West Caicos is an uninhabited island in the southwest of the Turks and Caicos archipelago, twenty kilometres southwest of Providenciales across the Caicos Bank. It is about ten kilometres long, a low limestone wedge of scrub, salinas and mangrove, fringed by white beaches and ringed by some of the most dramatic diving in the Caribbean.
The island has been empty since the early twentieth century, when a brief flurry of sisal cultivation and salt production around the settlement of Yankee Town faded out. The ruins of the steam-powered sisal mill, the rail tracks, and a few stone walls are still there, half-eaten by bush. A planned luxury resort and marina at the north end was started in the 2000s and abandoned half-built — its concrete shells are now another set of ruins.
What people come for is the diving. The West Caicos Wall — a sheer drop of more than 2,000 metres just a few hundred metres offshore — has crystal visibility, eagle rays, reef sharks, hawksbills and one of the densest concentrations of soft corals in the region. Boats come over daily from Provo when conditions allow; the crossing takes about an hour.
There are no facilities of any kind on the island. Day-trippers visit the Lake Catherine flamingo lagoon and the long empty stretch of West Caicos Beach on dive-boat lunch stops; almost nobody overnights. Bring water, shade, and everything else.