pillory beach

We took a $7 cab ride from the cruise dock here as soon as they let us off the cruise ship. (Its 4 miles away.) On this beach is a little restaurant with a beachside bar and a diving place right next door where you could rent gear and/or go on excursions way cheaper than when you book through the cruise dock. We were out on the wall scuba diving by 9:30 I believe. (cost $45 to snorkel on the wall for an hour) It was awesome! The beach is heavenly. Beautiful turquoise waters - so clear. No rocks to climb over or seaweed to wade through like at the cruise dock beach. When we were there it was like a lagoon. Hardly any waves at all and very clear. There was a really nice bar to get reasonably priced beer and food there. There are very clean bathrooms behind the dive shop building. We left around lunchtime on foot and walked to the open air market about a mile away.. It was a nice walk. Us three ladies never felt less than safe. We ended up at Margaritaville - as it was so close to the cruise dock and I wished I had stayed at Pillory. Great place to spend the majority of a cruise dock day!!

Went to Pillory beach when we docked in Grand Turk for our Carnival Cruise. It cost $8 each way and taxis were frequent. We were excited to snorkel but found this beach to be rough and very cloudy. Visibility was extremely poor, maybe it was just the weather that day but you couldn't see a person standing 5 feet in front of you underwater. Seaweed and sea grass was floating around everywhere in the water and gathered up on the beach. Not an ideal spot if you are looking to snorkel right off the beach. Also there were lots of stones and pieces of broken coral that were rough on your feet walking in. Lots of loud drunk tourists around. We didn't stay here for more than 20 minutes before we decided to head back to Governor's Beach which is left of where the cruise ships dock and walkable from the ships. The water at Governors beach was SO MUCH CLEARER. Not a lot of fish there but did see a few. They cleared out all the natural reefs there so there's not a lot to look at underwater but it was still nice and super clear. Lots of drunk tourists here too but you can walk further down where it's less busy. Don't waste your time at Pillory.

Went to this beach for the snorkeling. Chairs to rent are $10/ea. Taxi $8/pp per way. Water was too rough so we decided to go back to the beach by the dock. Little did we know that chairs there were no cost, although well used and beach crowded. If you want quiet, less than ideal swimming or snorkeling close to shore, then go to pillory beach. We did not do the boat ride out to the shelf to snorkel. Felt it was a bit too expensive.the snorkeling near the ship was clear, plenty of fish. Relatively shallow water.

We had a group of 17 and had a great time stopping here for a break and drinks! Beach was good, but surf was a little rough due to storms in the area. Fantastic drinks!!!!

They removed all the reef, rocks, and coral from the beach by the Cruise Center, so up to Pillory Beach if you wanna see better marine life in the gorgeous water. So clear!!!!!! More clear than our pool back home!!!

We spent the day here while in port on a cruise. This beach was suggested over the beach right beside the ship as there would be less crowds on cruise ship days. We were very pleased with the beautiful sand and turquoise water. You have to swim out a ways to get decent snorkelling. There is a huge sea cliff about 100' out, which is amazing. Better to buy a $45/hr excursion to have a boat take you out there. The only down side, was that snacks and drinks were very expensive, the water near the shore was murky and there were lots of sea urchins under water close to shore. You don't want to be in bare feet and step on those, and they were everywhere!!Cab was $8 per person each way from the ship.

We were on a Carnival cruise and stopped at this island. Instead of doing a planned shore excursion, 4 of us rented a golf cart and toured the island, stopping at the lighthouse then here at Pillory Beach where we rented beach chairs. Beautiful beach, clean and not that crowded. Had a great time. Small tiki bar right on beach which was very handy. Bucket of 7 beers=$42.00. Did not use the restaurant associated with the resort. We stayed about two hours here and would have liked to have stayed all afternoon.

We rode with TCI Beach Buddies to get to Pillory Beach from our ship. We told them what time we wanted to return to the ship, and they were there promptly. Very friendly dependable service in nice, clean vehicles!

Took a taxi here and then went snorkeling on a boat. The boat went out about a mile near the continental shelf. Great snorkeling and the crew was great. Much cheaper than the cruise ship excursion with a better beach and service. Water was clear. We also rented chairs and had some food. Perfect day! This is probably my favorite beach.

My adult daughter and I stopped at Grand Turk on our Carnival Cruise. We grabbed a taxi and asked about a pretty beach. We had heard about Governor's Beach and the driver took us there, it was deserted, and he suggested Pillory.It was wonderful, we rented some chairs, snorkeled and enjoyed a beautiful day. We found two conch shells and other beautiful shells. The snorkeling was great! They have a bar with drinks and food, but it was extremely over priced.

After landing in Grand Turk on the Carnival Breeze we felt we needed to see more of the island. We asked around and were told that Pillory Beach was the place to visit. We took a cab to a shopping area - from there we walked to the beach. We found a spot that rented Chairs and had some Rum drinks and Grand Turk "Turks Head" Beer. A very scenic beach with turquoise blue water- occasional fish in schools would come up around you too. On the ride back our taxi driver took us on a longer route that had some nice scenic views on the other side of this tiny island.

The beach had chairs for rentals for $10 a chair and was very clean. There was also a restaurant with some decent food. The water was calm but not super clear on that day. I've heard there is some snorkeling from shore, but the day we were there visibility was not the best. Nice, relaxing beach and not crowded!

We stopped in Grand Turk while on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise and decided to grab a taxi to a local beach to go snorkeling and enjoy the beach for a day.We asked some locals where they recommended we go and they suggested Pillory Beach.I'm so glad that we went, the beach was beautiful, the sand was so soft and the water was warm and crystal clear to about 18 - 20 feet in depth.There was a little hotel with a beach bar and restaurant right there, along with public restrooms. I recommend the Conch Salad for lunch, it was quite tasty.We spent approximately 1.5 hrs snorkeling with our 7 year old daughter. There is a dive shop right there as well for anyone that is interested in a guided snorkeling or scuba tour. We had our own snorkeling gear with us, but there is equipment available for rent.The beach was not busy which for us made it that much more enjoyable.

This beach is NOT within walking distance of the cruise port for those wondering. A taxi was $8/pp one way so for a family of 4, it was $64 round trip to go here.. what it worth 64 to me? No... plus the taxi guys scared me with the way they drive. You'll see what I mean.. we had planned on downtown but kept going tot he beach when we saw it..Back to the beach review... the water was BEAUTIFUL and clear- one of the clearest I have seen (and I live in FL). On the day we were there, there was a lot of sea grass in the way and hardly any shells for the kids to pick up. The waves were not strong and only about a foot high so it was great for younger kids. They had restrooms, food/bar and a place to rent snorkel gear... get the snorkel gear! As I said the water was clear so it was fun to hunt for stuff.. I was able to see conch, urchins, sand dollars, a sting ray and fish. One area has a grassy sea floor and the other area had just sand and nothing else going on.. it wasn't a fantastic spot to snorkel but it was a start in exploring the island. Some locals saw we were there and brought out their horses for horseback rides. My issue with it is the kids in control of these horses were about 8-10 years old and MY kids almost got ran over a few times because the horse was scared off by the random dogs laying on the sand. The horse would even run into the water so I was always on my guard. Overall it was okay but when we got back, we realized we should have stayed closer to the ship- much more fun and interactive things going on along with good shopping....

Tourist info recommended this beach. Our cab stopped at "downtown" Grand Turk to let off some people. I'm glad we didn't stay there. Got to the beach, there is a small hotel with a beach side bar. You can rent chairs and snorkel gear. We found a spot under the trees. It was very hot so I was glad for some shade. My friend went snorkeling and had a better time here than at our excursion in Nassau. There are some dogs wandering the beach, very friendly. There was a man who was selling the chance to ride a horse in the water. Our cab driver gave us a tour of the other side of the island on the way back. On the whole it was a very relaxing day.