We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~Hilaire Belloc

Wrapping up my vacation posts with a final picture taken at Ports of Call and a video of Grace Bay.  We've settled back into our normal routine but once in a while we still get pangs of nostalgia.  It helps to watch this video and remember our beautiful beach!

We travel to eat...

Whenever B and I travel, part of our explorations always include a trip to the local grocery store to check out new and interesting food.

It is an understatement to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our meals in the Turks and Caicos.  Although it may not be the gourmet capital of the Caribbean like St Martin is (and I still dream of freshly made croissants from there), Provo held its own, especially with seafood dishes.

We loved the local favorite Da Conch Shack and our beautiful meal at Las Brisas.  Here are a few other meals we'll be remembering as well.

Fish and chips at Hemmingways--our first dinner, right on the beach

Crispy aumoniere of scallop (scallops in a thin pastry shell) from Mango Reef at the Royal West Indies

Grilled lemon chicken and couscous tabouli salad from Lemon Cafe

And the best lemon tart ever from the same cafe

Taylor Bay and Chalk Sound

Though we spent most of our time on Grace Bay, we did take a day trip out to Taylor Bay, another beautiful beach on the Caribbean side of the island (versus the Atlantic).  Taylor Bay has the same amazing blue water and white sand but one huge difference is that it is shallow for hundreds of yards.  B and I started out walking to knee deep water and kept walking for at least 300 yards and the water was still knee deep!  Here's a video (sorry for the shoddy video taking) of an almost 360 degree look when I was standing out about 200 yards or so from the shoreline.  And the end of the video you can hear B say--"it's shallow out here!" 



Since Taylor Bay is a bit out of the way, there are very few people there which makes it feel like your own private beach.  The million dollar houses surrounding the beach are really luxurious as well.  We waded around and picked out our favorite seashells.

Then we drove down the road a little to a fabulous restaurant called Las Brisas where we had a yummy seafood lunch.

Scallops for me

And a grilled fish sandwich with fries for B

The restaurant overlooked Chalk Sound National Park--the view was amazing!

Da Conch Shack

One of our favorite places we ate at was a local place called Da Conch Shack.  It's on the other side of the main island of Providenciales and we were happy to have rented a car for the week (even if B had to drive on the left side) so we could explore the island and visit Da Conch Shack.

View of the older conch shells on the way in.  The restaurant is on the beach where they fish for conch and prepare it fresh for you.

The menu featuring their famous rum punch and further on down the menu, you'll notice that a "Fuzzy Happy Feeling" is FREE!

We ordered cracked conch (similar to fried calamari), along with conch fritters and homemade fries and rice and beans.

And as always in T&C, every meal comes with a view!

Here's a quick video showing some parts of the restaurant and bar as well as the shelves of polished conch shells you can purchase for souvenirs (you'll hear them blowing on the conch shells near the beginning and then again at the end of the video).  You'll also hear a hammering noise and that's part of the process of getting the conch meat out of its shell. You can also see the kids fishing for conch quite close to the shoreline (the blue water is slightly darker because of all the conch on the ocean floor)

Another starfish in the sea

So remember the starfish that B stepped on discovered earlier in the week?  We found its grandfather on our last day on Grace Bay!

Here's my foot in comparison--it was about 18 inches in diameter!

And just how did we discover this one?  Well, I was the guilty party that stepped on it this time.  Sorry grandpa starfish!

An extended day in paradise

The vacation gods smiled down on us and we were given an extra day (well really just 14 hours) more to spend on the island. After 5 hours in the tiny airport (with no a/c), it was determined that our flight was canceled. When the announcement was made, B and I made a mad dash to get reticketed and we got put up at the Alexandria, an awesome resort on Grace Bay. We immediately got into a cab, checked into our suite and rummaged through our luggage for our swimsuits, determined to enjoy one more dip in the ocean.

Everything went smoothly for our trip back today and while it's nice to be home and with the pups, we're still missing our home away from home...



And of course, the view...



Incidentally the internet gods (or the google gods) disabled my account (email, blog, documents etc) because it was hacked into on Friday. In order to verify that I was in fact, me, I had to wait until getting back into the US before regaining access (and then having to go through and delete 500 or so spam messages the hackers had sent out from my account--if you got one--sorry!). Even though I suffered from email withdrawal, ultimately this was a good thing and helped me savor the last bit of vacation. And it'll allow me to relive everything as I have plenty to post about for the next week!

Sunset dinner at the Somerset

One of our favorite evenings so far was a beachfront dinner at the Somerset--one of the many grand hotels that line Grace Bay



It has a gorgeous infinity pool that leads out to views of the beach



We had read rave reviews about Caribbean night from tripadvisor and so were excited to make reservations for the occasion. Tables and chairs were set out right on the beach



Good food was served (you're looking at lots of sides and cracked conch--a local favorite--B had ribs, bbq chicken and grilled fish)



Entertainment was provided by local duo, Nada (just Daniel here, Nadine was off somewhere chatting) while we watched the sunset and stars come out that night




And here's my first attempt at putting up a video to help capture some of the sights and sounds of our evening

Sailing the Beluga

We had the best time sailing on the Beluga with Captain Tim yesterday.

Here's his first mate Scooner getting comfy for the sail ahead

It took Captain Tim about 15 min to talk me into the water for snorkeling.  In my defense we were in the middle of the sea, the reef was about 20 feet deep and he had just mentioned sharks!  This particular reef is the 3rd largest in the world--it was absolutely beautiful--like being in a tropical fish aquarium!

We sailed all afternoon, enjoying french bread, cheese and rum punch.  Near the end of the day, we stopped off at a beach to wander and pick seashells and then took in the sunset on the way home.

Underwater

We spotted a friendly starfish yesterday while swimming at Grace Bay though he was probably a bit disgruntled when B accidentally stepped on him...

We're sailing on the Beluga today and hopefully will spot more underwater wildlife!

Happy 4th of July!

We made it and here's our first view of the beach yesterday. Even with a cloudy sky the water is incredibly blue and the sand is white and fine. More updates soon!