Drop Anchor and Explore Water Cay, Turks and Caicos

Sitting on the beach at Grace Bay in Provo, as the vast majority of visitors to the Turks and Caicos Islands are no doubt wont to do, it’s easy to get lazy; to lose your zeal for adventure.

Grace Bay simply offers everything most anyone could ever want in a beach, as we’ve pointed out time and again. Best of all, it’s wide enough and stretches far enough that you never feel crowded, even with the scores of posh resorts, more modest guesthouses, restaurants, bars, and ridiculously exclusive luxury villas and private homes along her shores.

Just a few minutes up the island chain toward North Caicos, though, lie exquisite sugar-sand shores the equal of Grace Bay in size and beauty, though with the added bonus of deserted-island adventure.

Water Cay is just such a place.

Two miles long, completely uninhabited, and just minutes from Provo by boat, Water Cay used to be its own separate island back in the day. In recent decades, though, shifting sands accumulated at her extremes, connecting the Cay with Little Water Cay to the west and Pine Cay to the east.

That’s right – dropping anchor here for a little adventuring means you can actually explore what used to be three different islands on foot!

What’s to see?

Well, we’ve run down a lot of what lies in store on Pine Cay before. On Little Water Cay, two elevated boardwalks wind throughout one of the TCI’s best-maintained wildlife sanctuaries. This is the prime place to see the endangered (and rather large) Turks and Caicos Rock Iguana.

TCI Rock Iguana | Credit: Flickr user Tim Sackton

These monsters thrived throughout all of the Turks and Caicos Islands until man encroached too far, bringing with him dogs and cats that killed off nearly all of the native iguanas. Thanks to conservation efforts, these critters rock on all over Little Water Cay.

On the south side of all three connected islands, thick mangroves and wetlands make for some amazing birdwatching.

There’s even a wreck in shallow waters here that you can easily explore by snorkeling. (Much more on that experience in a future post.)

Don’t fret if you can’t get access to a sweet motor yacht like the one pictured above to get yourself on over to Water Cay. Little Water Cay is a bit beyond a hefty stone’s throw (okay, 500 yards) from the far eastern edge of Providenciales. Water Cay is just a wee bit further. Rent a kayak from our friends at Big Blue Unlimited to hop on over and enjoy a more remote side of TCI.

Last updated by Steve Bennett on 04/24/2017.