Grace Bay's turquoise shallows
Providenciales, known as Provo, is where most visitors to the Turks and Caicos stay. Grace Bay Beach is a long curve of powder-white sand with calm, clear water, protected by a barrier reef offshore. Snorkelling is easy from the beach at Coral Gardens and at Smith's Reef, and boat trips visit uninhabited cays, iguanas on Little Water Cay and the sandbars of the Caicos. Diving along the walls where the reef drops into deep water is excellent, and the quiet historic island of Grand Turk is a short flight away.