TURKS AND CAICOS - Salt Cay defines getting away from it all. This tranquil island measures approximately two miles on each triangular side. Narrow streets accommodate mostly golf carts, bicycles and pedestrians, all of whom give way to free-roaming horses, donkeys, and chickens. In its heyday, this charming island was home to several hundred people, all supported by the salt industry’s salinas (salt evaporation ponds). Today, some eighty people call Salt Cay home, and among them is Oliver “Ollie” Been.

Along with Debbie Manos, Ollie has owned and managed Salt Cay Divers since it opened in November 1996. His impressive qualifications date back to his childhood when he first became familiar with the sea. “All my life I’ve lived off the ocean. I’ve been diving since I was a little kid. As a boy, after school we’d just go shooting fish or diving conchs and lobsters. I still go spear fishing and free diving for conchs and lobsters..” I was beginning to understand why Ollie looked so healthy and fit. Free diving is diving on your free breath, without tanks.

“I was free diving and shooting fish like groupers and hog snappers that the hotel menus feature, and for conch and lobster long before I ever got into scuba school. We didn’t sell to hotels then. We just took them home for a meal or sold them to neighbors or the community. If we had extra we’d sell to the hotels. Of course, now hotel demand is greater, and it’s good business for fishermen.”

Ollie laments that times have changed. “There are a lot fewer conch and lobster now,” he says. “Years ago, fishermen sculled canoes, which means they moved an oar, mounted on a fulcrum at the stern, from side to side to propel the boat forward. When they got conch and brought it in, they had good uses for the shells.”

“They used to make a lime kiln. They’d dig a big hole, put scrap wood inside and light a fire. Then they’d burn the conch shells The shells would become powder—lime—which they used for whitewashing or to mix in cement with their hoes to make the cement stronger. Now there’s no use for conch shells, so a lot of people just dump them back in the ocean, but they shouldn’t.” Some fisherman believe that empty shells cast into the sea will discourage living conch from moving into the area. “Conch don’t want to go where conch shells are, so don’t toss empty shells back where the conchs migrate. Conch won’t hang around knowing that someone is invading their areas.” Also, dumping empty shells in the ocean wastes fishermen’s time collecting empty shells.

Ollie noted that in the Bahamas, they build jetties out of shells. “Fishermen bring the shells in for that purpose. They combine their shells and pile them into nets. When the nets are filled, they cement over them and create whole jetties made of conch shells.”

When I asked about local diving, Ollie’s face broke into a broad smile. “We have the greatest diving in the world,” he said. “The reef is very close, just five minutes away, so you don’t have to go for miles and miles to reach a dive site. And we don’t have a lot of currents.” He went on to list the prolific sea life on view for divers and snorkelers. “We have lots of coral life— slate, stinging or fire, brain, staghorn, lots of pillow coral which is tall standing and spiny like a cactus, and lots of fish and marine life including whales, dolphins, starfish, rays and turtles.”

Aspiring divers need to get certified before they can dive, and Salt Cay Divers is the place to do it. “Certification includes classroom instruction and three open-water dives,” Ollie explains. “People can either do the classroom part with us or use remote learning to complete the classroom instruction. Introduction to Scuba tapes or cds go through the basics about dive gear, and then all the person has to do to complete the classroom part is to pass the written exam.”

Once aspiring divers have passed their classroom exam, Ollie takes them out for their three open-water dives. “Before we go out, divers practice using their apparatus regulator and BCD ((Buoyancy Control Device). The regulator reduces the high pressure air in a scuba tank to a pressure that a diver can safely breathe. The BCD, which attaches the tank to the diver, controls the diver’s buoyancy and therefore his depth. We go out on the boat, and divers put on their gear. I observe and help them overboard. Then I follow and watch them.”

Ollie takes photos of the divers for verification to send to NAVI, YMCA or PADI and the divers get a scuba certificate which allows them to dive with an instructor. A beginner diver can upgrade to experienced diver, dive master or instructor. Experienced divers show their scuba certificate and fill out a form that ensures that they’re certified, explains circumstances if they’ve ever been in a dive incident, and confirms that they’re healthy enough to dive. They are allowed to go on their own (with a buddy) or on a dive boat with a dive master or instructor.

Professional scuba certificates include dive master and instructor levels. “The dive master or dive instructor goes with divers to protect them and the reef itself,” Ollie explains. “We make sure you get back to the boat safely. Most places you go are different from where you were certified. Conditions can be different, with stronger currents, and surroundings can be different, like Grand Turk has lots of coral. It’s good to have a dive master or instructor with you.”

On a dive you may be lucky to be in the right place at the right time and see a whale or dolphins. “Whales cooperate with you at times, and at times they don’t want to be bothered,” Ollie says. “When mothers are pregnant, they head towards the deep when they hear a motor. After the birth, mothers come into the shallower water with their calves and hang around. You can snorkel and just look down at them. But when you’re out there diving and have a whale pass by, whales keep on moving. There’s no such thing as diving with whales. Dolphins look you over, check you out and go about their business.”

Ollie recalls being out one day with divers and spotting a whale. He shut the engine down and they went overboard. “Sometimes whales get curious and look at you on scuba,” he says. “This whale stopped and looked at us with a ‘what the hell is this’ expression. He’d traveled from miles away and had never seen anything like this. He was just curious, blowing bubbles and looking as us looking at him. After a while he got tired and just swam away. Many times whales just pass by like that, like a shark or turtle.”

The darker, navy blue ocean areas mark the reef wall, excellent for diving. The Wall is a sudden sheer drop of 25-60 feet lined with coral, sea fans and soft corals. The reef is generally to deep for snorkeling, since shallower areas provide better visibility.

“Snorkelers in shallow areas can see various fish life if they know what they’re looking for,” Ollie says. “Garden eels and flounders live in sandy areas, as do jaw fish, often around mooring balls. Stingrays feed on hermit crabs on sand, and anchors are found in sand. Trunkfish blow in sand until they find their food. There’s just as much marine life in sand as in a reef ,”

I asked about the fire coral, having had a run-in with it in Tortola the first time I snorkeled.
“There’s not so much of the yellow-gold fire coral around Grand Turk,” Ollie assured me. “Mostly you find fire coral at the site of the Endymion wreck “.

The HMS Endymion is an unsalvaged 17th century British warship that was wrecked on a shallow reef in just forty-five feet.of water fourteen miles southwest of Salt Cay. “It takes about thirty to forty minutes to get there,” Ollie continued, “but you need a calm day. You’ll see cannons, a giant anchor and chain, and a variety of spectacular sea life making homes among the ruins.”

Every once in a long while, winds coming from the west cause rough, heavy seas, or the occasional hurricane comes through, or in wintertime (November through April), cold fronts move in, but basically, divers can dive year round in the Turks and Caicos.Islands.

Ollie also caters to non-diving guests. “We pack fruits, snacks and non-alcoholic beverages and take short trips. Or we picnic eight miles away on Great Sand Cay, an uninhabited island with crystal clear water and pristine white beaches. There’s hardly a stone or coral and no seaweed for miles and miles—no reefs, nothing.” Guests bring their own lunches for this excursion. “On the way back, we stop and snorkel and hike, looking for iguanas in summertime—May to September. Lots of birds migrate here, lay their eggs and have their young. In season—January through April—humpback whales migrate through our warm waters to have their young.”

Salt Cay is in the middle of the humpback whale’s migratory route to the Silver Banks, their mating and nursery area, north of the Dominican Republic. It is believed that the whales choose this shallow coral reef area, an underwater plateau of limestone, because of the numerous coral heads that provide protection from ocean swells. An estimated 3,000-5,000 humpback whales pass through these waters between December and mid-April. Ollie is renowned for being great at finding humpback whales.

The humpbacks produce ambergris, a type of wax that comes from the whale intestine. It’s in high demand for making perfume. “Years ago,” Ollie recalls, “huge chunks would come ashore. When islanders had the kind of irons you rested on the stove to heat, they used ambergris to clean the iron. They also melted ambergris down and put it in a glass to make candles. If you walk up higher on the beaches, you’ll find ambergris in different shapes and forms where it’s laid there for a very long time. Originally it looks like gold-colored wax, then in the sun, it becomes white.” Ollie shows guests beaches where they can find washed ashore ambergris. In November, Salt Cay Divers celebrates it’s 14th anniversary in the scuba/hospitality business, providing relaxing vacations for divers, snorkelers, and those who just want to get far away from it all. All guests have to do is fly to Providenciales. They will take care of the rest of your Turks and Caicos arrangements for you.

Prices (as of September 2010; prices fluctuate with fuel costs):

RT flight Providenciales to Grand Turk US$130-150
RT flight Grand Turk to Salt Cay $35 RT Ferry Grand Turk to Salt Cay $15

One tank dive $40 Certification $300 Boat trip to snorkel at wreck $30

Prices subject to change. Call to make reservations and to confirm costs (649) 241 1009.

For dive packages and accommodations prices, see: http://www.saltcaydivers.tc/