Just twenty years ago, the
Turks
and Caicos Islands were one of
the quietest and least-known
destinations in the West Indies.
Today, on the back of classy
development on Providenciales, and
great beaches and diving on all of
the islands, they have become one of
the most fashionable places to visit
in the region.
The country comprises two groups
of islands - eight inhabited and
around forty uninhabited - separated
by the Columbus Passage, a
deep-water channel 22 miles wide and
up to 6000 feet deep. To the east,
the Turks Islands include Grand
Turk and Salt Cay , the
former the long-time home to
government, the latter a tiny island
named for the salt industry that
once dominated the country. To the
west, the chain of Caicos Islands
includes inhabited South, Middle
and North Caicos - each with
its own charms - and the
fast-growing island of Providenciales
, known as Provo and home to the
great majority of the nation's
tourist development.
The major attractions on all of
the islands are concentrated along
their coasts: truly sensational
white-sand beaches that stretch for
miles, and world-class diving,
snorkelling and deep-sea fishing and
bonefishing. Inland, there's not
much to see other than low-lying
scrubby vegetation and, particularly
in the Turks Islands, large expanses
of featureless salinas, from which
Bermudian settlers and traders
harvested salt during the islands'
early development.
