Providenciales Family Tours
Turks and Caicos Islands Offer Unique Family Friendly Excursions
The words “concha woncha” prompt images of characters and luscious sweets from the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory rather than Providenciales family tours.
But Concha Woncha (pronounced konka wonka) Tours is not a series of moving images and actors portraying characters, but a real life excursion company that allows its guests to explore the culture and history of Providenciales in an authentic, fascinating and interactive way.
Described on their website as a “tour that will showcase the Turks and Caicos Islands” Concha Woncha is a land tour that includes visits to Conch World, the TCI Cultural Center, Chalk Sound National Park and Da Conch Shack. Most of the tours on the island focus on exploring the marine world offshore. Guests of Concha Woncha have the unique opportunity to explore the island and experience first-hand the music, the culture and the food.
What is Conch?
The “concha” in the company name refers to the world famous conch, the shellfish which is a national symbol of the islands. Each tour stop celebrates the conch and its importance to the islands. Guests tour around the island aboard a bus that looks like an old fashioned trolley car. It’s fully air-conditioned, and there’s an onboard bar which serves rum punch and other cool beverages for thirsty travellers.
The tour guide is Desmond Missick (shown on the cover of the latest issue of Times of the Island), an islander with an extensive background in tourism and entertainment, who is more than capable of making passengers not only feel welcome but inspiring them with stories of the islands and educating them with information about every tour sight along the way.
Said one Trip Advisor reviewer, “Our guide Desmond was so much fun. What an outgoing and personable guy!”
The Conch Farm
The first stop on the tour is Caicos Conch Farm, the only farm in the world that commercially produces conch. Here visitors can see the life cycle of the conch in a very intimate way. The farm is committed to giving conch the best start in life and even grows the algae fed to young larvae right on site. There is an opportunity to hold young conch and a show and tell time featuring two live conchs Sally and Jerry.
The Cultural Center
After Conch World tour guests set off for the Cultural Center located at Turtle Cove where they are treated to a presentation by David Bowen, former Director of Culture with the island government. While Bowen is an accomplished bass player with the band Bowen Arrow and a skilled dancer who studied dance and theatre with Alvin Ailey American Dance, his real passion is sharing and sustaining the culture of the islands. Bowen tells the history and culture of the islands through music, storytelling and also demonstrations of conch handling. It’s a time for guests to get a detailed inside look at the islands from someone who was born and raised there.
Chalk Sound National Park
Next on the tour is Chalk Sound National Park, another national treasure of the islands. This natural lagoon boasts pristine waters and spectacular marine and wildlife which co-exist above and along its fine sandy bottom. Tour guests can enjoy an up close look at nearby Sapodilla Bay which is home to rock carvings dating back to the late 1700’s.
And…lunch!
The tour ends with a stop for lunch at Da Conch Shack, a very popular open-air restaurant located on Blue Hills Beach. Here conch are harvested and prepared completely on site. It’s all about fresh authentic island cuisine and is the perfect way to wind up a trip that celebrates Caicos culture.
The Concha Woncha tour trolley operates on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays with a minimum of 10 guests. Call 1-649-231-KONK (5665) to make your reservation. Cost per person is $119 for the 3.5 hour excursion. So all aboard Concha Woncha, your ticket to a top notch tour and taste of Providenciales.
As one recent guest raved on TripAdvisor, “We are very happy we took this tour. It adds to your overall experience of one of the most beautiful places on earth!!”
