This year’s spring break, I went with thirteen (yes, it’s a lot of us!) other people to Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) for a week. It was super fun, and I got more than enough dose of vitamin sea after four months of Providence cold – it was definitely one of the highlights of the past spring semester.
We got a roundtrip ticket from JetBlue (between Boston and Providenciales) for around $370, which was a pretty good deal. It took around four hours to get there, and when we arrived in the afternoon, we went straight to our Airbnb house. Fortunately, it was just enough to fit 14 of us. (With three people having to share two single beds combined, and two sofa pull-out beds, but still pretty decent nonetheless!)
The house had a nice patio at the back, as well as a swimming pool, where we spent most of our time when we weren’t out. We were also provided with a kayak and a paddle board that came handy, considering the Flamingo Lake was just right behind the house.
We were lucky to be able to rent cars, because almost all car rentals are 25+. We had drivers who are 21+ with U.S. driving license, and asked to rent three cars for an entire week, so I guess those were enough reasons for them to make an exception for us. There are no public transport, and cabs are very pricey, so having a car is super important if you ever decide to visit TCI.
TCI itself consists of several different islands, but we decided to just stay in Providenciales for the entire trip. We went to different beaches every day, which was great! All of the beaches were very quiet and had very few people, which I found (pleasantly) surprising. I think I only saw at most 10-15 other people at once on almost all the beaches we visited.
Same goes to other places we visited, even in the Grace Bay area, which was supposedly the tourist center, we always saw only few people. I’m not sure how it is in the summer, though. This also made me happy with the fact that we were such a big group. Even when we spent too much time on the beach or just lounging around in the house, we always found something fun to do or talk about!
You can never go wrong with any of the beaches, they are all gorgeous. The water in all but one is very still, so it’s perfect for swimming and floating around (while sipping on your drink of choice and getting tanned in the process, can’t get any better than that).
We also did some snorkeling at two different spots: Smith’s Reef and Coral Gardens. I personally like the latter better, though neither of them is particularly impressive, compared to my previous snorkeling experiences in Indonesia. That said, I would still recommend it. There are a good amount and variety of corals and small fishes, a friend of mine even spotted a turtle at Coral Gardens!
As for food, it was kind of expensive (a meal costed ~$15-20 on average, in places that would normally cost $10 for a bigger portion in my college city of Providence, RI) and tasted just okay. But then again, we didn’t go to particularly impressive restaurants (#CollegeStudents) so there may be some good ones that we didn’t try.
The most traditional TCI dish was conch, usually served fried or curried. I had some fried ones at Da Conch Shack and they were pretty decent. I tried some of my friend’s curried conch, and I’d say the curried one tasted better.
Well, bottom line is, TCI is a great destination if you want a calm and relaxed holiday with super pretty beaches, and don’t mind spending a bit extra during your stay. As for me, it was definitely an amazing week spent with a lovely bunch, and I couldn’t wish for a better way to spend my junior year spring break!