CARIBBEAN treasure

Celebrities and sunlovers have replaced swashbuckling pirates in the Caribbean's glorious Turks and Caicos Islands, writes Sue Wallace.

- Sue Wallace

From a distance she looks vaguely familiar. Adjusting her Jackie O supersized sunglasses and sipping a ruby red negroni, her fabulous diamonds sparkle in the last of the late afternoon sun and a soft Caribbean breeze gathers momentum.

Is it someone I have met before or seen on the big screen? Then elegant sketches tumble from their table and I realise it’s American fashion designer Donna Karan, the face behind the legendary DKNY label, who has a private residence at COMO Parrot Cay in exotic Turks and Caicos.

Laughter ripples out from the Karan clan as the marmalade sunset streaks across the sky of this tropical haven, where daring pirates and flamboyant buccaneers once sought sanctuary.

Parrot Cay – formerly known as Pirate Cay – is part of Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean and part of the Caribbean region.

It’s no wonder it was so popular among the swashbuckling set, including pirates Jack Rackham, his two famed accomplices Mary Read and Anne Bonny, and William ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, who all shared a penchant for dazzling treasure.

Drenched in sunshine most of the year, it’s a true paradise with silky white sand and Tiffany-coloured aqua waters, and a reef where more than 1,000 shipwrecks occurred – providing bounty for those pirates. From the air, the 40 islands – only eight are inhabited – resemble a glittering string of pearls set on a turquoise velvet background.