![]() ![]() Since then, I’ve scuba dived around the globe, from Fiji to the Galapagos Islands, all over the Caribbean, and around Hawaii. I remember thinking then that the reef here was among the healthiest looking that I’d seen. The marine life was here, but the coral didn’t look as healthy as I remembered from my last visit to the Turks and Caicos 10 years ago. ![]() Lobsters waved their tentacles at us huge crabs retreated into their holes. We saw eels poking their heads out of the coral formations growing along the wall, where the water depth dropped from about 50 feet to about 100 feet. What we saw in the Turks and Caicos IslandsĪ pair of dolphins zoomed past, and a curious reef shark cruised by to check us out. (N  aps are sometimes more important than bragging rights, in my opinion). Passengers who make every dive earn the Iron Diver Award. Our trip had just five passengers, although the boat can hold 20.ĭuring our week at sea, we had the option of 27 dives. We removed our shoes and dropped them in a basket we wouldn’t need them for an entire week. Chris LeBlanc photoĪfter arriving in Providenciales, we took a taxi to the marina, where we boarded our boat on a Saturday afternoon. (Once you have a sip of alcohol, you’re done diving for the day.) The Turks & Caicos Explorer IIĪn octopus blends into the reef during a dive in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I don’t have to make any decisions other than whether I’m having a glass of wine with dinner or doing the night dive. Related: A fall paddle down the Devils Riverįor me, it’s the pinnacle of relaxation. But if you’re happy making four or five dives a day like I am, I’d recommend trying one. Live-aboard dive trips aren’t for everyone. I didn’t diving is so tiring that all I wanted to do was nap or read between dives. Then someone suggested a live-aboard dive vacation, where passengers spend an entire week aboard a small boat, doing nothing but diving, eating and sleeping. I’ve done this in Mexico, Honduras and the Cayman Islands. At first, I’d stay in a hotel on shore and book a dive or two at a time from the local dive shop wherever I traveled. I learned to scuba dive about 25 years ago. Trying a live-aboard dive tripĭive master Jo Swannel, right, talks to two divers aboard the Turks and Caicos Explorer II. We make our way back to the Turks & Caicos Explorer II, the live-aboard dive boat where I’m spending the week. It’s time to leave the sharks to their dinner party. I watch, mesmerized, then signal to the others. A healthy shark population is a good thing. Sharks are an important part of the ecosystem. They’re hunting for small fish, octopus and squid. A merry-go-round of Caribbean reef sharks, sleek and muscular, zoom in and out of my peripheral vision. I take my beam off the nurse sharks for a moment and pan the blackness around me with my light. The other nurse sharks ignore it in their search for lobsters, bony fish and urchins. It’s in a state called tonic immobility that sometimes occurs when a shark gets flipped on its back. One of the nurse sharks is lying upside down, immobile in the sand. Related: Diving into French Polynesia’s dreamy Manihi Normally docile nurse sharks, which look like giant catfish and nap on the sandy bottom during the day, swirl along the ocean floor, shoving their heads under rocks in search of tasty crustaceans. Yet the scene unfolding beneath me during this night dive has my full attention. I’m an experienced scuba diver, I remind myself, with about 500 dives in my logbook. ![]() ![]() At night, the sharks hunt for food by flipping over rocks in search of crustaceans. The beam of my flashlight cuts through the inky blackness, illuminating more than a dozen apex predators, some of them approaching 9 feet long.Ī large nurse shark rests on the ocean floor during the day. Sharks in the Turks and Caicos IslandsĪt first, I see the usual cast of characters of any night dive –– jacks the size of dinner plates and schools of palm-sized fish. My heart rate slows a little, and I start to peer into the gloom. When the dive master gives the signal to descend, our group of four drops into the darkness. Besides, I know that sharks are more interested in eating bite-sized critters than full-grown humans. A blinking red light dangles from the tank of air strapped to my back, and I’m holding a flashlight. Stars twinkle in the sky and water laps against my shoulders. Chris LeBlanc photoĪlmost immediately after jumping into the ocean after dark, I begin to regret my decision.īut here I am, bobbing at the surface of the sea, just off the Turks and Caicos Islands, fully aware that sharks are feeding below. Pam LeBlanc hangs just below the Turks and Caicos Explorer II dive boat. ![]()
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