Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

It was only a few weeks ago that our parents, Richard and Wendy, were forced to abandon their time in the Caribbean with us and head back to LA for some quality time with the stomach doctor. With all systems now fully functioning, they returned to Tamarisk yesterday and met us in Turks and Caicos. They’ll be with us all the way through the Bahamas and into Miami.

Turks and Caicos is a British territory, which means that like many of the other islands still under the control of a western European parent, money has flowed here and business investment has been huge. And because we’re now just 500 miles from the United States, you can probably guess what this all means: an abundance of large “all inclusive” resorts and beaches filled with their (also large) buffet loving American customers. The islands are low lying and somewhat baron compared to those we’ve recently come from, and the sand is like a fine white powdered sugar. This combination makes the beaches some of the most perfect ones imaginable, and the shallow turquoise bays that extend out from them seem to go on forever. Sailing anywhere near these islands is a navigational challenge because the shallows reach so far from the land, but for swimming and water sports it can’t be beat.

Something missing in Turks and Caicos, however, is any kind of native island culture, which has almost fully yielded to a culture designed mostly to attract high-end tourists and luxury consumerism. There are thus no shortage of expensive American retail shops, restaurants, jewelry boutiques, and new condominium open houses. Whether that’s good or bad may depend on your perspective… like America it feels sanitized, safe, wealthy, civilized, and free from corruption…in a word: boring.

We’re now heading further north towards the Bahamas on a two night passage that will bring us straight into the middle of this spectacular string of tiny islands. Based on what our yachtie friends have been saying, we expect the next week of island hopping could be
one of the best so far.