While on a Silversea Cruise through the Caribbean, we stopped at the island of Grand Turk. This was my first glimpse of the Caribbean and while we only stopped for a few hours, it was a bit disappointing. The beaches were crowded (at least the ones near the port, which I should have expected). The water was a gorgeous shade of blue but other than that, the island didn't exactly look like a tropical getaway. I’d recommend trying out a different island in the Turks and Caicos, such as Providenciales, one of the most popular islands.

The Turks and Caicos is made up of 40 coral islands and is a British overseas terriorty. The currency is the U.S. dollar and English is the official language. The islands were first inhabited by the Taíno people. There is speculation that the first European discovery of the islands was made by Christopher Columbus in 1492, however, others believe it is more likely that Juan Ponce de Leon, a Spanish conquistador, arrived in 1512. Regardless of which European found the island first, the Spanish quickly started capturing the native people as slaves. This dark history plagues many, if not all Caribbean islands.

Now the Turks and Caicos relies primarily on tourism to fuel it’s economy.

I typically like to keep my blog posts pretty positive, but I think it’s important to understand the history of places to which I travel. I’ll be sharing more islands from our Caribbean trip soon.

Until next time, stay safe.

-Katherine