Turks & Caicos - A British Overseas Territory

Grand Turk is an interesting place. Carnival built a cruise ship dock, so thousands of people pour into this island daily for watersports and souvenir shopping at the port-side shops. I'm sure this has helped the local economy. The beaches are quite beautiful, the water is clear and there is a 7,000-foot-deep diving wall. Divers come from around the world to visit the underwater "Grand Canyon of the Caribbean." We spent about a week in Grand Turk waiting on a weather window to cross to the Caicos.

Turks & Caicos is an expensive area for cruisers to visit. It costs $50 for a boat to check into the country and another $50 to check out, plus lunchtime fees, after hour fees and weekend fees. The problem is they charge a $300 fee if you are in their waters for more than a week. It takes nearly three days to sail from one end of the country to the other end. Then, you need a day to check-in and a day to check out. If the weather is not favorable for sailing, you get stuck there for over a week. Then, you have to spend another day going into customs and immigration to pay your extra cruising fee. Restaurants, groceries, taxis and car rentals are also exorbitant.

After about a week of moving around the island to escape the strong winds, we sailed over to Providenciales and entered a marina through a shallow channel. We took a slip because some high winds were due to come in over the following few days. We also rented a car to go grocery store and the pharmacy. We also went to see our friends from Grenada before we turned in our one-day rental.

We met some new friends at the marina and spent a day at the pool at the marina/resort. It really was a beautiful place. We had a lovely time there.

It's quite rural in Grand Turk

Wild Donkeys and Cows

Friends

Friends