The promise of beaches like the one above caused us to book our first trip to Turks and Caicos a few years ago.
In researching Turks and Caicos, we found that some cays and islands had fantastic high end resorts (Parrot Cay) and some were very quiet with very little tourist traffic. We really wanted to experience a week “off of the grid” and as we were traveling with 4 other adults, we also wanted to find a place large enough to comfortably accommodate 6 on the beach. We ran across a villa rental on North Caicos and thought it might fit the bill. It did.
We flew in to Providenciales, gathered our luggage, hailed a taxi, stopped at a grocery store in Provo before catching the ferry (we read that groceries were quite limited in North Caicos) and caught the ferry to North Caicos.
The ferry arriving in Provo
We rented a car in North Caicos for the week. Quite the feat to drive on the right side of the car on the left side of the road, but a car was really necessary and luckily there’s n0t much traffic at all on North Caicos.
Our villa was located off the main road (see above) and road signs are scarce on North Caicos, so fortunately we had plenty of sunshine left to find our villa.
The villa was right on beautiful Whitby Beach and we took advantage of the amazing view every day – and night.
So what did we do for a week? Let me tell you!
Beaches
The beaches we visited on Turks and Caicos beaches are indescribable. The sand was soft and white… Most beaches on the north side had extremely sandy bottoms and we could walk many feet into the ocean before there was a drop off. On North Caicos we rarely saw another person on the beach and conch shells were everywhere!
Snorkeling and Shelling
We took an excursion and spent the day snorkeling and shelling. Our captain took us out to a reef where the snorkeling was excellent with vibrantly colored fish and coral. We stopped at a deserted Cay to do some shelling and were amazed to find hundreds of unbroken sun bleached white sand dollars of all sizes.
We made one more stop at Little Water Cay – a nature reserve, to check out the Turks and Caicos Rock Iguanas.
Exploring other Islands
Middle Caicos
We took a day trip and drove to Middle Caicos which is connected to North Caicos by a causeway. Middle Caicos looks entirely different than North Caicos and we thought parts of the Beach Cave Trail looked a wee bit like Ireland!
Providenciales
Provo is the most populated island of the T&C chain and home to Grace Bay Beach, frequently named as one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It’s an easy ferry ride from Provo to North Caicos and we spent the day shopping, enjoying a few beverages and walking Grace Bay Beach.
Relaxing
This was our week to get “off the grid” and it didn’t take long to get on island time. No internet access and limited cell phone coverage was a little strange at first, but by the end of the week we were lovin’ it. It gave us plenty of time to do this:
and this,
and lots of this…
Odds and Ends
Just a few other things we enjoyed during our time in T&C.
Great dock to watch the sunrise and sunset on Horsestable Beach.
Excellent Caribbean Lobster dinner with Karen at the Silver Palm Restaurant – North Caicos
Conch, conch and more delicious conch at Miss B’s Island Hut – North Caicos
Finally finding (after several failed attempts) and snorkeling at Three Mary Cays in North Caicos
One thing that every trip we take to the islands teaches us is that you can never see and do all there is to see and do on an island in just one week. Our first trip to Turks and Caicos proved that to be true once again. Although we saw A LOT, did A LOT and relaxed A LOT (Yes, we enjoyed a good bit of Rum Therapy there!), we really only saw a fraction of what these beautiful islands have to offer and hope we’ll have the opportunity to return someday to see much more…
To see other posts on Turks and Caicos and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory
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