TURKS & CAICOS 2024

After spending a week on the laid back island of Grand Turk, it was time to spend a week at the much more popular and populated island of Providenciales aka Provo. Home to the Beaches resort and the many other high end resorts of Grace Bay. Even the peaceful Long Bay beach where we stayed so many years earlier now had a large resort and way more places on it.

Providenciales

Sunday

It's only a 30 minute flight from Grand Turk to Providenciales, so no sooner where we taking off, we were starting our decent... there was no drink or meal service, in fact there was no-one but the captain and seven passengers on the plane.

Once we landed, I called Scott's Car rental for our mini-van we had rented for the week. A driver picked us up, and took us to their nearby lot, where we all loaded into our shiny white Toyota Alphard. Provo is a lot bigger than a golf-cart island, and you drive on the wrong side of the road. Our first stop in the van was the Graceway Supermarket (It's owned by IGA, but not quite like our IGA), where we did some grocery shopping for the week, we would have got some booze too, but liquor sales are closed on Sundays.

Just like the excursion van we had in Jamaica, this Toyota's info screen is all in Japanese. We couldn't figure out how to tune in to a radio station, finally I found out there was a CD in the player, so we had to listen to Taylor Swift's Red album on repeat all week.

Unlike the very busy Grace Bay area, I found us a place at Northwest Point Resort, it's about a 30 minute drive from the airport to the North end of the island. About halfway there the paved road ends and you are on a deserted gravel road, I think we passed two cars on this part of the road all week. When we arrived at Northwest Point Resort we took a wander around the grounds, checked out the beach, and had lunch at the centrally located Tides Bar & Grill before we could check into our room.

The whole resort is really quite stunning, and there is hardly any other people here.

Our place for the week

This time Annika and Nathan got to pick their room, and they chose the one with the slider to the balcony.

Heathers closet was full of all kinds of beach day needs, a cooler, portable chairs, umbrellas, snorkelling gear, etc....

Monday

Monday started as a "Hang by the pool" day, cloudy, sunny, light rain, repeat. In the afternoon a bunch of kids showed up (4-6), and our peaceful pool time was over. Before heading in we checked out the beach and found a good place to setup later in the week. There was hardly anybody on the beach except for a kite-surfer.

Our little restaurant, Tides, is closed Mondays apparently, so we headed towards town and went to the Da Conch Shack for dinner. A very cool right on the beach bar and restaurant... you can't beat the atmosphere, and the food and drinks were very good too. Expensive, but very good. We certainly didn't need a reservation.

Some local ladies had tables set up on the beach right outside the restaurant, and we may have left with a few shells and bracelets.

Tuesday

On Tuesday I made special arrangements for a Boat excursion, we would have a private boat to take us snorkeling with turtles and to see Iguana Island. Tuesday morning traffic was horrible, we left an hour earlier than Google maps showed, and arrived 10 minutes late. This is the problem with an Island that has one main road and no traffic lights. The instructions weren't that great, but a security guard showed us exactly where the boat was waiting for us.

Our first stop was to look at some Turtles in the shallow bay, no offer to snorkel with these ones.

The tide was very high at our next planned stop, the Sandbar Cay, so we ended up at Fort George Cay. Fort George Cay (originally known as Fort St. George Cay) is a tiny scenic island found between Parrot Cay and Dellis Cay. The island is uninhabited and is popular with locals and visitors alike as a boat cruise destination from Providenciales. Spectacular beaches are found on both sides of the island.

The sand here was so soft, and the shallow water was so blue. I felt a little bad that we pulled up beside the only other boat in the area, but we vacated the area to give the other couple some privacy while we explored the island. By the time we did the loop, they were gone.

While we were exploring and swimming, the crew made us a delicious lunch on the shore, including grilled lobster (for an extra fee )

This abandoned resort complex was supposed to be a resort hotel, with villas, residences, a spa, restaurants and boutiques, as well as a marina, but when the dot com bubble burst in the early 2000's construction and development ended.

Our next stop was snorkelling on the Barrier Reef, the waters were very clear and the reef was much more colourful than what we had seen on Grand Turk. Everyone was eager to jump into these waters.

Can you see it, hidden in the sand?

As we are heading away from the reef we are passed by this super car... errr, boat. Apparently you can book it for Instagram girl photo shoots... we didn't.

We made an unexpected stop at the floating Tiki Bar known as Noah's Ark. It's a Blue Water playground that was created during Covid. When regulations prevented people from gathering in the towns and restaurants, there was no restrictions about being out on the water, and Noah's Ark was born. It has become the music thumping, overpriced drink, party on the turqoise waters destination of almost every excursion out of Grace Bay. Nathan and Annika bought some 20 dollar drinks, the rest of us just dove in the water to check out the "pool". It didn't take long and we were ready to go.

I asked about Iguana island as we are heading back, and am told we are out of time. I explained to the captain that we booked this tour for two things, swimming with turtles and Iguana Island. He says he will take us there, but we won't have any time. We roll up towards the shore, and can see some iguanas on the beach, and a small lemon shark weaving along the shoreline


It was cool to see the little shark, but it was never mentioned that we could go ashore, and having been to Iguana Island years before, the experience of walking along the boardwalk with iguanas all around you is the experience we wanted to share. The excursion (which was also not cheap) should have been a massive highlight of the trip, but ended up with me feeling disappointed.

One of these two houses belongs to Drake, I'll let you guess which one

I followed up with the company we booked through, let them know that it was a good day, but the two things we specifically wanted to do didn't happen... and it was a string of excuses, including,
"did you remind them what you wanted to do?".

"Our sincerest apologies that you didn't get to snorkel with the turtles. The water has been a bit rough all week, which has made any type of snorkeling a challenge. The captain said the area where the turtles are was not possible today, so he took you to the main reef instead. I apologize if that was not communicated to you. Our apologies again that you didn't get to spend more time at iguana island. He would have stayed longer, but he said no one wanted to get off the boat. We always try to give our guests the best possible experience given the weather and water conditions of each the day. We hope you all enjoy the rest of your vacation and have a wonderful holiday."

I just about lost my $#!+, when I read their response... the water where the turtles were was the flattest of the whole day, and we were never even told that getting off at Iguana Island was an option, plus it wasn't even at the boardwalk, it was on shark beach. I have to take a deep breath and know that we had a very nice day, but when you say "We can definitely take you to do those things", I have expectations that you can, and will... because that is what we paid for!

After a scenic tour through the Grace Bay area, we made a brief stop at the grocery store for some more basics and beverages. After a nice pizza dinner at Tides, it ends up being a nice night to have a few drinks and sit in the hot tub with no one else around.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a true beach day at Northwest Point, we loaded up a cooler with drinks, brought folding chairs and towels, and wandered away from the resort into Northwest Point National Park. Around the corner from a nesting pair of Osprey we found an idyllic spot to spend the day. No other people in sight.

I did do a little snorkelling, but there wasn't much happening this far from the reef.

Norine and I walked down the beach to the further point, and saw several turtles floating along the shore. Where were they when I was snorkeling?

We came back to find Nathan creating a sand village complete with pyramids and caves.

After spending the rest of our time watching the Ospreys and the sunset, it was time to pack up our gear and head back in. I think we saw 4 other people the whole day.

Thursday

On Thursday I had a grand plan, we would drive to the far end of Providenciales island, and take a ferry over to North & Middle Caicos to see an area of Turks & Caicos that none of us had seen.

These islands are way less developed, and not many tourists go to see them. We expected bad traffic again, so left even earlier, we were right... that was a good plan. We had a little extra time, but that is better than running and jumping on to the ferry as it is pulling away. We met a man who has spent a lot of time on the 2 islands over the years and he gave us a bunch of recommendations.

The ferry to North and Middle Caicos is small, and you can't take a vehicle, so I arranged with Al’s rent a car for a 5-6 person vehicle on the other side. We ask at the terminal where Al's rent-a-car is, and he points to the parking lot, Apparently Al has a van and a big sign, and that's where he runs his business. The vehicle we get is a very used Suburban, it's quite run down, scratched, dented, and runs a little rough... "Just bring it back with the same amount of gas and not full of sand".

We first went to a recommended breakfast place, The Barracuda Beach Bar at the Pelican Beach Hotel, it looked very nice, right on the beach, but not open until noon. We ended up at My Dee’s restaurant, in a gravel parking lot next to construction, no view, and pretty plain, but they made a very good fish burger. The health inspectors showed up, they left with a smile so I guess that is ok.

After taking the North & Middle Caicos causeway (basically a gravel road connecting the 2 islands), our first stop was Indian Cave. We weren't sure what to expect, it was right on the side of the road, there was a big blue garbage can, and you could walk right in.

It was very cool, and way better than I expected, even if it didn't take long.

Indian Cave is a large single gallery cave with many openings and skylights. Like nearly all sinkholes and caves found in the Turks and Caicos, Indian Cave was created by what is called the Karst process: the slow action of slightly acidic rainwater dissolving the soft limestone as it drained into the water table. There is evidence that human habitation occurred at Indian Cave during pre-Columbian times (1492). However, it’s not conclusively known if the cave was continually inhabited, or if it was only used as a shelter during storms or for some other special purpose. Archeological digs conducted here in the late 1990s have revealed many interesting findings. Along with some shards of ancient pottery, bones and fossils of quite a few animals were uncovered, including an extinct tortoise and giant iguana, small reptiles, owls, parrots, and hawks.


There was a lot of geckos and a lot of pesky mosquitoes, but it was a very unique location.

After checking these cool caves out we decided to skip the Conch Bar Caves which required a guide, and went looking for Flamingoes again. We got lost and had to drive backwards for a kilometer, after it seemed like a good idea to follow roads that looked like this.

We got lost one more time, including driving in reverse, when looking for access to Bambarra beach, and learned the valuable lesson of not using Google maps, and following the big green signs on the side of the road.

At the far end of Middle Caicos is the beautiful and calm waters of Bambarra Beach. If the weather had of been a little sunnier this would have been perfect beach stop. There was a couple ladies with their food shacks and bars, and 4 other people that we saw.

It's always a surprise to have a white sand beach to yourself.

After drying off and getting some refreshments, we loaded up the Suburban and started back towards our start point. We tried a couple more places hoping to see Flamingoes, but had no luck.

We did stop at Mudjin Harbour, a fantastically scenic little bay with turquoise waters, crashing waves and rock cliffs. If only we hadn't listened to the local advice guy, and come here first, we would have had more time.

This photo taken moments before the sand gave way and I sliced my palm open on sharp lava rock

With my hand wrapped up in a paper towel, we went looking for the Historic Wade's Green Plantation, Wade’s Green was established as a cotton plantation by loyalist Wade Stubbs in 1789.  During the plantation era, slavery was legal in British territories. Records show that the first slaves in the Turks and Caicos were African slaves brought over from Bermuda in the later 1700s, and that the majority of subsequent slaves came with British Loyalists from America after the revolution. In 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act was made law by the British Parliament and slavery became illegal in most British territories, including the British West Indies (Later named Turks & Caicos).

The descendants of these slaves make up the core of the native Turks and Caicos Islanders. Wade Stubbs went on to become probably the most successful planter in Turks and Caicos history and at his death in 1822, he owned 384 slaves and over 8000 thousand acres over the Caicos Islands, including Wade’s Green on North Caicos, Haulover Plantation on Middle Caicos, and Cheshire Hall on Providenciales.

Even though we followed the signs, we couldn't find it, and I wasn't about to drive down a narrow dirt road again. So we headed back to drop off the truck and got back on the Ferry after acquiring a couple souvenirs. The little ferry bombs across the water as we watch the sunset.

Our final stop of the day was the weekly Fish Fry night near Grace Bay. Local vendors and cooks set up their wares, and serve a wide array of seafood and meats, while a DJ blasts everyone's ear drums until the live band comes on later in the night.

We loaded up with some souvenirs and each ordered an assortment of local foods. Mine was supposed to be a Coconut Snapper with Rice & Beans, and Mac & Cheese, but two bites in and I discovered they forgot one thing...
they forgot to finish cooking the fish.  They did take it right back and made me a new one which was delicious.

Friday

Friday was our final Beach day, we decided to stay closer to the resort, so we didn't have to haul chairs down. Even being this close to the resort and using their chairs, tables and palapas, we spent most of the day by ourselves.

After a while, Norine and I decided to walk down the shore towards the North point and the osprey nest. We are so glad we did, as almost the whole way we are spotting small turtles feeding along the shoreline.

Several days later and Nathan's historic sand village was still mostly intact.


After checking out the Osprey pair for a bit, we walked back and enjoyed the company of turtles some more. I don't think they enjoyed our company as much, because they would pop their heads up and dive down with a big splash as soon as they saw us.

Just laying in a lounger, having a swim when you get too hot, and watching pelicans fishing the blue waters, I'm pretty sure this is what they show when you look up Paradise in the dictionary.

I guess paradise can't be paradise forever though, so when it clouded over and started to rain, we packed up and headed inside.

Sadly our time here was coming to an end, one last supper at Tides, before we had to head back to our place and start packing up for our flight the next morning.

Saturday

it was time to head home... we loaded up the mini-van, dropped off the car at the rental place, and they then drove it over and dropped us all off at the airport... The airport where I made the best decision and the worst decision when it comes to flying out of a small airport.

As we had slightly overpacked one of our suitcases, we ended up buying a duffle bag, and when I saw that they would check your carry-on luggage for free, I claimed our extra bag as a carry-on... free extra checked bag!

The bad decision was while we are sitting comfortably in a restaurant outside security and have finished our meals, I thought it was a good idea to get through security early and find a seat at the gate... I couldn't have been more wrong. The gate and waiting area might have been the Worst airport waiting room I have ever seen. Effectively one room for 6 huge flights, and not a seat to be found.

Eventually, our flight did board, and we jetted away from paradise to Toronto. It's a bit of a system shock to leave 30° weather and arrive at an airport full of Christmas decorations.

There was a slight delay at connection in TO, but the best part of the flight home was getting settled in to your seat, and discovering they had Live TV on the flight and I was watching the Canucks game... until it's interrupted by the sky-host who informs us some passengers are having trouble with their entertainment systems, so they need to reset them. It seems like several resets later and the systems are starting to come back online. From my perspective everyone but my row and the row in front of us now have entertainment. The people in front of me complain, and they just reset their row, now we are the only ones with no entertainment. I ask if they can do the same for our row and the sky-hostess says sure... it never happened. I was livid, deep breaths, think of the trip.

Good thing I brought a book, because even their WiFi didn't work, but they came and gave me a discount coupon for a future trip..

With 5 of us and luggage, I had pre-arranged a Limo to pick us up and drop us all at home, the big beautiful suburban was much nicer than the one we rented on North Caicos, the driver was silent the whole trip, even when I was asking him about the recent weather in BC, but he had us home by 11:00pm after a long long day.

Returning home to the cold was a bit of a shock after 3 weeks in the warm waters of the Caribbean and Turks waters, but it was a nice break from reality after a long year without travel.