Originally inhabited by Taino people from Hispaniola, the island was depleted of its population by the Spanish and left more or less behind to be found by British loyalists bailing out of America during the Revolution and Africans liberated from illegal slave ships. Salt, fishing and cotton were the early subsistence industries.
Now, the major industry is tourism, fueled by that water, wind and sun combo, and offshore banking. Plus construction, fueled by all of the former. And of course, fish and conch.
The north side of the Providenciales, the population center on the Caicos, is one long strip of hotels on a calm azure lagoon dotted by people at play. And that strip is backed by a swale filled with vacation homes and condos.
Down the middle runs the Leeward Highway, with a fair crop of commercial establishments along its length and slightly to the west of the middle, the main town. Thanks to the tourism, the commercial strip is pretty first world! And pricey.
The south side has the port and several "marinas", plus the majority of the full-time population in nice houses, some grand and some quite modest. There is little soil around any these houses; where soil has not been imported, gardens seems to sprout out of limestone rubble. One wonders where all the soil for the resorts and the golf course came from!
The Turks & Caicos island group, for all its fame as a vacation destination, was new territory for all of the crew of Quantum Leap. After our midday arrival on Sunday, we dinghied in to South Side Marina to do Immigration & Customs. South Side Marina is also at the end of a very shallow channel that Tom wasn't quite ready to address on his first day. Navigating in such shallow water after years in deep, deep waters, is kind of like coming down off the 75mph expressway into a school zone....a big adjustment.
So we anchored out in 5.5 of water and went into the marina by dinghy, getting soaked by the choppy waves on the way, in order to meet with Customs and Immigrations. It was a Sunday, so the process was leisurely, giving us time to sit in the marina gazebo and enjoy the breeze through the palms. When the immigration officer came, he brought his 9-year old son. He and I had fun playing games on the iPad. He thought grandson Kai was very big for a nine year old!
South Side Marina is a charming hole-in-the-wall compound owned and operated by Bob Pratt, a spry septuagenarian who moved to T&C from the Bahamas 30 years ago. He has set up his marina to attract cruisers. He has all the amenities: electricity, wifi. laundry, gas, diesel, water, clittering palm trees, and a lovely light. There's even a brand new bar perched above the marina. Although a little less lush than my fantasy marina, it's pretty damn close to something I could I imagine us doing. If we could afford it. Which we could never. T&C is a pricy place.
At five, Bob opened his brand new bar on the hill above the marina so we could get a drink and enjoy the view. Then he drove us to the Tiki Hut restaurant at the Turtle Cove Marina on the north shore for a dinner out to celebrate Tom & Bette Lee's 46th anniversary! It was a very good meal and perfect atmosphere for the occasion.
Unsure of how many days QL would be staying, Don had had Bob book us for a two-tank dive trip Monday morning (a holiday - the Queen's birthday) with Ocean Vibe Divers, an outfit that works out of the Marina. Bob is clearly the kind of man who decides who he his going to support with his referrals, and though there is another dive outfit just across the canal, he steered us to Ocean Vibe because "It's run by a young local man who is doing a good job with it."
And this proved true. I'll confess to a moment of pause when we walked up and saw one of the crew loading tanks attired in that new hip hop style of pants-below-the-butt, a look I do not like, but I'm pretty sure the pants came up by the time the rest of the customers arrived, and this same young man ended up being our dive guide, and a good job he did. In fact I was very impressed with the whole operation, a well-balanced mix of humor and safety.
We dove West Caicos, a island about an hour away in the speedy Island Beauty. It was an eye-catching run, particularly the stretch they ran the boat only a few meters of the beach in front of a huge resort development that went defunct and unfinished thanks to the Lehman Brothers financial collapse.
The word is, though, that someone has bought the property and and will rebuild, only word also has it they plan to tear all that is there down and start again! I've got to say that West Caicos is pretty far out, and with hurricane season coming, it's hard to grasp how this would be a good investments. But then again that's probably what they said about Providenciales fifty years ago!
The dives themselves were deep banks, and while the coral landscapes were nothing special (albeit alive!) the animal life was rewarding. We saw lots of reef sharks, a huge turtle (loggerhead?) and a really big green moray that came out and free swam for our entertainment, all up close and unafraid. Plus we saw garden eels, conch, one lobster and a pleasing assortment of favorite reef denizens.
One other little fun thing was glancing down at the gear bags of the young couple next to us reveal the Pan Aqua Logo. They were from my dive shop in NYC!
Tom was waiting for us on our return. The tide was up. he was ready to move Quantum Leap in.
Tuesday morning we acquired Jo Jo, a rental Toyota Opa, kind of a cross between a Rav 4 and a van. Very spacious and good air con! and right hand drive. Lots of windshield cleaning happen because there were a lot of turns! We wandered around a while, trying to match the rotaries we encountered with the map.
Suddenly there was a barber pole in sight, and as both Tom and Don had been complaining about overlong locks, we swerved in. Well, it's overlong no more. We were there about an hour as the dreadlocked barber Alex labored exactingly over both his customers.
Plus, Alex had a friend who apparently brings In a thermal bag of "pastilitos" (little pasties or pates, as the Jamaicans or Virgin Islanders would call them) fried meat empanadas, that he sells to customers for $2 apiece. Such a deal!
We learned from these guys that they are from the Dominican Republic. Turns out a good proportion of the service class in T&C is from the D.R.
Much cleaner cut, but still hungry, we drove to Bugaloo's for lunch. Bugaloo's had been recommended by about everyone we spoke with. There's a good reason why.
It is a beach joint extraordinaire. White sand, shallow water where there actually are tables in knee deep water,
shaded tables on the sand, etc...you get the gist.
add happy, sunburned tourists and you've got it! Bette had conch salad, Don had a conch burger, Tom, had coconut shrimp and I won the day with grilled snapper! best fish I have had in memory!
Bette Lee and I also had lime coladas! Yum!
We drove all over the island after that, from the industrial south port, along the north shore resorts to the east end conch farm (which was closing for the day :-( ). wandering around the residential areas, trying to cover all the paved roads, we stumbled on a kite boarding beach.
We sat for probably and hour enjoying the steady onshore breeze and the swelling crowd of student and expert kite boarders. It's pretty exciting to watch. A lot of very fit young people.
On our way home we hit the IGA supermarket. Just like the best American grocery you'd so find in an upscale neighborhood. be've only been back sailing three weeks and already I find myself back in grocery covet mode. I want it all!
Wednesday, Tom and Bette took the car for a day of errands, while Don and I stayed aboard and did boat chores. These moments where we have the illusion of being "master and commander" again, even if just for everyday chores, making our own lunch, and having a little time to read quietly are suprisingly sweet.
However, we cut the BBQ just a wee bit short to dash to the 8:30 movie! Imagine, going to the movies too full to want popcorn! The film was Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow. We missed the first five minutes. It turned out that didn't matter over much as it repeats about 20 times! Bizarre concept, actually kind of interesting.
Now we are waiting for the tide to rise enough for to safely depart. we cross now to the Bahamas. Our destination is Clarencetown on Long Island, at least an overnight sail. Thanks to the tide-delayed departure, we may need to put in somewhere tomorrow night. We'd like to be in before the weekend. thunderstorms are forecast.
From Long Island we are very close to our end point. Tick, tick, tick.
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