Our last day

Could it be true? Is this our last day on Turks and Caicos? Yes, the reality is setting in and we will be leaving this beautiful island tomorrow at 3:30pm. Sad, sad, sad.  But happy to get home to our own home and wedding cake :)


Today we were supposed to explore the rest of the island.  We reserved a car rental for today but for some reason there was a mixup and they didn't have it.  In hindsight, it was meant to be, bc we were pretty exhausted from our morning adventure with Matt and Katie.


We went to Smith's Reef in Turtle Cove, which is about a 10 minute drive from our hotel.  Someone on facebook recommended that we should check out Smith's Reef, especially if the water isn't too choppy.  Well the water was choppy.  We all went in and I was the first soldier out.  Couldn't handle getting beat up like that.  Here are a couple of crappy underwater shots.  Our camera keeps fogging up, so apologize if it's not the best photos

Nelson, Katie, and Matt stayed in a while longer and I just chilled on the beach with the camera.  I noticed these beautiful houses on the side...

 Wouldn't it be nice to rent this place out with 20 other people bc I'm sure that's the only way we could afford it! 

Wonder if there are any celebrity houses here.  Prince just bought a 10 million dollar home in T&C, not shown here, but can you imagine how huge it is?

 Snorkelers are at it! 

This beach had a rocky shore line, very pretty, but slippery too.

After snorkeling, we all worked up an appetite and we went to a restaurant called The Sharkbite.  Unfortunately I didn't take any photos, but here's the link:  http://www.thesharkbite.com/

It was good food, nothing fancy, but if you want a good burger/bar food, this is a good place to go bc it's right on the marina so you can see turtles pop up here and there.  

We got back to the hotel, relaxed on the beach and Nelson hunted for more baby conch shells (btw, they aren't really conch shells, but we just like to say that they are)

Had dinner tonight at the restaurant here at our hotel again, Mango Reef.  Pretty good food and today we had better seats.

 Caught Matt & Katie having a glass of wine on the beach during sunset. How romantic!

 Our view from our table, great sunset on our last night

Turk's head beer - 3.50!

Nothing like a cold Turk's Head

Yum

 Our appetizer - we ordered this last night too.  Vietnamese chicken salad 

 Gorgeous 

 We're enjoying our last night's dinner

 I ordered the Veggie Risotto - delicious!

 Nelson had the Atlantic Salmon - he loved it too and he's not a Salmon guy!

 Matt & Katie stopped by before their dinner and we said our farewells! Fun times with them!

 Warm chocolate cake - this picture doesn't really do it any justice

This is the walkway from the Restaurant back to our hotel room area.  They have a lovely light set up.

 This is Mango Reef, the restaurant, on the beach.

Ok this flyer really wants me to stay another day bc there's an Easter Egg hunt here tomorrow at 4pm! I would totally beat those kids at the hunt! Oh well, maybe next time!

Well it's time for us to start packing now, boohoo.  Maybe we'll blog in Charlotte airport during our 4 hour layover.  Woohoo!  See you soon, NYC!

One love, one heart
Let's get together and feel all right

Conch Cracking Good Time

Hi guys! So today was our 6th day here and can't believe it's gone by so fast! 


This morning we woke up early (6:45am) and I headed down to the beach to claim our chairs.  Only problem was that it started to pour when I got down there.  So instead of waiting it out, I asked Raymond, the umbrella guy, to hook me up with 2 chairs and umbrella if possible.  Of course, gave him a tip.  According to the other guests, if you tip the guys everyday they will take care of you.  So i follow the rules and went back up to the room.  Came back down and he showed us our chairs.  We plopped our stuff down, went for a jog, and then I came back to find these at our spot:

Not Nelson's sandals

And not our magazines but the pink bag is mine, plus my sandals were missing

Long story short, the couple came back to their chairs and said that they were their chairs.  There was a mixup and Raymond pretty much gave us other people chairs.  We ended up getting chairs, but this confusion of beach chairs is a pain in the behind, so that would be my 1 negative about The Alexandra Resort.  Other places on the island are not like that. 

Ok sorry for my little rant about beach chairs!

At 1pm we had another excursion today with Caico Dream Tours. It was fun! We went conch diving, snorkeling, and saw iguanas at a deserted island. 

 This tour group was great and we really enjoyed our 1/2 day with them.  It was 89 per person and you really get your money's worth

 one of the same catamarans that we were on

Dr. Delroy, our captain.  Very nice and funny

 Our resort from sea

 Free diving for Conch's.  Nelson caught 2 and I didn't attempt :)

 The private island that tours go to, just down the beach Oprah has a home here

This is Buff, a native Turks and Caicos man and he catches and cleans out the conches everyday.  We got one to take home! This man has never seen snow!

He also reminded me of the guy from The Blind Side, the gentle giant.  

 Behind the private beach, there are many iguanas that reside there.  It seemed very desert like as well.

 Water used to be here so it seems very deserted.

 A poor dead crab in the desert sand.

 Nelson in front of the desertlike beach.

 Another iguana friend.

 Back to the beach where we docked the boat.

 It was very windy on that beach so it was kind of chilly, but I'm not complaining! 

Last year on our honeymoon, we wrote this out with Cairns 2010.  We can't believe that we are 4 days away from our 1 year anniversary! This time last year, I can't even remember what I was worried about! Flowers maybe?

After we got back, we were pretty tired and didn't venture far from the hotel.  We had dinner tonight at our resort and bc we were so tired, we decided to leave the camera at home. You didn't miss much! We were listening to a lot of Bob Marley songs and one that will continue in my head throughout the entire trip is:

"Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Ok it's 9:15 and we are gonna pop in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade! Tomorrow is our last full day so we will have to live it up!

Scuba Day!

Wow, what a day.  This morning we went to Scuba on the coast of West Caicos.  It was a beautiful day and the boat ride out to our destination was about an hour long.  I'm surprised I didn't get sea sick.  Usually I take dramamine, but I forgot to do it this time.  Knock on wood I didn't hurl off the side :)


Here are some photos of the trip out there:

Wouldn't it be nice to have a catamaran on this coast?

 Nelson is excited to dive

 I'm excited that I'm not seasick

 Nelson checking his BCD

 So pretty!

Watch out, don't get wet!

 The safety girl inside me knows where the life preservers are, You never know!

Our French Captain, I think his name was Franc, but for some reason I wanted to call him Jacques

 Getting the low down from the Master Diver

 I'm ready to do this, let's see some sharks!

Nelson scubaing away!

On the first dive we saw a turtle, but we have no pics, sorry dudes, but here are some crappy underwater photos from our first dive

 You can't see any red colors underwater.  You really need some sort of flash or light source.

At least we have some memory from below.

Now, for the second dive, I decided just to snorkel right off the boat and Nelson stuck with his group to go to the drop off wall that separates the shallow water into the deep blue ocean.  Since he was having problems with the camera during the first dive, I decided to take it with me just in case. 

I am so glad I did! I was about to get back onto the boat bc I was getting chilly and out in front of me I saw two large creatures swim towards me.  At first, my heart stopped, thinking that they were sharks.  I was all by myself snorkeling so I didn't know what to do if sharks really came towards me.  Even though they are safe reef sharks, they still look like sharks! Luckily, they weren't sharks and they were 2 beautiful, graceful dolphins.  Honestly I said out loud in my snorkel, "Those are dolphins!" I quickly turned on the camera and shot video as fast as I could.  They swam right below me, and they felt so close! It was truly an amazing, memorable moment.  True beauty in their natural environment!  After they passed, the first thought that came through my mind was that I hope Nelson and the other divers saw them as well.

I got back to the boat and showed the captain my video and he was amazed too! It was truly something that not everyone experiences! Nelson got back and he saw nothing, so I felt kinda bad that I told him I saw dolphins.  He said "Na Uh" He didn't believe me until I showed him the video.  In case you didn't see it on facebook, here's the video...

We got back to our hotel around 4ish and we were pooped.  We took a nap and met up with Matt and Katie for dinner at a nearby hotel. They were holding a "Caribbean Night" and it's a buffet on the beach during the sunset hour.  

 A pretty set up!

 The chef's getting the food ready

 The after dinner bonfire area

 Ready for a nice dinner

 Matt and Katie arriving to Caribbean night!

 Black beans and rice

 Citrusey type pasta salad

Coleslaw

Very nice chefs

After dinner, the kids at the dinner were given marshmallows to roast over the bonfire. They were very cute.

It was another great night and we were happy to spend it with another couple.  We all decided to leave when the kids started to get on the microphone that the dj had.  

We are planning on relaxing in the AM on the beach and then have another snorkel excursion tomorrow in the afternoon.