Turks and Caicos Geography

Turks and Caicos is in the North Atlantic Ocean, southeast of the Bahamas. The eight main islands and more than 20 smaller islands have a total land area of 616.3 square kilometers (238.0 sq mi), primarily of low, flat limestone with extensive marshes and mangrove swamps and 370 kilometers (230 mi) of beach front. The weather is usually sunny and relatively dry, but suffers frequent hurricanes. The islands have limited natural fresh water resources; private cisterns collect rainwater for drinking.

The Caicos Islands are the larger group, with almost 96 percent of the land area (589.5 km). The spatial arrangement of the islands around the large Caicos Bank resembles an atoll, with the six large islands in the west, north and east, and a few tiny reefs and cayes in the south.The Turks Islands, separated from the Caicos Islands by Turks Island Passage (more than 2,200 meters deep), are a chain of islands that stretch north to south. The total area is 26.7 square kilometers (10.3 sq mi).

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