Aug 2019 | Providenciales, Turks & Caicos
(Originally posted on April 14, 2020)
Hi! I’m back today with another blog post from quarantine–again from a trip that seems like ages ago :’) Just because I miss the sun and clear waters of Turks, I bring to you my top 5 fave things to you in Turks & Caicos (specifically Provo)!! My family found ourselves itching to get out of the resort (though it was lovely) and go do / see something on our trip and this is what we came across. I hope this quick post helps y’all travel from home or get inspiration for your trips once we get back to some degree of normalcy again. Hang in there, we’ll get there eventually!⋒
5. Walk a potcake puppy!
If you look up things to do in Turks, this is sure to be one of the top results! Potcake Place K9 Rescue is a charity based in the Salt Mills Plaza Area on Provo. They rescue puppies from around TCI and nurture them to prepare for adoption. One of the ways they prep the pups for adoption is getting them used to humans by letting tourists walk them! Though there was quite a line and the pups were a little smelly (haha), it was fun to take a walk around the area with a cute little potcake puppy without the responsibility of having to take him or her home (though you could certainly choose to adopt them if you wanted to)! I think that this is a great idea for a charity to allow puppies to get used to humans by letting tourists walk them and a wonderful way to get to explore the area as well : ) I’ve linked more about walking the puppies here.
4. Go on a drive around Chalk Sound
We arranged for a rental car through our hotel and of course had to take the opportunity to explore the island of Providenciales. Though we were originally in the area to look for the Chalk Sound National Park (which I saw on a TCI tourism site but I’m not sure exists), we ended up just driving around the Chalk Sound area and loved it! Chalk Sound is a largely residential region known for its incredibly blue water with little islands spotted throughout the sound. With beautiful water and plenty of super cool houses to look at, it’s a lovely little drive to go on if you have the time!
3. Try some water sports
We stayed at the Blue Haven Resort while in TCI, and they offered a number of all-inclusive water activities as well as others for a small fee. We chose to go tubing and enjoyed it thoroughly (though our arms were so sore after)! The Mangrove kayaking tours and jetskis also looked like a lot of fun, but you may want to check ahead for availability to make sure you can get a slot.
2. Go snorkeling in crystal clear water
The super clear water of the Turks & Caicos Islands makes it the perfect place to go snorkeling. We snorkeled at a couple spots on the boat excursion we went on,including a shipwreck of a cargo ship that sank in the ’50s-’60s. We also had a ton of fun snorkeling in the little lagoon at our hotel,where we saw thousands of little fish and even some barracudas! If you’re planning on going snorkeling, I’d recommend purchasing a waterproof phone pouch so you can take photos and video of the fish & coral that you see (like my photos pictured above). They don’t take super clear shots but are cheaper than underwater cameras!
1. Book a boat excursion (Little Water Cay / Iguana Island)
The absolute highlight of our trip was definitely our boat excursion with Big Blue Collective to Little Water Cay (also known as Iguana Island)! We took the M/V Serenity (just one of their boats in their beautiful fleet) out for a morning to visit Little Water Cay as well as some snorkeling spots (including the shipwreck mentioned above). We were able to get to the cay early enough that barely any other boats were there. Little Water Cay is known for its population of Turks & Caicos Rock Iguanas that are only found on the islands, hence the name Iguana Island. After a short walk across the island, we went to a secluded little area on the cay and had the prettiest beach all to ourselves. My little sister (a huge animal lover) loved looking for the iguanas on the island and the “private” beach was just a gorgeous added bonus!
I hope that this short little list of activities gives you some inspiration of what to do in Turks & Caicos (other than sunbathing and swimming, of course) or allowed you to travel from home for a little bit, so to speak. Hopefully staying home ow will allow us to get out there and explore sooner!
