Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies

You know you are in for an interesting travel experience when the airline weighs both you and your luggage before they let you check in for your flight. Such was the case when I flew from Providenciales to Grand Turk within the Turk and Caicos Islands today. Luckily, I had lost twelve kilos in weight in the past year and I had left my large suitcase at the hotel on Provo before heading to the airport.

The flight to Grand Turk took thirty minutes on a Beechcraft 99 aircraft, one of those planes where all the passengers can see all the dials within the cockpit. This is somewhat alarming when a red light suddenly illuminates and you wonder what it means. However, the plane maintains a steady course so you assume everything is OK.

The plane landed at JAGS McCartney airport in Grand Turk. James Alexander George Smith McCartney known as “JAGS” McCartney was a politician from the Turks and Caicos Islands and was the island territory’s first Chief Minister. He held that position from August 1976 until 9 May 1980, when he died in a plane crash over New Jersey. Naming an airport after a politician who died in a plane crash seems a little insensitive, a bit like naming a swimming pool in Melbourne after Harold Holt, who drowned in 1967.

The airport maintenance team were shearing the hedge as we headed into domestic arrivals and waited for the bags. In truth, we could have picked them up ourselves as we were the only flight that had arrived or departed in the past hour. The next surprise was that there were no taxis outside. I had to ask an airline rep to phone for one and within ten minutes Delphine Simone from Queen Bee taxis had arrived. She drove me to the Osprey Beach Hotel for seven dollars, which is an absolute bargain in this part of the world. Her number is 649-231-6028 and she is recommended.

As usual, I had arrived too early at the hotel – my room was still being cleaned, so I headed into the capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Cockburn Town. The first thing I did was to head to Her Majesty’s Prison, which was open because there was a cruise ship visiting the island. This is a recommended visit because for 3 dollars US, you can see where all the island’s prisoners were held from the mid-1830s until the 1990s. In the latter years, many drug smugglers were captured by the island’s police who locked them in the gaol, but the smugglers had many friends and they were quite often sprung by those friends – Grand Turk is midway between Colombia and the USA.

The Osprey Beach Hotel faces due west and as I write this the sun is just beginning to set…