| Mike & Hali's trip to the Turks & Caicos Islands Beaches Resort -- April 2002 |
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We finally decided to visit the resort that we had heard so much about -- the Beaches
resort on the island of Providenciales in
the Turks and Caicos Islands. What are the
Turks and Caicos Islands? TCI is an
archipelago country of eight major islands and numerous uninhabited cays located
575 miles south of Miami and 39 miles southeast of the Bahamas, known for beautiful
beaches, pristine coral reefs and offshore banking. The islands are protected by a
government dedicated to preserving the islands' uncomplicated lifestyle and natural
beauty (all of that spiel is from the tourism web page).
Let's start by saying that the resort is simply beautiful. We were fortunate to stay in the newest part of the resort -- the French Village. The grounds were nice throughout the resort, but the French Village is truly gorgeous. Anyway, the weather was great (low to mid 90's every day with a nice breeze), the food was great, and the beach and ocean water were wonderful. The only slight downfall of the resort is the fact that it caters to families. Oh well... The main activity for this trip was snorkeling -- we went twice a day, every day. The best snorkeling was found by walking about 15 minutes down the beach to a reef resoration area. There was a large area of reef that was roped off, but you were allowed to snorkel along the edge of it. This was the best snorkeling we have ever seen. Around this area we saw a small Hawk's bill sea turtle, a small yellow Moray eel, Trigger fish, Parrot fish, Trunk fish, Baracuda of various sizes, Squirrel fish, Butterfly fish, Puffer fish, Royal gamma, a huge Angel fish, etc, etc. We also did a lot of sailing on the Hobies (they had 6 at the resort), and even a bit of windsurfing. Of course, we also found a few spare minutes to relax on the beach sipping yummy tropical beverages. It was just another wonderful trip in the Carribean... |