Beach Excursions & Boat Charters

One of the most popular watersports activities in the Provo area is a beach excursion offered by a number of charter-boat operators. These excursions come in any number of variations and combinations, and in many instances you can personally tailor your own excursion or hire a private charter to take you to a secluded cay for the day.

Charter boats leave out of Leeward Marina (on Provo's northeast shore) -- and most operators include hotel or resort pickup and drop-off in the price of your excursion.

A favorite beach excursion is a half-day or full day out on the Caicos Cays that includes snorkeling, a visit to Iguana Island, and a shelling stopover on one of the uninhabited cays. Other variations include conch diving (you can try to dive the 6m/20-ft. depths, but most people let the expert guides do the diving to retrieve fresh conch) and a subsequent lunch of fresh conch salad, prepared on the spot seviche-style; beach barbecues or picnics; or sunset cruises with wine and cheese.

On a glowworm cruise, boats take you out around sunset 4 or 5 days after a full moon to see millions of mating glowworms light up the shallow local waters with a glittering green glow.

More ambitious beach excursions include "island safaris" and ecotours in North or Middle Caicos, trips that may combine boating and snorkeling with caving, bird-watching, kayaking, biking, hiking, visiting historic sites, or having lunch in a native home. Big Blue Unlimited (tel. 649/946-5034) is highly recommended for its creative ecotours.

A number of watersports operators offer private charters, whether for personalized island touring or just a pickup or drop-off on another island.

A Visit to Iguana Island -- Many of the beach excursions to the Caicos Cays include a short tour of Little Water Cay, a protected nature reserve (part of the Princess Alexandra National Park) and home to the Turks & Caicos rock iguana, a small, harmless reptile that is found nowhere else on the planet. Boardwalks and observation towers have been constructed at two popular landing sites to reduce the impact of tourism -- this is, after all, one of the most popular attractions in the Turks & Caicos. As you walk along the wooden boardwalks that crisscross the 47-hectare (116-acre) island, you'll spot members of the island iguana population, here some 3,000 strong, emerging from their sand burrows. The biggest of these iguanas are more than .6m (2 ft.) long and solid; they're handsome fellows, if you like the rough-and-ready type, and literally rule the roost. The rock iguanas of Turks & Caicos are the islands' largest native land animal -- even so, they're no match for a number of predators, including cats. About 50,000 rock iguanas remain here, the largest and healthiest population in the Caribbean. A park access fee of $5 per visitor is charged to help support further conservation activities.