The first week of January 2022, after completing a travel authorization form with our destination country and filing it with the airlines, receiving a negative C* test three days in advance, and packing our vaccine card and passport and travel insurance forms, we FINALLY headed out on a long awaited child-free vacation to Turks & Caicos with our dear friends Annie and Tom! We've dreamed out this possibility over dinners for years, and finally the stars aligned/ children got old enough.
Turks is a British territory, formerly a part of the Bahamas until the 70s, so they drive on 'wrong' side of road. Some American cars, some British cars. Taxis/ private drivers arranged by the hotels are very easy to find. They use American dollars. Airport is TINY- note there is upstairs waiting area.
Turks and Caicos is made up of several islands. The main airport is in Providenciales and that piece of the island is very very flat and is only 4 miles long. You can get from one end to the next in 20 minutes! A lot of resorts line the north side of this island on Grace Bay. There is an easily accessible grocery store in Grace Bay (kind of Piggly Wiggly sized, brands you recognize, etc.), doctor's office, pharmacy next door to doctor's office, etc. It's a very touristy-friendly area.
We stayed at Seven Stars on Grace Bay. Resort has three large buildings, maybe 5 floors tall, with a big pool in the middle and an adult pool to the side (still beachfront). You can walk right out onto the beach from the pool. Resort restaurant, Seven, is open for breakfast and dinner; beachside restaurant, the Deck, is open for lunch. The lounge chairs were the best we saw all along the beach, and our star server Lila was a dream come true and the highlight of the trip, keeping those drinks constantly coming! We saw maybe one or two birds and no fish on our beach the whole time, although there were a decent amount of mosquitos once the sun went down. There are two casinos on the Grace Bay side- one at the Ritz and one stand alone. The resort provided onsite C* testing, which the US required within 24 hours of arrival back home. Gym was nice, somewhat small, but had basic equipment and free weights. SPA WAS AMAZING! Best massages I've ever had. The way the resort was situated on the bay, we couldn't directly see sunrise or sunset. (In January, the sun set around 4:45-5:00.) The island's food, service, and restaurant ambience was EXCELLENT.
We so enjoyed a break from the daily grind and loved having both some relaxing time and some fun time with our friends. The laughs were constant! Love our Ducks!
"I think I finally see something!"
There's that famous blue green water. Notice the plane's shadow.
We overlooked the Ritz next door (which had only been open a few months)
You could wake up and see the ocean!
Our first night's dinner at Bay Bistro was delicious (I had the snapper). The restaurant is connected to a small hotel that felt very Melrose Place-ish. It was situated that you could see a little bit more of the sunset from its beach. They have a Saturday and Sunday morning brunch that is supposed to be amazing too!
This island, Half Moon Bay, was really cool. You could walk from the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean on the other, while you dodged HUGE iguanas!
Got this pic of two chilly cuties while out on the cruise...
Look how shallow and clear the water is
DJ and Quon were great tour guides!
We got back to the hotel and found the Ducks still on the beach. We sat outside until the sun was completely gone.
Then we ordered room service and watched the Grizz game (and drank a lot on the balcony).
Pics from home....
Turtle Kayaking Adventure in the Mangroves was quite an adventure after the night on the balcony, but we all really enjoyed seeing the turtles and mangroves. Mitch was a great tour guide and turtle spotter. Important to note that there were no bathrooms at the kayak landing spot!! They did come pick us up and deliver us back to the resort, so that was nice and easy.
I was obsessed with seeing conch shells on our trip- I'd heard they were everywhere in Turks but we saw none on our beach- but after seeing this slimy critter slither out of this shell, I wasn't so excited anymore.
Resort kitty cat was a fave
Look at that rainbow over Annie's head! We saw several in that same spot throughout the week.
Grace's Cottage had the most exquisite, magical atmosphere. (Another one attached to a hotel, but you didn't have to go through the hotel at all; I had steak) Like stepping back in time to a secret garden. Spectacular. There's really no 'inside' seating other than a few tiny tables in the bar. Some groups of tables are covered though. We were seated at our table under the trees, ordered our drinks, I asked Annie to take a pic of me and John, and within seconds, we both looked at each other like 'did you feel a raindrop?' That rain shower came on so quickly that we were literally running for cover and still got pretty wet! Needless to say, we moved to a covered table, but the rain petered out relatively quickly. Luckily, we hadn't ordered any food, but we marveled at how much work a late night rain shower could cause when tables were full of guests' plates.
RIGHT before the rain!
Cress had breakfast with Ms. Marcy :)
Will walk for food
Just Tacos at Grace Bay Club; who can beat tacos and margaritas on the beach?!
Another rainbow
Happy boys
Another fantastic dinner under the stars at Coco Bistro (free standing restaurant; I had salmon). More modern/ bright colors than Grace's Cottage and HUGE palm trees made you feel like you were in a treehouse. They had a food truck (Coco Van) on the other side of the palms that was hopping and would be a cool quick place to pop in and grab dinner on the fly.
Coco Van
Coming back over to Coco Bistro
Our last night, we picked up sushi from the Ritz next door which was fantastic.
A little bit more beach time on our last morning, pretending we didn't have to leave Lila.
We tried to make the most of our last lunch on the beach, but our phones kept buzzing with news that flights were delaying. Our Delta flight only pushed back two hours, but Annie and Tom's flight on another airline kept pushing one more hour at a time. Finally, we gave up with that risky game, and they came over to Delta with us.
So many flights were delayed or cancelled. John was watching our incoming plane on the Delta app, and I've never been so relieved when he told me it had landed in Turks. We might not know *when( we were getting on it, but we did have a plane to get ON!
Despite a four hour layover in Atlanta and a midnight arrival home, we made it safely and without much drama. And we would do it all over again tomorrow to relive those fun and precious memories! Thankful to all the grandparents and babysitters that made this rest and relaxation possible!
