Turks & Caicos · Turks & Caicos Islands · Wall
Grand Turk Wall
Ten minutes from the beach, the reef ends and drops to thousands of feet
Area photo: SNORKELINGDIVES.COM · CC BY 2.0
The reef off the Cockburn Town shoreline runs about 305 m (1,000 ft) out from the beach in 30 to 40 feet (up to 12 m) of water, then ends in a drop-off that falls away to thousands of feet. It lies inside Columbus Landfall Marine National Park, the largest national park in the Turks & Caicos Islands and its largest marine protected area, and visibility here often exceeds 30 m (100 ft).
Where it is and how deep
21.4620° N, 71.1450° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Shops pick divers up at the beach rather than a marina, so the dive starts almost as soon as the boat does and the ride out is about ten minutes. You drop onto the reef top in 30 to 40 feet (up to 12 m), a mix of coral heads and sandy bottom, and the first minutes are shallow and unhurried while the group settles, checks its gas and works out which way the guide is heading.
Then the reef ends. Where the flat stops the drop-off takes over and falls to thousands of feet, and the dive becomes a slow swim along the edge with the shallow reef held in reserve for the way back. Visibility often exceeds 30 m (100 ft), which is what makes the short ride worth taking: you read the shape of the wall and see the divers ahead of you rather than one section of it at a time. Come back up onto the reef top to finish, where 30 to 40 feet (up to 12 m) of water carries the safety stop without hanging in the blue.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good |
Season follows Turks & Caicos: January–April brings calm seas and the humpback whale migration through the Turks Island Passage; September–October is peak hurricane season.
Dive videos
The Grand Turk "Wall" · Studio 23 on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is diving on the Grand Turk wall?+
The reef top runs at around 30 to 40 feet (up to 12 m) and extends about 305 m (1,000 ft) from shore before the drop-off begins, and from there it falls to thousands of feet. The shallow reef is where the dive starts and ends; the depth below the edge is a limit you set yourself.
How far is the boat ride to the Grand Turk wall?+
About ten minutes. Grand Turk operators pick divers up at the beach rather than from a marina, and the drop-off lies just beyond the reef that extends roughly 305 m (1,000 ft) from shore.
Is the Grand Turk wall protected?+
Yes. It falls inside Columbus Landfall Marine National Park, the largest national park in the Turks & Caicos Islands and the country's largest marine protected area, which holds 25 moored dive sites.
Sources
- Grand Turk — Wikivoyage
- Diving Turks & Caicos — Divezone
In The Logbook
- The best wall dives in the worldWalls & drop-offs · 11 min read
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