North and Middle Caicos Island Tour

We were up and out the door by 8:50. Everything on the island seems to be about 10-15 minutes away so we were by the ferry by 9:05. By 9:20 we were sitting on the ferry waiting for departure at 9:30. The ride over to North Caicos was the smoothest boat ride over the most clear pretty blue water I’ve ever experienced. It was like riding on glass.

Desmond met us and we started our tour of North and Middle Caicos. He shared with us lots of facts about the island and told several jokes along the way. The first stop was to beautiful Hollywood Beach. Here we took a fun series of pictures and we also walked the beach for a little bit. He then gave us a lesson on conch’s which was very interesting. At this place there was a Turks and Caicos version of a miniature golf course (sand instead of greens and conch shells used to designate the holes).

The next stop was to an overlook where you could see hundreds of flamingos in the water in the distance. You could just see a line of pink in the water. Desmond had a pair of binoculars that made it easier to see them, but for some reason I was struggling using the them. A second attempt proved successful.

Next up was a stop for a geocache in the parking lot of a restaurant and liquor store. It is the only geocache on North Caicos. As I was reading the cache description and logs the night before, the previous cacher had said that they had gone on a tour with Desmond and that they explained geocaching to him and he took them to it. When we first got in the car with him I mentioned the geocache and told him about the previous cacher’s log. At first he didn’t seem to remember or know what I was talking about, but the light bulb did come on. He took me right to the cache and actually uncovered it before I spotted it.

We went into the liquor store where Desmond bought us some beers and Ginger Ale for Amanda (her stomach is still not feeling 100%). He normally makes a rum punch for his tours, but seeing as there was just a couple of us I think he decided to just buy a round. Two beers and the Ginger Ale only cost him $7.50 so not sure if locals get different pricing than tourists . . . probably.

We continued the tour and drove over the causeway to Middle Caicos Island. We stopped at Indian Cave, to take a look around and take a few pictures before we moved on to another beach. At this beach the water was super shallow. It felt nice to walk and wade through it.

Next up was the beach at Dragon Cay. This was the beach for sea glass. I asked Desmond why this was one of the only beaches in Turks with sea glass and he said it was because there was no reef to stop it. The cruise ships are allowed to dump their bottles in the ocean, but not the garbage. I immediately spotted tiny bits of green sea glass, but wasn’t seeing very many bigger pieces. Desmond was also looking and he found several bigger pieces of glass. I kept looking and found some nice pieces myself. I felt like it was harder to spot the clear/white pieces of sea glass on this beach then on other beaches I have been on. Maybe it’s because the sand is so white. We didn’t have a ton of time to spend, so soon it was time to make our way off the beach but before we did Amanda called me over to ask if I had looked in an area close to the rock wall. I didn’t see anything but she said, “Is that blue?”. I bent over and picked up a huge chunk. I was like “Oh Wow!” but then immediately said … “Did you plant that there?”. Yes, yes she did! The funny thing was I had just asked Desmond if he ever saw blue glass on this beach and he said no, so I guess that made my suspicions go up right away. I will give Amanda an A for effort though. I tried to play it off with Desmond too, but I’m a terrible liar so the joke was up pretty quick. He did seem to like the chunk of glass so I told him he could keep it. Amanda said she had found it in a backpack that she got from Erica, and Erica had no idea what it was from either.

From here we went to lunch at a restaurant in new hotel. Erica had a grilled chicken sandwich, Amanda chicken tacos, and I had a conch burger (deep fried conch, on a bun with lettuce and tomato). Once again I must have been starving because I didn’t remember to take a picture until it was gone. We all shared our dishes with each other so we could all get a taste. I liked the grilled chicken sandwich the best.

After lunch we made a quick stop at a beach near the restaurant so I could take a picture of the sea glass that had been collected (I forgot to do it on the beach it actually came from). On the way back to the ferry we stopped at a farm (Amanda and Erica were looking for fresh fruit). It was closed, but the gate was still open so we drove in. The workers were still hanging out and let them look at what they had left. Amanda picked out a papaya and when Desmond asked how much it was, they said that she could just have it. It does seem to be super ripe, but that was nice of them. Erica also spied something growing on a nearby tree and asked Desmond what it was. They were a type of cherry in which he picked a couple to let us try. The one I tried was bitter and I didn’t really care for it. He stopped one more time before we exited the farm so we could pick another ripe papaya off the tree. One of the last things he told us before we departed was the 7 B’s you needed for a trip to Turks and Caicos: Bed, Bathroom, Beach, Booze, Bar, Bathing Suite, and Book Your Ticket. I added an 8’th B with Besties! He liked my addition and said he would be adding it to the list in the future.

Back on Providenciales, from the ferry we were .3 miles from a geocache. Erica helped navigate us to the trailhead. The cache was 450 feet from the trailhead, so Erica and I set off to find it. It was a very nice trail and an easy cache to find.

It had been a long day so we headed back to the AirBnB. We relaxed on the swinging chair hammocks at the pool. Amanda and Erica read their books and I surfed the web and listened to a podcast. We realized we could catch the sunset on the canal behind the house. There was a perfect (although not really comfortable bench) we all fit on to watch the sun go down.

I volunteered to make our pasta dinner. It was nice to have a home meal, even if it was just pasta and sauce. After dinner we played a game of Swoop. Erica was happy she won one. Scores were Erica 89, Jess 103, Amanda 275. Next we played Exploding Kittens. I had never played the game before. Amanda had accidentally left out the Exploding Kitten cards needed to play the game, so the first one we played turned out to be a great practice round for me. The next game I won! We also played a game of SkipBo. I’m not sure if I ever played with only 3 people before, so I was surprised when Erica dealt 30 cards out. She crushed this game! I just couldn’t get anything going. Amanda was holding her own but Erica emerged victorious while I still had 21 of the 30 cards in my pile. I’m starting to wonder if she really did “accidentally” grab SkipBo instead of Phase 10.

We don’t have any excursions planned for tomorrow and are looking forward to a day at our own pace.

Stats of the Day:

Steps: 7,301
Geocaches: 2 for 2
Cost for a Round Trip Ferry Ride to North Caicos: $65/person