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Provo Dive Sites
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PINE CAY AREA
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The Football Field
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The Football Field divesite is a good example of the ocean floor topography in this area where the mooring pin is in 50fsw at the top of a steeply sloping wall. Divers can expect this area to be teeming with schools of juvenile barracudas, jacks, Bermuda chub, and groupers. Swimming away from the wall brings the diver to a large area of sand in 70' of water, home to many lobsters.
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Eagle Ray Pass
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Another site in this area is Eagle Ray Pass. A sand gulley leading off from under the mooring takes the diver out to the top of a sloping wall. This site has a tremendous selection of corals down to a sand bottom at 100ft.
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GRACE BAY AREA
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Grace Bay is protected by a 14 mile barrier reef. Prolific marine life such as groupers, barracudas, turtles, sharks and the occasional manta ray inhabit this area.
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Coral Gables
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A gentle slope to the wall allows divers to pick their depth. Sand chutes stop just below the top of the wall and give way to large stacks of coral, home to grunts, snappers and groupers.
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Graceland
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This site has a large sand chute and a swim-through leading to the wall at 50ft. The wall has many buttresses and indentations with a good possibility of reef sharks swimming in the depths off the wall.
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Grouper Hole
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The mooring is by a deep sandy grotto, the Grouper Hole, with a large coral head in the middle of a sand chute that leads divers to a gently sloping wall. In the days before the formation of the marine park in Provo this was a spot that grouper feeding took place.
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Aquarium
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Enormous schools of grunts and snappers form an almost continuous school on top of the wall at the Aquarium. The wall is an exaggerated spur and groove type formation with some spectacular sand chutes that run on down through the reef to a depth of around 100ft.
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NORTH WEST POINT AREA
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The vertical walls of Northwest Point begin at 35 feet and are famous for a variety of formations including gold and purple tube sponges. Dramatic dive sites are the rule here where large fish and elephant ear sponges are frequently encountered.
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Shark Hotel
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At the top of the Shark Hotel wall, divers find schools of grunts, snappers, and goatfish. The wall begins in about 45fsw and drops straight down to 80 to 100fsw where a plateau juts out and forms a shelf before plunging into the depths. As the name suggests, this site is a good place to spot small reef sharks. Close to the mooring is a huge stand of pillar coral, some of the largest to be seen in the Turks and Caicos.
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Amphitheater
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There are large pillar coral and an abundance of horse eyed jacks. The wall drops vertically to an amphitheater formation that is undercut 10-15 feet to a sandy bottom in 85 fsw. One prominent feature of this site is a large elephant ear sponge with black coral along the top lip of the undercut, and some rare orange rope sponges at about 90fsw. In front of the amphitheater is a buttress with some beautiful examples of plate corals.
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The Crack
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This site's name comes from the deep crevice that cuts down the wall from a depth of 50 to about 100ft. Large grouper and snapper tend to hang out in the crack among black coral and deep water gorgonian. There is always a good chance to spot sharks and spotted eagle rays at this site.
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The Hole in the Wall
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This is a crack or hole that drops vertically from 55ft and emerges from the face of the wall at 95ft. Space is limited to one diver in the hole at a time, but the sensation of emerging into the blue water is an incredible one. Extensive sheet coral formations are also found here.
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WEST CAICOS AREA
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West Caicos is virgin diving at its best. Pristine walls and a variety of marine life greet divers. The area is frequently worth an extended day of diving.
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Highway to Heaven
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Located at the north end of West Caicos, the dive begins in 50ft with a large colony of garden eels in the sand flat. The site is also popular because of the many stingrays that play in the sand. This is one of the deeper dives out at West Caicos with coral arches and swim throughs around 80-100ft. Lot's of large marine life and frequent shark sightings.
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Elephant Ear Canyon
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Divers know they are at this site when they see the elephant ear sponge 11 feet in diameter. The reef at the top of the wall is about 50ft split into sections by sand chutes. Under the boat at the end of the dive, divers can see garden eels, stingrays, and tilefish.
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Gulley
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The wall begins in about 50ft and the top lip of the wall is a dense coral reef with many cleaning stations. The gulley gets it's name from the cut in the reef that forms two distinct sections before dropping off vertically. The vertical wall here has many undercuts covered in sponges and black corals.
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Driveway
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Under the boat in about 40 feet of water lies a sand area with scattered coral heads leading into a sand chute that extends down through the reef from 50ft to a ledge at around 80-100ft where the wall drops vertically to the depths. Marine life includes sharks, groupers, black durgons, and the ledge area features some excellent growth of plate and star corals. As with many of the sites at West Caicos all along the wall divers will find black coral and purple tube sponges.
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Whiteface
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The name of this dive site has nothing to do with the underwater topography, but comes from the steep white cliffs along the shoreline. Along the top of the wall is particularly profuse reef with some impressive stands of pillar coral. The fish population includes barracuda, parrot fish French angelfish and Nassau grouper. Just north of the mooring is a crack in the wall with a large anchor embedded at 70 feet. The wall is well undercut to a depth of about 100ft.
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South West Reef
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This reef has a deeper wall starting in 50-70ft. The wall is vertical with enormous barrel sponges, deep water gorgonians and frequent sightings of sharks and eagle rays. Currents are frequently encountered at this spot.
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Molasses Reef
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This reef on the edge of the shallow banks and the wall appears as the boat approaches as a line of waves and a golden brown color from the coral reef breaking the surface. This reef is the site of several historic shipwrecks, however, the dive takes place on the deep water side along the wall. Spotted eagle rays and sharks are common over the top of the wall, with Nassau groupers and jacks abundant .
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Double D
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Located just offshore from the bird sanctuary on deserted French Cay, Double D's name comes from two large pinnacles rising from the ocean floor. The wall here is a fairly gradual slope with a profuse carpet of corals along it's entire length. The area around the Double D pinnacles and the boat mooring is home to large numbers of jack, black durgon, and grouper.
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Half Mile Reef
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As the name suggests, this reef is roughly half a mile long and lies to the east of French Cay. A popular section of the reef is located in a large bowl on the wall which tends to eliminate the effects of currents encountered elsewhere on the reef. Large schools of barracuda and mahogany snappers are always present and two large (7-8 feet across) elephant ear sponges are found twenty feet apart at the 85ft contour.
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West Sand Spit
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About 27 miles southeast of Provo the West Sand Spit is an area of sand in the open ocean which has about 50 feet of sand exposed and dry at low tide. The wall starts in 60ft and drops to about 150ft. Large schools of goatfish call this area home, as well as many other species. The REEF Survey completed in 1996 identified more than 120 different types of fish at this site, including three Jewfish. The sand area is also home to four 5ft+ stingrays. During the year, seasonal visitors to the Sand Spit include Sargassum Triggers, Ocean Triggers, and a variety of pelagics. Frequent currents combined with it's remote location make this a healthy vibrant reef.
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