Turks & Caicos Trip
- Second day, first flight of the year Jan 2, 2023
- Third day, second flight of the year Jan 3, 2023
- View from the airplane seat Jan 3, 2023
- Approaching the island of Providenciales Jan 3, 2023
- Almost on the ground Jan 3, 2023
- Grace Bay Beach Jan 3, 2023
- That brought back a lot of childhood memories Jan 3, 2023
Saw these lanterns after a long time. They were at our dining tables by the beach. I have seen some of these put up for decorative purposes in many places before – but none in actual use.
In the village, we grew up sitting with family members in the evening by these things chatting away to glory. Later, in Durgapur, during those days of “loadshedding” (rolling blackouts), we did our homework and studies by these lanterns in the evening.
I asked the waitress if there was a special name for this in the island. There was not. They are simply referred to as a “lantern”. In Bengali, we used to call them “hurricane” (no relation to the storms – although if you let the wick out too much, it would cough up a storm of soot cloud quickly).
Folks who remember this, do you recollect the two clever pieces of engineering – a spring that was used to open up the glass container for cleaning and the lever that you pushed down to make space to stick in the lit match stick to get it going?
- Morning walk on the beach Jan 4, 2023
- View from the breakfast table Jan 4, 2023
- The adventure begins Jan 4, 2023
- Airport number 153 Jan 4, 2023
- Sapodilla Bay Beach Jan 4, 2023
- Sapodilla Bay Jan 4, 2023
- That stingray came up to us without any fear Jan 4, 2023
- We made new friends from New York Jan 4, 2023
- I have a job offer! Jan 4, 2023
The deal I have with Geo is that when he starts his water scooter business, he will let me serve at his beach bar. Or when he goes to visit his family in Bahama. For the longest time, I have thought that it would be a dream job for me to do for a couple of years.
I passed his test when he showed me a bottle and asked if I knew what it was. (It was Mamajuana)
- Bird’s eye view Jan 4, 2023
- “Can I tell you something?” Jan 4, 2023
After our successful trip to Sapodilla Bay, we had become very hungry. Found that the only one Indian restaurant in Provo was literally a kilometer away from us while we were driving. It is called SJ Curry Club. Not sure why, some of the best Indian restaurants I have found are in the Caribbean! Remember Indian Summer in Nevis?
The food was incredibly good. It is difficult to differentiate yourself on yellow dal but SJ absolutely nailed it. Sharmila thinks it was the lemon zest that gave it the uniqueness.
Got to know the owner and his wife. But the highlight was getting to know their two daughters. When we entered, the two kids – Neha and Sudha – were sitting in a corner table playing games. After I tried some of my long lost Tamil on them, they were at our table.
Specially, the younger one – Sudha. The entire time I had my lunch, she kept me entertained with one story after the other.
They invariably started with “Can I tell you something? It is a secret!”
Again, as I have always maintained, the best part of vacations for me are the natural sights and the local people. Never been into long dead people… the living ones energize me so much!
- Smith’s Reef Jan 4, 2023
- Bight Beach Jan 4, 2023
- New adventure for the day Jan 5, 2023
- Reached North Caicos Jan 5, 2023
- It is like we are in Eleuthera all over again Jan 5, 2023
- Sandy Point, North Caicos Jan 5, 2023
Reminded us so much of Coco di Mama Beach, The sand you see on the other side is Parrot Cay. You can pretty much walk on the sandbars (and maybe swim in spurts of ten yards) and reach the private island. Some of Hollywood’s who’s who own properties there or stays there often.
Needless to say, we stayed on this side of the sandbars.
- Sandy Point Beach Jan 5, 2023
- She chose her attire… Jan 5, 2023
- The causeway! Jan 5, 2023
But for this causeway, we would have never made it to the Middle Caicos (which would have been a shame… wait for future posts on that). This was built for the first time with European funding literally after I even moved to Atlanta. It got battered not by one but by two hurricanes (Hanna and Ike). It has been rebuilt. There was a portion we had to drive thru where construction was still going on.
- Crossed over to Middle Caicos and reached Mudjin Harbor Jan 5, 2023
- View of the waters from Mudjin bar and grill Jan 5, 2023
- View of Dragon Cay Jan 5, 2023
- Feeling like she is on top of the world Jan 5, 2023
- The sharp cliffs reminded me of Aruba (south side) and St. Kitts. (northwest side) Jan 5, 2023
- Those islands/rocks are like mini Eleuthera Jan 5, 2023
- Enormous rock formations near the beach Jan 5, 2023
- Sharmila venturing into Dragon Cay Jan 5, 2023
- The fury of the waters lashing onto the rock Jan 5, 2023
- The sand was so soft, it was difficult to walk Jan 5, 2023
- Can anybody solve this for me? Jan 5, 2023
You remember from the previous picture how much the sand was giving in. And then suddenly, in the middle of the beach, there is this formation. Almost like a cliff of sand. How do you explain that?
You would expect the cliff to have broken down and be like a gentle smooth slope. The rest of the beach was. Just in this portion there was this cliff. To test out whether there were rocks underneath, I started breaking down one small portion of the cliff at the end. There was nothing other than sand. The sand there did feel a little more wet.
Why this complete anomaly in the geographical formation?
Can anybody help me?
- My new friend in Middle Caicos Jan 5, 2023
- This is confusing!!! Jan 5, 2023
- Another new friend with a great story Jan 5, 2023
Mark Dillon was born and brought up in Montreal, Canada. Fifteen years back, he came to Turks and Caicos and decided to move permanently. He brought his family here, started doing lots of different work to earn a livelihood (like construction work) and then eventually made enough money to start his own Italian restaurant called Lupo.
According to Mark, he works here harder in terms of hours than before but the pace of island life makes a very big difference in how much he enjoys it.
His son who is going to school here and his wife helps him out in the restaurant. Sharmila and I spent two evenings at his bar!
If you ever come to this end of the world, do pay a visit to him. He has some great stories to narrate.
- Why they call it Fish Fry, I will never know Jan 5, 2023
In the island of Providenciales, every Thursday, they have something called Thursday Fish Fry. It is very popular. As you can see, we parked our cars ON the sidewalk. There was live music going on – a lot of dancing. Many food stalls, many more cocktail and beer bars. A lot of local wares being sold.
And there was that one solo stall that was selling fish fry!!
But a great sense of camaraderie can be had with other tourists and locals at this event!
- But I am sad to say… we’re on our way… Jan 6, 2023
- West Caicos Jan 6, 2023
We were airborne and did a three quarter of a full circle turn banking to the south and then straightened out north wards. As we flattened out, we could see West Caicos. Even thru the airplane window, the picture came out well. The island is mostly empty but I understand it is being built out as a high end resort place.
The lake inside (Lake Catherine) has the same sky blue water. And the reason is that it is connected to the ocean thru underground inlets. (Even the tides come in and out! )
- That used to be my home base airport! Jan 6, 2023