Another Look at French Cay

By Cash
At anchor, French Cay, Turks & Caicos

French Cay from our boat

French Cay is one of the smallest island we have set foot on, only 1/3 of a mile wide and mile long.  The island is completely uninhabited, the only signs of humans being the navigation light that doesn't work, the mounds of very old harvested conch shells, the trash washed up on the shore, and the small wreck of a steel boat.

We walked completely around the island on the beach.  The rest of the island is covered in thick bushes or fields of cacti.

 








 
The beach was interesting, because the appearance of it kept 
changing completely.

We beached our dinghy in pure sand, but as we rounded the point, we found rows of conch shells harvested long ago. (You can tell because they have a cut in the shell). 














Further down the beach was covered in shells.

Near the wreck the conch turned green with algae.












The beach then turned into rock and dead coral and shells.
 












Then, fossilized conch shells have become part of the rock.

 

The rock turned dark.

And back to the sand.

Old conch shell buried in the sand

My parents visited French Cay when they went cruising.  For a story about when they were here, click here.