mah1980

Hi:

I'm in the process of narrowing down our plans for our upcoming honeymoon to T & C, May 17-24. Please let me know if you think that I should consider a different restaurant or can speak to a better experience found elsewhere (I've been hearing some negative reviews of Anacaona and wonder if it would be advisable to go to Grace Bay Cottage instead?). Thanks in advance for your help!

Tuesday: Arrive at 1 p.m., check into Sands at Grace Bay, eat lunch at Hemingway’s or somewhere else along the beach, beach, go on IGA shuttle to pick up breakfast groceries, live music and Caribbean barbecue night at Hemingway’s for dinner

Wednesday: Sail Provo afternoon iguana cruise and snorkel (1:30-4:30), Tiki Hut barbecue special (chicken & ribs for$10; at Turtle Cove by the marina)

Thursday: beach and pool, lunch at Sharkbite(Turtle Cove), afternoon horseback ride with Provo Ponies at 4:30 p.m. (lasts one hour), dinner at Coyoba (at coral gardens hotel)

FRIDAY: couples massage with Spa Tropique (35 min. at 2 p.m.), tennis, dinner at Hey Jose’s Mexican food (Central Square on Leeward Highway)

Saturday: bicycling and exploring around the island, dinner at Anacaona or Grace Bay Cottage

Sunday: beach, take out dinner or lunch at Angela’s deli (central square on leeward highway), or Pizza Pizza (Central Square on Leeward Highway)

Monday: 2 hour snorkel trip w/Dive Provo, beach, pool, and tennis.

Tuesday: Sadly return to New Orleans at 1:40 p.m.

These are some notes that I've made per the posts on this board:

-Bring bug spray, blow up floats & sunscreen
-Bring bottles of wine
-Bring bread and other snack food e.g., Pringles, peanut butter crackers
-Bring small packet of laundry detergent

deshazo

It seems like you have everything figured out!

I haven't been to T & C in a while but I hope others can give you some guidance.

greenie

Sounds too regimented for me. You haven't scheduled enough down time. What if you don't feel like having ribs on Wednesday? Will it through the whole plan out of whack?

Relax, that's what vacation is for...explore...just sit and have a couple of beers at the bar for the afternoon...

Peace? Greenie

HowardC

Okay--Here goes--

Dinner Friday--Calico Jacks in Ports of Call shopping plaza. Live music starts at 9 PM. Much better than Hey Joses. You can get better Mexican in the states

Saturday--Dinner at Magnolia in Turtle Cove. Owners Tracey and Gianni used to be part owners of Coyaba

Sunday--Forget take out. You can do that at home and it's your honeymoon so splurge. Bay Bistro at Sibonne. It is right next to Sands and you can walk there on the beach. Have a drink in the bar and have Junior deliver it on his head. He's a great guy.

You didn't list Monday--Recommend Aqua in Turtle Cove or Coco Bistro on the way to RWI on the right hand side. Cal to see if they're open

Enjoy--Provo is awesome. We'll be there for the 17th time 14-20 May

critch

We just got back from Provo last night. The weather was great and hated to leave. I would second Howard's suggestion of Magnolias. It is beautiful at night and we had a wonderful meal. We had planned on ordering the lobster but missed it by a day. There is a shortage so they had to stop serving it as of April 1st. We had the seared tuna and it was great. I would not bother to pack wine. Just buy it at the lizour store at the Saltmaills or at the IGA.
Have a great time!

mah1980

Thanks HowardC for the advice. I've noticed that you are very well-informed on Turks and Anguilla.

beachluver

hi critch
we are leaving Sunday for Grace Bay Club, read your post about shorage of lobster(wish i knew how to do one of those cute yellow sad faces)Is this shortage common to the whole area, or to Magnolias? We have a list of restaurant ideas for the trip, but my husband ususally will have lobster at either lunch or dinner every day(one of the reasons we love to go to Anguilla!!). Any info you or others have would be great. Maybe this will affect the plans of mah1980 also when choosing meals. Thank you.

Chucky

Would most definitely recommend Anacona over Grace Bay Cottage. My GBC experience consisted of un-honored reservation and quite indifferent attitude re same. Not to mention 10 minutes at bar with not even a hint of service. Bad attitude all around. Anacona, on the other hand, had attentive service and is pretty and on the beach with candles, good food too. Best food on Provo in my experience is Coyaba, by far.

Sunnyboy

Here'a another vote for Anacoana. Great food, very attentive service, romantic setting - a truly top notch restaurant. I have to agree with greenie that you are trying to "plan too much". While it's nice to have an idea of what you'd like to do, half the fun of an island vacation (especially a hooneymoon) is being spontaneous. You really don't need to plan your days down to the minute - that's too much like the old movie "If it's Tuesday this must be Belgium". Take it from a seasoned traveller, you'll enjoy your trip more if you leave time to relax and are not constantly on the go or worrying about getting to your next scheduled event on time. Remember, things move on "Island Time" in the T&C's so you should slow down too! Regardless of how you finally decide to approach it, have a great trip.

dove

We spent 5 days at the Sands in Jnauary and had many of the plans you suggested in your itinerary. Ended up doing none of them, except a snorkel trip. Beach is the draw and we decided to spend our time under the umbrella or walking the beach. Visiting different restaurants at lunch time will not be easy. Driving can be difficult and not worth the effort.

I'm sure you've seen other posters observation that Provo is not a beautiful island -- except for the beach which is amazing. Concentrate on the water.

Bring your wine and sit on your screened porch and relax!

By the way, we really liked Hemingways and the Bay Bistro next door at Sibonne. Both very walkable.

mah1980

Thanks Dove! I like to have an itinerary for trips, but of course, if the beach is too inviting we'll definitely forego certain plans. We might only do one tour or so. We like to be lazy on vacations, but I just wanted to get feedback re: our restaurant selection.

As for lunch, we will likely be too content to sit on the beach to go very far for food. I didn't realize the Bay Bistro is right next to the Sands. That's good news.

critch

beachluver-
Sorry to say that the shortage is over the whole island. As a result they were required to stop serving it as of April 1. That is what the owner of the restaurant told us. She was going to have to keep any lobster she had is the freezer and serve it in lobster bisque when the ban was lifted. Can't remember when that would be exactly but I seemed to recall the fall. We were disappointed too, but it did not spoil our trip. Have a great time!!!

beachluver

thank you critch for the reply
I have to say that will be a bit of a disappointment if there is no lobster the whole week, but if it is island wide, not much I can do about it. We are very excited to go this Sunday, I am sure we will have a wonderful holiday.

HowardC

To Beach Lover--This is the time of year that lobsters spawn so it is illegal to catch them. That said some resorts do have lobster but it is frozen. Go to Fairways at Provo golf club for dinner. They have lobster prepared six different ways and it is very good. Suggest calling first as I've forgotten which nights.

To MAH--Anacona is very nice and romantic. The reason I didn't include it is didn't know how many expensive meals you planned on. At Anacona, Coyaba and Magnolia you will spend about $150 for two with a couple of drinks. If you decide on Anacona suggest substituting it for Calico Jacks on Fri. Anacona has live music on Wed Fri and Sat. You might also check out live entertainment at Danny Buoys. Not sure what nights--Call to fond out. It is within walking distance of Sands. If you plan to walk at night pack a flashlight. No sidewalks and very little street lighting where the resorts are.

Another suggestion is to snorkel at Coral Gardens--Only place the reef comes close enough to snorkel off the beach. Have lunch in The beach Bar/restaurant which is good.

jo_ann

We were at the sands in early march -spring break with our teen so certainly a different mood than a honeymoon, but had a terrific time, and know you will also.
I'm finding the notes about lobster really interesting, since I had lobster 3 times, at good places, and it was dreadfully dry each time (this included Grace's Cottage @ GBC, which confirmed the trend.) maybe it was already frozen? so, i wouldn't count lobster on T&C as a loss personally (and normally, with maine lobster, I don't even use butter - this, I was dipping and still too dry.) this was really my only problem with food down there, generally quite good.

My husband and I spent 2 hours one day driving around most of the island. it's more built up than when I was there in 1987, but still not much to see. Also, due to its coral makeup I guess, all of the construction makes it very very dusty, so I'd pass on the "touring the island" in favor of the terrific beach.

Our favorite, most discussed meal is a spot I found mentioned here only once, luckily other friends raved about it so we went: Bugaloo's. On the beach in (as I recall) Blue Hill. It's a small shack kind of place, painted periwinkle blue with touches of yellow and coral - very cute. No walls on 2 sides facing the road. Tiny: maybe 20 by 12? very clean restrooms in a same-paint scheme, free standing building (cleanliness here made me feel good about the sanitation of the kitchen!) kitchen visible from the tables. Some of the people we knew from school were carless and took a taxi - we were able to drive. I think a taxi is generally $8 or so per person.

Their specialty is supposedly the freshest conch on the island - their "crack conch" is the most delicately fried, nicely breaded, lovely dish. $12 got big portion + good cole slaw and something else good that escapes my memory. Nice crowd when we got there for lunch - americans, locals, brits, etc. We got there about 11:45 or so, and got a table. By 12:30, there was a good line.

Well, after feasting and having a Turks Head beer, we decided to walk the 30 feet or so to the beach behind the "building" - to discover on the beach a wiry fellow with a huge stack of cleared out conch shells, a slightly smaller pile of "still to be cleared" conchs, his fins and snorkel right behind him on the beach. About 20 feet offshore, we could see a long line of seaweed parallelling the shore, loaded with - of course - conchs waiting for the kill. For some reason, I pictured the SpongeBob cartoons and visualized them as lambs waiting for the slaughter..found myself wanting to run into the water yelling "creep for your lives". But, didn't. Instead, I spent the week wanting to get back there! (Next trip!)
I would highly recommend this lovely local spot.
We didn't enjoy much about Grace's Cottage, to our surprise. Ambience is lovely, and an easy walk from the Sands. But, I'd probably go just for a drink to admire the resort. Expensive, and waitstaff that seemed to be unhappy that the four of us had arrived, food that was either dry or too spicy to eat (which says a lot given our group's preferences).

Definitely do the rib & chicken night at Tiki - on Wednesdays it's only $10, as you've obviously picked up on. That was our second favorite meal! Great garlic smashed & veggies, both meats really well cooked. We were told to be there BY 6 to get a table - very good advice, as the line was dreadful by the time we finished (I had also called for a reservation - I would suggest that, as it mattered for us that night, even arriving as they opened). Pretty neat when the best meals on an island average $11/meal, eh?

Ate 2x at Hemingway's for dinner, when we just weren't together enough to go anywhere. I loved their conch chowder, which is broth based, really nicely spiced. For lunch, I was addicted to the Fish Tacos. Outstanding!
I spent half the week trying to get our group to Magnolia's, based on raves here. Somehow, ended up being outvoted and sitting through other meals I don't even recall. I would definitely put Magnolia high on the list! It sits in an odd spot on a hillside surrounded by heavy road construction - just above where Tiki Hut is. One of our dinners, I now recall, was the Aqua Grill. No one in our group of 7 cared for it.

the Tuesday free happy hour w/conch fritters at the Sands was good. recommmend being in place for that, as you're indicating. Terri at Spa Tropique has got to be one of the 3 best massage therapists I've ever encountered. She's supposed to be on the island til June 1, I seem to recall, I'd request her if you can.

The Sands provides pretty much unlimited small boxes of laundry detergent (I think it was Tide?)- you just ask for more as you need it, so I wouldn't drag it along. Ditto the bread, wine, etc. The IGA was quite well rounded (altho they sold out of my daughter's favorite pepperidge farms cookie - mint milanos - the 3rd day, and didn't replenish...) I would concur with the bug spray - I forgot to use it one night for dinner at Aqua Grill and had many bites around my ankles.
Have a great time there - it's lovely at the water!

TG

I would scratch the biking tour. While you can take short hops on a bike the roads are so bad and drivers not much better the risk outweighs the benefit IMHO.

I would urge you to walk to Coral Gardens and snorkel the reef just off their beach -- it is as good as any we saw on our boat excursions.

We did not like Danny Buouys at all but to each his/her own. Because we were at The Sands as a family (6 of us) we ate most of our dinners there and enjoyed doing so very much.

beachluver

jo ann
thanks for the info about your lobster experience. Dry usually means overcooked...we will try to hunt some down, and compare to other islands we have been too. BTW, Graces Cottage is not at GBC, Anacaona is at GBC-which is where we will be staying and eating the majority of our dinners at. Thanks for the heads up for Grace Cottage though.

mah1980

Thanks Joann for the specific recommendations.
As for lobster, I'm not concerned about that b/c I don't eat seafood.a

I will definitely ask for Terri at Spa Tropique.

NYGiants27

I just came back from Provo on Sunday. I'll throw in my 2 cents regarding the restaurants that you listed that I dined in. Hemingways was the cheapest restaurant of the whole week, but we loved it. We went on Tuesday for the BBQ and music. They only had 2 bbq'ed dishes so we just ordered off the regular menu. Our appetizers and main dishes were all very good. Coyaba on the other hand was the most expensive by a large margin. I live in NYC so rarely do I have to do a double take at menu prices. I would say that $16 for a soup is a little eye catching(still ordered it haha). The food overall was good, just very overpriced compared to the other restaurants. Anacona had a great setting. HowardC in a previous post wrote that he felt this was the most romantic. I'd have to agree. I also felt they had the best service. Food was good. We enjoyed this restaurant also. You didn't mention Bay Bistro in Sibonne but we felt that was the best meal we had on the island. The restaurant is on a deck overlooking the beach. The setting was nice though not as fancy as Anacona's but the food was amazing. We also ate at Coco Bistro but I would tell you to skip it. Food wasn't anything special. It wasn't bad but I would rather make a return trip to Bay Bistro or Hemingways.
Also do bring bug spray if the bugs seem to like you. I got tons of bites by the "no-see-ums" but my fiance didn't get any. Also, don't go crazy with snacks because the IGA is 5 minutes away and they had pretty much anything and the prices weren't bad considering. One last word of advice. Look up old posts of HowardC. The man is a well of knowledge. A majority of the planning for my trip was done reading his posts. Thanks Howard!

massachusetts_mom

Is the bug problem more in certain months than in others? Any July visitors...please comment...that's when we will be there!