It’s hard to believe that Salterra, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa is less than a year old. After opening in March on the minimally developed island of South Caicos, it put the little-known island on the map as quickly as a kite-boarder launching from its flour sand beach. However, success came not with the flick of a wand but through hard work.
According to Cayman Compass, a Cayman Islands news outlet, Salterra’s tale begins during COVID and involves Reef Divers, a division of Clearly Cayman resorts. With strict lockdown policies decimating the tourism industry, Reef Divers’ owner, Michael Tibbetts, recognized that he would need to “go where the tourists are.” His regular guests were having to turn elsewhere, so he and his family’s parent business, JEM Worldwide, purchased the East Bay Resort on South Caicos and sent four boats out in the “Reef Divers armada” for a 34-hour voyage across 520 nautical miles in September 2021.
It’s fitting that exploration inspired Salterra, since Tibbetts hails from a lineage of entrepreneurs. His grandfather, Linton N. Tibbetts O.B.E., a native Caymanian, immigrated to the U.S. and, after serving in the United States Merchant Marines, built businesses across industries such as lumber, airlines and hospitality. When Linton turned his attention back home, he started new companies and opened what is now Cayman Brac Beach Resort. His son, Dan, followed suit by founding Little Cayman Beach Resort and Reef Divers. Today, Dan’s children — Michael, Emily Tibbetts Allenbach and Jessica Tibbetts Buchanan — continue the family’s legacy with JEM Worldwide.
As founder and CEO of Salterra, Michael Tibbetts sees the resort’s success as contingent upon the overall well-being of South Caicos, so he lobbied American Airlines for direct flights from Miami. This convenience has been pivotal for the hotel, but it has also bolstered economic development island-wide.
And just as he hopes Salterra will create job opportunities, Tibbetts is clearly passionate about conserving the environment and beauty here — on land and beneath the water. A member of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, Tibbetts established a partnership with South Caicos Coral Reef Consortium and has already funded its coral restoration program for the next 10 years.
With a serene spa, pristine beach and four swimming pools arranged in a lagoon design, Salterra is ideal for simply relaxing. However, Tibbetts’ adventurous streak runs deep, so he also invested in creating guest experiences that maximize South Caicos’ outdoor recreation resources. “We’re able to offer a full spectrum of adventures with the help of internationally certified windsports experts, high-level SCUBA instructors and local captains who have known and fished these waters for decades,” he told us during a recent visit to the resort. “We haven’t even fully realized the potential yet.”
Back in October 2024, about five months prior to opening, the adventure power couple of Joseph Plant and Anna Zuke joined the team. They had been running the activities at Kamalame Cay Private Island Resort and Residences in the Bahamas for five years and heard about Salterra through friends.
“We were just following the coral,” Zuke says.
A divemaster and marine scientist, she serves as director of conservation and experiences. Her previous work in education, coral restoration and the construction of Reef Balls (artificial reefs that create sustainable aquatic habitats) has dovetailed seamlessly with Salterra’s partnerships with conservation groups, including the School for Field Studies and FisherFolkFirst. Among other activities, Zuke facilitates visits to SFS, where guests can see the coral restoration firsthand. She also organizes scuba trips where guests can participate in reef building.
In his role as director of adventures, Plant also brings a varied background. He’s a commercial boat captain, marine mechanic, scuba instructor and Wilderness First Responder. So, it’s no idle boast when Tibbetts says, “We have the most professional adventure team in Turks and Caicos. They’re able to curate guest experiences, and their high level of training ensures safety.”
One of Salterra’s most stunning outings is by airboat. Because these vessels skim over the surface, Tibbetts says, “We have the luxury of offering opportunities to explore areas where few people have ever been.”
There are other signature experiences as well. Curious guests can learn to scuba dive or fly fish, while aficionados may jump right in. The bonefishing here is epic, with a spectacular boat ride — you’ll likely see no other vessels. On the Caicos Bank Adventure, you’ll check out uninhabited cays, visit rock iguanas, snorkel vibrant reefs and witness amazing Caicos blue up close.
Salterra’s location is also ideal because it abuts the Admiral Cockburn Land and Sea National Park, 480 protected acres that include Long Cay, Six Hills Cay and Middleton Cay. “No jet skis are allowed in this area, and while catch-and-release fishing is okay, we leave the area untouched,” Plant says. “No one can even take shells from the beaches.”
Although adventures by water may be the most dramatic of the excursions, don’t skip the land-based ones. Salterra’s customized Jeeps will take you on dirt tracks to the abandoned U.S. Coast Guard LORAN station, through the wild back country and perhaps to an ancient tamarind tree. South Caicos is large enough to contain rocky outcroppings, canyons and indigenous flora like the Turk’s-head cactus, but it’s compact enough at 8.2 square miles to cover in an afternoon.
While another great way to explore is by taking a guided mountain biking tour, you can also pedal dirt roads by beach cruiser, wind around the wild interior and climb up to Highland House. This Bermudian-style relic from the heyday of salt production looms over the island’s southeast corner, with 360-degree views. Although its main limestone-block structure is in pretty good shape, hurricanes have rendered the interior dangerous.
No matter how you roam, you’re guaranteed to encounter feral donkeys. They seem to pop up from behind every bush, but like all wild animals, they’re best left to themselves.
Salterra means “salt of the earth” and derives from the history of South Caicos, once a leader in salt production. You can’t miss the salinas (salt flats) as they stretch from the back side of the resort to the edges of Cockburn Harbor. These shallow reservoirs mirror the day’s phases and provide the focal point for Brine, an onsite restaurant that offers a salt-tasting menu called White Gold.
Flamingos make their homes here for about six months each year, too, usually from January through early July, but even if you miss the pink brigade, the abandoned salt fields attract a plethora of bird species. “There hasn’t been a lot of surveying yet, but we’re hoping to turn the salinas into a birding hot spot,” Zuke says. “It’s a really special place.”
