tokens at nearby hotels but not at the Sibonne Beach (presently $4.00 each way) and get a ride to the Graceway supermarket and stock up on food/beverages for your fridge. I think you have to phone for the Gecko; the hotel staff didn't know much about it. There are also privately operated vans which will stop along the side of the road and offer rides to tourist pedestrians, but they seemed expensive. I suspect they charge the tourists higher rates than the locals.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico, Southern California
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	I think they required everyone to have a computer- rentals or loaners were available. Divers w/o a buddy were supposed to follow along with a divemaster. This was fine with me. I think they had maximum depth limits; they seemed reasonable for the sites we dived.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	Dedicated camera rinse tank; reasonably-sized dedicated camera table. In my opinion, day trips from shore-based dive operations don't compare with a live-aboard for photography. I was boarding the Aggressor for a week-long photo course trip after these two days of diving, so didn't set up my camera equipment for these dives. A few of the divers had cameras and seemed to have no problems.

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Dive Review of Dive Provo/Sibonne Beach Hotel in Turks and Caicos/Providenciales

Dive Provo/Sibonne Beach Hotel, Aug, 2006,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Dive Provo/Sibonne Beach Hotel in
Turks and Caicos/Providenciales