When I was thinking about what to write about my visit to the gorgeous Turks & Caicos Islands, I was seriously worried that I would come across like a commercial. How can you say anything bad about a chain of islands in the Caribbean with the most beautiful uncrowded beaches and the most turquoise blue waters you have ever seen?
Beautiful Half Moon Bay is located on an uninhabited island and was created by a hurricane. It is reachable only by boat.
You do not need to adjust the settings on your monitor. This is how blue the water really is in Turks & Caicos.
The Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) are a chain of islands just southeast of the Bahamas and about 500 miles from Miami, Florida. A British Overseas Territory, Turks & Caicos is part of the British West Indies. Automobiles are driven on the left here, but the U.S. dollar is the official currency. Although it cannot be verified, many believe these islands represented the first landfall for Christopher Columbus on his famous sea voyage. These islands were also used by pirates, although they probably didn’t look like Johnny Depp.
Grace Bay
Most of the resorts line the stretch of Grace Bay Beach on Providenciales (Provo), the island with the largest population. Only about half of the main 8 islands are inhabited and there are more than 20 other small islands in this chain. There are resorts from every price range on Grace Bay, but by and large the beaches are still relatively uncrowded compared to other Caribbean islands.
The home of the Queen Conch. You will literally trip over conch every 3 feet in these shallow warm waters off Provo.
Turks and Caicos’ natural resources include the spiny lobster, conch, and other shellfish. Although conch are considered an endangered species in many places around the world, these creatures are farmed on Turks & Caicos. This is one of the only places in the world that exports conch. You may bring up to 3 conch or conch derived products out of Turks & Caicos with a free permit from the department of the environment.
My freshly harvested conch. It must be larger than 7 inches across. We literally picked it out of the ocean.
Our boat tour with Caicos Dream Tours consisted of snorkeling at the barrier reef, diving for conch, and having fresh conch salad prepared from the conch we caught while we explored the deserted beach of Half Moon Bay. Many boat operators in TCI do a version of this tour. It was a lovely morning in paradise.
Conch salad (similar to ceviche) is a must-eat. This bowl is from da famous Da Conch Shack.
Turks & Caicos is well known among scuba divers. The barrier reef off TCI is the third largest in the world after Australia and Belize. There are a myriad of activities to do. Besides sitting on the gorgeous beaches, you can snorkel, snuba, sail, water ski, banana boat, explore sea caves, go on a pirate tour, or just worship the sun.
I can really only find one downside for Turks & Caicos, and that is the expense of the food. Since everything needs to be imported onto this desert isle, groceries are expensive. The existence of several top notch gourmet restaurants also means dinners are expensive. Fortunately, since many resorts on TCI are actually condos, you can save a lot of money by using the kitchen provided for meals. While there is a great IGA supermarket on Provo, it is also expensive so we packed lots of snacks, which saved some money.
We maximized our beach time on our visit to Grace Bay.
All in all, we found Turks & Caicos to have just the right mix of pristine beaches that are not too crowded (Grace Bay is comparable to Eagle Beach in Aruba), fun water activities, friendly locals, good seafood, solid tourist infrastructure, and good public safety. In many respects, it’s similar to Aruba based on our experience.
We stayed at the Royal West Indies on Grace Bay, a condo resort that we recommend. Review to follow!
Recent Comments