Early morning in the ariport, and Molly and I were on our way to Turks and Caicos.
We stopped at the restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat.
Long day of travel ahead, and we needed a full belly.
The seats didn’t recilne, but oh well.
Layover in Atlanta, and more breakfast.
We weren’t able to sit together on the last lefg of the journey, but Molly enjoyed the quiet time.
Thinking about how nice it is to sit alone.
We landed and did the tarmac trip to the main airport.
Welcome to Turks & Caicos!!!!
Taxi time!!!
We had a very short trip from the airport…
To our hotel, the Sibonné.
Our room.
The bathroom.
And our fantastic view!!!
Cheers!!! Time to relax!!!
The Caribbean water felt great on our feet…
And the sun felt great on us.
But the shade is where we found ourselves taking a nap.
Mr. Groupers was a short walk away, and had great, local food.
Full tilt caribbean dive bar.
As in, “gone to north”.
Their fried fish was REALLY good.
And the conch fritters weren’t bad, either.
I made sure to try as many unique beers as I could (there weren’t many).
Just before dinner time, and we were the only ones in the restaurant.
We were walking to the grocery store, and Molly decided to hitchhike. Some other tourists picked us up and threw us in the back with their 8 and 9 year old daughters.
Lots to choose from…
So we picked up some supplies.
The family at the other end of the grocery belt was the group that gave us the ride.
Waiting for the family to come out so we could load our groceries.
Graceway was the local chain where we did the shopping.
These guys were everywhere on the island.
When we got back to the room, Molly unpacked, and I made drinks.
We walked out to the beach just in time to see the finsh of a photo shoot for bathing suits.
So happy!!!
The sunsets were fantastic!
As in, “I ain’t going to lie”.
Good, but a total salt bomb.
The fish was much better.
And dessert was not too bad.
The next morning we got picked up and headed to a different resort.
It was really nice looking…
And we grabbed a quick breakfast…
Before it was time for Molly to start her scuba training.
We were using this trip as an opportunity to get Molly certified.
While they got ready in the pool…
I relaxed and goofed off.
The training took several hours…
After spending a lot of time in the pool I read.
Scuba is a lot of fun…
As Molly was finding out.
Afterwards, we went out to grab some lunch.
I love these picture things.
Fried fish everywhere you go.
Looks like someone got sunburned.
I left my mark in the bathroom.
We were going to rent scooters, but decided that we would try hitchhiking again if we needed to get around.
Molly was pointing to where we were in the islands.
We bought Molly’s wedding dress while there, and this is the label for the dress.
It was nice out, so we decided to walk home from “town”.
The wedding dress.
We had taken a picture of me in my outfit back home so we could do a virtual side-by-side and make sure we liked the look.
Back on the beach the swimsuit photo shoot was about to happen again.
Notice how they clip the back of her bathing suit to make it fit.
Another great evening.
No way around the pier…
So we walked under it.
Interesting look where the island met the sea.
They were big into conservation.
We made the 2 mile walk down to the reccuring Thursday night fish fry.
We grabbed a beer…
And then checked out the local crowd. Find Molly.
Of crouse, we had some fried fish at the fish fry.
We saved our legs and took a cab home.
Molly fell in love with this bird and wouldn’t stop taking pictures of it.
She spent a good 30 minutes stalking it.
We were taking a picture on the balcony…
When her bird jumped up to join us.
Late night eats.
A really cool feature I found on the camera app…
That does a virtual fisheye.
Breakfast the next morning (with the cat I told Molly to leave alone)…
Before heading out to the dive boat.
Molly’s first time on a dive boat.
And on her first dive ever, a shark.
Molly was doing OK.
Our first scuba selfie.
Back on the boat, she was learning how to switch tanks.
I just relaxed in the sun with my wild hair.
Our second dive included a trip through a small cave.
There were a few barracudas in the area.
They tend to leave divers alone.
A shy puffer fish.
I chased him around a bit.
A left-over TV show prop…
Molly was investigating.
A group of french grunts were using it as shelter.
A coral nursery.
Looks like a live conch…
Yup, there’s one home.
Fun times!!!
A small ray I spotted in the distance.
Molly loves to scuba!!!
Look at all the blues!!!
I love being on the water.
Pulling back into port…
And then heading into Kingstown for for some lunch.
We got the mixed appetizer tray to share.
A funny way of denoting bathrooms.
Not wanting to walk, Molly stuck out her thumb.
Literally 10 seconds later a local picked us up.
We spent the late afternoon resting on the beach.
That evening we said goodbye to our room…
And headed back to Mr. Groupers for dinner.
Island drinks, for island people.
Molly was having a great time on the trip.
Delicious fried fish, again.
The food on the island was really good.
We hopped around that night and had drinks at a few places.
I pulled this off a flower bush for Molly to wear in her hair that night, and she kept it in the room the rest of the trip.
Day 2 of diving, here we come.
How about a big lobster….
A trumpet fish…
Or another shark?!?!
Molly seems to be having a good time diving!!
Dive #2 for the day, Molly’s check-out dive.
Molly was now a certififed diver!!!!!
Her divemaster, Andre, is on the left.
When we got back tot the hotel, went went for a walk on the beach.
We stopped by the local craft market, but it wasn’t open.
So we headed back to the beach and found this bar.
Beerporn.
More fried fish and conch salad.
I wanted to get my beard braided and it took a few days to find a local who did the braiding.
15 minutes in, and I’m wondering if I’ve made the right choice.
75 minutes later, and it looks crazy!!!
Molly got a couple, too.
Don’t we look great?!
Her hair is long when it isn’t curly.
We had dinner at the resort next door that night.
It was outside and felt very romantic.
The food, however, was just OK.
Nothing special.
I love the look!!
Drinks later that night.
We decided on a couple of anklets (mine had a turtle).
Putting on the purchases.
The stars were really bright on the island.
The next morning we left our resort, and headed to…
Our other resort, The Shore Club, at Long Beach Bay.
Champagne on arrival, sure!!!
This was the real reason for the trip.
I had won President’s Club again from my work…
And Molly and I were on an all expenses paid trip as a result.
We wanted to extend the stay…
So we tacked on a few days on the front end of the trip, and Molly used that time to get scuba certified.
Swim up pool bar? Yes, I’ll have a beer!!
It wasn’t long until I ran into work friends.
The food at the resort was REALLY good.
Time to chill…
In our private cabana.
Our room was finally ready…
And it was a good size.
The bathtub was really fun.
Using the fisheye to get a sense of the size.
There were a lot of treats for us upon arrival.
And Molly made short work of testing the bathtub.
We got dressed and headed out for the first night at the new resort.
So glamourous and sexy!!!
Phillip, the CEO, gave a quick speech…
And then it was food time.
The ambience was very nice.
Breakfast to start the next morning…
And then it was back to our old dive shop.
We were supposed to dive with my company, but someone screwed up the reservation, so we jumped back on our old boat.
We had no problems finding sharks on this trip.
Back at the resort, it was time to eat!! The fish was caught that day by my colleagues!
A few of my President’s Club co-winners.
Looking for something else to do…
We headed to the adults-only pool.
It was very quiet, as you might imagine.
Those are people riding horses in the water.
That night we boarded a shuttle…
And headed to a private dinner.
That’s where we are!!
The old Sales Engineering team.
My dinner mates.
Cheers everyone!!
Dinner was really good.
We did have to endure one company meeting while we were there…
But then it was back to the fun.
This day found us on a catamaran sailboat.
Made in the shade.
Snorkling included.
We pulled the boat into a nature preserve.
And took some time to walk around on the beach.
There were wild iguanas everywhere.
They weren’t shy.
And you could get pretty close to them.
We all went for a tour of the tidal pools.
The water’s fine, come on in!!!!
Molly liked these birds.
See the little crab?
I also found this guy in the sand.
Lunch time back on the boat.
Everyone was just enjoying the relax-time.
Woohoo!!!!!
More relaxing back at the resort.
The final night on the island.
There was a nice cocktail hour.
And Molly and I were having a great time.
My spot at the table had been assigned.
And dinner was on its way.
It was turning out to be a great night.
We had an appetizer…
And some entertainment…
But just as the salad was being served…
It started to rain and we had to move the party under shelter.
We were already wet from the rain, so a lot of us jumped into the pool with our clothes on!!!!!
We got dried off after the pool juimping…
And meanwhile, the resort staff had moved our party to a covered area.
Then we were back to eating…
And I was given my award for making President’s Club.
The last morning we got a free massage from the resort.
A few days earlier they had barged into our room at 4am by accident, and this was their way of saying sorry.
From there we grabbed breakfast…
And then we packed our bags…
But with time to kill, we grabbed another drink…
Before hopping in the shuttle…
Headed to the airport…
Where we ran into the family that we hitchhiked with on our first day.
It was time to get back on the plane…
And we almost didn’t get to sit together on the first leg…
But someone moved so we could.
Molly said goodbye to her first trip to the Caribbean.
During our Atlanta layover we ran into a co-worker…
So we all had dinner together to finish the trip!!!