Turks and Caicos
From LoveToKnow Travel
Providenciales
Providenciales, called Provo by those that live on the island, is the most developed of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Just 38 square miles, this idyllic island is covered with some of the best beaches in the Caribbean. Two separate six-miles stretches offer visitors a variety of watersports, scenic vistas, and uncrowded white sand beach. Grace Bay on the north side of the island is a beautiful inlet with a coral formation just off shore. It is home to the luxury Grace Bay Beach Hotel as well as the active Club Med Turquoise complex. On the south of the island is Chalk Sound, a large lake with surrounding cays and brilliant turquoise water. The Island Sea Center teaches visitors how to grow conch and the Princess Alexandra Marine Park features a “swim with the dolphins” pond. Small casinos, relaxed dinners, and island music make up most of the nightlife on this relatively quiet island.
Grand Turk Island, Turks and Caicos
The capital of the colony, Grand Turk Island is a diver’s mecca. A large protected coral reef lies just offshore, is accessible for shore dives, and plunges to 8000 feet below the surface. Whale watching is another popular pastime on the island. During the November to March season, large humpback whales past just off shore. For a closer look, visitors can take a whale-watching tour right out to the whales. Cockburn Town on Grand Turk is the administrative capital of the colony as well as its historic center. It is widely believed that this is where Columbus made landfall during his first expedition to the New World in 1492. The city is lined with restored 18th and 19th century buildings and the Turk and Caicos National Museum there tells the story of the Molasses Reef Wreck, the oldest shipwreck discovered in the Western Hemisphere.
Middle Caicos
Middle Caicos is the largest of the Turks and Caicos Islands and has just 275 permanent residents. It is the most dramatic of the islands, with the north shore covered with limestone cliffs that fall into remote, undeveloped beaches. The south coast is marshland with tidal flats that cover almost half of the island. Outdoors lovers will enjoy the extensive cave network here as well as Mudjin Harbor, a half-moon shaped lagoon within the ocean and home to a pristine and remote, white sand beach. History buffs won’t want to miss the ruins of the several loyalist plantations on the island. During low tide, visitors can walk the short distance to North Caicos Island atop a sand bar.
North Caicos, Turks and Caicos
North Caicos is lush and green island with abundant rainfall. It is home to the largest Flamingo flock on the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as loyalist plantation ruins, and a osprey nesting ground. Natural reeds grown here are crafted into elaborate, woven baskets, a specialty of the islands. Remote, lush, and beautiful, North Caicos is ideal for natural lovers and those wishing to see what the Caribbean was like before tourism.
East Caicos
East Caicos is a large, uninhabited island. Once home to a large cattle ranch and several sisal plantations, it makes an interesting day trip from one of the other islands. The ruins of the abandoned city of Jacksonville as well as the artwork to be found on the cave walls, give testimony to previous civilizations. Most of the island is filled with stands of mangrove trees and swamp, but there is a beautiful and untouched 17-mile beach on the north shore, popular with the resident sea turtles.
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