Our crystal clear waters are the result of sunlight reflecting off the white, sandy bottom of the sea, creating an almost illuminated appearance with vivid hues of ice blue, turquoise and teal. This clarity and brightness make the beaches of the Turks and Caicos Islands the best.
Most of the Caribbean has that turquoise blue color due to the shallow depths.
The Turks and Caicos has some incredible beautiful ocean water and there are several factors behind this.
The vivid blues of the deeper water is mainly due to the fact that the longer and warmer wave length colors (reds, oranges, yellows) are filtered out and scattered before the short blue wave lengths. This results in the deep blues common to all clean and deep ocean water.
The azures, aquas and turquoises of the shallower depths are what really contributes to the unique Turks and Caicos water and are caused by light reflecting off the white sandy bottoms and off of fine white sand particles that are suspended in the ocean. This is especially apparent in the brilliant Chalk Sound National Park on Providenciales where white limestone silt reflects amazing turquoise hues.
Although less common, phytoplankton is the main cause of some of the bottle greens seen in the sheltered wetlands and in patches in the Caicos Banks. Last but not least, corals can add quite a bit of color in some areas. Bright yellow sea fans, reddish sponges and green hard coral all add to the spectrum.
The normal tide shifts cause differing water depths in the channels and varying amounts of suspended particle densities, which paint spectacular landscapes. No places in the Turks and Caicos display this better than the channels dividing the small cays between Middle Caicos and South Caicos.
When many people see photos of the beaches and lagoons of the Turks and Caicos, they believe that the water in the images must have been edited. In actuality the ocean is typically far more vivid when seen in person.
