Day 20 – Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands

Today we arrived on our first Caribbean island, Grand Turk in the West Indies – Hurrah!!! 🥳

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British overseas territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turk Islands. The islands lie south east of the Bahamas and directly north of the Dominican Republic. (See map below). Grand Turk has a land mass of just 6.8 square miles and a population of 4,800 – even smaller than Alderney (although probably with less drunks! 😜)

Arriving by cruise ship in Grand Turk is really something of a spectacle as the ship pretty much berths straight on the beach (see pics below). This is possible due to the ‘drop-off’, the phenomenon whereby the shallow beach suddenly falls off an underwater cliff about 100 feet from the shoreline. Once disembarked, everyone is herded into the cruise port duty free shop before moving through to the purpose built cruise terminal shopping centre which really comprises of a bunch of shops selling extremely overpriced junk, T. shirts, booze and souvenirs. But at least their supply of sun creams were more reasonably priced than the ones on the ship.

After a pootle about, we joined our boat excursion to the nearby island of Gibbs Cay for a dip with the sting rays as well as a stop for a spot of reef snorkelling. Anyone who knows Paul will guess that he opted to stay firmly on the boat! At Gibbs Cay we were able to interact with some very sociable sting rays, especially ‘Scratchy’ who very obligingly tolerated being patted, fussed over and even kissed by one sweet little boy who clearly thought the experience made his life complete!

Fun facts:

1. The islands have an average of 350 sunny days per year, but suffer from frequent hurricanes.
2. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Turks and Caicos has the highest murder rate per capita in the world! Blimey!
3. The highest point on the island is 89 feet. As Captain Tom pointed out, while in port our ship was the highest point on the island! 🏝️ 😎