A family vacation; A cruise half way around the world; One of the severest winters seen by Europe; The warm Caribbean weather living up to its name; Captivating Caribbean is where I will be covering the stops we made in this 14-day cruise with some photographs and the occasional tips to make your cruise day stop worthwhile.
Our stop in Grand Turk gets the award for having the best beach during the entire trip through the Caribbean. Part of it could be the beautiful soft sand or the fact that the complex where we disembarked is owned by the shipping company, but either way it was a much needed gorgeous beach day on this pretty much flat island that is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
I love the beach. There! I said it. It's just an amazing place to be. The water, the sand, the waves, the people, the heat... Wait a minute! Remember when I said I love the beach, you might also like to know that I cannot stand the heat. Yes! I do come from India. Yes! it gets rather hot in the summers here. Yes! I break out in a rather irritating, scratchy, skin reddening rash if I stay in the sun for more than a few minutes. So now I enjoy my beach life before the sun comes up and after it sets. In-between, since I love the beach, I normally have to wear a shirt on top and to be honest I do feel a bit out of place, but so is life and you make do with what you have.
Changing the topic slightly, I've heard many people talk about the perfect beach being secluded and empty from the hustle and bustle of people. That might be fun sometimes (maybe on your honeymoon or a romantic getaway), but I have always enjoyed a beach when it is crowded. The whole point of the beach is to just lie down and watch the world pass by as you get baked. A busy beach is a great place to watch people from all walks of life go about their business in as little clothes as possible. The beach is a completely different experience when you have children splashing in the water and building sand castles, a husband pulling his non-swimmer wife into the water or visa versa, some beach sports, and lastly burying your passed out friend in sand and giving them body parts of the opposite sex. The beach at Grand Turk was clean and the water level ranged from around 2-6 feet near it making it perfect as a family beach where even the younger kids could easily venture out on their own and do some snorkelling.
I am a sucker
for brands and having loved the music of Jimmy Buffet in my college years you
can imagine my surprise on finding Margaritaville in Grand Turk. A crystal
clear pool, a Flowrider, food and drinks to pass away the time lounging in the
sun, and good music, it really is how life should be lived.
Here’s a little tip for you; if you ever find yourself at the Carnival Cruise Centre while on a cruise, all the employees get an employee discount, so if you can find someone from the ship (wasn’t really hard for us since most people working on it were Indian), you can request them to help you get that discount.
Grand Turk is
also probably the only cruise stop where we saw the entire ship walk down including most of the staff. Apparently, this is one of the most sort after off-work days for the staff. Everyone wants a holiday when the ship docks in Grand Turk. It’s always sweet to come across the still smiling staff in everyday
clothes for a change rather than in their work uniforms.
There is also free wi-fi (oh yeah! I can see your ears stand up right about now) available in the area, so make the most of it.
Although we
decided to have a laid back relaxing day with occasional dips in the water in-between
consuming Landshark beer, you can always venture out and take a ride around the
island on a scooter or explore some of the other nearby beaches, which are
equally pretty and comparatively less crowded. The only negative when visiting
another beach is that you might have to pay a little for the lounge chairs
which were free for cruise guests on the beach we were at.
Grand Turk was also the sight of the bluest water we came across, and here is proof of that...
