by The approach to Providenciales Airport is the kind of crowd – full of nagging anxiety that arises in the moment – that could cause more nervous palpitations on the sheet. Why? Because there is nothing beyond the window, as the plane falls lower and lower, only an all-encompassing oceanic blue, horizon.
It all works out, of course. A runway appears, magically, under the wheels, and the aircraft glides to a stop without a hitch. But long before you get in touch, you realize that the Turks and Caicos are no creaggy St. Lucia, with a few Pitons exploring the sky; Nevis is not a volcano pushing its caldera into the clouds. These are flat coral islands, so low to the Caribbean Sea that you can barely see them before you set foot on them. Three miles north of the airport, the Blue Hills ridge stands as the archipelago’s highest peak, so to speak, rising to a height of 161 feet (49m). You will struggle to see it, as well.
I step down onto the tarmac, into Providenciales International which, likewise, does not claim to be large in scope or stature. You couldn’t miss it at Barbados’ Grantley Adams Airport, with its near-constant hum of engines going off, and its retired Concorde as a museum piece. The Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 I have emerged from like a condom among caffeine, passing the smaller planes and the private jets around the airport. It looks so big, in fact, that I wonder how it got here.
The main point, perhaps, is that the plane is here – and that it is news. Sir Richard Branson’s red-hot airline began flying between London Heathrow and Providenciales last November – and in doing so, launched the only non-stop air link between Britain and the Turks and Caicos Islands (British Airways at also serve Providenciales – except). after a break in Nassau, Bahamas.)
This is a bit of surprising news. Because, despite its determined location in the Caribbean – north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, just east of Cuba, a stone’s throw south-east of the Bahamas – the Turks and Caicos archipelago is a British Overseas Territory (BOT). The third largest, in fact, by population (after the Cayman Islands and Bermuda). What’s more, the Union Jack has flown here for a long time – the islands have been connected to the UK since 1783. They have bounced through different administrative frameworks in that period, bundled with the Bahamas, and then Jamaica, at different times. But they have been a separate entity, with their own government, since 1959 – and BOT since 2002.
In other words, before November, a direct flight between London and Providenciales was long 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 attention, they do not make up for in size. No real size. In fact, you have to scan the map carefully for the “Turkish” half of the equation – eight pinnacles on the eastern side of the archipelago – the largest of which, the optimistically named Grand Turk, is equal to seven square mile. You could fit it eight times in Middle Caicos, the largest (55.7 square miles) of the more prominent Caicos islands. But then, these things are relative. Providenciales is the most populated piece of the archipelago, home to around 24,000 of the archipelago’s 44,500 inhabitants. But it only adds another 38 square miles to the total.
Still, this is one of those cases where size doesn’t matter. As well as being the center of population, Providenciales is the main point of interest for vacationers. Tourism is the archipelago’s main income stream, accounting for over one third of GDP (35 per cent) – well ahead of the second most important segment, financial services (13 per cent).
Evidence of this rule of attractiveness is laid out along the north coast, in a gleaming necklace of luxury resorts – and luxury is certainly the word here. The Turks and Caicos Islands are no place for market breaks; not so much a convenient three-star fly-and-flop area as an uninterrupted five-star playground. In most cases, this caters to the discreet rich – luxury villas and sophisticated beachfront properties. In other cases, it is quite visible; especially the grand Ritz-Carlton hotel, which towers above the village of Grace Bay.
Three miles west, the Wymara Resort is located much closer to the “discreet” end of the market. It spreads out on either side of a swimming pool that you just dive into as soon as you arrive, its softly lit shallows and curtained daybeds waiting just behind the lobby. Rooms and suites (91 in total) are whitewashed, walls and linens thrown in the same bright color. A balcony overlooks a powdery beach, and the warm swell of the sea – that Caribbean blue framed by a line of jagged sprays, where endless waves break on the coral reef half a mile offshore. Jump out to the southern edge of Providenciales – the island is only a sliver when it narrows in the middle – the Wymara Villas complex does the trick again.
The voices around the pool are mostly American – another clue as to why only a direct flight from the UK has been added to the timetable. It may be a case of the chicken and the egg, but because of the long association with Britain, the British only traveled to the Turks and Caicos in large numbers. The islands attracted 1.6 million visitors in pre-pandemic 2019; 82 percent of them were from the United States, and another 9 percent from Canada. Only 4 percent came from Europe.
The stars and stripes feel nearby wherever you turn. Providenciales Airport departures boards are mostly focused on American cities, and Boston, Chicago, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, New York, Dallas, Baltimore and Washington DC are present and correct. Restaurant menus – including at Indigo’s Wymara flagship, where chef Andrew Mirosch runs the show – are usually priced in US dollars. In Grace Bay, the souvenir shops – with their pithy-slogan T-shirts and bright gifts – seem more geared towards Midwestern snowbirds than West Country sun seekers. And Danny Buoy’s, a sports bar on the main drag of Grace Bay Road, is a clear case in point. The large cuts on his front wall are not of Messi, Ronaldo or Harry Kane, but of Patrick Mahomes – the star quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs. Their drinks list is spring-break nirvana; a chorus of giddy shots and double-entendre cocktails, for $12 (£9.40) to go.
Virgin Atlantic’s new presence on the island will not prompt a sudden change in this image or demographic. But then, it is not necessary. Real life filters through if you look – especially at Da Conch Shack, a popular spot in Providenciales, where the flavors on the tables on the sand are as local as they are American. So is the food; a cornucopia full of conch fritters and grouper fillets. And the entertainment, too. As the evening wears on, the Junkanoo performance breaks out on the beach, its rhythms getting louder as the parade moves along the shore – until the drummers and dancers step into the light and -they will be happy in every available space. Impressively contagious, the ritual has its roots in the darkness of slavery, forming in the 18th century on the sugar plantations of the British Caribbean (especially in Jamaica and the Bahamas). Tonight, it’s all brightness and joy.
The scene is much quieter, but no less compelling, if you venture to the east of Providenciales, where the land breaks down into quiet waters and smaller cays. Among them, Mangrove Cay is a perfect location for a relaxing morning in a kayak, its raw coral swaddled – as the name suggests – in swaying foliage. In contrast, the channels around it are very clean and very clear; so much so that you can see the green turtles, leatherbacks and shearwaters that tug at these waters long before they break the surface – sharp heads poking up, curiously, between the plastic bars.
You can go further and faster from the same departure point, the Blue Haven Marina, on a catamaran trip. In doing so, I gain a fuller sense of the size of the Caicos Bank, that barrier reef along the northern coast—by some metrics, the third largest reef system in the world (after the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Barrier Reef Maya).
The plan, at first, is to target Pine Cay, a sparse and (mostly) uninhabited outcrop a little to the northeast – but when the vessel passes through a gap into the open ocean, the atone intervenes and she apparently rolls in protest. , revealing the strength of the currents and the level of protection provided by the archipelago’s coral guardian. So we head back, back towards the shelter of Mangrove Cay, for swimming and snorkelling in less intense waves. The Turks and Caicos Islands look nothing more than mountains from this exact sea level – but with the sun peeking out, and the sky a flawless blue, nothing could matter less.
Go there
Virgin Atlantic (0344 874 7747) flies to the Turks and Caicos from London Heathrow twice a week. Return economy fares cost from £616 per person.
Staying there
“Garden Studio” double rooms at Wymara Resort and Villas (001 888 844 5986) cost from US$800 (£631) per night, including breakfast.
Exploring there
Kayak and catamaran tours can be arranged through Luxury Experiences Turks & Caicos and Big Blue Collective (bigbluecollective.com).
more information
turksandcaicostourism.com
