Day at Grand Turk

[tessky]

Will be in Grand Turk in 2 weeks and want to do something other then Margarittaville.

 

How far is it in to town should we taxi or walk? I read taxi is $5 is that/person.

 

Once in town I'm assuming things are easy to find, such as the Museum. Is there a charge to get into museum?

 

What about other attractions such as lighthouse, Cockburn Town (or is this "town", confused on that) & the Prison are they easy to walk to once in town. Are there addmission charges to lighthouse & Prison.

 

I like to know kinda where I'm going & what to expect, I'll pay the fees not a problem just want to be able to tell my fellow travellers what they will have to pay if they decide to come with me.

 

Thanks for your help!:)

[suezcruise]

Hi tessky:

 

We were just in Grand Turk on Dec. 19, 2006. We too did not want to hang out in Margarittaville. This is a Cruise Ship Center built by Carnival that is completely gated and enclosed. There is a nice looking, swimming allowed beach here. We walked out of the gated area only to find another gate about one mile down the rode, too far to walk into town, it is probably about three miles.

 

We went back to the center and there are several methods of transportation to choose from. A train/trolley ($39 per person), horse and carriage ($59 pp), or a taxi ($5 per person into town one way). Cockburn Town is the town.

 

Cockburn is very small, about three blocks long and two blocks deep. We took a taxi into town and it started to pour rain, so we did not get out to walk around.

 

The water looks beautiful, not very touristy though, we saw only a few carts with vendors, no real shopping. We did not visit the musuem. We drive around the whole island, which we paid our driver more for. The whole tour took about 40 minutes. We went to the small light house but again did not climb, I believe there was a fee, maybe $8 per person. This is a small island that is yet to be claimed by tourism. There are no large resorts nor upscale shopping. However, Carnival does own the cruise ship center, and our taxi driver pointed out that Carnival has bought a large part of the middle of the island which they will be developing.

 

We are snorkelers and had learned that there is good snorkeling right off the main street downtown. Due to the poor weather, we didn't give it a try.

If we were ever to go back, i would try snorkeling again, or just stay at the cruise center beach, I do not know if there is a fee for chairs there or not.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Sue Z.

[Hogladyrider]

http://www.tonyscarrental.com/

 

http://www.tcimall.tc/grandturk/index.htm

 

check out these two links I found on my own. I found the bicycle rental at tonyscarrental.com, interesting.

 

As stated in the above post, there is not a lot to do on your own in this Port as of yet, give it a few years. A coworker told me that the shops at the cruise terminal are very nice. The 2nd link has lots of options for you to look at but most of them are excursions thru the cruise line. Basically the cruise lines have a monopoly on this port for now. Heck I have heard that they even sponsored the Margarittaville!:D

[2112]

Cockburn town is a $5 taxi ride from the port. It is WAY to far to walk. It is a little larger than suezcruise indicates. It is 3 blocks wide and it took me about a hour and a half to walk from the far southern edge of town at the Ospery Hotel to the northern edge and back again (stopping for photos but no shopping or museums). I was there before the museums opened so I can't tell you about them. The lighthouse is not in town and I can't tell you how far away it is. If you didn't have to go all the way back to the Ospery Hotel, I would allow no more than 1 to 2 hours maximum to see everything including museums. As previously stated, there is no real shopping.

 

You might want to see my Grand Turk photos on my website at http://www.pbase.com/2112

[Hogladyrider]

Cockburn town is a $5 taxi ride from the port. It is WAY to far to walk. It is a little larger than suezcruise indicates. It is 3 blocks wide and it took me about a hour and a half to walk from the far southern edge of town at the Ospery Hotel to the northern edge and back again (stopping for photos but no shopping or museums). I was there before the museums opened so I can't tell you about them. The lighthouse is not in town and I can't tell you how far away it is. If you didn't have to go all the way back to the Ospery Hotel, I would allow no more than 1 to 2 hours maximum to see everything including museums. As previously stated, there is no real shopping.

 

You might want to see my Grand Turk photos on my website at http://www.pbase.com/2112

 

WOW what great photos of Grand Turk, not to mention what a wonderful photo web site you have created!

 

Hope you don't mind a couple of questions based on viewing your Grand Turk photos.

 

Do many regulars reside on Grand Turk that you are aware of?

 

The beach at Margarittaville is there a fee to use those chairs on the beach?

 

I really enjoyed your photos.......I am a dog lover and I find it interesting how dogs are plentiful in Grand Turk streets like they are in St Martin streets, wandering. It's rather sad in a way.

 

My two furry companions will be at doggie camp for the week at our local kennel, having a blast, while we are cruising.......I'm afraid the dogs on Grand Turk and St Martin don't have a very good quality of life.

 

Thanks for sharing your photos with us.............Susan

[tessky]

Thanks for everyone's replies, think I will take a taxi out to lighthouse & then have him take us back to town, where we can walk around, see museum and then back to Margarittaville for a little drink!

[2112]

Do many regulars reside on Grand Turk that you are aware of?

 

The beach at Margarittaville is there a fee to use those chairs on the beach?

 

Thanks for the nice comment on my photos. I am not sure what you mean by "do many regulars reside on Grand Turk." I went diving while in Grand Turk and everyone on the boat (other than me) had been to Grand Turk before. So, I think many people (especially divers) come back regularly. If you are asking whether there are many foreigners living in condos or timeshares or things like that, I don't think so. You will not see modern condos or things like that on Grand Turk. It is definately not Cozumel or St. Martin. They do have quite a large Haitian community that are much of the workforce, but I don't think that is what you are asking.

 

I believe there is no charge to use the chairs at the Margaritaville beach. I sat in one for a short while (I didn't have too much time there before the ship sailed) and no one asked me to pay.

 

Hope this helps.

[mamaofami]

did you hear anything about this beach? Is it reopened?

[elvo73]

Hi Coolcruiser, beautiful pictures of Grand Turk, I have a question, do you know if a toddler is allowed to swim on the pool at the cruise center? we're going the last week of February and we know she won't be able to swim on the Elation.

Thank you!

[snorkelman]

I was in Grand Turk 2 weeks ago on the Elation and I had a blast on the dune buggie excursion. if you are active and enjoy having fun, then book this excursion early because it sells out before you even get on the ship.

 

After 20 cruises I can tell you that this is a port where you should probably plan on doing one of the ship's excursions. I normally do my own excursions, but this port is one of the few exceptions that I have found in the Caribbean.

 

The island is fairly flat (your cruise ship will easily be the tallest thing you can see). if you don't mind the water temps, I heard great things about the snorkeling excursions offered by the cruise ship (there are three different ones I believe).

[burds13]

There is fantastic snorkeling right off the dock - if you're adventurous you should do a wall dive. The trench off the beach dips to like 6,000 feet or something ridiculous. It's quite amazing to see, really. One of the closest points is right there @ the dock. The best snorkeling trip I thought was out to Gibbs Key, you can check with any of the local dive shops for a trip out there. I think it's like $45 a person for the day or so.

 

The dogs on the island are called "Potcakes" b/c the locals used to feed them the rice that caked to the bottom of pots. Some are friendly, some are shy but none of them were mean or aggressive.

 

We just walked right into the prison - there was nobody there manning the entrance. It was pretty cool. I believe that the lighthouse is at the far southern end of the island near the community college and the old radio station. It's probably like 2 miles south of town if I had to guess. The lighthouse didn't really do it for me, but there is a fantastic view of the ocean right next to it, dramatic cliffs and some biking trails.

 

Grand Turk is a great place, anyone that goes should skip Margaritaville (the locals call it "Disneyland") and see the island. The people are friendly and make you feel welcome.

 

The guy who drove us from the airport was named "Ducci", and I have his card but not with me... I'm sure the belongers could tell you how to get ahold of him. The airport is always a good place to find a cab and it's not very far from the dock...

 

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!

[burds13]

PS... Water temp is in the 80 F range.

 

Not bad at all depending on your depth, but certainly comfortable. The reef tends to be a little choppier during the winter months, but the water remains crystal clear on nice days.

[burds13]

There is fantastic snorkeling right off the dock - if you're adventurous you should do a wall dive. The trench off the beach dips to like 6,000 feet or something ridiculous. It's quite amazing to see, really. One of the closest points is right there @ the dock. The best snorkeling trip I thought was out to Gibbs Key, you can check with any of the local dive shops for a trip out there. I think it's like $45 a person for the day or so.

 

The dogs on the island are called "Potcakes" b/c the locals used to feed them the rice that caked to the bottom of pots. Some are friendly, some are shy but none of them were mean or aggressive.

 

We just walked right into the prison - there was nobody there manning the entrance. It was pretty cool. I believe that the lighthouse is at the far southern end of the island near the community college and the old radio station. It's probably like 2 miles south of town if I had to guess. The lighthouse didn't really do it for me, but there is a fantastic view of the ocean right next to it, dramatic cliffs and some biking trails.

 

Grand Turk is a great place, anyone that goes should skip Margaritaville (the locals call it "Disneyland") and see the island. The people are friendly and make you feel welcome.

 

The guy who drove us from the airport was named "Ducci", and I have his card but not with me... I'm sure the belongers could tell you how to get ahold of him. The airport is always a good place to find a cab and it's not very far from the dock...

 

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!

 

My bad - the lighthouse is at the northern end of the island. I guess you get switched up when you drink rum punch for 8 consecutive days :rolleyes:

[2cruisinchiks]

Suezcruise,

 

You talked about the fact that when you were in Grand Turk that your taxi driver mentioned to you that Carnival just purchased a big part of the middle of the island as well for development? Did he/she say what Carnival was planning?

Thanks in advance for your reply

[tang-bailey]

I heard that they were planning on developping, however the government is making it difficult due to environmental issues. Haven't heard anything else about it. I'll be there in 27 days, i'll ask the question and see what the locals know.