South Caicos travel guide

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The nearest Caicos island, 22 miles west of Grand Turk, South Caicos (originally named Guana by the Lucayans) was once the most populous and the largest producer of salt in the region. It is now the main fishing port, having benefited from the most naturally protected harbour in the islands and is also known as East Harbour, or the ‘rock’, or ‘the big south’. As a result, yachts frequently call here and a popular annual Big South Regatta is held at the end of May. There is great diving along the drop-off to the south and the best snorkelling is on the windward side going east and north. Boat trips can be organized with fishermen to the island reserves of Six Hill Cays and Long Cay, where there are iguanas.

Cockburn Harbour is the only settlement and is an attractive, if rather run-down, little place with lots of old buildings, a pleasant waterfront with old salt warehouses and boats. The District Commissioner’s house, currently unoccupied, stands atop a hill southeast of the village and can be recognized by its green roof. The School For Field Studies is in the 19th-century Admiral’s Arm Inn, and attracts undergraduate students from abroad to the island to study reef ecology and marine resources, but otherwise there are very few visitors. Wild donkeys, cows and horses roam the island and several have made their home in an abandoned hotel construction site along the coast from the Residency. The salinas dominate the central part of the island and there is a ‘boiling hole’, connected to the sea by a subterranean passage, which was used to supply the salt pans. It makes an interesting walk and you may see flamingos.

On the west side of the Columbus Passage the wall along the east shores of South Caicos and Long Cay drops gradually or steeply from a depth of about 50 ft, with many types of coral and a variety of fish of all sizes. Snorkelling is rewarding with several shallow reefs close to the shore, but the diving is really for advanced divers, as it is best on the windward side where there are strong currents and surges.