Part II of our Trip Report to Turks and Caicos. If you are catching up, be sure to read Part I first!
Wednesday
This was our adventure trip day with the fabulous Captain Bill from Outback Adventures. We boarded his boat, the Jammin’, and headed out to look for more sea turtles! We ended up running into a super cool manta ray that was chilling at the top of the water. Captain Bill said he never sees one do that so he was hoping it wasn’t sick or something.
We then cruised over to Turtle Rock and spent a little time snorkeling there.
The kids were not amused by the masks and didn’t want to wear them but they had a fun time ‘swimming’ out in the ocean. Katie, Jerra, and I all wore the masks and checked out the local wildlife. We saw some cool looking fish. It was really windy though so the swells were a little off putting. So when Captain Bill called, we swam back to the boat and climbed aboard.
Because we were getting close to the pirate cove, Captain Bill hoisted the Jolly Roger in case we ran into any pirates.
We cruised past Osprey Rock, the most photographed rock in Turks and Caicos, and saw a juvenile Osprey chilling on top of his nest.
We then cruised around, and the osprey followed us to sit on his perch. We turned the corner and saw the pirate cove!
We threw down anchor and walked ashore. We climbed a ladder to the top of the hill and looked around at the view.
It was beautiful! We lucked out on a gorgeous day.
He showed us the pirate ‘etchings’ and had some fun data on who had stayed there, what they did, and what the different words were. I actually didn’t go up close because my knee was hurting and I didn’t bring tennis shoes. I knew that going in though!
After we came down, we found a pirates chest of treasure that everyone got to pick out from! Once we got on the boat, we realized…. the pirates TIED up Captain Bill! They stormed the boat! And drank all the rum!
It was very exciting. My five year old was actually pretty worried and scared. He didn’t like that nasty old pirate cove and wanted to get away as fast as possible! We were sure entertained though. We were so happy that Captain Bill was okay.
haha
Since it was a big day, we decided to walk over to Las Brisas again for dinner. GG got a little ride from Auntie.
This time we called ahead and got a table in the gazebo. It was gorgeous, although if you were sitting by the windows the breeze was wonderful… but if you were sitting in the middle, it was super hot. Very strange, but we just stuck the kids over there and it was good.
Thursday
Mom, Grandpa, and Grandma headed over to the golf course to play 9 holes. Katie hung out and got some sun. The kids, hubby, and I went and explored Blue Hills and went to da Conch Shack.
First we drove along the road and ran into a playground.
It was very rural and next to a community medical center. We were definitely on the more residential/local side of the island.
There were a few boys playing in the water and
potcake dogs running wild everywhere. Once we got to da Conch Shack, it was time for lunch!
It was a super cute place. The kids were feeling ‘off’ and cranky and after watching so many movies on iPads and glueing themselves to our phones to play games, they were cranky cranky media kids. So I got out the cards and we played a few rounds of Go Fish. The worst thing about electronic devices is the WHINING that comes along when they don’t get to use them. “Can I use it yet? When can I play? When can I watch?”
Basically though, I ordered a famous rum punch and some CONK and told the kids to go play in the ocean.
They went down to the shells they were selling and picked out a souvenir. I probably would have liked it more if we didn’t have some cranky kids but the conch (conk!) was yummy but I didn’t love the fries. (Today was the day I obviously fell off the wagon diet wise and had some illegals. Still feeling okay though!)
After lunch, we headed over to the Seven Stars resort, to the Ports of Call shopping center across the street. I really wanted to explore that hotel but we wanted to souvenir shop a bit and the kids didn’t want to walk around. Once we started shopping, they changed their tune. We got a lot of great things! We picked up a shell, a wind chime, and some other cute stuff to decorate in our house. We got some ice cream at Giggles (the woman there did NOT giggle, by the way, she was actually a little bit frowny) and then headed home.
Dinner was hamburgers and hot dogs while watching the beautiful Sapphire Sunset at our house. We kept it casual and the sunset was amazing.
Friday
Grandpa & Grandma went shopping as they missed out on our fun yesterday. We played in the sand, ocean, and pool all in the morning. Lunch was casual stuff at the house and in the afternoon the husband went kayaking with the kids and played in the water. I was stressing about a fun paperwork matter we are working on and in the afternoon I went to the local office to print and scan some documents, go to the store to return a bottle of vodka (we bought too many, can you believe it?), and pick up a few more things.
Again, we headed to our favorite Las Brisas restaurant for dinner! haha! It’s so nice to walk someplace, drink all you want, and walk home. We just love it. Sam loves the hot dogs there, they are apparently the best. I got the steak and veggies again. Yum yum!
I can’t get away without mentioning our nightly ‘discussions’ out on the patio. Sometimes I join them, often I go straight to bed. If I have a nap during the day I can stay up longer but otherwise, I’m completely toast. I get up at 7am in the morning with the kids so by the evening, I’m sooo tired.
However, these ‘discussions’ have covered religion, politics, marijuana, abortion, socialism, war, and much much more. My Grandpa loves to debate, and will often play devil’s advocate and my husband loves to debate right back with him! So those two will go on and on and on and frankly I don’t even care, I’d rather be reading! But they are having a great time with it!
Saturday
What an overcast day! It was nice for the kids as we didn’t have to worry about the sun too much. (G still having his rash/sensitive skin so we can’t put sunscreen on those areas.) I had a nap, read a book. They played with the husband out in the ocean, then hit the pool. Sam discovered diving in the pool so she was happy as a clam.
The reason I had a nap was because I had two drinks at Las Brisas for lunch. *hiccup* What? It’s vacation.
This was our last night out for dinner as the next evening we wanted to stick close to home. We debated
Mango Reef or
Magnolia’s for dinner. Magnolia’s won out because it looked a bit more higher end, and had a really nice view. Even though our neighbors raved about Mango Reef, we decided the hundreds of 5 star reviews on TripAdvisor for Magnolia’s had to be obeyed!
Sadly, it started pouring rain around five o’clock so we had dinner ‘inside’ and the view was rather glum. However, we didn’t care much as the meal was fabulous!
It started off with a basket of bread that had the perfect amount of salt and sweet in it…. It was delicious (yes, I had some, oops).
We broke out the cards again for the kids, they enjoyed some Go Fish. We are teaching Sam poker too, so that is amusing.
Grandpa and Evie had the fish specials which the said was amazing.
Katie, Jerra, and I all had the lobster which was better than Coco Bistro. The husband had the beef which was cooked perfectly as well. He said the mashed potatoes were simply fabulous. He also had this Rum drink (the Rum Relaxer?) which he said was his favorite drink of the trip. I tasted it, and definitely agreed!
Everyone hit the hay pretty early although I stayed up since I had my nice nap! Getting my ‘read’ on.
Sunday
Aww, our last day in paradise. We all went out in the water and had some fun. We followed a lot of turtles in our bay, we all kayaked, and then went in the pool.
The Laker game was on that afternoon (and sadly they LOST to the Clippers) but after that we all headed to our favorite restaurant in walking distance! (It is the ONLY restaurant in walking distance, but dang, we love it!). We wanted to get a shot of the kids with their great-grandparents so we tried to jolly them up and make them smile. The kids, that is.
We then got a group shot. It was simply an amazing vacation and we will never forgot our beautiful house in Turks and Caicos!
