Dive Review of Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach Resort in
Turks and Caicos/Grand Turk

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Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach Resort, Apr, 2009, by Vicki Caldwell, CA, USA ( 1 report). Report 4802.
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	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We found Grand Turk to be too small for our liking since there was little to do except dive and we had a non-diver in our group. The accomodations were quite adaquate with clean rooms that were serviced daily. However, the Osprey did not offer breakfast and lunch was served only during limited hours. We had to walk down the street to Michael's for breakfast where service was slow and the menu was limited to whatever supplies were on hand. Better ask for the bill and pay the moment your food is served because the wait can be more than 30 minutes to pay the tab. We waited nearly an hour one day to settle up, finally leaving the non-diver behind to pay. Lunch choices were limited as well. We alternated between the Osprey and the Sand Bar. Again both menus had limited offerings. Stay away from the hamburger at the Sand Bar if not knowing what you are eating bothers you. Dinner at the Osprey was much better. We went to the Bohio one night for dinner and spent $60 for roundtrip cab fare. The food definately was not worth it and the service was extremely slow. We never went back. Captain Zen's Chineese restaurant was the best on the island and was within walking distance of the Osprey. We visited twice and enjoyed it both times. One night we took another $60 roundtrip to the Cruise Center and had great drinks and pizza at the new Rum restaurant. The pizza was tasty and we enjoyed it but you have to get there before the ship leaves. There just aren't many options for meals on this island but you can offset it some by going to the grocery store and stocking your mini fridge with breakfast and/or lunch choices. Oasis divers charges a whooping $13 per tank for nitrox. We negotiated the price down to $11 before arrival but did not feel like we got our money's worth since NONE of the tanks were ever full. Dale insisted on analyzing all the tanks herself and refused to let us do it even when it was obvious that she couldn't do the job without opening the valves wide open. She was more worried about her analyzer than she was about wasting our air supply. She did inform us that we were the first customers to request nitrox after the hurricane and they had barely gotten their compressor up and running. I suspect that this was more due to the high price of nitrox at Oasis, rather than the hurricane. Oasis definately needs to rethink their nitrox prices if they want to remain competitive in the market. Dale did not charge us the first day when our mix was only 29%, which was good. We had the same divemaster all six days and most of the time, it was just us three divers plus the divemaster on the boat. We really enjoyed this since we had a new diver in our group. However, Macdonald was our dive master and his nickname was the Sleeping Giant. He was a most likable man and we thoroughly enjoyed his company topside, but he did little to point out anything under the water. He was, however, most attentive to the newbie in our group and he did everything he could to boast his confidence while ensuring his safety. A couple of times, a local diver joined us but they never interfered with us. I actually enjoyed diving with one gal since I had more air to spare so I followed along with her while the others returned to the boat. On occasion, another group of divers joined us, but Oasis added another dive master so they went off in a different direction. I think this would be a big factor in selecting Oasis upon a return trip, unless you get the divemaster from hell, that is. We did not care for the dive schedule since the boat went out and came back between every dive, making it a rather late afternoon return from the second dive. On most days, it was two o'clock before we went to lunch so we had little time between lunch and dinner, which was not to our liking. We compared notes with some Osprey divers who were diving with Blue Water Divers. They told us Blue Water did not offer nitrox, but they always had 3200 pounds of air on every dive. Also, Blue Water went out in the morning and stayed out until the second dive was completed so their group always got back before us. The island was still recovering from the hurricane, both on land and in the water. The coral was not as colorful or vibrant and there was still a layer of sound covering a lot of the walls. There was not much sea life to see and we were disappointed at the lack of creatures that were not hiding in the many nooks and crannies on the coral walls. On our last day, we ventured out to The Library, where we finally saw an abundance of crabs but before that, only one crab and one lobster was found during eleven dives. The water was 78 degrees on the first day, but after that, the weather was a little colder as it rained some every day and the water dropped to 77 degrees at depth. One day, it actually hailed on us in the boat! Not once, but twice! The hail only lasted for a few minutes but it was enough to make us cold so we were quite chilly on that day's dives. The water temperature was colder than normal because of the hurricane, as was the air temperature.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Tahiti, Phillipines, Hawaii, Bahamas, Catalina Island, various liveaboards
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	77-78°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	65-100 Ft/ 20-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	We were free to dive as deep and long as our air supplies lasted, however, we always had short fills in our tanks (2600-2700 psi). We swam in the divemaster's vicinity but didn't really follow him. Our dives ranged between 60 -75 minutes, depending on air.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 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	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach Resort in Turks and Caicos/Grand Turk

Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach Resort, Apr, 2009,

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 Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach Resort in
Turks and Caicos/Grand Turk