In this episode, Brian shares his detailed experience visiting Turks and Caicos, highlighting the island's top attractions, family-friendly resorts, water activities, and travel tips. Perfect for travelers planning a Caribbean getaway, especially with family.
In this episode, Brian shares his detailed experience visiting Turks and Caicos, highlighting the island's top attractions, family-friendly resorts, water activities, and travel tips. Perfect for travelers planning a Caribbean getaway, especially with family.
key topics
Travel ease and logistics to Turks and Caicos
Family-friendly resorts and activities at Beaches
Water sports including snorkeling and diving
Best beaches and local attractions
Travel planning and tips for Caribbean trips
takeaways
Turks and Caicos offers a complete vacation experience with easy travel logistics.
Beaches resort includes free scuba diving for certified divers and many water sports.
Grace Bay Beach is ideal for families due to its calm, clear waters.
Snorkeling at Bite Reef is highly recommended and accessible from the beach.
Turks and Caicos is a pricier but worthwhile destination for families seeking luxury.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Turks and Caicos and trip overview
01:54 Travel logistics and arrival experience
03:55 First impressions of the island and beaches
05:40 Family-friendly activities and resort amenities
06:58 Snorkeling and diving experiences
08:28 Dining, accommodations, and overall resort experience
09:39 Final thoughts and travel recommendations
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Brian (00:01.964)
Welcome to the Salty Reef Dive Brief. Today's destination, we are going to take you to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a beautiful island or chain of islands that I recently had a chance to visit. I'm your host, Brian Armandinger, and let's let's get started. So, I've been pretty fortunate to visit a lot of the Caribbean islands over the years. Everyone has something unique or
Or special to it. Some have incredible diving, some have beautiful beaches, some have amazing food, nightlife, or a combination of the above. But my most recent trip to the Turks and Caicos, I came home thinking one thing: that this might be the most complete destination I've ever visited.
And so we went to the Turks and Caicos for my wife's fortieth birthday. I took my family, my son Luke, who's eight, and my daughter Ella, who's five. and we ended up staying at Beaches, which is the all-inclusive for families. and I know what most of you are thinking, you know, it's very commercialized. but really what what surprised me.
About beaches is that it really has something for everybody. so a lot of people don't realize, and I don't think it gets talked enough, but beaches include scuba diving. There's no additional charge if you're a certified diver. they also have many other water sports from kayaks to sailing.
They have snorkeling. so there's there's a lot to do. So let's let's dive in. So my first impression really is for me it was a very easy trip. You know, I live in Florida, Tampa Bay area. You know, we decided to drive over to Orlando and do a a quick two hour direct flight. so it was two hours. We landed in Provo, they call it Provinciales and Provo.
Brian (02:24.399)
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You know, the main thing, the only frustrating thing is I think all the planes landed at the same time, you know, when I got in and so it took a little over an hour to get through customs. But other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing the entire trip. beaches provides transportation to and from. So we had complementary transportation right outside there. it was only about a fifteen, twenty minute ride over to the
to the resort and then we were greeted with, you know, singing and dancing and, you know, tropical drinks, very easy check-in. They ask you a few questions on preferences. and then you are, you know, over you're in your room. Rooms were ready right away for us. And then we we were we were off to the activities there.
So it was overall like getting there was very easy. The surroundings, the island was very, very clean from what we saw. so and the main thing, the first thing that I noticed was the water really. but being going to some of these other islands, this water is just a little bit more clear. and and it has a very very nice kind of bluish-green color to it.
So you can see right through it. And then Grace Bay Beach is the main beach where Beaches is located. You know, it's powder sand. You know, again, crystal clear water, perfect for swimming. The water is very, very calm. So it's great for families. and and really it's it's pretty amazing. You can walk out there, it doesn't drop right off. So
Brian (04:25.199)
So it's great, great for families and kids. and then there's different beaches. There's Long Bay Beach, which is a little bit quieter than Grace Bay. a lot of people go out kite boarding there.
And then so it really just depends, you know, what you prefer, kind of where your hotel is located at. and then there's also Taylor Bay and Sapadillo Bay. all of it's really easy for families. So depending on where you're staying, you know, overall the Turks and Caicos, the water is very, very calm.
So I mean really I think if you have kids, Beaches is a no brainer. It's it's really a top notch, all inclusive resort for families and kids.
Again, we were celebrating my wife's fortieth, so we did a few extras. We did the, you know, romantic dinner on the beach, you know, private dinner. I think that was about two hundred bucks add on there. they also have spa, gym, you know, everything that you would think of with a all inclusive. They've got activities, nightlife,
And again, you know, all of the water sports are included. so the same thing with diving. You know, the only thing they did charge extra if you were not certified and you wanted to go like SNUBA, there was an additional charge for that. but we didn't we didn't go down that road. as far as the
Brian (06:03.649)
Food was excellent, you know. they have like 21 restaurants, they've got food trucks as well for like casual lunches. they have your buffets. but we the beaches resorts, they have five villages in there. So even though it's it's a pretty massive resort. they have so many restaurants and so many pools, it it never really feels crowded. Like I know a lot of times when you go on those all inclusive or
even the cruises you have to you know get up really early go try to find your chair by the pool to get a good spot you know we didn't have to do any of that I think we waited what for one restaurant while we were there otherwise you can just come and go for the dining as you please we didn't have any waits besides that one night and really
For for the it is a little more expensive, I'll be honest, you know, for all inclusives. You know, beaches, they only have two beaches. They're owned by sandals, so there's obviously a lot more sandals, but they've got a Jamaica beaches and then they have a Turks and Caicos. You know, Turks and Caicos is a little bit more pricier, but you know, in my opinion it's worth it. You know, it was very easy, you know, and and once you get there, everything's included.
So I think it's I think it's it's definitely worth worth the money there. as far as snorkeling goes, there's great snorkeling right off the beach. we actually just walked five minutes down the beach and there's actually it's called Bite Reef or Coral Gardens, they call it. It's a snorkel trail that that we did right from the beach. It's five minutes off the beach's property. you can take their snorkel gear.
Go down the beach and I mean we saw turtles, rays, parrot fish. and so it was actually better than the the boat we took. We did a snorkeling trip off of beaches where we went out on a boat, did a boat excursion, went to iguana island, which is pretty cool. They've got iguanas running everywhere, and then we did some water slides off the boat. So great excursion, but for the snorkeling, I think it was actually better right off the beach there.
Brian (08:28.143)
And so snorkeling was great, they've got amazing diving, they've got wall diving, and again, you know, everything's protected there, so they've got just a great operation. So if if you're a scuba diver and you're certified, it's nice that really you know you can go diving. Maybe your family's not certified, they can go hang out by the pool, go to the spa, and so that's what I really mean. There's really something for everything. So whether you
have younger kids like I do or you have kids you know who are teenagers or even in college you know they've got nightclubs and and and everything you know for the most part they do have the nightclub that stays open a little bit later but you know it's not like it's a it's a a crazy
adult only all inclusive really everybody's there with families you know so that would be my only caveat if you don't have kids you might want to go to a different all inclusive but other than that I think it's top notch top notch for kids so really in closing here
You know, I th I thought it was a great destination. I think we're definitely gonna go back. but I think it's great for families, people that that want some luxury accommodations, people that just want to relax. so Turks and Caicos in my book, a great destination, highly recommend it. if you need any help planning a trip to Turks and Caicos or any other destination, check out Salty River.
Reef.net. That is our travel concierge for the Ocean Enthusiast. We don't charge you all for any type of vacation planning. We're gonna help do the research, recommend you some options within your budget, and then we will make that introduction and get you the best rates from the hotels there.
Brian (10:31.329)
so really we are a travel concierge. We'll help you plan any type of vacation that you're looking for. Yeah, scuba diving, snorkeling, or just you know, an all-inclusive family vacation. So check out saltyreef.net. Thank you for listening, and we will see you next time.