Beaches / Sandals is more of a fun-for-all-the-family route to Caribbean diving – PENELOPE GRANYCOME sampled it just before the pandemic struck

Above: Beaches Turks & Caicos resort is set in Grace Bay, Provo.

FELIPE MARTINS

DESCENDING INTO warm azure water, a hit of diving endorphins kicked in, fuelled by an exhilarating 50-minute boat-ride to West Caicos in the Caribbean sunshine.

Laughter rippled through the salty air as we prepped our gear and, as on the first dive of any trip, I experienced a slightly giddy out-of-body feeling.

I grinned into my regulator as reef sharks curiously approached. The water temperature was 28°C and it was prepandemic January 2020. The cold dark nights of London and a personally testing start to the year evaporated into the ocean along with my slow exhalations.

Looking back now, after collectively and individually facing some of the toughest months we’ve ever known, and our yearning to escape at odds with uncertainty about when and where that might be possible, I still describe the Turks & Caicos Islands as a world-class diving contender.

I stayed at Beaches Turks & Caicos Villages & Spa Resort on the north coast of Providenciales. Set in Grace Bay, 12 miles of sweeping white sand, it’s a place to unwind and contemplate diving as you settle in, rum cocktail in hand.

Wall-dives are always a huge draw for me, having dived so many on the Red Sea’s outer islands, and those in TCI are no exception. Covered in corals, sponges and gorgonians and dropping away to considerable depths below, they provide the chance of seeing bigger animals passing in the blue while being able to turn your head in towards the crustaceans and critters that populate rocky caves and coral gardens –a double treat.