Wake up Tuesday morning to ASDIP. Rick will be diving today with Oasis Divers, the largest outfit on the island. A group of 18 from Oklahoma are at the Arawak Inn on a dive package with Oasis, but Oasis promises to send Rick out with other non-group divers so that he is not the odd-man-out. They will pick him up on our beach in one of their Carolina Skiffs. While Rick is diving, I take the car and drive on the left into Cockburn Town for exploration. I've never driven anything but a golf cart on the left because Rick usually handles the driving in the islands, but surprisingly, I get the knack pretty quickly (Rick would argue that this is so because I'm always -- inappropriately, he claims -- in the left lane. It's an age-old man/woman disagreement).
Grand Turk is considered one of the top dive destinations in the Caribbean, if not the world. Unlike may other coral reef systems, this one is relatively healthy and does not appear to have suffered the bleaching in evidence elsewhere.
I park the car, leaving it unlocked, in front of Barclay's Bank on the waterfront, and stroll over to the Tourist Board, where I picked up a few brochures and got directions to the National Museum and the Post Office. Not too difficult to find things in Cockburn Town: they are either up the street or down the street.
The Turks and Caicos National Museum is housed in a two-story white clapboard building with a red metal roof and porches fronting the length of the building on both floors. I ring the bell to gain admittance, and the curator ushers me in to watch a brief video and then invites me to wander about. The videotape and the entire first floor are devoted to artifacts of a wrecked Spanish caravel on nearby Molasses Reef. As a corollary to the Columbus Landed Here theory, many believe that this is the wreck of the Pinta. Of course, it is unlikely that definitive proof of the wreck's identity will ever be established; nevertheless, most will concede that the ship is the oldest Spanish wreck found in the Americas, and dates somewhere between 1500 and 1510.
The sea is ever a part of the scenery in Cockburn Town, which is home to the oldest buildings in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Turks Head Inn (right) is the oldest hotel in the TCI, but wears its age gracefully. It features rooms, a bar, and one of the best of the few restaurants on the island.
The second floor of the museum is devoted to other historical, natural, archaeological and space artifacts. Grand Turk played a role in the early Space Race, and John Glenn's space capsule was recovered in 1962 with him in it just offshore after his historic orbit of the earth. He was brought to the naval hospital on Grand Turk to be checked out, as was Scott Carpenter after his space capsule landed. LBJ paid a visit to the island during this era. the Pan Am Pier near Arawak's beach, now mostly demolished, was where the space capsules were brought after their recovery.
After touring the museum, I bought a few postcards and chatted with the curator on the upper porch. He is a former Illinoisan, like me, and I complimented him on the work he is doing at the museum. For though the museum is small, it is professionally organized and worthy of a serious visit.
I continued my explorations by walking up and down Front Street. I picked up a quartet of cowrie shell napkin holders from the Shell Shack, operated by an expatriate American who once lived in Maryland and now spends half his year in Grand Turk, and half in England, where he plays senior golf. I went to the post office, and purchased a stamp of each denomination, each showing a different butterfly. I am no stamp collector, but I have heard of the TCI's fine philatelic reputation, and the stamps will make a nice addition to my scrapbook. I visited the courtyard of the Turk's Head Inn, this time in daylight, to better appreciate it's lower-latitude charm. I peaked between buildings at the sea, over walls into courtyards, and generally absorbed the charms of the small, quaint, but crumbling little village
By 11:30, I'd exhausted the town's amusements, so I drove to the northern tip of the island to visit the lighthouse again, this time with a working camera. On the way back, I stopped in an as-yet unvisited shop and finally found the elusive coffee Rick has been longing for. It was instant, but at least it has caffeine, unlike the other offerings we found. Near the airport, I picked up a hitchhiker and gave him a lift to the governor's residence. By 12:30, I was settled in with a book, poolside, and by 1:30, Rick was back from his dives. Lunch was cracked conch at the Arawak.
The Love Boat tossed on the beach at Cockburn town is about as close to a cruise ship as Grand Turk is going to get...
We spent the rest of the day on Governor's Beach, sharing our adventures. Rick was thoroughly impressed with the diving, though still believes that Belize was better (though unsure whether that, his first dive experience, might perhaps be idealized in his mind now). Back at the ranch, we slid into our afternoon routine, which led us to the tiki hut, Painkillers in hand. A half dozen of the Oklahoma divers were congregated here as well to watch the sunset, a lovely one tonight, pink and glowing with just a glimmer of green flash. Dinner was at the Arawak's bar, chatting with other visitors, dining on conch chowder and conch fritters. After all that, we conched out by 9:30.
