Sept 5 and 6 Diving

Sept 5-6, 2013

Ryan and I went diving for 2 days this week and earned our Advanced Open Water Certification. We did 5 dives with our dive master, Mark from England. One of the other English dive masters, Gary lives at the same place we are staying. We met a bunch of nice couples from Toronto, Atlanta, NYC, DC, and San Jose.

Each day when our dive boat would leave from one location to the next, pods of dolphins would come and play in the waves created by the boat. They seem so playful and curious, it was really fun to watch!

It was a great day out on and in the water. We saw a big eagle ray, several stingrays, Caribbean reef sharks, a turtle, a big nassau grouper, lots of other fish and some pretty coral during our dives today.

We have heard about a guy in a red truck downtown that sells fresh fish at more reasonable prices than the grocery stores. We paid him a visit today and got this grouper filet'd right in front of us. That'll be dinner tomorrow. I felt a little guilty because I saw a fish that looked similarly while diving today.

On Thursday nights, Bight Park hosts a "fish fry", several local restaurants serve up their food and there is entertainment. Its less than a mile from our place. 

We met our new dive friends here and chatted on the beach, enjoying the gorgeous views and nice breeze off the Atlantic ocean. 

As another nice sunset came and night fell, the music got louder and people started dancing and partying. Bight Park is the place to be on Thursday nights.

There was even a little parade with the "conch guy" leading. 

It felt like we were watching a second line parade in New Orleans. Time to head home for some sleep, its been a long day and there is more diving and an early morning again tomorrow. 

The dolphins are back today showing off their breaching and diving skills. 

The color of the shallow water here is beautiful. We did skills checkoffs today, saw an old Spanish anchor, a few reef sharks, a small stingray, a turtle, a cowfish that changes colors to blend in with its surroundings and some impressive corals.

I am not afraid of: Caribbean reef sharks (although I thought I would be)

My favorite creatures of our dives: eagle ray, dolphins

Sept 3 Running Against the Wind is Awesome

Sept 3, 2013

Today lots of my friends and family dropped off their kiddos for their first day of the school year. Today I dropped my husband off at his first day of work today on the island :) Hope he has a great day!

This is Cheshire Hall Hospital on Providenciales Island of Turks & Caicos. It is a 20 bed full service hospital with a ED, inpatient beds, operating suites, maternity unit, dialysis center, outpatient clinics, lab, MRI, CT scan, and ultrasound. It was built by InterHealth Canada and just opened up in 2010. They have a staff of about 180 and they have a visiting physician program. This is where Ryan is working for the month of September.

This where I spent my afternoon studying up on my scuba. We are taking an Advanced Open Water class that includes 5 dives on Thursday and Friday this week. GreenBean has comfy chairs, sirius coffehouse playing on the radio, nice breezes and is about a 1 minute walk from our place. I also went for a jog, did 10 laps in the pool, 20 min of yoga, some ab crunches, went grocery shopping, and made dinner. One thing I noticed about running down here is that running against the wind feels amazingly better than when the wind is at your back because it blows away all the sweat off your face. On the way back I am just dripping from everywhere and have to go strait to the pool to cool down. It gets to about 92 degrees everyday here with a low of 75 at night. Its really humid and seems to rain most afternoons, but often not for long.

Abbreviations: TCI = Turks & Caicos Islands

Ryan's work day: He saw about 10 patients, is getting to know a not very user friendly computer system (which makes FirstNet seem awesome--for those of you ESI people), had a nurse help him immensely and worked with another MD from Nigeria.

Food stuff: No peas 'n beans or conch today

Sept 2 Opposite of a Baker's Dozen?

Sept 2, 2013

Ryan had a short meeting at the hospital and IT orientation, after that we were free for the rest of the day. Things are definitely on "island time" at the hospital and I am so curious to hear how Ryan will feel about this place after his first shift tomorrow...

Everything is insanely expensive here, including the alcohol, so we thought it may be a good investment to get a case of the local beer, Turk's Head. That should last us a while! When we opened the box, instead of 24 beers, there were only 23?!? Opposite of a baker's dozen? 

So far the millipede appears to be most common insect we have seen on the island, other than mosquitoes and butterflies. This guy decided to crawl his way all the way to the third floor, up five flights of stairs and into our bathroom. He was so tired, he died. I scooped him up and threw him off the balcony. Gross. 

We stopped at a dive shop and inquired about taking an Advanced Open Water course which includes a new fancy certification and five dives. Our first 2 dives will be on Thursday, and since it is looking to be a rainy afternoon, we spent several hours out on the veranda studying our scuba books.

By the time we motivated to leave for dinner, the sun was setting beautifully. This is a view from our front door. We went to Danny Buoy's, an irish pub in Grace Bay for dinner. Service was great, food was just ok.

Ryan's new goal: to try the local staple food, peas 'n rice, at every restaurant. So far his favorite is at Mr Grouper's. We had lunch there today, it was reasonably priced and delicious.

My new goal: to try conch in every way possible...so far cracked conch, coconut conch stew, conch fritters, coconut cracked conch, and pecan crusted conch

New TCI words: Top Up = to add more money/minutes to your pre-paid cell phone 

Aug 31- Sept 1 Our First Days in Providenciales

Aug 31- Sept 1, 2013

Ryan and I decided to store the beast for autumn and head south. Maybe its a good thing considering we were originally planning to hike portions of the John Muir trail near Yosemite National Park where there is a massive wildfire right now.

On our way, just cruising between cloud layers watching the sunrise.

It was an early morning, but its only 1pm and we are already at our destination for the next month. Turks & Caicos is made up of 40 some islands in which about 8 are inhabited. Its population is about 30,000 with an additional 200,000 tourists yearly.

View of Turtle Cove from our lunch spot, Tiki Hut. We are staying at Queen Angel condos in the Turtle Cove area.

Rum punch at da Conch Shack in the Blue Hills area. We had conch fritters for our appetizer and for dinner, cracked conch for Ryan and coconut conch stew for me. 

On our second day after a jog, a swim to cool down, and grocery shopping we made our way to Bugaloo's in the Five Cays area for the day. It's a beach bar and restaurant. They were catching fresh conch and snapper right in this bay.  This storm was threatening all day, but it did not rain until about 7pm.

Where we spent the day sunning, reading, swimming, napping and of course ate more conch.

This conch was trying to escape.

If you look closely, there is a rainbow in the distance, one of two we saw today while relaxing at Bugaloo's.

Aug 23 Sibling Date Night

August 23, 2013

Since Travis and Megan are moving out of Royal Oak, we decided to celebrate with a sibling ice cream date at Jim's on 11 Mile. They have a nice big grassy area for the kids to run around and burn off their sugary treats.

Before our ice cream date, Ryan got his long locks trimmed. My cousin, Weston is an apprentice stylist at Bianchi's Salon.

Chillin' on the grass outside Jim's.

Ceci getting a thrill throw. 

Lila, Austin and Nolan stopping for a rest after running around and playing hide and seek (their favorite game). 

 The next morning before Ryan and I headed to Indiana, Ceci played in the sprinkler in her front yard. What's better than drinking out of your own shoe?

It was really nice spending some quality time with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles. Mom and Dad, Leah and Zac, thanks for hosting us. A quick stop in Indiana for a couple days to pick up the beast and help out Ryan's parents and its time to head home and pack it up for our next adventure!

Aug 19-22 Painting at 22 Mile

Aug 19-22, 2013

My brother, Travis and his wife Megan recently bought a new house back in our home town of Shelby Township, Michigan...in fact, it is 2 doors down from my parents' house. It is on 2 acres with a huge barn, so it'll have plenty of room for their 3 kids to run and play. Travis is one talented remodeler and this house needs some TLC. He is on a bit of a time crunch lately and since I am not currently working and had a week of free time before our next excursions, I am helping him meet some deadlines.

Travis finishing up some mudding. We joked that he had the mexican job and I had the italian job (painting). This room will be the kitchen and dining area.

Nolan doing a little excavating in my parents' yard. 

Lila busy riding her bike. 

Austin likes the bucket better than the pool. 

Megan and I didn't call ahead to plan coordinating paint shirts, it was just a coincidence :). I had four different painting partners in four days, Travis, Megan, my dad and lastly my mom.

We completed painting the ceilings and walls of the kitchen, dining room, and family rooms. It was a big job and there is still lots to be done. Four days and 42 hours of work, but so nice to catch up with my family and friends.

Aug 18 Lake Chemung

August 18, 2013

My Aunt Susan and Uncle Bob are in town from Arizona. Their daughter Jennifer had a shindig at Lake Chemung in Howell, Michigan... a little Parak family reunion. It was great to see cousins, aunts and uncles.

There was something special about this Amish chicken. 

The gang getting some sun. 

Aunt Cindy, Darren and Aunt Barb are all smiles. 

Uncle Gary and Uncle Allen shootin' the breeze. 

Uncle Gary and I playing around with the camera for a self shot.

What a nice afternoon at the lake. Thanks Jennifer, Darren and their kiddos for hosting!