Sept 28 Rent-A-Puppy

Sept 28, 2013

Potcake Place is a shelter for these island pups run completely on donations from locals and tourists. It preps these cute pups for adoption. They get shots, medications, vet check ups and when they are old enough and ready for adoption, they are couriered to the States, UK or wherever their adoptive parents may be from. Each day from 10am to 1pm, people come in and grab up these cuties for a date on the beach. They need love, attention, exercise, and today I am just that girl to give it.

Meet Jake. Who can resist this face? 

Here he is sliding down the dune grass hill.

His favorite spot is nuzzling up somewhere by my legs. We paid Ryan a quick visit at the hospital and made our way back to Potcake Place to drop him off. I was a sandy, wet mess after I dropped him off, but well worth the fun!

Sept 27 Sunset and Lightning Strikes

Sept 27, 2013

After Ryan got off work, we took a sunset walk along the east end of Grace Bay in search of a heart made of conch shells constructed by one of the UK docs Ryan works with and we repeatedly run into everywhere on this island.

Going. 

Going. 

Gone. 

This shot has a glorious appeal to it. 

About 30 minutes into our walk, we finally came across the giant conch heart! 

And then we sat down and watched the heat lightning in the east sky.  

I scrolled through and deleted about 150 pics to find these two I actually caught. I didn't have the shutter speed set fast enough to catch the lightning bolts. Oops.

 We walked back in the dark, good thing its hard to get lost walking along the beach. One hour of beach walking and our hips are sore. We are officially old :)

Sept 26 The Gully and Driveway

Sept 26, 2013

We dove again with Caicos Adventures near West Caicos at a couple awesome dive stites, The Gully and Driveway. The coral is vibrant, the fish life is abundant. We saw 2 hawksbill turtles, several large barracuda, 2 reef sharks...1 quite large, a big moray eel, a flounder and much more. The sea was calm and the sun was bright, it was a wonderful day in  and on the water!

Ryan swimming with the fish. 

I have no idea how Ryan made this lion fish look like artwork, but he did.

Sept 24 Kayaking and More

Sept 24, 2013

We took a little 1/2 day guided kayaking excursion on the east side of Provo and into the nearby cays with mangroves.

Looks like the Florida Keys GRLLZZZ trip, but its a lot hotter here and I am missing Anissa, Lucy and Lesley :) 

Ryan holding a jellyfish, he said it made his hand tingly. 

This pelican was kind to pose for me. 

Oh hello my favorite invertebrate! We also saw stingrays, turtles, schools of bonefish, and juvenile lemon sharks.

Not a bad view from our snack spot. In the shallow water on the beach we saw a stingray and a lemon shark. 

More rock iguanas found us waiting for some snack scraps.

After a little rest, we drove to the far west end of Provo to Malcolm Beach. The water was crystal clear blue and lots of fish were swimming around our feet.

We peaked at a private villa up some steps from the beach. Wow, wonder how much a night here would cost? 

We saw a couple Ryan dove with a few days ago snorkeling here and they saw a lot of fish and an octopus.  Looks like we will need to come back and snorkel.

On our way back, in the Blue Hills area we passed by a little pond and caught a glimpse of these flamingos. Who needs to go to North and Middles Caicos to see flamingos? For you Lindsay!

Sept 22-23 Raj's Last Day

Sept 22-23, 2013

Raj's last day here was spent snorkeling, enjoying dips in the turquoise ocean, cold beer under the canopy of Flamingo and Bugaloo's beach bars. We also attempted stand up paddleboarding (SUP). It was fun and challenging, especially for Ryan. He fell multiple times, but had it down pretty well after an hour or so of practice. We explored some canals at the eastern end of the island. We saw several hawksbill turtles, a big starfish and lots of sea urchins.

View of Grace Bay Beach at Flamingo's, our lunch spot on Sunday.

One of the many lizards hanging out at our place, this one I noticed swaying on a palm frond outside our third story window. 

 View of Turtle Cove Marina on my walk this evening. Ryan dropped off Raj at the airport early this morning. Thanks Raj for making the trip, we had a great time catching up...'til next time. 

Sept 21 Bonefishing

Sept 21, 2013

One of our neighbors back home is a freelance writer who mostly writes about boating and fishing. He asked us to look into bonefishing while we were here. Apparently bonefish put up a pretty good fight.

Raj, Ryan and I met Darren at the marina. He took us out for the morning and taught us non-fisherman how to fish. We learned to cast and stopped at a beach to grab some crabs to use as bait.

On this beach a development sits partially built since 2008 when its investors went bankrupt. Since then, the birds have moved in, like this osprey.

Ryan caught the biggest bonefish.

Here's a close up of its face. They are really slimy.

Darren and I with one of my catches. Its pretty exciting when you are reeling one in! 

Believe it or not, I won the competition, catching the first and the most. I caught 3 bonefish. It is catch and release. Darren says only a few locals actually eat these fish. He says they have so many bones to pick out when getting to the meat.

Raj with his catch.

Who has got a bigger mouth?

Time for happy hour pina coladas at Jimmy's Dive Bar.

Sept 20 Kayaking and Full Moon

Sept 20, 2013

We took Raj to see Long Bay Beach this morning at low tide. Its my favorite time to go, the water is calm and peaceful and the starfish are in the shallows.

Pleased to meet you...I just love starfish!

 

Afterward we went to Las Brisas restaurant on Chalk Sound for a little snack and some delicious smoothies before we rented a couple kayaks.

One for two! We were unsuccessful finding the crashed plane in the shallows, but we did find a tiny cay populated with the rare rock iguanas. As soon as we beached our kayaks, this guy and lots of his friends came out to say hello and bounce their heads toward us.

Lobster lunch at our place today. We got 16 tails for $95 from the red truck guy.

We attempted to snorkel at Smith's Reef, but this storm came rolling in as we got out there and cut it short. By the time we got back to the car, the rain was about over.

Buddies catching up at Infinity Bar at Grace Bay Club.

Waiting on our fancy, overpriced cocktails.

But we are surrounded by this beautifully, swanky spot overlooking Grace Bay beach as the sun goes down.

Dominoes challenge while eating conch salad. We returned to Da Conch Shack so Raj could experience Ryan's favorite cracked conch.

Full moon rise.

Conch Stats: Since I last mentioned, we have had conch ravioli, conch salad, conch cerviche and conch creole.

Sept 19 Fish Fry Thursday

Sept 19, 2013

Thursday nights are Fish Fry nights at Bight Park in Provo. Ryan and I went 2 weeks ago and thought it'd be a good way to welcome Raj to the island. Ryan's college buddy, Rajeev, flew in today to spend a few days with us.

When the Junkanoo band comes out, its nearly impossible not to shake your hips. What a great island beat! Locals and tourists mix here and everyone is dancing.

The conch guy was out again playing ring-around-the-rosie and congo-line with the local kids. Brings a smile to my face watching how excited they get :)

Sept 16 North and Middle Caicos

Sept 16, 2013

Ryan and I took a ferry today over to North and Middle Caicos Islands. They are the largest of the islands in Turks and Caicos, but with a combined population of only about 2,000 people. Here are some of the highlights...

Walking down into Mudjin Harbor. 

View of Dragon Cay from Mudjin Harbor, if you look hard this little island kind of looks like a dragon.  The tide was low, so we could walk right out onto it.

Looking back onto shore. 

Only pic of the two of us today :) 

We visited Conch Bar National Caves and got a tour from Riney (sp?). He speaks "island" which is some form of English that can be really challenging to understand... 

Not quite Carlsbad Caverns, but still pretty cool. I like this band of light shining in. 

Two "cavemen". HaHa.