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.

Sept 12 Sticker Shock and the Silver Lining

Sept 12, 2013

I may have mentioned before that this island is expensive...we figure that food is about 50% of islanders' income, how do people survive? Here are just a couple examples.

I thought $4 per gallon was a lot, try $5.95 per gallon. The good news is that it took us about 2 weeks to get through a tank of gas. 

Grapes: a fruit we will not eat until we are back in the states...but the oranges and papayas are affordable and delicious.

The silver lining is we get to live in this lovely island paradise for a month. The aquamarine green-blue color of the clouds underneath is something I don't believe I've seen elsewhere. I wonder if the color of the ocean reflected gives this color? It's beautiful.

After a nice but pricey dinner, our waiter at Coco Bistro arranged for this complimentary dessert. 

Today marks the day of our fourth anniversary. I am flooded with wonderful memories of that day four years ago and many more since. I love you Ryan.

Excuse the: shiny faces and red eyes, iphone doesn't want to take very good quality pictures at night and I did not bring the good camera...

Sept 10-11 Salt Cay

Sept 10-11, 2013

We took a 25 minute ferry ride from Grand Turk to tiny Salt Cay, its the smallest (2.6 square miles) and least populated of the inhabited Turks and Caicos islands. Much of the center of the island is covered with salinas to harvest sea salt, an industry that boomed for about 250 years, but saw its demise in the 1930's. It is home to less than 100 people and its main industry is tourism in the winter months when humpback whales migrate about 1 mile off shore. The diving here is also excellent.

Debbie, who owns the hotel we made reservations with met us at the ferry. We reserved through their website a couple days prior, but the only reason she knew we were coming is because Ryan's dive master on Grand Turk is her husband and he called to let her know. Other than a couple local variety stores and one restaurant, the island shuts down in September and October during the low season. Debbie had to open up and ready the room to accommodate us. She even found some homemade key lime pie in the freezer for us to sample, Ryan's favorite! Thank you Debbie for your hospitality.

We drove some rusty old bikes (after Debbie kindly filled the tires with air) to the north side of the island to see this lovely beach and cool off in the ocean.

Fan coral that washed ashore.

My rusty bike in front of a wall lined with conch shells.

One of the many crabs scurrying around Tradewinds.

Miss Pat cooked us up a salad, cracked conch, peas n rice and beets for dinner. Ryan thinks beets taste like dirt and usually passes, but these were seasoned with vinegar and really good. Even Ryan ate the beets!

The next morning, we took a 8am ferry back to Grand Turk and visited the cruise center. This weather station cracks us up!

Me emerging refreshed after sweating like crazy carrying around our bags on another hot day. We grabbed lunch at Jack's Shack and caught our flight back to Provo.

Its a small world: Debbie is from Dayton, Ohio. She went to nursing school at Ohio State University and got her nurse practitioner degree from Arizona. 

Sept 8-9 Under the Sea

Sept 8-9, 2013

I took a little break from diving and Ryan brought our camera so he could fill me in on what I was missing! He learned that taking video is even better than taking photos underwater. The dive sites are only 5-10 minutes from shore.

This one of my favorite fish, a Spotted Cowfish. Its spots change color to match its surroundings.

Here is a quick 1 min video Ryan took of a hawkbill turtle and some other reef fish. The fish life is abundant off Grand Turk and the coral is really healthy. Just hit play, although you may need to give it a little time to load. (Hope you enjoy, I am not the most tech saavy and it took me hours to get this to load properly)!

Sept 9 Grand Turk

Sept 9, 2013

Since Ryan was lucky enough to get 3 days off in a row, we decided to take a little excursion to Grand Turk and Salt Cay. Grand Turk used to be the hub of activity, tourism and industry in TCI, but now Providenciales or "Provo," where we our home base is, has taken over. Grand Turk remains the capital of Turks and Caicos since 1766. Donkeys and horses, which were the only form of transportation long ago, now roam free on the island. Every so often, you'll hear the obnoxious braying of donkeys.

We took this little Caicos Express puddle jumper. It's the smallest plane we have ever been on...amazingly it was a really smooth flight!

Below is the beautiful blue-grean ocean. In between the Caicos islands and the Turks islands, all of the sudden, you will notice the ocean turns to a deep blue. The color change indicates a depth change, and that is where the ocean floor drops from about 100 feet to 7000 feet.

This was our view for about 24 hours or so. We stayed at Bohio Dive Resort on Pillory Beach. It is owned by a Canadian couple, Ginny and Tom. September is their slow season, so it was very chill. We shared the resort with 2 other guests, several employees, 7 dogs and the occasional donkey wandering onto the property.

This beach and much of the island is lined with Casuarina Pines. The pines appear so graceful as they sway in the ocean breeze.

I have seen a ton of lizards both in Provo and here, but they move so quickly, it has been difficult to capture them. This little guy was content enough to allow me to get a quick photo.

It has been a nice, relaxing afternoon after Ryan dove and I snorkeled. 

We took a sunset stroll down the beach. We kept joking about having dog pheromones, because these potcakes followed us everywhere and laid at our feet while sitting out on the deck.

Peaceful sunset.

Ryan had another couple really nice dives and I went into town. Here is a curious mural...sort of el dia de los muertos meets tropical urban kids. I also visited the Turks & Caicos National Museum, it was small and had a nice explanation of TCI history as well as artifacts from shipwrecks and a super gift shop.

More conch: I had a 'conch burger', it reminded me of a black bean burger, but conch instead of black beans. Yum!

Sept 8 Sunday Gospel and Exploring

Sept 8, 2013

So we have found only one radio station on this island and its usually a mix of tunes, but on Sundays, it turns into gospel. Unless I can find a tape to insert into this old Honda, I am jammin' it out to 'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine...' Ryan gave me a little encouragement this morning to explore today while he was sleeping after a night shift, so I did. And it was wonderful.

We have explored Grace Bay Beach, but none of the others listed in our guide book. I went out on a search for Long Bay Beach, its on the southeastern part of the island. There are no hotels in this area, but several really nice homes. After a bit of searching, I found the public beach access trail. 

And this is the reward. 

While making my way down the beach, I found several starfish in the shallows.

I came across three other people at the beach, one man from the UK and a couple with 2 dogs. One of their dogs lagged behind after they left and walked down the beach with me. This is generally what most dogs look like on TCI and the Bahamas. They are called Potcakes, named after what the locals fed them...what's left at the bottom of the pot. There is a non-profit adoption center for these cute, loyal, loving pups. Interested?

Before I knew it, I had the entire beach to myself and this is how I spent an hour or so floating in the clear warm sea. Ahhhh...

Long Bay Beach, I will return.

My next stop is Chalk Sound, its a shallow lagoon filled with turquoise waters on the southwestern part of the island that is nearly landlocked with hundreds of tiny islands dotting it. I just found out one of the local restaurants rents kayaks, so I will plan a trip back to see it a little more closely.

This is the eastern edge of Chalk Sound at the end of a street called 'Picturesque Rd'. I agree.

Up next: Tomorrow morning Ryan and I are taking a little puddle jumper to Grand Turk and Salt Cay for three days. Looking forward to it!