Grand Turk

I knew the least about this island on our Cruise itinerary.  Aside from Eastern Caribbean, I had no idea where it was.  We docked at Grand Turk later than usual, meaning I was actually out of bed before we arrived.  It was going on eleven in the morning when we began approaching this flat little island.  Honestly, I didn’t even think it was the island we were going to because it looked like some of the flatter areas of Kentucky were picked up, stripped of their more charming qualities, and plopped in the middle of the Caribbean.  Folks, I did not hold out much hope that I’d actually enjoy this stop.  I thought that this was the first place on this vacation that I would tell you not to visit.

I was wrong.  Somewhere between when I was eating breakfast on deck and when I went inside to get my things together for when we were able to leave the ship we pulled up to a gorgeous Caribbean island…..or, should I say, part of an island.  Right off of the dock was water so blue it would make they sky jealous.  You could see right to the bottom of the ocean even at the deeper parts around the pier.  The beach was in sight of the ship which was a change from our other ports.  Even the shops that we walked through right at the end of the pier were beautiful. 

We decided that since we didn’t have to pay a taxi an unnecessary amount of money to take us on a wild ride to the beach that we would suit up and hit the water.  The beach was very pretty, but once you got near the water it was rocky.  The good news was that  you could see the rocks you were walking on in the water.  The bad news was that it wasn’t exactly a comfortable or easy walk to deeper water.  Some of the rocks felt like they were carpeted too which was a bit unnerving.  Kendra and I decided to let Angie and Cal explore the deeper waters on her own, and we headed back to the beach chairs to lay out in the sun with mom…..under palm trees.  This was island paradise. 

I’m not sure how long I was laying out (napping), but we did still want to do some shopping before we had to go back to the boat.  Then, bags in hand, we headed back to the Glory.  We had heard that this area was sometimes a good place to see humpback whales moving back from the south to have their babies.  So, after we dropped our bags off in the cabin we headed to the upper decks to look around.  We didn’t see any whales, but we got a good look at the island.  Once you get past the pretty little shopping/beach area, there isn’t much to the island.  There are houses….actually some very big houses, but it seemed that the best part of the island was right where the cruise ships docked. 

We picked some deck chairs right at the back of the ship so we could watch as we pulled away from the last port of this vacation.  The weather was perfect all day….it was like a Hollywood director actually set the scene for Grand Turk……and I have to say, if you’ve got the opportunity to visit Grand Turk for a day, you won’t be disappointed.

The seas are rough (again), but at least it’s not stormy.  Angie went to bed early tonight (it was either that or be sick all evening).  Mom, Cal, and I saw a show in the Amber Palace that was called “Just Rock”.  The music was classic rock tunes through the decades, so it was good music, but their male lead needed to learn how to lip sync better.  I mean seriously, he wasn’t even close, but I’ll be darned if he wasn’t giving it his all.

Tomorrow is our last day….a day at sea, so I hope that the seas are kinder to us than they were today.