My Vaycay in Turks and Caicos

I debated on whether to publish this or not. I wrote it all up while on vacation. Honestly, I didn’t want to publish it because Troy and I aren’t together anymore. I didn’t want to have to explain that, or feel awkward that I had this beautiful vacation and now we are here. I was worried about what everyone would think or say. Well… I’m over worrying. I had a great time, and just want to share that. Hopefully you’ll get to visit Turks and Caicos sometime and this post helps you navigate the planning, I’m hope to go back someday…

Back to your regularly scheduled post. 😉

This has been one heck of a rollercoaster year, am I right?!? Definitely time for a vacation. COVID made going on vacation this year a little difficult. The original plan was to go to Jamaica, but that didn’t end up working out. Since Turks and Caicos was allowing visitors, as long as you pass the health check before hand, that became the destination of choice. Looking at the weather forecast a week before the trip made me a little nervous thanks to a hurricane in the area. #RainRainGoAway I’d been suffering through rainy yuck for a couple weeks at home and day dreaming about warm sunny beaches. I was disappointed to see that rain was in the forecast at Providenciales too. There ended up being a little rain, but rain in 80 degree weather wasn’t so bad. I’m actually quite pleased with how beautiful the trip was. We were able to get lots of activities in.

I set this post up as sort of a guide to going to TCI, no I’m not getting paid to tell you how amazing anything was, it’s just my honest opinion. I hope you enjoy hearing about all the activities we did. It was really hard narrowing down to a few pictures for each adventure, I’m pretty sure I’ve taken more than a thousand pics on this trip.

Kite Provo

Funny story, I grew up in Hood River, Oregon, windsurfing/kite boarding central, and never tried wind surfing or any wind related sport. It’s always been an intimidating adventure to me. The main reason Troy wanted to go to Providenciales was because of the kite boarding, so of course I had to do lessons too.

On day one I was nervous! Chris was my instructor, he did a great job at helping settle my nerves and he’s loaded with positive energy. Each lesson thereafter I saw improvement, and to be honest, if I could have gotten out of my fearful brain, I probably would have done even better. I truly believe that this sport could be done by anyone, young or old, athlete or couch potato, anyone! Maybe you won’t be an expert, but you’ll at least have some fun, and who doesn’t like that?

The kite boarding lessons were on Long Bay Beach. There are three pretty awesome features that make this the ideal spot…

1. Shallow water- The shallow water was nice because on the multiple times my kite went down, it wasn’t nearly as difficult to get it back into the air as it would be in deep water.
2. Sandy shoreline- Chris told me that it took two years to remove all of the rock out of the water along the shore line, but one of the neighboring resorts wanted it gone so their visitors would have a pain free swim area.
3. On-shore wind- The wind is almost always blowing on-shore, which means it’s not going to blow us beginners out to sea.

I highly recommend Kite Provo for lessons, their whole team was very professional, friendly, and fun.

TCI Fact: The ocean water averages 82 to 84 degrees in the summer and 74 to 78 degrees in the winter.

Snorkeling

I had a couple snorkel adventures at Smith Reef, the first we just went and tried our best to find a spot. The second adventure a local told us the place to be. Go out to where the red buoys are, and go to the right of them, that’s where the bigger reef is. We saw a turtle, puffer fish, and a spotted eagle ray, and were pumped! I need to get better with my angles on the GoPro, and slowing down, missed a lot of the good stuff down there.

North Shore National Park

This beach is a beachcombers paradise! Conch shells, snail shells, sand dollars, and all kinds of other sea junk. The road out there is very narrow, and sandy ruts in places, but definitely worth the possibility of getting stuck in the sand. I went to this beach twice, the first time, no bugs, second time, I was everyones lunch. I’d definitely suggest bug spray if it’s not windy.

Potcakes

One word, PUPPIES! This is such a cool organization. They rescue local dogs, and help find their puppies homes. They allow visitors to take the little pups out for walks every day! If I didn’t have other adventures planned during their pick up time, I totally would have walked a little pup every day. You can help them by adopting a pup, donating, or being a courier on your flight home. I’m hoping I’ll get to snuggle a puppy on my flight back home. #fingerscrossed

http://www.potcakeplace.com

Hair

I’ve always wanted to get my hair braided. Not just French braided like I do myself, I wanted a bit of the local culture. A friend from the local church recommended Fausta, and so I went. The Passion Beauty Salon was a hopping spot! Fausta helped me pick out a color that matched my hair, and also some purple for fun. I learned that the corn row style I went with is called feeding braids. They feed in the extensions to make the braid thicker and longer. To be honest, I was a little nervous that getting my hair done was going to cost an arm and a leg, but it was only $65. I’m sure the more braids you get done, the more the cost goes up. #happycamper Check out a clip of the finished product HERE. Below is a picture of me wrapping my hair at night in attempt to keep it pretty. It actually worked really well, but once I went scuba diving the mask did a number on it. If you’re wanting to get your hair done on vacation, I recommend doing it the last day so you can rock your do for a couple weeks when you get home.

SUP Provo – Eco Tour

After 6 days of kite boarding, this was a nice change of pace. Taking the paddle board out to mangrove island was awesome. Seeing the ecosystem and having Chris from explain all of the little details, from the way the mangroves process all the salt water, to how the shark babies grow up in the “nursery” was fascinating. As a lover of nature, it was nice to soak it all in. There was another company giving a tour on kayaks, and at one point we were in the same intersection, viewing about six turtles, they just paddled through and missed it all. I’m so glad we booked through SUP Provo and were able to slow down and take it all in. Turtles were definitely one of my most favorite things to see while being here.

Provo Ponies

I love riding horses, but in the pretty blue ocean was even better. The horses loved the water too. They were almost singing with delight as soon as we got out there. My horse Ginko was in a hurry to get out there because he loves it so much. I imagine they love it because it’s cooler, but also because there’s no flies or other bugs to pester them. Provo ponies takes in rescue horses and rehabilitates them, I love that they use natural horsemanship methods to train them too.

E-Foiling

Troy loved doing this. Word is, if you learn how to e-foil, it takes off 20 hours of learning how to use a foil with a kite. Either way, it looked fun, and I enjoyed watching him crash as he was learning. It was also fun to watch him fly almost as fast as a boat that was going by. Kinda crazy actually. He said that it was crazy how much change in motion happened from just a small movement of the feet, micro movements for sure. Chris from Kite Provo set him up with a helmet that had two way communication so he could coach Troy through what to do out there.

Dive Provo

You all know I have a fear of heights. Bet you didn’t know I have a bigger fear of drowning. #gulp I’m actually a decent swimmer, but still have this huge anxiety when I’m in the water. When I signed up to go diving my head was solely on turtles, I wanted to see them, and sharks, and Nemo. Lol. When I got to the day before the pool dive I realized I had to be under water and be okay with it. The first thing they say about diving is to stay calm…

I love that Dive Provo offered the Discover Scuba Diving course so that I could really test the water to decide if diving was something I could do. Or at least that I could get past my fear and not risk losing the larger amount of money that getting certified is. There are a few things you have to learn to be able to go out diving into the ocean. I had to know how to get water out of my mask, under water. Know how to grab my regulator if it was to fall out of my mouth. And most importantly to not hold my breath. There were probably other things I was required to learn, but those were the scariest. I’m so thankful that they have you do a pool dive where there are no waves to help you get those things down. It took me a good minute to calm down and stop trying to breathe through my nose. My instructor Joe was super patient and helped me try different tricks that eventually got me swimming in the pool and feeling confident-ish.

Dive day was pretty epic. Not gonna lie, I got a little panicky when we first jumped off the boat, but it soon settled once I got my head under the waves and focused on my breathing. I was a little bummed I didn’t get to take my GoPro with me, I wanted a shark footage dang it! I’m sure without the video I’ll remember this trip for the rest of my life. There was so much life underwater, I can totally see how people get hooked on this sport. There were sharks, spotted moray, yellow honeycomb cowfish, lion fish, and of course my favorite was a big sea turtle.

I didn’t realize that I got to do two dives, they both lasted about 45 minutes to an hour each. The water ended up being a little cold for me, I’m glad I decided to wear a wetsuit. The first jump off the boat into the ocean was a little nerve-racking, the second, I almost felt like a seasoned professional. Next Caribbean vacation I’ll definitely be diving again, maybe I’ll even get certified. #justkeepswimming

North and Middle Caicos

DO NOT FORGET BUG SPRAY! 😂 Seriously though, between mosquitos and sand fleas, sooo many bug bites. If I seem to be getting really lethargic in the coming months, tell me to go get checked for dengue fever. (I’m only sorta serious.)

To get to North and Middle Caicos you have to hop on a ferry. You have to rent car ahead of time when you plan to go there. It was really weird because you call them and tell them you want a car, they don’t ask for your ID, credit card, anything. Then you show up and fill out a little sheet of paper and you’re off driving the island. At the end of your day trip, you park the car and leave the keys in the ignition in the ferry parking lot.

Gas on Providenciales is about $4.99 a gallon, on North and Middle Caicos, it was almost $6.50 a gallon. At this point in the trip though, the cost didn’t surprise me.

I loved that the island was so rural. The locals take the ferry to Providenciales to get groceries and other important supplies. There is a little shop that sells locally made goods, weaved things, and dolls, but it was closed due to covid. As we were pulled over on the side of the road trying to decide what to do next, one of the locals pulled up next to us and asked if we were lost. We weren’t, and he then offered us some weed. I didn’t take him up on the offer, but he said he could show us where to get some hand made goods. I was a little nervous following him, but we went anyway. He took us to his friend’s cousins house. He had the weaving supplies sitting right outside which made me feel a little better. Simeon, invited us into his house. That made me a little more anxious but he showed us how he weaves, how he finishes the products, and was super friendly. Definitely be cautious, but make a point to meet the locals, it was such a fun unplanned pitstop.

Bambarra Beach

We had the beach all to ourselves. I loved the cute little tiki huts, I imagine if we weren’t in the middle of covid times this beach would have been a more popular spot.

Conch Bar Caves National Park

I’ve been to a few caves, but this is definitely my favorite so far. Can you guess why? I’ll give you a hint, things that fly in the night, and suck your blood… Every cave I’ve ever been to talks about bats, and to be safe not to spread the white nose disease, but I’d never seen a bat. This one though, here a bat, there a bat, every where a bat, bat! It was so cool to be able to shine your light up to their little cave and see them fly around. I’ve always liked bats since I was a kid.

TCI Fact: Turks and Caicos has the largest above-ground caves in the Caribbean, the Conch Bar Caves, located on Middle Caicos.

After leaving Bambarra beach, Google said to take the road pictured above to the caves. In my defense as the navigator, it didn’t start out looking like that. I thought for sure we were going to be stuck, like the picture of the car on the right! 😂

Another nice thing about this cave is you didn’t have to go down into a scary small hole to be able to enjoy it. The whole tour was very wide open and easy to navigate. I do recommend bringing a headlamp if you’ve got one, the flashlights they provided weren’t that great. You’d think the $20 tour fee would at least get you a decent light. You can click HERE if you’d like to learn more about the cave system.

Dragon Cay/Mudjin Harbor

This was a really pretty beach to stop at. We had lunch on the patio at the Mudjin Bar and Grill, and enjoyed listening to the waves crashing on the dragon shaped rock. The food took a while to cook, maybe they’re on island time, but my veggie burger was so good. I honestly think they made the burger patty from scratch.

Shipwreck Jetski Tour

This was an on a whim adventure. Being last minute we called a few places and they weren’t available. We booked the adventure through Five Cays Water Sports, drove there, and were off. I’m glad we went. I was wanting to get a close up view of the shipwreck, some people we met took some awesome pictures and I couldn’t resist trying to capture one myself. Plus, if you time it right, you can jump off the ship! The jetski was fun too.

TCI Fact: The La Famille Express broke loose from its mooring in the midst of Hurricane Frances in 2004. It settled two miles out from Long Bay Beach.

Ocean Vibes Snorkel Tour

After going scuba diving, I gotta admit, I wasn’t overly stoked to go snorkeling again. I wanted to dive deep and see all the critters, and still be able to breath. BUT Ocean Vibes definitely made this adventure out to be the best ending to our trip. The crew was super catering, they made sure we were happy the whole time, if I drank alcohol, I’m sure I’d have been feeling extra warm and fuzzy with the rum punch they were serving. Such a fun group of guys.

Shortly after getting started on our adventure, Jojo, the local dolphin, decided to visit our catamaran. We all hopped out to watch him itch on the rope that anchored us there to see him. He promptly swam away, but I was pretty stoked to get any interaction with a dolphin. #bucketlist Especially since he’s a wild dolphin!

We then headed out the barrier reef and proceeded to snorkel for a while. Once I got in the water, I felt back at home again. I love seeing all the creatures, I really liked the parrot fish, they were so bright and big, so I didn’t have to go too deep to enjoy them.

After snorkeling we headed to Iguana Island, you can see more about that in the next section.

THEN the best thing happened! All of us guests got picked up from different beach front areas, they dropped off the first group, and then proceeded to head to take us to our own drop off location. Before we got there one of the guys on the crew spotted one of the other local dolphins with her baby, Dreamer. So of course we were excited and they positioned the boat so we could hop in and swim with them. Well, they decided to swim a different direction, so we followed them. It was so exciting to get to swim with them. The baby played with us for about 15-20 minutes and then swam away.

Iguana Island

I’m kind of a sucker for lizards, especially iguanas. When I found out we were stopping here I couldn’t wait to see these big guys. I was a little sad to find out that they have been studying the iguanas and most of them have diabetes. You know why??? Because tourists feed them junk. Which was very apparent because they were super curious about us. They heard people and came almost running to see if they would be fed.

FOOOOOD!!!!

Restaurants

Food is one of the most important parts of vacation if you ask me. When you’re the house cook, it’s nice to have a little treat of not cooking. I was a little nervous about being vegan here and eating out. Turns out many of the restaurants are very catering to being vegan. One tip that you should know though, there is a huge Jamaican influence here, when you say spicy, it’s gonna be spicy! Another tip, eating out isn’t going to be cheap…

Coco Van

The Coco Van is literally an eight minute walk from my house. It’s a part of the Coco Bistro, word is the chef in the bistro is the same as in the van, and so delicious! The spicy falafel tacos were the bomb.

Seven Stars

This place was fancy. Like little plates with big price tags fancy, but delicious. Have you ever had a restaurant offer you a black napkin? I didn’t know this, but apparently if you’re wearing black, they will offer you a black napkin so that it doesn’t stand out from your clothes like the white napkin would. The service was amazing too, my water glass was never less than half empty, and they checked in for everything. Before you sit down they ask if you have any allergies and when you’re going to choose something that might contain an ingredient you can’t do, they let you know, or point out something that will work for your restriction. Dining on the patio was nice because it was cozy, with no wind to make you chilly.

If you’ve never gone to a fancy dinner, you should definitely try this place out, it was quite the experience.

Omar’s

A friend referred us to Omar’s because they have a couple of good options. They had a veggie wrap, which I LOVED, and a curry dish that I didn’t try because I loved the veggie wrap so I much I had it both times we went.

Turks Kebab

Mediterranean food is almost always a win being vegan. #comfortfood I ordered hummus and a falafel salad. I ended up taking some of the falafel home and having it in a wrap for lunch the next day. They also have pizzas, that looked really tasty too. Wish we’d have discovered this place earlier in the trip because I’d have liked to eat there more than once. I love leftovers.

Groceries

There are three main grocery stores, Graceway Gourmet, Graceway IGA, and Smart Groceries. One week of groceries cost $400, yikes! Our friend said that they feed their family of five on a thousand dollars a month. Can you imagine?!? I’m so grateful for our grocery stores at home. I was able to find vegan cheeses, yogurts, beyond burgers, the protein milk I love that I have a hard time finding at home, and everything I needed, and didn’t need but bought anyway.

Graceway Gourmet
This is the place closest to tourist town. It is also the store with the most vegan friendly options, and the biggest price tags. They have a great deli, salad bar, and the produce was extra delicious.

Graceway IGA
This place is a bit further out of town, but a little cheaper than Gourmet. They were fairly catering to my diet and still had decent variety of products.

Smart Grocery
I’d say this store is the island’s version of Grocery Outlet, better deals but not a consistent or even large variety of products. It’s further out of tourist town and I’m guessing more of the locals shopping ground.

More than beautiful beaches…

I love nature and the abundance of it on this island was really neat. The soil here is basically lime stone, and really tough to grown in, but there were many tropical plants. Some of the plants here I have in pots at home, so that was fun to see. I loved seeing all the little lizards, I didn’t love seeing cockroaches, but sometimes there is bad with the good. I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to see and soak up all that I could here. Such a beautiful place to be.