Turks and Caicos Trip

Off we were for a short trip to a new island!  This time it was to Providenciales, Turks and Caicos.  It's a small British Territory south of the Bahamas.

Sharon and Buddy's plane from RDU met up with us in Charlotte for the final 3 hour flight.

Rented a little car - note that I'm sitting in the passenger seat - Duane is driving...took a little getting used to!!

The island is pretty small - so we were to our home for the week pretty quickly. It was a 2 bedroom condo that was just beautiful!

The view from the condo the first morning thru the screened porch.

What followed was day-after-day of heading to a different beach...it was windy and the umbrella was kinda mis-behavin'...

Wandering down the beach, Sharon spied this pretty specimen!

A few of the days were cloudy and stormy-looking.  Still beautiful!  And, no, we aren't inclined to do the para-sailing....

Next day, different more-deserted cove.

If you look closely, there are specks out in the middle of the photo.  The bay is so incredibly shallow, you an walk for what seems like forever in clear, waist deep water on a powdery sand bottom.

I won't bore you with too many food shots - but this was a local restaurant serving "cracked conch, rice & peas, fried plantains, and lobster fritters".  Yum.  The diet starts now.

Buddy and Duane in their normal positions, books in hand.  The dark stuff on the beach is just some seaweed leftover from Hurricane Sandy. 

This is the view from a restaurant we ate at overlooking the Chalk Sound.

The lovely couple!!

Another view of Chalk Sound....not sure the color in this photo does it justice - it was even prettier than the photo!

Several days, we found deserted shelters and other items on the beach to sit on....here I'm sitting on a couple of cement blocks propped against a shelter in front of an abandoned building.

Here's the abandoned building - looks like it's a hotel, about 1/10th finished.  Anyone want a business opportunity? 

We saw some odd things while on the island....one of them was this fellow on a horse.  We were sitting at a restaurant on the deck overlooking the water.  This guy rides up on the horse - and a waiter goes out to him.  A minute or two later, I see the rider getting out his wallet as the waiter approaches - with the bottle of beer!  The cowboy sat there for a good while on the horse, sipping his beer.  Hmmm, I think that's the ultimate drive-in for a beverage!

Different day, different beach.....Sharon found a hammock....

We spied this large yacht going into the nearby marina....

And this lovely vessel - Aiyana - had to "hold" while exiting the marina since the channel looked very narrow.
I looked her up - you can charter this 82' beauty for $35,000 per week. 

I was napping....and as I woke up, this was my view....so I decided to try to capture the feeling.

Speaking of the motor yacht....a little while later, we went over to the marina to a nearby restaurant and we saw a tanker drive towards the yacht.  Looks like they fueled the yacht directly from the tanker.  Boy, I'd hate to see that bill!

Different day, different beach!

Our last day....

Snapped one quick group photo before heading to the airport!