Turks and Caicos 2018 - Day 5

Our last (half) day in Turks & Caicos was a bit of a wildcard. Checkout wasn't until noon, and our flight wasn't until 3 PM.

In the morning, we took a quick drive over to Grace Bay, to walk around and shop for a souvenir or two.

Unfortunately, we discovered that many of the shops are closed on Sundays, and we were there before the remainder of them opened. Sometimes "9 AM" means 10:30 AM (Island Time), so while waiting, we had a lovely stroll on yet another day of perfect weather.

Despite the above photos looking like someone built 20 of the same Lego set, there are some interesting establishments to see while walking through this commercial area of the resort neighborhood.

Eventually, several shops opened so we could pick out a few T-shirts.


We returned to the house, finished packing up, and checked out (so to speak). The plan we settled on to end our visit was to take a scenic ride along the southern edge of Chalk Sound, stopping along the way wherever there was a decent view.

Additionally, we treated ourselves to some air conditioning for this last hour or so in the car, so we could remain cool and clean for the flight home.

The (relatively) long and winding Chalk Sound Drive was almost the only remaining paved road we hadn't driven yet, according to the map on the page linked above.

There were even a few decent spots to get a panoramic view of the turquoise sound, like this road that dead-ends practically at the water's edge.

If you're ever in the area, this is definitely the best vantage point.

As the visittci.com page mentions, there is a lot of new development happening along the edge of the sound. We visited an empty lot that had a spectacular view and a large bulldozer.

A Nissan March is not a very capable off-road vehicle, in case anyone was wondering (but it has a fantastic turning radius).

Around 1 PM, we set a course for the airport, stopping for slightly more than 3 gallons of (full-serve) gas en route, and returned the rental car.

The tiny airport was jammed full of people, but we found some seats in the second floor "departure lounge", which also has outdoor seating overlooking the runway. Why anyone was sitting out there, exposed to the merciless sun and the sound of jet engines, is beyond me.

Despite the chaos, we managed to coax a few lunches out of the bar/cafe in this area before our flight started boarding. In keeping with the theme of "anything goes" on the island, they let some passengers board through the rear door, resulting in a traffic jam in the aisle as people going both directions tried to squeeze past each other with luggage.

Sabrina snuck in a few incredible (and illicit!) photos during takeoff.

This one is a good portion of Providenciales, with Mango Cay and Little Water Cay (Iguana Island) in the middle, then (Big?) Water Cay, and Pine Cay and a few other small islands in the distance.

And here we have all of Pine Cay in the foreground, Big and Little Water Cays, and Mango Cay in the middle, and Provo curving into the clouds in the distance.

We're able to follow our kayak journey in both of these photos, which I think is neat.

After an uneventful flight, we landed in Newark around 5:30 PM.