The Turks & Caicos National Museum is pleased to offer three very special tours for the adventurous and curious. To sign up or learn more about any of the tours please Contact Us.
Behind the Scenes at the Turks & Caicos National Museum
This exclusive hour-long tour, directed towards visitors interested in seeing some of the inner workings of the Turks & Caicos National Museum, gives guests the chance to view rare and unique artifacts not on display to the public.
Tourists will start the tour at the Museum and will be given a guided tour of the first floor, which interprets the famous Molasses Reef Shipwreck. This shipwreck, a Christopher Columbus’ era ship of discovery, is the oldest European shipwreck ever discovered in the Americas! After a few minutes to browse the museum’s second floor and visit the gift shop, visitors will be escorted to the research building behind the museum. Here, they will receive another guided tour of the conservation labs and will see actual work in progress. Visitors will hear about the history of “wrecking,” view pieces from the Ft. George collection, as well as seeing artifacts recovered from around Grand Turk. They will be able to watch a short DVD on the HMS Endymion, which was discovered 25 years ago, and will learn about the museum's efforts to monitor this site. At the conclusion of this tour, visitors will be presented with a one-year museum membership!
$50 for one or two guests.
Military Tour
This exclusive two-hour tour gives visitors the ability to explore the US military history of Grand Turk while also snorkeling around a full-sized American target drone.
Visitors will begin their tour at the Turks & Caicos National Museum, where they will learn about the US Military presence on Grand Turk during the middle of the 20th century. They will watch a short DVD from the 1950s about the construction of the military facility before proceeding to north end of the island. Here, they will see the super-secret military listening facility that the US Navy installed in the mid-1950s in order to track Soviet submarines. After exploring the three buildings, one of which actually is built over a full-size Quonset hut, visitors will proceed down along the bluffs to the beach. Here, they will be get the rare experience of viewing a downed target drone, a small plane that the Americans used as live-fire target practice. Visitors will then return to the vehicles and conclude the tour with refreshments at the best beach bar in the Caribbean. Interested tourists must know that this tour covers close to a mile by foot and that participants should be in good/average physical shape.
$65 per person
Grand Turk Land and Water Experience: VIP Dive Tour
This new exclusive VIP dive tour makes it possible for interested guests to experience many of the diverse facets of Grand Turk easily and enjoyably, personally guided by the director of the National Museum.
Guests will be met by a friendly and knowledgeable Museum staff member and will proceed down historic Duke Street and past the salinas, where they will learn about the salt-raking days of Grand Turk. Upon returning to the Museum, they will receive a personal tour of the first floor of the building, which focuses on the famous Molasses Reef Shipwreck. The exhibit is filled with artifacts from the oldest European shipwreck in North America. After the tour, guests will be able to browse the upper floor of the museum and the gift shop before being escorted to the Museum’s Science Building. Here they will learn about conservation and preservation of artifacts before being able to view rare objects from the Molasses Reef Wreck and the recent Fort George excavation. At the conclusion, they will walk outside where they will be treated to a sample of conch, the national food.
After a drive to the north end of the island, guests will see the lighthouse and decommissioned US Naval base and will learn the fascinating story regarding the lighthouse’s commissioning and construction as well as the super-secret Naval listening facility that was operational from 1954-1982. After walking through the old military buildings, guests will proceed along the bluffs and down to the beach where they will view a downed target drone -- a small plane that the military used as target practice.
Guests will then travel to the Bohio Dive Resort, where they will board a dive boat and travel to the "Anchor", one of Grand Turk's best dive sites. Guests will also have the opportunity for a short shallow dive on the remains of an off shore shipwreck site. After the dives, guests will receive lunch and one of Bohio's famous rum punches before returning to the museum, where they will be presented with a one-year membership to the National Museum! All participants must be dive-certified.
$1000 for the first person. $500 each for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th person.