Grand Turk

Docking next to an Oceania cruise ship

Our last port on this cruise is Grand Turk...one of the Turks & Caicos Islands said to be discovered by either Christopher Columbus or Ponce de Leon--that's up for debate. It was the original settlers of the islands, the Taino and Lucayan Indians, that left a rich heritage of seafaring, salt raking and farming. Bermudians came to Turks & Caicos to rake the salt and take it back to Bermuda as salt was a precious commodity in those days. The island of Grand Turk is only 7 miles long and 1.5 miles wide....and very flat, but the beaches are beautiful!

The ship docked at the Grand Turk Cruise Center, which has to be the nicest port we have seen. Walking off the ship, you can step on the beach (after going through the duty free shopping are--the only way out). We took a walk along the beach to Boaby Rock Point on the island, about 400 yards away. The point is known locally as the Conch Graveyard. Removing conch shells from the ocean is illegal in many places, but not here. That's because these shells are on the beach and have already been vacated by their occupants. There were shells of all sizes. Some were broken and eroded by the waves crashing ashore. Others were embedded in the rocks along the shoreline. But there were some in good shape for the beachcombers.

Conch shell

We headed back toward the pier and settled into a couple of lounge chairs with an umbrella right next to the water a little ways down from the cruise center. We spent a relaxing couple hours just people watching, sunbathing, and taking refreshing dips in the crystal clear waters. The Cruise Center area had hundreds of lounge chairs available plus the restaurant/bar at the Cruise Center had a swimming pool for those not wanting to deal with the beach sand.

Cruise Center beach chairs

Our view from the beach chairs

Our little spot on the sand

That's as far as we got while in Grand Turk. Never did make it to the town, Cockburn Town, just a short distance away. I think that John Glenn's capsule from his space launch in the 1960's is displayed somewhere around the town. Guess we'll catch that on another visit.

Sunday is a sea day as we make our way back to Fort Lauderdale, docking on Monday morning. We'll stay 3 days with our Florida daughter before heading back to Colorado.   It's been a wonderful vacation.