Where is Providenciales Located?
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Where is Providenciales
Sunday, October 18th, 2009Providenciales is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The island has an area of 98 km2 (38 sq mi) and a population of 30,542, making it the largest island in population and the third largest in area. It is served by the Providenciales International Airport. It is home to the only conch farm in the world.
As recently as 1964, Providenciales (usually called Provo) did not have a single wheeled vehicle. Following in the footsteps of Club Med, the island’s first large hotel and casino complex opened in 1990 and touched off a development boom. Provo is now the most tourist-oriented and developed of the Turks and Caicos Islands, boasting many resort hotels and an 18-hole golf course. The island has recently become popular with retirees from around the world, kindling a boom of residential development. Given its recent evolution, the atmosphere is more reminiscent of the Florida Keys than Nassau, with little of the character of other Caribbean isles.
The resorts on Providenciales are centered on five mile-long (8 km) Grace Bay, with its brilliant white sand and shimmering turquoise waters. Apart from the beaches, Provo’s charm lies in its rugged hills and ridges, which are carpeted with prickly pear cactus and scrub. The trump card, however, remains the diving: miles and miles of coral reefs are temptingly close to shore. Provo is also surrounded by uninhabited cays that are easily reached by chartered boat or excursion.
The only town, sprawling, namesake Providenciales, sits in the middle of the island. Most of the island’s services are here, including upscale shopping malls. There are also pockets of makeshift shacks interspersed among the more upscale residences. Opportunities for sightseeing are slim, though history buffs might check out the ruins of Cheshire Hall, a 1790s plantation house constructed by British loyalists.
The western half of Provo is mostly barren wilderness, home to the island’s best natural attraction, Chalk Sound National Park. The park is a three-mile-long (5 km) bay a few miles southwest of Downtown Providenciales. The color of the water is a uniform turquoise and studded with countless mushroom-like tiny islets. Also on the western part of the island is Northwest Point Marine National Park, which extends to nearby reefs and several saline lakes that attract breeding and migrant waterfowl.
