Salt Cay is accessible via plane; Caicos Express Airways flies there from both Providenciales and Grand Turk islands.

From Grand Turk there is also a "community ferry", which operates three times a week and takes about one hour to cover the 13-kilometre (8.1 mi) distance.

When the Spanish conquistador-explorer Juan Ponce de León came to the Islands in 1512, they were still inhabited by Arawak Indians who disappeared afterwards due to the diseases contracted from the Europeans and forced labour imposed by them.

A combination of competition, costs, mismanagement and the lack of a deepwater harbour brought the salt industry in the Turks and Caicos Islands to an end.

It is believed that the whales choose this area for birthing and nursing because of the numerous coral heads which break the surface providing protection from ocean swells.

Some estimates show 3,000–5,000 humpback whales passing through the waters of the Silver Banks between December and mid-April each year, making it the largest breeding and calving grounds, often called a nursery, in the world.