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Caicos
Adventures & Fifi Kunz (owner): One of the Best Scuba Diving
Shops in the Caribbean, in the Bahamas, in Turks and Caicos!
Guigo34,
Scuba Diving Magazine (December 2007)
Caicos Adventures continues to be the premier dive operation on
Providenciales. The two catamarans are the most spacious and stable
that I have been on during my 600+ dives. The areas visited are
exclusive and, although the time to get there is more than normal,
the boats are so comfortable that time flys. The West Caicos dives
are spectacular and the service on board is second to none. I have
been there several times and will return without hesitation.
Russ
and Carol Welsch (rcwelsch@comcast.net) Arlington , VA (Jul 2003)
Experience:
100 dives. Vis 60 to 150 feet. Water 82-84F with very little currents.
This was our third trip to Providenciales in three years. Dove over
10 other islands in the Caribbean with many operators - Fifi and
his crews are the absolute best! Best boat in the Caribbean! Even
on the occasional day with 18 divers there is plenty of space on
the big cat. Drop your gear with them on day one and don't touch
it again until you pack up to leave. Gear is rinsed and set up for
you each day. Dive masters are in the water on each dive for a guided
tour, but if you have a computer and Fifi sees you are competent,
you are allowed to buddy dive on your own. Be back on the boat with
500psi. Dive sites are pristine. Many days you don't see any other
boats. Very healthy reef, lots of the typical fish, but you always
see something big on every dive. The sharks, turtles, jew fish,
groupers, stingrays and eagle rays are still around these sites.
We were there the day Tom jumped on a shark. I think we made the
tank last almost an hour on that dive! Boat rides are about 45 minutes
to the sites and you never know what you might see. On the last
trip we ended up in the middle of a pod of about 40 dolphins! Fifi
convinced us to try night diving again. We had two bad experiences
in other locations (Colorado and Cozumel) with night dives, but
Fifi wouldn't give up on us. After hours of saying how great it
was, he talked us into it. He picked us up on the beach and five
minutes later we are at the dive site in Grace Bay. We dove on a
full moon and it was spectacular! Saw a small octopus, spiny starfish,
and a huge turtle scratching his shell on the reef and didn't seem
to mind our lights or the fact that we were about five feet from
him. Hotels are clean, water safe to drink, the food is no more
expensive than home (Washington DC), and the beach is the most beautiful
we have seen in the Caribbean. Nightlife is quiet and the beaches
are not crowded. We'll be going back to see Fifi every chance we
get!
Larry Wagner (lpwagner@swbell.net) McKinney,TX
(August 2002)
Experience: 26-50 dives. Vis: 60 to 80 Feet. Water: 84 F, choppy,
no currents. Dive your own profile: yes. Dive restrictions enforced:
stay with DM if you take the guided dive, or dive your own profile
with your buddy. Safety stop recommended. Fifi's new power cat makes
an excellent dive boat and he runs a good operation. Boat was equipped
with oxygen, first aid, safety stop hang bar and spare air reg.
The head on our trip became temperamental early on and became useless.
Fifi gave a 1 hour 40 minute surface interval with pretty good sandwiches
offered. We dove G Spot and Double
D. Both were awesome dives! Very dense coral in great shape,
lots and lots of the usual reef fish, plus barracuda, eagle rays,
and sharks. The sharks at G Spot seem to wait for divers to play
a game of chicken - coming straight at you and then veering
off when maybe 15 feet away. One playful shark liked to do this
under the boat at 15'-- making the safety stop a real thrill. If
sharks are not your thing, maybe this isn't the place for you, but
the diving is superb, so maybe you could stay in the middle of a
pack of divers when surfacing. The drop off at G Spot is straight
down to the abyss, and just took my breath away when I first peered
over the edge.
Glen Spence (glenspence@yahoo.com) Cooper
City, FL (Sept 2002)
Vis:
60-80 ft. Water: 84-85 F. Dives logged: 700+. Dive restrictions
enforced: 500 psi on boat. Comfort Suites has pool, continental
breakfast, nice room and is quite adequate for the money. Caicos
Adventures is a good dive operator. Excellent dive boat. Fresh sub
sandwiches after first dive. Depths and times of dives are limited
accordingly. We saw 5 dolphins, spotted eagle rays, many reef sharks,
nurse sharks, turtles, stingrays, schools of jacks, etc
Paul Brown (pbrown@fedex.com) Cordova,
TN. (January 2003)
Experience: 51-100 dives. Vis: 80 to 130 Feet. Water: 83 to 85 F,
choppy. "Fifi" runs an excellent operation and the catamaran
he uses to get you to the great dive sites at West Cacios and French
Cay cuts travel time down and is comfortable. The crew, Asa and
Kenard, do all the work. Never touched my gear for five days. All
3 guys made this a great trip. Boat will carry 25 divers and the
max we had was 7. All the sites were good and no other boats around.
One wish is that the sandwiches he provided would change each day.
But they were big. Bring your own fresh fruit.
Barry Zigas (barryzigas@earthlink.net) Washington, DC (Feb 2003)
Experience:
51-100 dives. Vis: 50 to 75 Feet. Water: 65 to 70 F, calm, choppy.
Well-run dive operation, with spirited crew that is knowledgeable,
professional and courteous. Captain "Fifi" Kuntz ran a
tight ship but made it easy. Divemasters like K. Cruikshank also
qualified and friendly. Went on successive days, first to French
Key and second day to West Caicos.
Very calm for the crossing to French Key. The large twin-hulled
boat made it quickly and comfortably. Fresh water, O2, marine head.
Divers set up gear for first dive, second by divemasters. Divers
for multiple days leave gear on board and crew rinses and puts out
for second and subsequent days. First day had about 12 divers, in
three groups. Wide mix of experience and training. Second day more
cozy and relaxed with only 6 of us. Generally dives to sandy bottoms
then over the wall to 60-85 feet. No dive under 45 minutes, with
ample shallow degassing time and mandatory 3 minute safety stops
on bar with hanging regulator. Lunch of grocery store sandwiches
(ask for tuna in advance if ham and cheese ain't your thing!) served
between dives during long surface interval of at least an hour.
Second day more choppy but quick trip to West Caicos. Both days
great dives with lots of sharks and eagle rays, black grouper, tons
of tropicals, lobsters, etc. Hard coral, gorgonians and sponges
galore.
Roger & Donna Soape, Houston, TX (July
2002)
Experience:
251-500 dives. Vis: 70 to 100 Feet. Water: 81 to 82 F, choppy. Great
dive operation though boat rides to West Caicos and French Cay are
30 to 45 minutes. Large dive boat makes the ride comfortable
marine head, rinse showers, fresh water and lemonade, oxygen. Sometimes
more divers than we prefer (15+) but Caicos Adventures handled
them well; we did not notice the crowd once we were in the water.
Great corals and some walls rival Little Cayman. Sharks and eagle
rays on most dives. Lots of fish life, large and small. Good vis
although
reduced from by winds some days. Only two dives a day except one
day
each week when Caicos Adventures dives three dives. Lunches served
on
board were adequate. We rented a house on Provos beautiful
beach.
Good restaurants casual Shark Bite and BBQ night at the Tiki
Hut. Fancy French/Caribbean cuisine at other restaurants. Everythings
expensive.
Susan Warhus (swarhus@aol.com) Scottsdale,
AZ (March 2002)
Experience:
101-250 dives. Vis: 70 to 90 Feet. Water: 75 to 77 F, calm.
Fifi is a hands-on, meticulous perfectionist that makes
sure the dive
operations runs well. The boat is new and the most comfortable and
beautiful
of any dive boat we have been on. Submarine sandwiches for lunch
are
great. Dive staff is caring and knowledgeable.Beautiful Caribbean
diving
with lush coral reefs and marine life.Comfort Suites: (barely) adequate
low
budget accommodations. Pitiful continental breakfast, marginal A/C,
poor plumbing had to have toilet plunged, yellow water coming from
shower head! Local taxi drivers hang out at the bar between their
fares.
James W. Roby (eroby@sonet.net) Haleyville,
AL. (June 2002)
Vis:
75-100 ft. Water: 80-82 F. Dive restrictions enforced: computer
profile. Third trip with Caicos Adventures. Fifi and Caicos Adventures
are tops. Serious, but fun and customer oriented. Reef
sharks,
hammerheads, eagle rays are legitimately expected at West
Caicos. Sands
at Grace Bay is a lovely, well managed property. Nice IGA.
December 2001, Ron Chau, Bayside,NY (December
2001)
Experience: 26-50 dives. Vis: 50 to 80 Feet. Water: 80 to 82 F,
calm.Caicos Adventures was top notch.Only restriction was be back
on the boat with 500 psi. New dive boat was fantastic. Trips to
West Caicos 30 minutes, French
Cay 45 minutes.
Healthy reefs, but less fish life than expected. Nice wall dives
start around
60 feet.
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