Carnival Mardi Gras 2023 - Day 6 Grand Turk

Here we are for our last Carnival Mardi Gras 2023 cruise port post. I may do 1 more post to wrap it all up.

Anyway, our last port of call was in Grand Turk. That morning we were up super early, so that we could scarf down some breakfast right when they opened at 6:30am as we had to meet in the theater at 6:45am for our excursion. We went through all that, got off the ship to go to our meeting spot. I already had in the back of my mind that since were supposed to be swimming with stingrays and with the rough seas and wind we had encountered earlier in the week, this might be canceled. As Rob, Alex, Madison, and I walked up to the stand where the excursion employee stood and no one else was waiting there, my thought was correct. She said your excursion has been cancelled due to high winds. We can’t send the boats out in these conditions. This excursion and others have had to be cancelled the last couple weeks because the weather has been so bad. We had this happen in Grand Cayman on our Christmas cruise in 2016.

Ugh! What a kick in the gut! Since Drew and Caitlyn were still on the ship, our first thought was we’d go try to meet up with them. However, officials stopped us from getting on the gangway, because another cruise ship was coming into port and they close it for safety. At that point our easiest and best option was to rent a golf cart for the day and see the island. None of us had been there before and that would still allow us to meet up with Caitlyn and Drew at 11:30 that morning as we had initially planned.

We got our golf cart, which the place we ended up renting from so we could get a 6 seater in case Drew and Caitlyn wanted to ride somewhere with us only took cash. We usually have some cash with us but not a ton. Between the 4 of us we were able to do it. They gave us a map and we hit the open rode going 15 miles an hour. We had several hours to sight see, so we headed north. The weather was actually beautiful!

Eagle Point Beach

Quick stop to see the beautiful water (on the map)

Grand Turk Sign

(on the map)

We had heard that we would see donkeys and most are approachable, so we saw a group of them and pulled over to check them out. (on the map) When we got out of the golf car, the donkeys started coming towards us quickly. They were anxious to get some attention and probably food, but we didn’t feed them.

Front Street in Cockburn Town

We made a quick stop to look at the map to make sure we were still headed towards the lighthouse. We just couldn’t get enough of that beautiful water. (on the map)

After looking at the map, we realized we needed to cut back around North Creek because there’s not a bridge that goes across. However, we wanted to go a little more north before turning back. We ended up at this abandoned place, which had a nice view. (on the map)

After turning back we ended up spotting this little grocery store (on the map). I had brought a few snacks in our backpack, but I didn’t pack any water. We always enjoy checking out local grocery stores at port.

Since Alex works at a restaurant, he was curious to check out local produce and meats.

Grand Turk Lighthouse

Grand Turk Lighthouse (on the map)is a lighthouse is a 60-foot-tall structure, overlooking North Creek, was completed by British architect Alexander Gordon in 1852 to alert sailors of the shallow reef. The main reason for the construction of the lighthouse was the wreck of the R.M.S Medina in 1842, the first British Royal Mail Service ship to sink at sea.

The cliffs and the water is just extraordinarily picturesque.

At this point, it was time to head towards the beach and meet up with Drew and Caitlyn. They were at Jack’s Shack Beach Bar & Grill (on the map) for the day.

Few things we saw along the way.

Cailtyn and Drew’s view

We got there and assessed the restaurant and decided we wanted something else and since we had the golf cart, might as well use it.

Mateo’s for lunch

We struggled to find a place to eat because we were low on cash, so we really needed a place that took credit cards. We ended up at Mateo’s. (on the map)