The approach to Providenciales Airport is filled with an uncomfortable anxiety that builds with each passing minute, the kind of landing that can leave nervous flyers experiencing more palpitations. From where? Because as the plane descends there is absolutely nothing beyond the window; except for the all-encompassing, horizon-spanning ocean blue.
Everything is going well, of course. A runway magically appears under the wheels and the plane comes to a halt without getting stuck. But long before you descend, you realize that the Turks and Caicos are not craggy St Lucia with twin Pythons searching the sky; there is no volcanic Nevis pushing its caldera towards the clouds. These are flat coral islands located so low in the Caribbean Sea that you can barely notice them without stepping into them. Three miles north of the airport, the Blue Hills ridge, rising to a height of 161 ft (49 m), stands as the highest peak in the archipelago. You will have a hard time noticing this, too.
I step onto the tarmac at Providenciales International, which similarly makes no claim to grand scope or stature. You can’t confuse it with Barbados’ Grantley Adams Airport, with its near-constant engine noise and decommissioned Concorde as a museum piece. The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 I boarded resembles a vulture among the finches soaring above the small planes and private jets at the airport. In fact, it looks so big I wonder how it got down here.
Perhaps the point is that the plane is here and it is a novelty. Sir Richard Branson’s red-liveried airline began flying between London Heathrow and Providenciales last November, and in doing so launched what is now the only non-stop air link between Britain and the Turks and Caicos Islands (British Airways also serves Providenciales – but only After a break in Nassau, Bahamas.)
This is somewhat surprising news. Because, despite its determined location in the Caribbean – north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, east of Cuba, a stone’s throw south-east of the Bahamas – the Turks and Caicos archipelago is a British Overseas Territory (BOT). In fact, it is the third largest by population (after the Cayman Islands and Bermuda). Moreover, the Union Jack has been flying here for a long time; The islands have been part of the United Kingdom since 1783. They went through various administrative frameworks during that period, uniting at various times with the Bahamas, then with Jamaica. However, they have been a separate entity with their own government since 1959 and a BOT since 2002.
In other words, before November, a direct flight between London and Providenciales was already overdue; even if the scale of the destination does not require its own page in the atlas. What the Turks and Caicos Islands lack in height, they don’t make up for in size. Not literally. In fact, you have to scan the map carefully to find the “Turks” part of the equation—eight small protrusions on the eastern side of the archipelago—the largest of which, optimistically called the Great Turk, is only seven square miles. You could fit that eight times into Middle Caicos, the largest chunk (55.7 square miles) of the more significant Caicos islands. But these things are relative. Providenciales is the most populous piece of the puzzle, home to about 24,000 of the archipelago’s 44,500 residents. But this only adds another 38 square miles to the total.
Still, this is one of those cases where size doesn’t matter. Because in addition to being the population center of Providenciales, it is also the center of attention of holidaymakers. Tourism is the archipelago’s main revenue stream, accounting for more than a third (35%) of GDP; It is well ahead of the second most important segment, financial services (13 percent).
Evidence of this rule of attraction emerges in the glittering necklace of luxury resorts along the north coast – and luxury is definitely the word here. The Turks and Caicos archipelago is not a place to break deals; not a comfortable three-star flight and failure zone, but an unabashed five-star playground. In most cases, this catering to the wealthy comes in the form of modest villas and sophisticated beachfront properties. In others, it is more disturbing; especially the sprawling Ritz-Carlton hotel that towers over the village of Grace Bay.
Three miles to the west, Wymara Resort is located much closer to the “hidden” part of the market. Located on both sides of the pool, the pool immediately beckons you in as soon as you arrive; Softly lit shallow spaces and curtained daybeds await just beyond the lobby. The rooms and suites (91 in total) are a haze of white, with walls and linens the same pale color. Balconies overlook the dusty beach and the warm waves of the sea; The Caribbean blue is framed by erratic spray, where waves break ceaselessly on the coral reef half a mile offshore. A hop away at the southern tip of Providenciales – the island is nothing more than a strip where it narrows in the middle – the Wymara Villas complex repeats the same trick.
The voices around the swimming pool come mostly from Americans; This is another clue as to why direct flights from the UK have only just been added to the schedule. It may be a chicken-and-egg issue, but despite their long-standing ties to Britain, Britons don’t travel much to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The islands attracted 1.6 million visitors in 2019, before the pandemic; 82 percent of them were from the United States and 9 percent from Canada. Only 4 percent came from Europe.
Everywhere you turn, you feel like the stars and stripes are right at your fingertips. Providenciales Airport departure boards are largely devoted to American cities; Boston, Chicago, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, New York, Dallas, Baltimore, and Washington DC are all present and correct. Restaurant menus, including Wymara’s flagship Indigo, where chef Andrew Mirosch runs the show, are often priced in US dollars. The gift shops in Grace Bay—with their sappy slogan T-shirts and gaudy gifts—seem geared more toward Midwestern snowbirds than West Country sun seekers. Danny Buoy’s, a sports bar on the main drag of Grace Bay Road, is a clear example of this. The giant cuts on his front wall concern Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, not Messi, Ronaldo or Harry Kane. The drinks list is spring break nirvana; A chorus of heady shots and double-entendre cocktails for $12 (£9.40) each.
Virgin Atlantic’s new presence on the island will not lead to a sudden change in this image or demographics. But then there is no need for this. Real life filters through if you look for it; especially at Providenciales hotspot Da Conch Shack, the accents on the tables in the sand are as local as American. So is the food; a hearty cornucopia of conch fritters and grouper fillets. And entertainment too. As the evening wears on, a Junkanoo performance begins on the beach, its rhythms getting louder as the parade progresses along the shore; until the drummers and dancers stepped into the light and cheered in every available space. The spectacularly infectious ritual has its roots in the darkness of slavery that took shape on the sugar plantations of the British Caribbean (particularly Jamaica and the Bahamas) in the 18th century. Everything is bright and joyful tonight.
If you head to the eastern end of Providenciales, where the land is divided into calm waters and smaller bays, the scenery is considerably quieter but no less interesting. Among them, Mangrove Cay is the perfect setting for a leisurely morning kayaking; Its raw corals are, as the name suggests, wrapped among swamp vegetation. In contrast, the channels around it are pure and remarkably clear; So much so that you can see green, leatherback and sea turtles roaming these waters long before they break the surface; sharp-beaked heads nod curiously upwards between plastic prows.
You can go further and faster with a catamaran tour from the same departure point, Blue Haven Marina. In doing so, I gain a better understanding of the size of the Caicos Bank, the coral barrier off the north coast that is by some measurements the third largest reef system on the planet (after the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Mayan Reef).
Initially, the plan was to target Pine Cay, a sparse and (mostly) uninhabited outcrop located slightly to the northeast; But the moment the ship tiptoes across a gap into the open ocean, the waves churn and roll in apparent protest. revealing both the strength of the currents and the level of protection provided by the archipelago’s coral guardian. So we retreat to the shelter of Mangrove Cay to swim and snorkel in less challenging waves. From this exact sea level, the Turks and Caicos Islands no longer resemble mountains; But with the sun shining and the perfect blue sky, nothing could be less important.
get there
Virgin Atlantic (0344 874 7747) flies to the Turks and Caicos islands from London Heathrow twice a week. Round-trip economy fares start from £616 per person.
stay there
“Garden Studio” double rooms at Wymara Resort and Villas (001 888 844 5986) cost US$800 (£631) per night, including breakfast.
exploring there
Canoe and catamaran tours can be arranged through Luxury Experiences Turks & Caicos and Big Blue Collective (bigbluecollective.com).
More information
turksandcaicostourism.com