Carnival Sunshine slipped into Grand Turk early in the morning, the last of our ports of call for this cruise.
At Grand Turk, we had booked Carnivals Historical Homes, Town & Museum Tour shore excursion. The tour promised to include Cockburn Town and the Grand Turk Lighthouse. The guide met us and other travelers in the cruise terminal area and soon we were on the minibus. The same shore excursion is probably run for all the cruise lines calling at Grand Turk, as our guide said he would be repeating it in the afternoon for the arriving Crown Princess.
The guide/driver was very good at pointing out everything to see and filling us in on Turks & Caicos culture. The cruise terminal is built on the site of a former US Air Force base (also the source of the nearby Grand Turk airport). Nothing goes to waste and so base buildings have been repurposed as government offices. Speaking of nothing going to waste, as we hit the main road I was surprised by the sight of a repurposed Giant Foods semitrailer. (Giant Foods is a supermarket chain in the Washington, DC, area. We shop there all the time!)
Carnival Sunshine at Grand Turk. Destiny Class. Launched in 1995, 102,853 gt. Refit in 2013. DSC_0064
The first stop was at the Friendship 7 monument. Grand Turk is proud of the fact that John Glenn and the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule splashed down just east of the island in 1962. The retrieved capsule was brought to the island and flown back to the US from the Air Force base that is now the islands airport.
Shortly thereafter we were in Cockburn Town, the capital of the Turks & Caicos since 1766. An old settlement, it is small, but has many colonial houses and buildings. One was reminded that the Caribbean islands were settled and places of local industry long before they became tourist destinations.
Riding down Front Street, I thought of Caribbean island in the TV series Death in Paradise. Cockburn Town felt like a real There were lots of colonial houses and buildings lining Front Street and Duke Street. All of them had historical plaques out front. They are more rustic in condition and muted in color than the old houses Willemstad or Bermuda, so perhaps they are closer to the original item. Many are in use as inns or bed & breakfasts. There are no large hotels or resorts on the
We stopped at St. Marys Anglican Church for a look inside. This church dates from 1899. A memorial in front of the islanders who lost their lives in World Wars I and II. A reminder of how global these conflicts were. Further along the street we saw the Victoria Public Library of Grand Turk. The fire had occurred earlier in the month and the 1872 library building was a total loss.
A visit to the Turks & Caicos National Museum was most interesting. The Turks and Caicos National Museum is quite a surprise. It is located in a historic house in Cockburn Town. From the introductory video on, the museum covers a a lot of ground. Visitors are first shown a video about the Turks & Caicos Islands and then there are exhibits on the island and its history and industry. Tourism is a An exhibit shows item recovered from the Molasses Reef Wreck, a 16th century ship.
The next destination was the 1852 metal lighthouse at the northern end of the island. En route, we passed
Friendship 7 Monument. Grand Turk is proud of the fact that John Glenn and the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule splashed down just east of the island in 1962. The retrieved capsule was brought to the island and flown back to the US from the Air Force base that is now the islands airport. DSC_0088p1
the Turks & Caicos Community College. The campus and its buildings are the repurposed US Navy base, closed in 1980. Upon arriving at the lighthouse, we were greeted by a group of the omnipresent wild donkeys. The wild donkeys of Grand Turk reminded me of the wild ponies of Assateague Island in Maryland and Virginia. The donkeys descend from donkeys that were let go when the salt industry closed.
