Turks/Caicos Islands

Grand Turk is a relatively small island making up part of the larger Turks & Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory. The name 'Turk' coming from the name of the locally grown cactus that looks like a Fez hat, historically worn by the Ottomans.

So it turns out it's a rather old school racist name rather than actually having anything to do with the Turkic ethnic group!

Despite this island being only the 7th largest in the territory, it is the second most populous and home to the capital. As it also has a recently built cruise terminal located on the south of the island, this island is the focal point for the cruising industry in the territory.

The complex features shopping areas, cafés and restaurants, a swimming pool, surf simulator and luscious beaches. We didn't need to leave the terminal, and so we didn't! - not that there was much outside the complex anyway!

After having breakfast we left the ship and headed for the short walk over to the complex along the jetty. This was certainly one of the most beautiful locations on the trip - with white sand and clear blue seas, and it's a shame we were one of the last visits P&O will do to this island. We had a little wander around the shops before finding some sun loungers on the beach.

We spent some time between both the beach and in the sea, enjoying the glorious views before we started getting hungry for lunch. Whereas usually we'd have been out and about, as we were next to the ship we simply headed aboard, grabbed some food and then made our way back to the cruise terminal. We then had another wander around before again finding a place to lounge.

Having spent much of the day enjoying the sunshine, after a final walk along the beach, we headed back to the ship to prepare for dinner. We started sailing away from port just before dinner opened and we watched as we sailed around the west coast of the island and past the island's lighthouse.

We were also informed that this evening's performance had been cancelled, along with all others for the foreseeable future. We had already booked a performance for a few day's time that we would now no longer be able to watch. Although no specific reason had been given it is likely this was Covid related, with the rest of the performance troupe being forced to quarantine.

Thankfully we had already been to see a performance a few days earlier, and so we had got to have that experience on board, and with there not being a replacement for tonight as yet, we instead spent the evening watching some of the on-demand movies in the cabin.

The next day was another sea day, heading back towards the Eastern Caribbean. Whilst the weather on the trip had until now generally been pretty good, it was starting to turn, and we got caught in one of many showers that would linger over the next week.

We once again spent the day around the pool, (trying to) sunbathe and doing the quizzes. That night was again a black tie night and we again went to the restaurant for an à la carte meal.

After having finished my Champagne Sorbet at the end of the meal, whilst walking out of the restaurant we saw our quiz friend from a few days earlier. We stopped to say hello, and asked how she'd done in today's quizzes - of course better than us, and she had also won the bingo this afternoon!

We then headed back to the cabin to chill for the evening, before our next port day tomorrow!