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

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Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach: "19 years later, well you know, not too bad.", Nov, 2019, by David C Scott, FL, US ( Sr. Reviewer 7 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 11301 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I found the Undercurrent review by "A.E.L." in the June 2016 issue to most closely align with my own thoughts. If you have been diving for forty-fifty years or so then you have been an observer of the death spiral of the marine environment. With that said I find that a very low expectation is about the only way for me to enjoy diving these days. We were here 29 years ago and although the reef is in far worse shape now at least there is some of it still alive. Don't bother with the southern reefs close to the cruise ship docks, they look as one should expect them to look: dusted algae choked mostly dead reef. The diving off Grand Turk is limited to the northern half of the marked dive sites. Positive statements are there were plenty of grouper, some in the 50lb range, a few blacktips some of which may have been a tad over 6 feet but most half that size, a few turtles and some spotted eels. Lionfish were few and far between. The general reef fish population was better than expected. If this were your first dive experience you would be quite impressed. Ok back to the dour comments, hard coral bleaching was pretty bad if not horrific. Locals hope for cooler water to be a quick fix to that problem. I hope for that as well but would not place a wager on that concept. The island itself has of course exploded with development and two daily cruise ships showed up about 15 years ago, that's roughly 6000 people dumped in a 6 square mile island with an local population of 3000 people. Thank God not all 6000 ship dwellers leave the Magaritaville twilight zone at the south side of the island, but many do. That kinda results in $24 hamburgers and $9 beers and a litter problem that is pretty bad. Of course that algae thing on the reef is perhaps a more important indicator of the lack of imagination of those profiting in unchecked development. Our dive boat was a 24' flat hull Carolina skiff, pretty long in the tooth with a rickety dive ladder but adequate for dives about 2500' from shore. It was just my wife and one other diver so it does not get much better than that. "Mackey" the DM also worked at "Off the Wall Divers" the now defunct dive operation from 29 years ago which must make him the most experienced DM on the island. Oasis Divers has a finger in just about all of the cruise ship tour stuff which makes them a pretty big player on the island. Dale, the owner, treated us professionally and they don't push the dives if the weather turns to snot, which it did for half of our stay. Osprey Beach "Resort" we had some issues with but in retrospect I can say that they try. It is a budget place as opposed to Bohio. Do go to the museum, the old navy base/lighthouse at the north end of the island is worth a gander, be advised the cruise masses arrive in waves and a zip line has been constructed over the cliff to keep them entertained. It actually looked like fun but we were turned away as tickets could only be purchased down in the aforementioned Margaritaville and well, we just don't go there. We may go back in a February or March in an attempt to see the Humpbacks.
Websites	Oasis Divers
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	most of the Caribbean, a good portion of the central and western pacific
Closest Airport	PLS	Getting There	Several commercial flights from US to PLS, then hop flight to GDT
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	choppy, surge
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	70-120 Ft/ 21-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	buddy up- kinda follow the DM
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?
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		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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

Oasis Divers/Osprey Beach: "19 years later, well you know, not too bad.", Nov, 2019,

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 in
Turks and Caicos/Grand Turk