Lake Catherine

Lake Catherine is the first name in the list of the best lakes to visit in Turks and Caicos Islands. Lake Catherine is a 430-acre (174-hectare) saline wetland natural reserve located in the middle of West Caicos. In addition to being an excellent habitat for flamingos, this location is a very significant wading bird breeding region. Due to natural evaporation, Lake Catherine has a higher saline content than the surrounding ocean, as is the case with many of the interior ponds in the Turks and Caicos. One of the best places to see birds in the Turks and Caicos is around Lake Catherine and the shallow, large ponds that are nearby to the east.

The large underwater cave network in Lake Catherine is a little-known feature. Similar to the Boiling Hole feature on South Caicos, this cave is located on the western side of the nature reserve and regulates the water level and tidal shift of Lake Catherine. This system is probably the most likely cave in the Turks and Caicos to have a clear subterranean passage from an interior pond to the open ocean due to the cave's location less than half a mile (0.8 km) from the edge of the Caicos plateau and deep ocean water. The southern Greenlands region of West Caicos, however outside the Lake Catherine Nature Reserve, also harbors a significant number of submerged caverns, albeit with far fewer substantial features. These are mostly collapsed water lens caves.

Location: West Caicos