Country #10 for me. If Puerto Rico ever declares independence, it will be 11 countries visited including the USA. This is not the type of trip that I would have taken on my own but I will agree to go pretty much anywhere except for war zones and countries with severe human rights abuses. This was not about me anyway. I was there to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary. My sister and niece were able to join up with us too. We had some great family trips when I was growing up and I knew that this would likely be the last time that it would be possible to do this with the whole group so I wouldn't miss it.
I left work an hour early the previous day to catch a morning flight out of Atlanta. No issues with the International terminal this time. I arrived in plenty of time and was able to get a sit-down breakfast. The flight went off as scheduled but there was a short delay after landing because no gates were open. No issues with Immigration but I did have a bit of a wait for the shuttle to the resort. I was the first of the family to arrive and squeezed in a quick dip before dinner.
This was my second stay at an all-inclusive resort and this time, it was clearly the best option to have all restaurants on the resort property within a 10 minute walk. We stayed at Beaches Resort, which is about a 15-20 minute ride from the Providenciales airport. Compared to Riu Republica in the Dominican Republic, this was much better. Though the rooms were nothing special, the restaurants and the pools were a significant upgrade. My parents arrived about an hour after I did. We went straight to dinner then took a sunset walk on the beach before settling in for the night. I had NASTY diarrhea early in the morning but for the rest of the trip, my health was no worse than usual.
Overall, the food was quite good. I had a couple of steak and egg breakfasts plus Italian, Japanese and wood fired pizza in addition to buffets. We did have one fancy dinner to celebrate the anniversary. Fine dining isn't really my kind of thing but again, this trip was not about me.
Turks and Caicos is located just below the Tropic of Cancer at about 21 degrees north latitude, just north of the island of Hispanola. Definitely a tropical vibe with ubiquitous palm trees. Everyday was sunny to partly cloudy with an air temp in the upper 80s and a water temperature of 84. Mornings and evenings were fairly pleasant but the humidity was quite oppressive in the afternoon. Fortunately, there was a nice sea breeze on the beach itself. With the possible exception of Saona Island in the DR, this was the clearest water with the most beautiful shade of blue that I have ever seen. Unfortunately, the big negative was that the waves were minimal and nothing was rideable. I knew that coming in and didn't even take my board.
When I am with my family, I have to tone down the extreme Type A personality. On a solo trip, I'm normally up with the sun and on the road within minutes. I once traveled with a couple who slept in until 10:30 then insisted on a sit-down breakfast. By that time, half the day is shot and I was not happy. On this trip, we normally went to breakfast around 8:30 and I was okay with that. Since there were no waves to catch, I wasn't upset about missed time in the ocean. Most days were divided between the beach and one of three large pools with swim-up bars. We did spend one morning at the water park. That was pretty cool. It had about 5 waterslides and a lazy river with waterfalls.
As I've said before, you can't truly experience a country unless you leave the resort. In this case, we did take 2 excursions. One was a horseback riding trip on a secluded beach. Yes, the horses went into the water. That was interesting. I met a guy from Haiti and had a Spanish conversation with our Dominican driver. The other excursion was a beautiful sunset cruise.
No issues on the trip home. Customs was a breeze and since it is a small airport, you don't need to arrive 3 hours early for an international flight. I landed in Atlanta around 6 but because of the long line at Immigration and the shuttle back to the Domestic terminal, I didn't get on the road to Birmingham until 7:30. Because you gain an hour, I still got home at a reasonable time. A very good trip that I will remember for the rest of my life. Any other Caribbean destinations on my radar? Maybe the Bahamas, Barbados or the Cayman Islands.
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