jgarlich

Well, we're back...and had a great time in Provo. Thanks for all the wonderful advice from Blamona and Virigina and others...We stayed at Lakouba Villa in Sapodilla Bay and it was fabulous!!! Highly recommend the Villa and the location. We were very away from the tourist and hussle of the grace bay side, but we didn't mind that at all...we loved it. The water is the best in the world...and we've been to many caribbean islands. I can only think of 3 disappointments...Mosquitos in the evening (but we have them at home, so we are used to them) and then we never able to buy fresh fish at five cays...that was a little difficult to find and kinda bad part of town and no fish. Also the potcakes were a major problem on our beach...there was a pack of them that chased the tourists renting the villas, including us, so we had to stay on our private area. We called authorities and Potcake foundation, etc. and little was done while we were there. These were no nice pack either...they were agressive and scared all the kids. The day before we left, a news crew came and shot a show on them to get the authorities to do something..hopefuly that will work. Other than that it was a great week...would love to be there again!!!!

Kristen1206

I am surprised to hear about the potcakes being aggressive. I have never encountered that before. Maybe they were hungry??

Glad you had a good time and that you enjoyed lakouba. That is one that a group of us are consdiering renting in 2012. Do you have any photos you can share?

blamona

La Kouba is very cool, Moroccan looking.

I saw on the news about the aggressive potcakes. Strange thing about it, in the past the potcakes were never aggressive. But here's the thing, many ex-pats with the bad economy are leaving the island, and not taking the dogs with them-I can only assume how bad they would get. Unfortunitely potcake place and tcspca can only deal with puppies, they don't have any manpower for adult dogs. Sad to hear about it--not only for the dogs, but for the tourists trying to relax. I heard on the news, that some dogs were chasing some tourists all the way into the water-and as shallow as Sapadilla Bay is, had to have been a workout! If I had to make a prediction, the property owners will have to do something about it.

Five Cays Fishery-you probably didn't go far enough. The road forks, and the one towards the right, starts being unpaved. You have to go thru all the potholes, etc until it ends, and then it's on your left. You'll see small boats parked next to it. Not really a marina, just small almost handmade looking boats. I may try to include a map in the next edition of Fodors In Focus: Turks and Caicos.

Do you have any pictures you can share?

virginia

i'm so glad you had a good time minus the potcake issue - i feel awful that you encountered that. they're usually nice dogs.
i've looked at lakouba too. it does have an excellent location. did you like it? did you drive on out past your driveway to see the fancy houses? or go over to taylor bay?
did you go out for any great meals?

kellybeaches

Hi jgarlich,
Thanks for your trip report! I would love to see pictures if you can share and hear more about your trip! We're part of that group with Kristen looking to rent Lakouba, Crystal Sands (the villa next door) and Villa Maribelle, all along Sapodilla in 2012. Did you see those while there as well? How was the sunset? Did it set over the water out front of your villa? Hopefully they'll have the dog issue worked out by the time we go. thanks!

jgarlich

Sorry so late getting back with y'all...To answer some of your questions, no it wasn't that the dogs were hungry, although I'm sure they were, it's a sad situation, but they were very agressive and yes, Blamona, that was us they chased into the water...our kids too!!! At Lakouba Villa you really were not affected by them because we have a private beach and water access directly in front of our villa, it was only when we walked down the bay that we encountered them. They really harrassed the renters of those houses and they had no where to go to get away from them. We just told our kids not to go down there. Also, we were there for the film crew that came and did a piece on the potcake problem. It was our property manager, Marjorie, that did that. Anyway, I'm sure the problem is taken care of by now and I would not let it stop me from going back. About Lakouba...Loved it and highly recommend staying there again. It is so spacious, huge house...lots of privacy for couples, etc. and the best location. The Sunset was right in front of the house and we enjoyed it every night. About dinner...we never went out to eat, since there was 12 of us...we just cooked and enjoyed our outside kitchen and view. We walked to Las Brisas and enjoyed drinks in the afternoon, but that was about it...there was no reason to leave the house...it was great! About Five Cays...we went to the very end, met the fishermen, it was just bad timing and there was a little bit of a language barrier...we got there at 4:30 and I don't know if we were too early or too late...one guy said that we could come back at 5:30, but like I said, it was kinda scarey going down there...maybe it's not a bad place, but we felt kinda vunerable...lots of gang writings on everything, etc. And when we first walked up a guy outside either asked me for a smoke or was trying to sell me some smoke, I couldn't understand, but just said no. And Kellybeaches, the other villas are nice on Sapodilla, but Lakouba is the best by far, because of its location and privacy. We did walk up the road to ocean point villas and if I stayed anywhere else, I would stay in one of those...they are FINE!!! and Taylor bay is right there and gorgeous!!! Beautiful area. I do have great pics, but I don't know how to post them...if you give me some direction on that, I will do that.

yannis

Hello all, ...I am not sure whether I should be worried...In the beginning, reading the first posts...it wasn't clear to me what...potcakes were!!! I kept reading of course and...well, we are dog people and we don't mind dogs, but...in our planned trip to TC (staying at the Sands) we would rather not have to see/deal with dogs...is that going to be an issue there at the Sands?
p.s. Glad to hear you had a great time. This makes our excitement for this trip grow even bigger. We are looking forward to a week's vacation that we so desparately need (especially the wife .
yannis

Caribzack

The area where the Potcake problem is ( was) is not on Grace Bay or the Sands resort--no worries ! Have fun

yannis

caribzack,
great! thank you.

kellybeaches

Thank jgarlich for the additional info! I have villa mirabelle reserved as we'll be staying there, but the rest of our party will be staying at Lakouba and/or Crystal Sands. Is Lakouba nicer than the photos online? I wasn't overly impressed by the photos as it looked rather sparsly decorated. The pool area looked beautiful though! I would love to see your pictures. If you took them digitally, you can post them to a site such as kodakgallery or snapfish. Then you can "share" that gallery by sending it to your own email address. You'll see a share album tab on that site. Click on the link that comes to your email address to view the shared album. The url that takes you to is the url you can post here so we can view your photos. Try copying it into your browser first to make sure it works. I hope that's not too confusing! I'd really love to see your photos as I think that will help me feel more confident in having my family stay at Lakouba. Thanks!!!