Turks and Caicos Islands (Days 5 and 6)

Monday, May 25--We woke up Monday morning to overcast skies and rain again, so our 2nd attempt at the snorkeling boat excursion also got cancelled. We decided to go back to sleep and didn't wake up until 10:00! We ordered room service for brunch and basically just had a lazy morning since we couldn't really go to the beach in the rain, either. Around noon it stopped raining (although it was very overcast and gray) and we decided to go exploring the island. I had read about a couple of beaches in other parts of the island that I hoped to see before we left. So we set out to find Sapodilla Bay on the opposite site of the island.

We quickly discovered that the island's streets have no drainage system and parts of them were very flooded. The wheels on our car looked like they belonged on a scooter and every time we drove through the flooded parts, we held our breath just hoping we wouldn't end up floating down stream. I kept looking down at my feet to see if they were still dry. We conquered the map (they tend to use landmarks--"go to the round-about at the 2nd Texaco and take a left"--rather than street signs). I was very impressed at Scott's driving skills on round-abouts and on the left-hand side of half-flooded streets. He reminded me that "when you see a car coming straight at you in your lane, it doesn't take long to remember that you're suppose to be in the other one." I spent most of our time in the car laughing! With the number of foreigners on the island, I'm amazed that we never saw a car accident. Surely they have lots of them!

We finally made it to Sapodilla Bay...
We heard that the water was a beautiful color and they were right...even with the dark overcast skies. It was a surreal juxtaposition in person. The water almost seemed to glow in the dark. I can't even imagine what the water looks like on a bright, sunny day.
This part of the island was private homes and vacant land. This little spot where Scott is standing is for sale, if any of you are interested.

After exploring this area, we decided to go see Malcom Beach. About half way there, our car finally met its match and we encountered a flooded road that neither of us thought our car would survive. We surrendered and decided to head back for an early dinner.

After dinner, it stopped raining for a while so we went down to the beach for a swim and sat in the hot tub for a while. (I'm actually not suppose to get in hot tubs while pregnant so I just put my feet in.) We met the nicest couple from Arizona in the hot tub and talked to them for over an hour. Then we went back up to our room and watched another movie before turning in...and prayed that we'd have sunshine on our last morning.

We did! We had to leave our hotel at 1:00 in order to get to the airport for our flight so we got an early start on our last day. Here is a picture of the "complimentary" continental breakfast at our resort. The fruit, especially the mango, was delicious.

Our view at breakfast of the courtyard between the concierge and the restaurant.


We had several hours before we had to leave, so we quickly packed our bags, and decided to use our last few hours to go snorkeling at the coral gardens down the beach. We borrowed snorkel gear from our resort and drove down there. Neither of us had been snorkeling before and I am so thankful that our last morning was sunny so we could go. It was definitely a highlight for both of us! We loved it!


Turks and Caicos is suppose to have some of the best reef diving in the world, but you can't scuba dive while pregnant. (Maybe on our 15th anniversary!) I was thankful they had good snorkeling so close. We bought an inexpensive underwater disposable camera and attempted to take pictures. The pictures definitely don't do it justice, but I included a few of them for fun. It was actually much harder than I expected to take pictures underwater while trying to figure out how to mouth-breathe through a tube!
Here we are underwater laughing at our attempt at a self-portrait (thus all of the bubbles).

We snorkeled around coral gardens that are actually a protected national park and a natural feeding spot for many types of marine life. We couldn't go inside of the buoys, but you could see in and the fish came out to swim with us.
These fish are much larger than they look in these pictures. This one was about 10 inches long. We saw many other colorful tropical fish later. My favorites were a school of fluorescent blue ones and a really large black & white striped one. The highlight was getting to swim over a sea turtle that was about 18-inches long.

More of this type of fish. For some reason, these are the only ones that turned out clear.

A scuba diver down below me.
Thumbs up! Good times.

After snorkeling, we went back to the resort to return our gear, quickly change clothes in the Spa bathroom, and raced off to the airport--saltwater, sand, and all! "Back to life, Back to reality." (Remember that song from the early 90's?) What a fun adventure--and an awesome way to celebrate our 10th anniversary! I'm so thankful we were able to do it!