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Top Tips from This Podcast
See transcript below for links to more information.
- Things to do: Beaches, Snorkeling, Scuba Diving, Swimming with whales, Deep sea fishing.
- Off-season: Travel in April to November, more deals are available.
- Packages: Book online for hotel/air packages.
- Rent: Find a condo to rent, make your own meals.
- Getting Around: The islands are small enough, walk or bike. A car is unnecessary.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
Announcer: Welcome to the Frommers.com Travel Podcast. For more information on planning your trip to any one of thousands of destinations, please visit www.Frommers.com.This podcast is sponsored by VisitLondon.com. To plan and book the perfect London vacation, go to London's official web site, VisitLondon.com.
Kelly Regan: Hi and welcome to the frommers.com podcast, the latest in our continuing conversations about all things travel. I'm Kelly Regan, Editorial Director of the Frommer's Travel Guides. I'll be your host.My guest is Alexis Lipsitz Flippin, a former Senior Editor with Frommer's, and the author of our brand new book "Frommer's Portable Turks & Caicos, " which is on sale now. She has been a guest of ours before, but she is here today to talk about the Turks & Caicos as a gorgeous if somewhat low-key beach destination. Alexis, it's good to have you back. Welcome.
Alexis: Thanks, Kelly.
Kelly: So, for people who might not be familiar with the Turks & Caicos Islands, this is an island chain that sits roughly southeast of the Bahamas and north of the Dominican Republic. Tell me how you first became familiar with the islands.
Alexis: I think it was really a press event that I went to, that was held by the Turks & Caicos Islands, in New York. I had heard rumblings about it because it really was just sort of being discovered about five to ten years ago by developers, people who are in the know about beaches and great snorkeling and diving. It just sounded like the kind of place that I would love, a very sort of, not a lot of nightlife, certainly not mega-shopping opportunities, but just all about the beach and the water.
Kelly: So, you just alluded to, you are somebody who has been to a number of Caribbean islands, who has traveled a lot through that region. What is it that you think makes the Turks & Caicos so special and so distinct from other islands in the Caribbean, for example?
Alexis: Well, aside from the fact that it's got probably the most beautiful beaches, I think, in the area, and gorgeous water, and great opportunities for snorkeling and diving, it is really easy for people in the United States to get there. There are direct, non-stop flights from most of the major cities directly into the most populous island, Provodentialis, which everybody calls Provo.
Kelly: Provo, mmhmm.
Alexis: So from New York you can take a three-hour flight and arrive at the airport. Most of the resorts are a ten-minute cab ride away, so you could be on the beach literally in three to four hours from your departure time.
Kelly: That sounds good to me.
Alexis: English is the official language, the dollar is the official currency.
Kelly: The U.S. dollar.
Alexis: The U.S. dollar. It is a very stable government and a very thriving economy. It is very safe. It is one of those, probably the lowest crime rate of any island in the Caribbean.
Kelly: Wow.
Alexis: All of those things make it very appealing to people, particularly in the United States and Canada.
Kelly: Sure, sure. So let's talk a little more about the beaches and the outdoor adventures. You do go into quite a bit of detail in the book about the snorkeling and the scuba diving, and clearly I guess it's because the world's third largest coral reef surrounds the islands. So what kind of marine life are you going to find when you're doing your snorkeling and scuba diving, and what is it about that area that makes the diving so spectacular?
Alexis: Well, I think Scuba Diving Magazine was the one that named it one of the top ten diving sites in the world. Scuba divers come from all over the world to dive, particularly in Grand Turk, also the Northwest Point and West Caicos have great driving. But Grand Turk, because it has just basically a half-to-a-mile off shore the Continental Shelf drops off dramatically, so you could be a five-to-ten minute boat ride away from stupendous diving.
Kelly: So when you say the shelf drops off, you mean that you would be kind of swimming along with your snorkel or your scuba tank, and then suddenly it's just like a cliff, and it goes down?
Alexis: It's called The Wall, and the boats basically drop you there, you're not just swimming along in the water. You're actually going to The Wall. You don't just happen across the Continental Shelf dropping off as you're strolling. It's called The Wall, and it's like, in some places I guess, like 30,000 feet. And along The Wall, of course, is where the marine life is gathered, and you are seeing giant coral, and you are seeing giant sponges, and all of the fish and marine life that eats that kind of thing. So you see stingrays, you see dolphins, you see giant groupers, and you see all these colorful Caribbean fish that most people are familiar with.
Kelly: OK, OK.
Alexis: So that makes it a pretty spectacular diving experience.
Kelly: Sure. What if you don't have a scuba license? What if you're just snorkeling, and so you're not able to go down quite as far? Are you still able to see...
Alexis: That's the beauty of this, is a lot of the really rich marine life... I mean, snorkeling I think you can go out there, you can see some things, but a lot of the rich marine life is really only 30 feet down, at The Wall. Snorkeling, as far as that goes, there are several places right off beaches where you can go and see wonderful snorkeling.On Grace Bay Beach in Provo, for example -- Grace Bay is this spectacular beach that everybody talks about -- there is a place, it's called Smith's Reef and it's Spike Reef, and there are a couple of places there you can just walk right into the water with your snorkel and your flippers, and you won't even be in over your head, and see wonderful fish and turtles and stingrays and things like that.
Kelly: Oh, that's incredible. That's incredible. So, I imagine that because the scuba and snorkeling is so great that it must also be a place to do some good deep sea fishing. Is that also possible? Are there regulations about that?
Alexis: Absolutely, deep sea fishing, bone fishing, reef fishing, night fishing. All of that is, it is a very, very healthy marine system there, ecosystem. That's another thing about the coral reef system: it's really in top shape. It is pristine, it really has not been compromised. So that is another big, big plus for people.
Kelly: Oh, that's great. So you have touched on a couple of the different islands, Provo and Grand Turk. Which island is your favorite, and why?
Alexis: They are all different. It's really amazing. Provodentialis is really, it's like a shiny penny. So much stuff is new, so many condos and hotels, and it is not overbuilt but it is really a different place than, say, Grand Turk, which is the capital and it has 200-year-old sort of Bermudan-style architecture. It is a lot of historic streets, beautiful little white-painted fences with bougainvillea running around. It's a very, very different place. I was completely charmed by Grand Turk, and Salt Key, which is the other Turk island. Salt Key has 60 people. It is a tiny island, and you've got...
Kelly: So, wait, the population is 60?
Alexis: The population is 60. It's 60. It is the most wonderful place. It is really little. It is where the salt industry was based before, in the early part of the 20th century. You can see some of the old salinas, they call them, where you rake the salt; but that died out in the '60s and of course a lot of people left. So there are 60 people left, and they have the most wonderful beaches, the most wonderful people, and they have, from January to April you can actually, the humpback whales migrate past Salt Key, and you can actually go out and snorkel among the whales.
Kelly: Is that safe?
Alexis: Yes. I mean, you do this with the tour operators, and they tell you exactly what to do and what not to do. You're not out there acting like an idiot. They are very gentle, and they sort of, they know you're there. I have talked to people who have done it, and they know that you're there, they are very aware, but they are also aware that they don't want, they are not going to harm you. Everybody who has done it comes back for more.
Kelly: OK. Well, you mentioned that there can be a real sort of Bermudian flavor to some of these islands. You have also mentioned in the book that dining in the Turks & Caicos can be kind of expensive because, of course, the islands have kind of a scrubby quality to them and so it is hard to grow food, most of the food has to be flown in. What is the food like? Is it the usual kind of West Indian island fare? Is there something special about the cuisine? Can you talk a little about the kind of food that you'll get.
Alexis: Sure. Provo, there are a lot -- a lot! -- of very upscale restaurants serving generally Continental food with a sort of West Indian inflection; but basically what you would get in the United States. You could get good steaks, great seafood. What you can get that is local there is lobster. They have local lobster which is in season August through March, and lobster shows up on menus even, in the upscale, downscale, everywhere. Conch shows up on the menu all the time, because it is fresh, it is plentiful, and it is really good. I don't know if you have ever had fresh, right-out-of-the-sea conch...
Kelly: No, I haven't.
Alexis: ... but it is nothing like, there is nothing rubbery about it. Particularly the way they cook it, it is fabulous. They put it in curry and chowder and fritters and everything else. Then you go to some of the little more local areas, particularly in the Blue Hills, which have typical West Indian food: rice and peas, oxtail soup, curried goat, things like that. And conch. Everything conch. So you can eat very, very finely there, and you can also get a taste of what the island has to offer.
Kelly: Speaking of things that may or may not be expensive, can you give us a few money-saving tips for people who might be interested in going to the Turks & Caicos but who might not have the bank account to stay at some of the super lux resorts that are there. Are there bargains in the off season? Can you give us a couple of money-saving tips?
Alexis: Sure. The off season is a great time to travel, because really, the Turks & Caicos has a very temperate climate. Somebody called it "Eternal Summer." Not a lot of big storm activity. Hurricanes, I mean, they have been hit by hurricanes but not a lot. So the off season is perfect, and the deals are there.
Kelly: Just to remind people, the off season is...what would you call it?
Alexis: The off season is basically from late March, early April to November.
Kelly: OK.
Alexis: So a lot of Europeans love to come in the summer, because they have a good month off usually, and they come for a long time in our summer. So it's a great place to go in the summer. Also, you can get great packages on hotel web sites. Even the very high-end web sites usually have wonderful five- or seven-day packages where they throw in, they offer a good rate or a free night, or they throw in spa treatments or a boat trip or whatever. You can also, of course, use Expedia, Travelocity, Yahoo!, all of the travel booking sites. They usually offer good hotel-air packages. That is one way to do it.Another thing, the Turks & Caicos has really embraced the condo-hotel concept. Most of the places you can stay are privately owned, the rooms are privately owned; and most of the rooms are really actually suites with kitchens...
Kelly: Oh, that's great.
Alexis: ... because they are privately owned. So most places will have some sort of kitchen, whether it is a kitchenette or a full kitchen. So the idea is really, if you want to save money, I put in the book places you can go to pick up groceries, fish, you can go to the Leeward Marina and pick up fresh fish.
Kelly: That's fantastic.
Alexis: Yeah, that's another way. I don't think you need a car. You can walk a lot of places. You can bike a lot of places -- a lot of the hotels offer bikes to their guests.
Kelly: Well the islands are mostly pretty small, aren't they?
Alexis: Well, no, Grace Bay is 12 miles long. So, biking is perfect. There's also a shuttle on Provo, called the Gecko shuttle, that stops at just about every place, all day long.
Kelly: You can hop on...
Alexis: You can hop on and hop off, and you can buy a ticket for a week, a day, whatever. That's another way of saving money.
Kelly: OK, so it sounds if people are interested they should do their homework, do some research, and see what kind of bargains are available, and also consider perhaps saying in a condo or a villa or something that's privately owned instead of a hotel.
Alexis: Villas are another good thing. Villas are definitely another good way to go, especially if you have a big family. There are a lot of villas, particularly on Providenciales.Of course, if we're now going to the other islands, they have not seen the big resort growth as of yet, so you will find places that are very reasonable in season and off season.
Kelly: Speaking about the growth you were talking about in Provo with new resorts and new hotels, the Turks and Cacaos may seem a little undiscovered to most travelers, but you do talk about in the book about this building boom and the worries about overdevelopment. How are the islands handling this? Is it your sense that they're trying to be responsible about the expansion to make sure and preserve this sort of tenure of the islands and the quality of life there?
Alexis: I do think so. I do think they have approached it very smartly. I think that, particularly on Provo, they're skewing to the high end. Which is good and bad and has differing things about it, but for the high end there they are really requiring sustainable growth, sustainable development, sort of low-impact properties, and this is island-wide. Sure, there are going to be some places that are above the height restrictions -- they get in there somehow. I think on the whole there's a lot of good thought going into this development.
Kelly: So, does it feel very much to you that in five years you're not going to recognize the place, or that it's just going to be a slightly better version of what it is now?
Alexis: I hope the latter. There's only so much beachfront on Provo and Grace Bay that can be developed at this point. The other islands, for example, South Cacos, is a really sleepy little fishing village. There's not many places left on the earth that aren't going to be developed in the next twenty years or so. Hopefully they'll retain some of that wonderful flavor, and they have, so far.
Kelly: It's interesting that you mention the local flavor because one of the stories that you tell in the book that I was really charmed by was about the pot cakes. Can you talk a little about what the pot cakes are and what's happening with them on the island?
Alexis: The pot cakes are wild dogs.
Kelly: And why are they called pot cakes?
Alexis: The locals call them potcakes because stray dogs are lucky to get whatever is on the bottom of a pot after everyone's finished eating, so they may not get enough to eat.Some very wonderful people came to the island and decided to try to give a better life to a lot of these dogs, and particularly to the puppies they were having. They formed the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Turks and Cacos version, and the Pot Cake Foundation. A lot of these dogs are now being adopted not only on island, but also off island. So they're all over Los Angeles, Toronto, and Boston.
Kelly: So, you could go to the Turks and Cacos on vacation and come back with a puppy?
Alexis: Yes, you could. There's no pet quarantine periods in or out of the country.
Kelly: Are the dogs friendly?
Alexis: They're absolutely wonderful dogs. They're completely adaptable. They're so happy to have you; they're smart, they're loving. Even the wild ones will come up to you, and they're very sweet with their tails wagging. They have these floppy ears and they're sort of silly looking, but they're adorable. Luckily the islands don't have too many wild dogs roaming around.
Kelly: If people want more information about this, I think the website they've started is called potcakefoundation.com.
Alexis: That's right.
Kelly: I guess my last question would just be to circle back to something you mentioned at the beginning, which is people are so excited and enchanted by what you're saying that they just want to get on the next plane and go; you mentioned being able to fly directly from major cities in the U.S. Can you just mention briefly what airlines fly to the Turks and Cacaos from the United States?
Alexis: Sure. American Airlines flies direct from New York, Boston, and Miami. British Airways flies nonstop from London. Delta flies nonstop from Atlanta. Spirit Airlines, as of this year, has just started flying nonstop to Grand Turk from Fort Lauderdale on Sundays, and they may extend that to other days, and I believe Air Canada flies nonstop from Toronto.
Kelly: OK, that's great. Well, that's all we have time for today. I've been talking with Alexis Lipsitz Flippin, who's a former senior editor here at Frommer's, and she's the author of our new book, Portable Turks and Caicos, which is on sale now. Alexis, as always, it's good to you talk to you, so hurry up and write another book so you can come back and talk again. [laughs]
Alexis: I'd love to.
Kelly: OK, join us next week for another conversation about all things travel. I'm Kelly Regan and we'll talk again soon.[music]
Kelly: This podcast is a production of frommers.com. For more information on planning your trip or to hear about the latest travel news and deals, visit us on the web at www.frommers.com and be sure to email us at editor@frommermedia.com with any comments or suggestions.
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