Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay

The south coast of Providenciales is sheltered from the trade winds and shelves very gradually, and at Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay that produces water so shallow and still that it barely qualifies as swimming: you can walk out fifty metres and still be at knee height. That makes them the beaches families with small children go to. On the hill between them, sailors waiting out weather in the anchorage carved their names and ships into the rock from the late 1700s onward, and the inscriptions are still legible on the exposed limestone at the top of a short climb.

What you actually see

• Taylor Bay - the shallower and quieter of the two coves.
• Sapodilla Bay - the anchorage beach with boats moored off.
• The sailors' carvings - names and ships cut into the hilltop rock from the late 1700s.
• The shallow water - knee deep a long way out at both.

When to go

November to May is the driest and calmest. Both are sheltered year-round, which is the point. Sunset from the hill above Sapodilla is the best on this side of the island. Weekday mornings are quietest.

Honest expectations

Taylor Bay has no facilities at all and access is down an unmarked path between villas, which is legal but not obvious. The water is so shallow that adults wanting to swim will find it frustrating. The rock carvings are unprotected and some have been damaged. There is no shade at either.

Nearby

Chalk Sound is five minutes; Grace Bay is twenty minutes northeast.