This is the detail that generates more confusion, and more bad charter reviews in Turks and Caicos, than price does. It is also the easiest thing in the world to settle before you book.
The short version
We do beach pickup in front of your hotel, resort or villa. If your accommodation has water access, we come to you. You walk down the sand, step onto the boat, and that is the whole transfer. Nothing to arrange, nothing to pay.
If there is no water access where you are staying, we pick up at TCI Ferry or Turtle Cove Marina instead. Getting yourself to the marina is a taxi ride, and that taxi is yours.
The 65ft Fairline Targa GT is the exception: it departs Blue Haven Marina, always, because of its size.
Why beach pickup is worth more than it sounds
On paper it saves you a short taxi. In practice it changes the shape of the morning.
- No getting a group anywhere on time. Six people, three of them children, into a taxi, across Providenciales, to a dock you have never seen. Or: walk out of your room onto the sand.
- No car seats. Anyone who has travelled with small children knows what this is worth.
- No cooler-bag logistics. You carry towels from your room, not across a car park.
- You start in the water. You board in shin-deep calm water at the shoreline, which is a far easier step than a dock and a gangway for anyone unsteady on their feet.
For most Grace Bay accommodation, this is simply how it works and there is nothing further to think about.
How to know which applies to you
Ask us. Tell us the name of your hotel, resort or villa when you enquire and we will tell you exactly where we will meet you, before you pay anything.
We know the Providenciales shoreline, and we know which properties have usable water access and which do not. It takes us one message. It saves you the only genuinely annoying thing that can happen on the morning of a charter.
If you have not booked accommodation yet and a beach pickup matters to you, ask us that too — it is a reasonable thing to factor into where you stay.
The transfer trap
Here is the specific failure mode, because it is worth naming.
A traveller in one of the local travel groups booked a private charter for seven people at $3,300, through a third party, and was told transfers were included. On the day they were charged $200 for a taxi. The trip also ran shorter than they had been told, and the snorkel stops did not happen.
We cannot speak for how that operator ran their day. What we can say is where the ambiguity lives: “transfers included” is a phrase that means nothing on its own. Included from where? Included for how many people? Included if your villa is on the wrong side of the island?
Three questions that remove the ambiguity entirely, which you should ask any operator:
- Does my specific accommodation get a beach pickup, yes or no?
- If not, which marina, and who pays for getting there?
- Can I have that in writing with the quote?
Our answers go on the quote as standard, along with the hours, the guest count and the 12% government tax as a separate line. There is a full breakdown in our guide to what a charter quote includes.
What happens at the pickup itself
We confirm a time with you the day before. On the morning, the boat comes in to the beach in front of your property and the crew come ashore to help with bags, towels and people.
Bring: towels, sunscreen already applied, hats, a dry bag for phones, and anything specific you want to eat or drink. Everything else — snorkelling gear in adult and child sizes, life jackets, island rum punch, beers, sodas, juice and water — is already aboard.
Leave: anything you would mind getting wet, and shoes you care about.
Wading out to the boat is normal and it is ankle to shin deep. If anyone in your group would rather not, tell us in advance and we will plan around it.
If you are staying outside Providenciales
Our charters run out of Provo. If you are staying on another island, tell us where and we will tell you honestly whether a day with us makes sense or whether the travel time eats the trip.
Common questions
Is beach pickup included in the price?
Yes, at no extra cost, where your accommodation has water access.
What if my villa has a private dock?
Even better. Tell us and we will come to it where conditions allow.
Do you pick up from the cruise port?
Ask us with your ship’s dates and times. Cruise schedules are tight and we would rather tell you up front if a charter will not fit than have you miss a sailing.
What time do we leave?
Set when you book, and confirmed the day before. Sunset cruises move through the year because they follow the sunset.
How far is Turtle Cove Marina from Grace Bay?
A short drive across Providenciales. It is not far, it is just not free.
Can we change the pickup point after booking?
Usually yes, if you tell us in good time. Message us as soon as plans change.
