GRAND TURK, TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS – Monday, November 5, 2007

Grand Turk covers only 7 square miles but has a population of about 4,000, largely because it is the seat of government f the country. As with other islands in the Turks & Caicos, the vegetation is chiefly scrub and cactus, with flat expanses of disused salt pans. The occasional broken-down windmill punctuates this landscape where wild donkeys and horses wander freely. Like the windmills, they are remnants of the defunct salt industry, which flourished until the 1960’s.

But the landscape is not what we came for, and the water is truly the turquoise of the travel brochures. Holland America provides its own beach for the cruise passengers and a great swimming hole. Although we didn’t scuba dive, this island does offer one of the world’s greatest wall-diving meccas, with a drop of nearly 7000 feet. The deep water was still a bit churned up from last weeks  brush with Hurricane Noel, but the beaches were clean and beautiful.