When It's Not What You Think

So we spent two weeks over the holidays in Providenciales, Turks & Caicos and it is beautiful. It's warm, sunny, the water is super clear. Diving was great [according to my divers.] Food was delicious. Really lovely.

But it wasn't what we thought it would be.  In fact, once you get past the beauty, weather and food, it was a lot like the Jersey shore in July. Grace bay is this 13 mile stretch of white sand beach with calm water and the bodies are practically on top of each other.  Granted they are in resort lounge chairs vs. the typical towel or beach blanket at the shore but there were people EVERYWHERE. And they were all American.

What you expect when you research TCI

This is what it's really like.

TCI totally caters to Americans.  In fact, their official currency is the US dollar, which is nice since you don't have to pay an exchange rate or additional fees on credit cards. Oddly, for an island that is so "American," very very few places take American Express.  [Note to travelers like us: Take your Visa or MC!]

We are the type of travelers that like to immerse ourselves in the local culture, history, food etc. That was really hard to do when everyone I spoke with was from somewhere else. All of the resort staff were Haitian or Jamaican. I met ONE person during our two week visit that was born and bred in TCI. And I talk to everyone! I ask where to eat, what to see, where to go. Most were stymied and the concierge at our resort just stared at me like I had asked to book a tour to the moon.

Thankfully we had our car, Will Cypha, who we drove all over the island looking for the elusive TCI culture, history, local flair and 'downtown' Provo, which we found doesn't really exist other than on a local map. 

Will Cypha - He spoke Japanese

The Christmas Eve "Funky Junkanoo" was as close as we came to any cultural activities. And we heard the Thursday Fish Fry is a good time, since the holidays fell on Thursday we missed that.

 

We did come across one historical site at Sopadilla Bay Hill.  Rock carvings from soldiers on lookout during the 18th and 19th century.  Here's the oldest one that dates to 1767 and another from 1832.  

But it wasn't a total loss - we had great food & drinks at Bugaloo's!

We did an all-day snorkel trip with Caicos Dream Tours on January 1st. That was fun!

Mind you, it wasn't a horrible trip by any measure. It was just not what we expected given all that we had read and researched prior to booking our trip - in April 2014!  [Yes, 8 months in advance and  reasonable airfares were difficult to find.]

I guess  'don't believe everything you read' is the lesson here. I am a big researcher before I book a trip and I feel like this wasn't quite an #epicfail but I certainly needed to have done more to ensure we went on the type of trip we enjoy.

So if you're an adventure traveler, history buff, museum monger or like to do all the locals stuff, Provo, TCI is not the place for you.

If you're looking for a place to unwind, take in the sun, hang on the  beach and enjoy the calm waters and eat great seafood, then TCI is the perfect place for you!

P.S. If you venture a trip to TCI, be sure to give yourself at least THREE hours on the return trip to the airport, you will need it. PLS is the worse island departure experience we've ever encountered.