blamona

This is probably the shortest 1 month long trip report you'll ever read in Fodor's history. The posters that know me on this forum know that I go to Provo for a month at Christmas time, and update the T&C chapter of Fodor's Caribbean guidebook-so I get to hop all over the place. I would rather take questions, than bore you with everything I did, plus, in the end, it's all about the pictures! ;-)


Flights were uneventful. We did Usairways through Charlotte. On the return from Provo, we brought back a potcake that had been adopted by a family in Northern VA. I cannot stress how easy it was to do-and customs in Charlotte treated us like royalty. The hardest part was handing over a beautful puppy that we had bonded with-I'm sure she's very happy in her new home.

I have stayed in the majority of resorts on Provo, and the ones I have not stayed at, we either eat at the restaurants, or I've been through for Fodors. This time we spent a night at Turks and Caicos Club. Excellent, excellent-they welcome you like family, it's a gorgeous boutique hotel on a quiet stretch of Grace Bay. I can't give it enough high complements-trully a little gem on Provo.

Restaurants: this time we ate at: Coyaba (the finest in the Caribbean), Mango Reef (good deal) Baci (decent Italian, pretty setting), Tiki Hut (can't top rib night for a break from heavy foods), Simba's (it gets better all the time), Hemmingways (always have a nice time there-fish tacos for lunch can't be beat), O'Soleil (the best breakfast brunch ever-they really should do them every Sunday), Horse-Eyed-Jacks-decent bar type food, they have a band on Sundays-tons of fun), Da Conch Shack (always fresh-they dive for the conch after you order it), The Grill (went twice-probably the biggest disappointment-it's good but not worth the money, service was spotty at best), Corner Cafe (love those sandwiches), Aqua (pleasantly suprised-I was never crazy about it, find it most improved), Bay Bistro for breakfast (can't beat it on Sat & Sun, what a way to start the day with that view), LunaSea for lunch (they always make me my special chicken-should be on the menu-yum) The new Las Brisas at Chalk Sound (very Spanish food, not the greatest, but not bad-but ah what a setting), Coco Bistro (on a rainy night, so couldn't eat outside in the gorgeous palm grove-still yummy). I also ate lunch at St. Charles in North Caicos (just alright), lunch at Big Daddy's in Grand Turk (yummy and inexpensive!), lunch at Parrot Cay (all about atmosphere-what a gorgeous setting), and the most delicious lunch at Pine Cay at The Meridian Club.

Weather: decent for the most part, always sunny, around 80 degrees. Most of the month was picture postcard perfect (as you will see in the pictures) but for about 10 days in a row, was extremely windy and choppy. Still sunny and pleasant, just can't really snorkel or go on excursions comfortably. The other 21 days were excellent-like living a dream.

There is a lot of dredging going on around Leeward/Pelican Beach. Also around Dellis Cay and North Caicos-made me sad. Concstruction seems to be slowing down a bit (good for me!) and seems like most places are "wrapping up". I think there are still places to avoid for now, in a couple of years they will be gorgeous.

I will reply to this post with excursions and pictures.

blamona

Excursions: We've done them all, so this time we wanted to be different.

My husband and friend went deep sea fishing with Arthur Dean of Silverdeep-had a fantastic time.

We did a beach getaway with JBTours. The day started gorgeous. About 1/2 hour of being dropped off-these squalls and storms rolled through. We had to hold the umbrella so it wouldn't blow away-lasted about 40 minutes (miserable minutes) but then was gorgeous the rest of the afternoon. Of course, it only rained on our beach-it never rained on Grace Bay.

We used BNN Caribbean Princess for a private excursion. It was awesome. It cost a little more per person than a group excursion, but actually had the boat for alot longer anyway. We were the bosses-we decided to explore the cays, look for sand dollars, check out the cannons underwater, take tons of pictures. We could have snorkeled, stopped at Iguana Island, waterski, go tubing, etc. The beauty is it was our choice, we decided when and where. A most awesome day!

We had friends that took us out on their boat one day-what a fantastic day. The weather could not have been more perfect-you probably think I enhanced and manipulated the pictures-I didn't. What a day, great company, great settings.


My daughter & I took the new ferry to North Caicos. We rented a car from Pelican Car Rentals-Mark met us at marina. The ferry is awesome, I think it's one of those airfoils-smooth and fast. When the water is choppy on one side, they take you the back side. Mark was super. We drove all through North Caicos, stopped at places to stay, the different beaches, ate lunch at St. Charles, and drove to Middle Caicos on the new causeway. Stopped at Mondjoun Harbour-I've never seen it so rough before. It was a windy day, but overall a fun experience. NC has long long roads in between everything, and the signs are awful! We stopped at Flamingo pond-and there were about 15 flamingos! (kinda far though)

By myself, I flew to Grand Turk for the day. We stopped at South Caicos to pick up a prisoner in handcuffs! (I'm already a nervous flyer-assume how I felt) but I'm here to talk about it. No taxis would pick us up at airport-it was cruise day. If you self cater a trip to Grand Turk on a cruise day-take taxi phone numbers with you! (or rent a car) I shopped a little at the port (They are opening a Pahrana Joes and Ron Jons soon) The ship left at 1, so after, Oasis Divers took me (and only me) to Gibbs Cay. It was extremely cool-I liked it so much more than Stingray City on Cayman Island.

Pictures for your veiwing enjoyment:

http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...view=slideshow

semiramis

Lovely photos and great report - makes me want to go back!

mymoosie

Gorgeous photos as always blamona! They make me drool and want to head back. Do you have a website for Caribbean Princess. That sounds like a great charter. Thanks for posting! Welcome back to chilly VA!

virginia

your photos are just gorgeous. boy do they make me want to get back there asap.
did you find out anything about a new resort near amanyara?

Gin

Thank you for the post and those fabulous pictures. Just we needed to hold us over until March. We'll stay at the T&C Club for part of our stay so I'm glad to hear you say "excellent, excellent".

We'll also be staying at the OC and I wondered if the beach east of the OC has been affected by the dredging. We love that walk.

Thanks again - I've already looked at your pictures twice!

Kristen1206

I have been waiting for this! First question..when are you adopting a Potcake of your own???? I will dogsit when you go to Provo!!

Aside form the beach and water of course, one reason I am looking forward to going back to Provo is to try more restaurants. We enjoyed Mango Reef, Hemingways and Magnolia the best. Had a bad experinece at Tiki Hut though based on your and others reviews, that seems to be an oddity. Want to try Coco Bistro, Bay Bistro and Coyaba next time. Oh..also loved Da Conch Shack.

And I can't wait to try some excursions...when we went Ellie hadn't even turned 1 yet so we were rather limited.

The Stingray encounter looked awesome as did Parrot Cay. Also would love to do a fishing charter. Would be coo to the see the fish as you reel it in as opposed to just getting to it as it nears the surface as is the case off the coast of Ocean City, MD.

But I am the only one having difficulty viewing your pics?? The slideshow only shows certain photos and the rest I can only view the thumbnail

Ava is one lucky little girl!!

Now you have the wheels in my mind spinning for our a 5 year Anniversary trip in December!

Kristen1206

I pulled the photo link off of the TA post and it worked!

Question for you...how the beach at GT (near the port) compare to Grace Bay?

Kristen1206

Okay..Water Cay looks AMAZING! Definitely we are going to rent a boat next time we go.

lowrancs

Great trip report and pics! Can you give an update on what sort of development/construction is happening around Point Grace resort right now? We've booked a room there in May -- is the beach a lot more crowded there than at Turks and Caicos Club?

SusGar

Do you know anything about Ocean Beach Club Resorts ? Looking for a condo,suite ,small villa cottage,place for 2.Looking at late March early April. Easy beach access,quiet beach . Not a big family vacation area where there might be alot of children. First time visitors.Thank you for your help.

caribtraveler

Another great trip. Lucky you! Your opinion of The Meridian Club? Thought of staying there. Thanks.

Libby123

Hi, I am taking a cruise in March that stops at Grand Turk. I wanted to do some snorkeling as I heard the reefs are beautiful. I'd rather avoid a ship tour if I could. Can you tell me if it is possible to just take a cab to a beach with good snorkeling or perhaps take a cab to a boat that takes you out to a reef? Thanks

blamona

virginia: I don't know about another resort next to Amanyara. There is talks about a new resort being built by Northwest Point.

Gin: dredging won't affect your walk-the beach is now boulder free and wide all the way up to Pelican Beach.

Kristen1206: The beaches of Grand Turk are smaller, rockier in parts (makes for better snorkeling. Grace Bay is a much nicer beach-but sometimes the water in GT glows and is more turquoisey (made up word?)


lowrancs: while T&C Club may be a little quieter, Point Grace is extremely quiet too.

SusGar: Ocean Clubs are extremely kid friendly, and one of the more crowded places to stay. (Although crowded in Provo is relative-such a long beach, you can always find a quieter stretch-even at OCs) For less kids without going to the "expensive properties", why not check out Villa Renaissance? It's more self catering, but on a quiet stretch and very few kids (if any.) Also try Turks & Caicos Club (call them directly for specials) while more than say OC, you can get some good packages. Alexandra, while kids friendly, doesn't seem to get as crowded as OC, RWI, or Sands. There are also plenty of rental villas if you like quiet-Corriander Cottage comes to mind. It's in Turtle Cove, walking distance to numerous restaurants, and close to the best off-the beach snorkeling in Provo.

Caribtraveler: we always seem to "follow" each other, one of these days we'll probably meet. (If we haven't already and just don't know it. ;-) ) Meridian Club is completely different than Parrot Cay-no phones, no TVs, no AC. While at Parrot Cay, someone is always serving you, Meridian is about relaxing. It feels more "homey", the food is excellent, but more basic. (for my tastes, far superior than PC.) Pine Cay, where it's located, is trully one of the most gorgeous beaches of them all-it's perfect. You can now call, make reservations for lunch-includes the boat trip out, and they'll show you around. It's expensive, but gives you a good idea about how you like it. You could really destress here, catch up on books, etc. The rates include food (no drinks) and snorkel trips.

Libby123: GT is unique, in that if you want an excursion, you have to book through the cruise ship, you can't book independantly. However, you can get a taxi at the port, and head out to Bohio Resort-great off the beach snorkeling there, it will be a quiet area, and an excellent lunch there. You may want to email ahead to see if they will rent snorkel equipment (if you don't have your own.) You'd still have time to walk Front Street, check out the excellent museum. Another option, is have the taxi take you to Sand Bar-a small restaurant on the beach, and you can snorkel there and eat. Oasis Dive is across the beach, and you can also walk up and down Front Street.

allietoo

Nice to see some positive feedback on Meridian Club. We are giving it another try this Spring. We had several lovely years there in the past and then a rather significantly "off" year two years ago. I noticed that you seem to be commenting primarily on lunch.
Did you also stay over or was it just part of one of your adventures? Have there been room renovations? It sounds like the food may be back to its old (good) standard or was it a lucky hit? It is a lovely beach. At it's best, we haven't found anything like it. I am so hoping that we will find it worth the "significant investment."
Any further details to report would be appreciated.Did you see a lot of day-trippers? (We were sort of unpleasantly surprised by loud,messy picnics and shelling expeditions for the first time, last time.)
Even looking at your beautiful pictures is therapeutic... We are in the middle of a snow storm here.

Libby123

Hi, thanks very much for the info. Will check it out.