Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands (not the Caicos) with 18 square kilometres. It contains the territory's capital, Cockburn Town. The island is the administrative, historic, cultural and financial center of the territory, and has the second largest population of the islands at approximately 3,720 people.
Grand Turk gained international attention in 1962 when John Glenn's Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft landed in the vicinity of Grand Turk Island off the southeast shoreline.
A replica of the Friendship 7 is on display in Grand Turk at the entrance to the Grand Turk Island airport.
The name comes from a species of cactus on the island, which have a distinctive cap, reminiscient of a Turkish fez. It is said to possibly be the landfall island of Christopher Columbus during his discovery of the New World in 1492.
Grand Turk is the administrative and political capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands and Cockburn Town has been the seat of government since 1766.
A lighthouse and the remains of a United States Navy Base are located on the northeast point of the island. The remains of a U.S. Air Force Base are on the west coast.
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Cockburn Town, capital of the Turks and Caicos Islands, is the centrepiece of the island of Grand Turk.
The laid-back capital, with its donkeys and horses wandering the streets, sports a collection of quaint old inns, boutiques and colourful colonial houses. Cockburn is also a busy financial centre, acting as a tax haven for offshore investors.
The town is also houses the Turks & Caicos National Museum which displays span the whole of human history in the Turks and Caicos, from Indian occupations starting at 700 AD right up to modern times, the arrival of John Glenn after his historic three-orbit space flight in 1962.
The Turks & Caicos National Museum also has a Natural History gallery with displays on the Geology of the Turks and Caicos and Reef and Island Ecology.
The recovered artifacts of the "Molasses Reef Wreck" (1513), the oldest known European shipwreck in the New World, are displayed along with manuscripts, prints and items of art and culture relating to the history of the Turks & Caicos Islands.
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| Grand Turk is six miles long and just over a mile wide. Like the other islands, Grand Turk is blessed with miles of quiet sugary beaches and is close to several uninhabited cays just waiting to be explored. At the north point of the island, a channel to the sea gives access to North Creek, the only hurricane shelter for yachts traveling between Nassau and Puerto Rico. |
Grand Turk excels in providing spectacular diving, snorkeling, fishing and sailing. Grand Turk is consistently rated among the top 10 dive destinations in the World. The warm Atlantic Sea waters are filled with marine life ranging from a tiny seahorse to manta, eagle and sting rays, green and hawksbill turtles, dolphin, shark, whale shark and the magnificent humpback whale. Diving is just a 5 minute boat ride offshore to the 7,000 foot vertical wall. On the top of the wall divers enjoy diving through the incredible coral formations and sand gullies.
Grand Turk diving is relaxed, boats go out with one-tank and easily return to shore for an hour interval before going out to the government's marine conservation parks for the second dive. The local dive operators have combined efforts forming an organization to 'Protect Reefs & Islands from Degradation and Exploitation' ensuring that the reefs are managed and used with respect. |
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