The click of the intercom snapped me back to attention and when I turned and looked out the window, crystal clear water shimmered gloriously below. I’d been fully engrossed in a draft of Molly Greene’s forthcoming novel Mark of the Loon and the 90-minute flight from Miami had passed before I even had a chance to finish my tomato juice. “We are preparing for landing at Providenciales. At this time, we ask that you please turn off all electronic devices and return your tray table to an upright position…” I shut the cover of my Kindle with a snap and wiggled my toes like an impatient child. After the monotony of Seattle’s gray winter days, I was jonesing for a heavy dose of Vitamin D.
Pro-vi-den-ci-aaaaa-les: a name equally pleasing to say as that of a favorite West African city of mine (Ouagadougou) and a beloved former coworker (a Mr. Thirunavukarasu). My husband was the one who decided that this island in the Turks and Caicos group was the destination for which we should cash in some air reward miles and since my Places-to-Visit list is ripped straight out of the United Nations’ book of sovereign countries and overseas territories, I was on board with the idea in about a half a nanosecond.
We arrived at around noon on the 24th of January and were met at the airport by a giant hulk of a man – smiling, luckily – who then spirited us away to our home base for the next eight nights, a self-contained apartment at the Aquamarine Beach Houses on Grace Bay. Walking distance to the grocery store and stumbling distance to a quiet (practically private) beach, the Aquamarine turned out to be the perfect place for us: palm trees, white sand and not too much going on to interrupt our vacation trance.
What does one do for fun in Providenciales? At 38 square miles, the entire island is easily covered in one car-rental day, and that’s what we did on Thursday. Scooter Bob’s was all booked up, so we secured a very plain Kia from Rent-a-Buggy and set out on the left-hand side of the road. Our exploration included lunch on the water at the casual Da Conch Shack, dinner on the water at Las Brisas (fabulous!) and some more time on the water at Long Bay Beach in between. There wasn’t anywhere that we went that was crowded or noisy; even though it’s a small island, there seems to be plenty of room for everybody.
While activities abound for those who seek them, we plan to devote the remainder of our time here mainly to reading and snorkeling. We did go for a parasailing excursion this afternoon once we learned that zero skill or athletic ability was required and it all went off pretty well – no lines tangled, no water drops required, no shorts shat in.
Speaking of poo, there has been a surprising lack of lizards around our abode. The upside of that is not having to clean up after them in the morning, I guess (I once had a regularly-visiting lizard back when I was working in Cameroon. He used to poo in the same place in the kitchen every night). I did meet my first potcake dog today, though. Her foster mom (an SPCA volunteer) was walking her on the beach and so I ran over to get my canine fix. She was 12 weeks old, round-bellied and adorable. Apparently a lot of tourists go home with potcakes, at the persistent encouragement of the shelter volunteers and locals.
I was absolutely gobsmacked by the food and drink prices in Provo’s main grocery store. Some examples (all in USD): $6 for six English muffins, $13-16 for 12 ounces of coffee, $6.29 per pound for red and yellow bell peppers, and $63 for a 24-bottle case of Bud Light beer (even more for local brews). I had heard a bit of scuttle about this on the travel boards and so I packed my bag with a few items of clothing, plus two bags of Starbucks, my high-fiber cereal (oh, it sucks to get old), very many nuts, slabs of dark chocolate and about ten protein bars. There’s a BBQ on our patio, so grill-master Francis has been keeping us well fed on the nights that we eat in. It’s a 10- to 15-minute beach walk to the closest restaurants, and we’ve heard (several times, from our happily inebriated next-door neighbor) that the almond-crusted grouper just down the way is to die for so that will be tomorrow night’s excursion.
The weather has been perfect, and I’m thinking that this time of year is about the best to visit. Garfield, one of the crew on the parasailing boat, told us it’s up around 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer (35 Celsius). Since we’ve been here, it has been hovering around 80 degrees, no humidity, a bit of wind, very few mosquitoes. That’s my recipe for a damn fine vacation, and it only took 35,000 air miles each to get here.
Terri says
This sounds too good to be true. I am ready to book aflight today. As i seat a look out at yet another rainy windy day in Seattle. thanks for sharing some “vitrual” sunshine.
Sonia G Medeiros says
Sounds like a lovely trip! My mind is still boggling at the prices. Good thing you stocked up with the essentials. 😀
Christina Carson says
Lovely tour. I could feel everything but the temperature. I love your writing style. It makes me feel like I’m taking a trip with my best girlfriend. Thanks, Laura, even if I did sigh a lot.
Laura Zera says
Thanks so much for your kind words, Christina!
Jo-Anne (jtvancouver) says
Christina put it perfectly! That’s exactly what I was thinking…and I too was sighing at the glorious-ness of your adventure and fun and warm vacation…Jo
Jo VonBargen says
Absolutely enthralling, girlfriend! You had me right there with you. Gorgeous pix…what a wonderful vacation destination! Glad you’re getting a chance to unwind in a clearly enchanting way, not too much stress. Good on ye!!
Molly Greene says
I almost fell out of my chair when I read my name in the first graph! Such a wonderful article – LOVE the photos and the the “shorts” comment, my wandering friend. So happy you are soaking up the sun!
Jodi says
Laura,
Sounds like the perfect place to visit!
Diane Hughes says
This looks amazing! I actually have Providenciales pinned on a Pinterest board for an upcoming travel section at work. Now I really want to go. Looks beautiful. Just watch out for the taxi drivers. 😉
Laura Zera says
If you have a work opp to go, then bump it up the list, girlfriend! Thankfully, we didn’t have to ‘try out’ the taxi drivers here, just had to get used to driving on the left side of the road. All the rest of our wandering was accomplished by walking down the beach, sans shoes!