Tag: Turks and Caicos

Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos

Friday, October 25, 2024

We weren’t scheduled to arrive at Grand Turk until 11:00 a.m. so that gave us time to have coffee, go to the Lido for breakfast, and get the snorkel gear ready for our excursion. However, as we got closer, we could see a squall line that looked like it was right on top of the island.

The Captain slowed the ship and waited until the squall passed and we docked right next to the Carnival Celebration (one of the largest in their fleet). We have taken a cruise on the Celebration and decided that we didn’t use enough of its amenities to justify dealing with so many people (6600) so we will stick with the smaller Carnival ships in the future.

Celebration dwarfing our ship (peaking above the cruise shop)

Even with the Captain slowing down our speed, we were still docked on time, and we were soon ready to go ashore to meet the tour operators.

The HAL tour description: Catamaran Sail and Snorkel Beach Getaway – 3 hours

ABOUT THE EXCURSION: Experience a great combination of sailing aboard one of the most beautiful boats in the Caribbean, a white-sand beach, and extraordinary snorkeling.

Hop aboard a spacious 65-foot catamaran and head out to sea. You’ll stop to snorkel over an underwater coral reef paradise teeming with bright tropical fish.

After snorkeling, sip the beverage of your choice as you sail along the coast to a beautiful private beach. Sink your toes into the soft, white sand, enjoy a swim, relax on a float, or discover the treasures of the island.

Notes: Minimum age is 6 years. Maximum age is 70 years. Snorkel, mask, fins, safety vest, and snorkeling instruction are provided. You may have to enter the water and wade to access the beach. Wear your swimsuit under your clothing; bring a towel, reef-safe/biodegradable sunscreen, light clothing to act as a full cover-up for further protection from the sun, and a hat. Swim at your own risk. Guests with a heart or respiratory condition, epilepsy, or diabetes are not allowed to participate. Waiver must be signed, and medical conditions disclosed. Participants must climb a ladder to reboard the boat after snorkeling or beach time.

I couldn’t help but notice how foggy it looked out on the ocean and just kept wondering if the tour would really go ahead. As I was wondering about the fog, the skies opened up and just soaked us. Everyone was running for cover under any shop awning they could find. I could stop wondering. The tour operator gathered us together and told us we could not go out in this weather, and it didn’t look like it was going to let up any time soon so the tour was officially cancelled.

Calm before the downpour

We just turned around to slosh back to the ship. Unfortunately, so did many others from both our ship and the Celebration, and we all jammed up in the cruise port shop trying to get through security. People – Have your ID and ship keycard out to show the port authorities. Do not wait until you get to the gate and then fumble around looking for your information. Dang.

To make matters worse, people were still coming off the ships and trying to get into the same duty-free shop (one way in and one way out) to get to the port area. Why the authorities didn’t open the closed-off sidewalk area to let people leaving avoid the shop is beyond me. I just have to think they were hoping people would make some last-minute purchases. Nope. People just wanted to get inside the dry ships.

So now we are 0 – 2 for good snorkeling trips.

After getting dried off and dumping our wet gear in the bathtub, we opted to get lunch at the Dive-In which is located near the Lido pool. We enjoyed its grilled chicken sandwiches. The ship can close the ceiling so people can still enjoy the tables and the pool, but it can get stifling in there without the breeze provided when the ceiling is open. We didn’t linger after finishing our sandwiches.

Chuck opted for an afternoon nap, and I went to a piano concert by Eliott Finkle. He played a variety of songs from classical composers. He was as excellent as I remembered.

The afternoon was soon gone, and it was time to get ready for the evening. We shared a table for 10. I’m not a fan of those tables because you can’t carry on a conversation without raising your voice to be heard across the table. You just end up talking with the people on either side of you; therefore, there are a number of conversations going on at once.

I was so distracted that I forgot to take photos of our meals. Chuck had the beef brisket, and I had the Thai Curry meatballs. We did enjoy our meals.

We ended the night with the first set of the Rolling Stone Band and the second show of Paul Stepian. Fun night.

Paul’s performance on Poland’s Got Talent

When we returned to the room, the Casino had sent some candy to Chuck thanking him for his play. Since I helped him at the machines, I helped myself to several pieces of candy. 😊

Few pictures from previous, more enjoyable, Grand Turk visits:

A photo from a successful snorkeling trip

Tomorrow: Sea Day

Grand Turk

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Before we left the cabin, I got another load of laundry ready to send out.

We had decided that salads from the Lido would be our dinners tonight.

Once we finished, we went to the first set of the Rolling Stone Rock Band. We then went to the BB King lounge to get a seat for the comedian – Quincy Carr – who was pretty good.

To pass the time until Quincy’s show, the DJ took music requests from the waiting passengers because the BB King band had the night off. I was surprised that the DJ didn’t have Uptown Funk on his playlist. Guess he didn’t think grey-haired people wanted to dance to it. He said he had plenty of Elvis. Sigh.

Since we had no plans for tomorrow, we went to last set of Rolling Stone Rock Band and danced to some of the songs.

Slept to 8:30. Just can’t recover from those late nights as easily as I used to do. We were already docked right next to the Carnival Mardi Gras again. Today, it was blocking almost the entire view of the island from the balcony. It was an overcast day on the cool side. I was glad we hadn’t planned to snorkel.

We’ve enjoyed various activities at Grand Turk before: an island tour, a couple of snorkeling tours, and some time spent at Jack’s Shack with the late great Topher, the best beach dog ever.

Today we were going to enjoy an empty ship.

We missed the breakfast hours for both the main dining room and the Lido. The horror! – Oh wait, this is a cruise ship. Food will be found.

Our choices were room service or a lite breakfast at the New York Deli. We chose the Deli.

We decided to walk the promenade after breakfast. We only managed one lap. The maintenance people were varnishing the railings and that smell mixed with the dead fish smell from the dock area was nauseating.

We went up to the sports deck where the breeze was better and tried out some of the outside workout machines. Then we decided to play some shuffleboard. Neither of us were ready for the prime time but eventually Chuck won the match.

The sun came out somewhat so we spent the rest of our time on the Sea View deck until it was time to get ready for the evening.

Travel Trivia

Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos

Grand Turk is the Capital of the Islands of Turks and Caicos. It was first colonized in 1681 by Bermudians, who set up the salt industry in the islands and in 1766 it became the capital of the country.

The Turks and Caicos Islands are named after the Turk’s Cap Cactus. This species of cactus found on the island, has a distinctive cap, reminiscent of an Ottoman fez. They are native to the Caribbean, western Mexico through Central America to northern South America, with some species along the Andes down to southern Peru, and a concentration of species in northeastern Brazil.

Google photo

Grand Turk Lighthouse and Keeper’s House are Historic Sites. The 60-foot-tall  lighthouse structure, overlooking North Creek, was completed by British architect Alexander Gordon in 1852 to alert sailors of the shallow reef. It was constructed in the United Kingdom, and shipped in pieces to the island.

The U.S. Dollar is the Official Currency of Turks and Caicos which is interesting considering that the islands are British.

Between January through April each year, Caribbean humpback whales migrate through the Turks head passage in the Turks and Caicos Islands as they travel from the northern waters of Canada’s Bay of Fundy to the Silver Bank off the Dominican Republic where they mate and give birth.

In 1962, John Glenn’s Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft landed in the vicinity of Grand Turk Island off the southeast shoreline. A replica of the Friendship 7 is on display in Grand Turk at the entrance to the Grand Turk Island airport.

Turks and Caicos cuisine is based primarily around seafood, especially conch (pronounced ‘conk’), a large mollusk farmed for its meat and shell. Conch fritters and conch salad are two common dishes.

Google photo
Google photo