jennreyiw

Okay - we just returned from Provo and here is the report - I'll try to put in as much detail as I remember and will post photos soon.
Background - Husband and I are both in our mid 30's - have 3 boys (who stayed home) and we have never been out of the country. Also, this was our first trip as real adults - by that I mean we didn't go with my folks, or our friends and did I mention no kids?? After much debate we ended up renting a villa instead of staying at a resort.
Airport - We flew Kansas City to Atlanta to Provo with Delta on Saturday to Saturday. Thoughts on airport in Provo - EASY - for our first international flight it couldn't get easier. Customs was a breeze and although we were prepared both coming and going to get our luggage snatched out of our hands by locals hoping to earn a few bucks we never experienced anything close to it. I did have one man approach me, but he was more than polite and asked if I would like some help - when I replied "no thank you" he wished us a great trip and walked away.
Leaving the island was a breeze also - we arrived early, but I don't think it was needed - the delta lines were short and sweet while the american airlines lines were CRAZY - glad I choose Delta.
My husband was escorted into a back room while they ripped apart one of our suitcases - the lady didn't even allow him to tell me where he was going - he tried to get my attention, but I was too busy talking to the lady checking us in. So I ended up standing around for about 10 minutes wondering what the heck happened to my husband. Then before boarding the plane we were both stopped for additional screening - honestly - I don't think we look like criminals - but who knows.
Transportation- After arriving on the island we were greeted by a representative of the Coriander Cottage - managed by Island Management (could be Island Villa Management). Anyway - she was just nice enough not to come off rude, but that's about it - she quickley dumped us into a cab with a guy who didn't even know where he was going. I finally got him to warm up to us just before arriving at the villa. We tipped him nicely so that he would come back later to take us to the grocery. Well after three phone calls we finally decided to walk over to Scooter Bob's and rent a car for a couple of days. We rented "kew" - a little four door that was in good shape - got great gas mileage - but way too expensive. We paid $59.00 a day and he "upgraded" our car for us. Nice enough guys, but they need to rethink their pricing. I had already reserved a car through Grace Bay Car Rentals so we returned "Kew" and Todd brought us over a little SUV. This car although small was very nice and we paid the same price per day for this one as we did with Scooter Bob. Todd and his staff are more than helpful - so nice to talk to. I highly recommend them! Driving on the left wasn't too bad - the round abouts on leeward were a little crazy, but overall not hard - I say this, but I never drove - I told my husband how to drive, but I never actually got behind the wheel.
Villa - We opted for a villa versus a resort simply because we are not the most outgoing people. We like our privacy and don't want to have to worry about anyone else. So we rented the Coriander Cottage through tcllas.com The staff (Shandon) was more than helpful before our stay. The villa was beautiful - we really enjoyed the crows nest and the short walk to the beach. A few things to note on the villa: There is not a safe, there is an alarm system however. There is only one way to lock up the house and that is to leave through the front door - not a huge problem, but it would have been nice just to walk off the back patio to go to the beach instead of having to walk through the "jungle" around the side of the house. They need to replace the kitchen rug and the sofa - both are pretty worn. We had an issue with the shower being way too hot - when we called on it Island Villa Management sent over Thomas within the hour. Thomas was so nice - great guy and very helpful - he was by far our favorite local. Then we had an issue with the alarm system - I was freaking out - I had some issues with feeling safe in the villa - not because anything happened (well except the fingerprint police evidence still on the back door) so I talk to Kerry at IVM - who now thinks I have totally lost my mind because I start freaking out about not being able to lock down the house. She is so nice that she actually got the security company to come over that night (at about 10 o'clock) to fix it. Big thanks to Kerry! I felt so much better about staying in the villa after the man left - he did a complete check of the whole system and then showed me that we had a remote panic button in the bedroom if we needed it. I wish that the lady that met us at the villa would have showed me that - it would have saved me a lot of stress. Anyway - the villa other than those issues was great - loved it.
We did have a run in with ants on our last day. Quite an experience -my husband had left a glass of juice in the sink and when I woke up there was this huge line of ants coming into the house for the handout. I quickly took care of the problem and proceeded to pour myself some cereal - my bowl looked like something out of the movies - there were little ants climbing out of the bowl and all over the cereal - needless to say I had to fix myself some eggs instead.
Food - Since we are on the topic - we didn't eat out but twice - we are not huge restaurant people - we prefer to cook for ourselves. DO NOT go to the IGA on Saturday - mad house! Crazy! Everything is about 2 times the price at home. We did buy the bakery bread that was SO GOOD instead of the name brand. Loved it. I paid just about $4.00 for a six pack of coke. Little Debbie Snack cakes were like $2.80 instead of the marked $1.79. A pound of hamburger was close to $4.00. Beer was $11.99 for a six pack and I am so glad that I brought my wine from home. The same cheap wine that we normally pay about $5.99 for in Kansas was $15.99 in the IGA and it must have gotten hot in transport because it tasted horrible. Same with the bottle that was left by the IVM at our villa - I have had it before as well and it was awful. Glad I splurged and brought my good wine from home.
We ate one afternoon at SharkBite - horrible food - horrible service.
We also ate at the tiki hut - good food - okay service. I say only okay simply because there were only 3 other tables occupied while we were there, but they first brought us the wrong food and then gave us our chack and didn't even ask if we wanted more to drink or a dessert. So I had to flag her down to order a mini chocolate cake. Well - they brought me the mini pina coloda bread pudding cake. And then not one person, but two argued with me that it was the chocolate cake. I looked at these people like they were out of their minds. They two do not even resemble the other in any way. So they finally brought me the chocolate cake that was suppossed to be warm - well the outside was warm, but the inside was ice cold - they obviously had just removed it from the freezer and thawed it in the microwave.
We'll stick with grilling out at the villa from this point on.
Okay - a couple of points to clear up - I rented the villa through tcvillas.com and if you were confused on the car rental portion - here's the run down - we had originally planned to rent with GBC rentals for three days during midweek so we ended up renting with scooter bob until the day Todd from GBC rentals brought the other car over - hope that makes more sense now.
Excursions - only one. Did the half day snorkel with Caicos Dream Tours. The owner is a very nice guy - beware though once you get him talking he just keeps going. Very nice. The boat was very clean and comfortable - the captains very helpful and friendly. We did not get to snorkel the barrier reef because it was breaking and the area they ended up taking us to was just so so. Diving for conch was way too much exercise for me. The current where they took us was really strong, but I did manage to get a couple. We then went to half moon bay and watched him prepare the conch - I actually tried it raw and surprisingly I liked it. Overall it was a fun relaxing morning.
Snorkeling - we started out by checking out coral gardens and were pleased. We snorkeled all the way around and saw a bunch of fish, a turtle and a little herd of about 12 squid. Had a lot of fun. We also tried to do Smith's reef, but the current was a bit much the day we tried, however there is a smaller reef a little further down the reef just where the iron shore ends that we same around often. We did get to see a bit of smith's reef one day, but for the most part the current was either too strong or the visibility was not good. We went back another time to Coral Gardens and were surprised by a huge turtle that allowed me to take some up close and personal shots. And a huge ray swam right under me - it was black with spots (eagle ray ??)
Grace Bay Beach - our thoughts on this beach are - gorgeous to look at and play in - I hated walking it. Way too much effort involved. I am used to florida and South Carolina beaches that you can walk and ride a bike on - firmer under foot. However, we loved laying on the beach and staring out at the water.
Malcombs - probably our most enjoyable day. The waves were rough on Grace Bay so we headed out to Malcombs. The water here was amazing. We snorkeled all over and saw quite a bit of fish and some (although few) really large coral. I don't think an experienced snorkeler would enjoy it, but we loved it.
Taylor Bay - Great place to take the kids - other wise we didn't like it - great photo op, but nothing else and I hated the drive to it.
Osprey Point/West Harbour - Took us a while to find the right road out to it, but once we did we were pleased. At first we were not even going to get out of the car - the trash around here was gross - but we saw a nice guy walking his dogs and he told us to walk all the way past all the conch/rocks lining the beach and after quite a ways we will come to the sandy beach. Worth the walk and hike through the trash - the outcome was beautiful.
Weather - we had the best weather - 80's all week with fluffy clouds floating by. It rained three times for about 30 seconds each time and then one night we had a nice soak for about an hour with fun wind that blew the palm trees around. The water was a bit rough through out the week - the barrier reef was breaking everyday, but we would just venture out to the other side of the island when it got too bad.
Final thoughts - as long as you are on the beach it is a beautiful island. However the trash everywhere is ridiculous - it needs to be a priority of the government to get it under control. The locals I thought were rude. We tried to be polite and open to them, but I don't think the way we were treated would fall under the category of them leaving us to ourselves or them keeping to themselves. I think that the owners of the establishments we went into from the grocery store to the restaurants to the gas stations need to teach their employees a few manners simple things like hello, thank you, etc would be great. We loved our trip and am glad we went, but I think we will try another place for our next trip.
I will post photos as soon as I unpack the cameras.
Thank you to all who gave me such great advise on the island!

mah1980

Wow, definitely a glass half empty trip report!

semiramis

First I agree about the trash situation - something needs to be done. The last time I was on Provo, we really noticed it.

However I totally disagree about the locals being rude. Personally I find overly intrusive, phony friendliness and 'openness'
much more "rude" and very unnatural, forced and actually rather aggressive in an unpleasant way. I like the fact that in T&C, people are quiet, dignified, reserved and not in your face. They do not pretend that perfect strangers are long-lost friends and fall all over them with excessive greetings and over-familiarity. When you get to know someone on Provo, their friendliness is very sincere and thoughtful. I have always found service people to be polite and dignified.

ejcrowe

Thanks for taking the time to write up your trip report. Sorry that you didn't have a better time for your first "real" adult trip.

jennreyiw

I think some of you miss understood me - as I stated we enjoyed our trip and had a great time. I simply stated that when I say hello to someone, like when I enter a store and am handing them money a simple hello and thank you would be nice instead of completly ignoring me and sticking out a hand.

caribtraveler

Thanks for posting. Glad you loved the trip despite some of the negatives. We did notice the trash at a couple of places we went to. Very disappointing. No rude locals for us though. Looking forward to your pics.

jennreyiw

Photos are here:

http://reynoldsfamily5.shutterfly.co...pY&notag=1

caribtraveler

I take it back. We did have an unfriendly waitress (and slow) at Tiki Hut.
Off to look at your pics now.

virginia

loved your pictures, especially the under water ones. great shots of corals, fans and the turtle. did you swim or try to snorkel at osprey rock?

KVR

Thanks for sharing. Your pictures brought back memories. I do agree with some of your comments. T & C wasn't for us either, but glad we experienced it to make that decision.

travelerfromtx

Great pictures! I liked them all, but especially the pelican at Osprey Point, those rainbow pictures, and those awesome underwater pics. Thanks for posting them.

Kristen1206

we also had a bad experience at tiki hut, but overall loved the island and RWI where we stayed.

BeachGirl247

Enjoyed your report and pics! Brought back memories of that beautiful beach!! We tried to book Corriander Cottage for our trip but it wasn't available. I really appreciate the photos of the villa as that is nice to see the distance to the beach, etc.

Tiki Hut was sloooooow for us, too. Really bad service -- or lack thereof. But enjoyed it anyway.

Thanks for sharing your trip!

(Do you live in Kansas City? We go there often to visit our kids in Lawrence.)

jennreyiw

We did not try to swim/snorkel at the at pelican / osprey point - but could be done for sure.

Coriander was great - for a couple it could not be beat - loved it. If I could find another one like it elsewhere I would book it again in a heartbeat. I wish I would have taken more pictures of it.

My favorite picture beside the turtle is the one of the washed up half of a boat on long bay.

Yes - we are from KC and maybe that's my problem concerning my thoughts on the locals. Honestly, where we live it is rare that you walk into a mcdonalds, gas station or whatever and are not greeted with a hello and left we a thank you.

Many more places to go and since it has taken us so long to get started we have a lot of catching up to do.

cmcfong

Loved your photos, Jennifer. They were splendid. I also appreciated your candor and detail in the trip report. Welcome home and thanks for taking the time to post.