Turks & Caicos
Turks & Caicos
Known as the playground for the rich and famous, this British territory in the Caribbeans likely marks one of the ultimate beach vacation destinations in the world with its blindingly pristine white sand beaches and turquoise waters. The beauty is surreal. With a price tag. It’s still a luxury destination tailored to the wealthy, to the point that some places are not easily accessible without privately chartered boats and jets. We went there during Covid and had the unbelievable fortune of having the entire beaches to ourselves most of the time. It was truly 5 days in paradise.
FULL ITINERARY
- Beach
- Water Sport
- Family-friendly
- Traveled in November 2020
Day 1
Arrival & Long Bay Beach
Arrive at Providenciales and visit one of the beaches on this island | Overnight in Providenciales
12:00 pm
Arrival & Rent a Car
Providenciales is the most popular island and where most commercial flights land in Turks & Caicos, an archipelago of 40 islands. I imagine the arrival and rental car process would be quite painless in normal times. Of course, we travelled there at the height of Covid when Turks & Caicos was one of the few countries that still had an open border. We had to do a PCR test within 5 days prior to arrival, obtain a TCI travel authorization, and buy travel insurance specifically covering Covid. It was not too bad considering many other countries also required some weeks of quarantine. We felt quite compelled to travel then because we just got married and knew we were going to start a family soon. My boss thought it was our honeymoon, but I didn’t think we meant it that way. It was really our last chance to travel before we kiss freedom goodbye.
1:00 pm
Lunch
3:00 pm
Long Bay Beach
Not much time left in the day after having lunch and settling down. But Providenciales is a small island. We decided to check out one of the beaches that we don’t expect to spend much time in. Long Bay Beach jumped out at us from what we read, but in hindsight I think this beach would’ve served better purpose if we had planned more time here on water activities. It was truly very long, and bustling with kitesurfing, jetskiing, horseback riding, and whatever other water sports you can think of.Â
6:00 pm
Dinner
Day 2
Mudjin Harbor & Bambara Beach
Ferry to North/Middle Caicos to visit the most beautiful landscape in country | Overnight in Providenciales
8:00 am
Ferry to North Caicos & Rent a Car
One of the few public water transportations in Turks & Caicos, the TCI Ferry runs a 30-minute cruise between Providenciales to North Caicos. Exploring the island of North and Middle Caicos also requires a rental car, but you can’t bring the rental car onto the ferry. So we had to leave our car at the Providenciales terminal parking lot and arrange another rental car to meet us at the North Caicos terminal for the day. We booked the ferry and car in advance, and everything was quite easy to navigate.
- Tips
The TCI Ferry terminals are at Walkin Marina, Leeward Provo in Providenciales and Sandy Point Marina in North Caicos.
The rental car company we used was Al’s Rent-a-Car.
9:00 am
Mudjin Harbor
In this cluster of islands where every beach seem to come out of picture books, you might think it’d be hard to say which spot is the prettiest. On the contrary, there’s a pretty good consensus that the vote unequivocally goes to Mudjin Harbor, about 40 minutes drive from the North Caicos ferry terminal.
Needless to say, how awed were we to have this magical place almost entirely to ourselves.
12:00 pm
Lunch
Highly recommend to lunch at Mudjin Bar & Grill, not because of the food but for the view on its patio.
4:30 pm
Ferry to Providenciales
Return car and catch the last Ferry back to Providenciales.
6:00 pm
Dinner
Day 3
Half Moon bay & Mangrove Cay
Kayak to Half Moon Bay & Mangrove Cay | Overnight in Providenciales
9:30 am
Kayak to Half Moon Bay
Given the lack of transportation options, kayaking the approximate 1 mile distance from Providenciales to Half Moon Bay served quite a practical purpose besides the fun. It was advised that this should not be attempted by novice kayakers due to the tide and wind. We did it anyway. Rented the kayak from Big Blue Collective and got their blessing of the weather that morning and off we went. There was a part of the journey where you’re pretty exposed in the open sea and the waves were much bigger especially with boats passing by. It was definitely not for the faint of heart and we paddled as fast as we can to get to a calmer zone. But what a view and what an experience! The clear turquoise water that surrounded us all the way was simply breathtaking.Â
There was no clear sign of how to get to Half Moon Bay after we docked somewhere on the Iguana Island. A large iguana promptly greeted us. We followed some voices, crossed over a stream and some bushes and there we saw it, the pristine Half Moon Bay beach.
10:30 am
Half Moon Bay
To me, Half Moon Bay was the most serene place we’ve been in Turks & Caicos, in fact, probably of all the places I’ve been around the world. I know much of this was because we were the only two persons on that beach that day. If there has to be a picturebook illustration of what a pristine white sand beach with turquoise water is like, this is it. And we had it all to ourselves there for those few hours. No noise. No chairs or umbrellas. No any man-made objects. That feeling was surreal. How I wish we could’ve stayed there longer.
3:00 pm
Kayak Back & Mangrove Cay
On the way back, there is an area called Mangrove Cay that seems to be a popular kayak spot in normal times. It was starting to rain a little bit and we didn’t wander around there for long. By itself, it would’ve been a very nice place to kayak around. But it was dwarfed by everything else we’ve seen and experienced this day.Â
5:00 pm
Dinner at Five Cays
I think it’s a must-do to eat conch on the beach at some point in TCI. We drove all the way to Five Cays where the restaurant Bugaloos seems to be a pretty popular establishment. Again we’ve had such a wonderful experience getting a table right in front of water without a lot of crowd due to Covid.
Day 4
Snorkel & Grace Bay Beach
Snorkel at one of the reefs and chill at Grace Bay Beach | Overnight in Providenciales
9:30 am
Snorkel
Frankly, snorkeling was the most disappointing experience I’ve had on this trip, possibly because we didn’t get to a good spot. We went to the Bight Reef at Coral Gardens, rented snorkeling gear and entered the water from the shore. There were some fish, we even saw a turtle, but the reef was mostly dull and bare compared to some other snorkeling sites I’ve been to. We tried to go to the Smiths Reef as well but totally failed at finding the right spot. I wonder if taking a guided tour further out at sea may be more rewarding. All in all, I just felt like we’ve wasted half a day attempting to see amazing reefs because there were amazing beaches everywhere and that assumption was simply not true.
12:30 pm
Lunch
2:30 pm
Grace Bay Beach
We saved the main tourist beach on Providenciales for last, as I figure this would be the most commercialized and crowded beach. This is a very long stretch of white sand beach and the water is surprisingly still nice and clean, not as clear as the other beaches we’ve visited but it has a milky tone to the turquoise color that made it really appealing. Despite this being the most touristy beach with lots of hotels and resorts along side of it, it was still not crowded thanks to Covid. It of course has beach chairs, umbrellas, and beachside restaurants and bars. We spent quite a nice afternoon here.
6:30 pm
Dinner
Day 5
Chalk Sound & Departure
Check out Chalk Sound before departure
9:30 am
Chalk Sound
On the last day, since our flight does not depart until the afternoon, we took a quick detour to Chalk Sound to check out this unique lagoon filled with hundreds of little rocky islands. We wanted to go to Las Brisas restaurant where there’s supposed to be a dock for viewing, but it was closed for filming that day. Then, there was basically no where to go as the shoreline was entirely blocked by private residences except for one tiny opening. Another classic example of the wealthy takes it all. I guess you’d really need to plan this one out like getting a boat tour or sorts. Walk-ins were definitely not welcomed.