Shipwreck Rock in the Turks and Caicos

 

After an early lunch of fresh conch salad at the Conch shack in Providenciales, (and I mean fresh—they went out and harvested the conch as we sat there) we left the more crowded beaches of Grace Bay and went exploring.  The hosts of our B&B told us of a secluded beach at West Harbour that we would most likely have all to ourselves.  We had heard about a rock nearby the beach that had the names of shipwreck survivors who carved their names while waiting to be rescued. Now who could resist that temptation?

Coming off the Millennium Highway to a primitive dirt road, we noticed a couple of excavators and backhoes poised to do some work.  We eased our little red rental down the first couple of miles of deep holes and bumps realizing that not many people would brave the road just to get to a beach. The final four miles were smoother, and wound through very unique wetlands and salt marshes.  The chaotic ride down was well worth the trip when we came to the end of the road (literally). Before us was the most beautiful white coral beach sparkling in the sun.  We quickly set up beach chairs, donned our suits and sloshed through the shallow waters towards Osprey Rock. Prior to the outcrop we noticed a few caves hidden in the cliffs. One of the caves had a large circular hole through the roof and someone had lashed a ladder to the rock. Climbing the sturdy ladder we came out on top of the cliff. Here we found names carved in the rock, although I couldn’t tell whether they were hundreds of year old carvings, or just replicates. This cove with its sheltered caves would have been an ideal place to wait to be rescued—the cave would provide needed shelter, yet they could still keep a lookout for approaching ships.  After thoroughly exploring the caves we waded back to our cooler in the sand.  We still hadn’t seen a single person or even a boat at sea.  Altogether, an exceptional day.  The ride back was a little more adventurous than the way down.  The excavators had been at work, while we were playing.  I actually had to get out of the car twice to roll large two to three foot boulders that were blocking our path.