TCI 2022: we all need paradise (part 4 and the finale)

We've been in Providenciales for 8 days now and really have no desire to leave. The most fun, most relaxing, best vacation. But two more days of adventure? Sounds great!

JUNE 10

Hands down, today was our favorite day on the island. We took a snorkeling tour through Caicos Dream Tours to Iguana Island (Little Water Cay/Half Moon Bay). We've taken this tour both times we've been to Provo, and it's honestly one of the best deals on the island. Four hours on the boat/snorkeling/deserted island, unlimited beer and rum punch, and lunch. Sign me up!

Do we take a lot of selfies? Yes, we take a lot of selfies.

While we were cruising to our snorkeling spot, we came across a dolphin (maybe it was JoJo, the local dolphin everyone gets excited about seeing). She was swimming alongside the boats and having a great time putting on a show for us. Everytime she would jump out of the water, we would all cheer. I couldn't believe how close she was swimming to the boat prop! It was a slight detour while we enjoyed the show, but totally worth it.

We found our snorkeling spot at the third largest reef in the world and spent about an hour or so just enjoying the water, coral, and sea life. There was even a shark and barracuda sighting! The reef is just beautiful and it was so peaceful. Definitely one of my favorite things to do. We also got to jump off the top of the boat if we wanted and most people on our tour did that, especially all the kids. I only jumped once because I'm a big fat baby, but it was great and I had fun. Greg is definitely more daring than me. No photos of it, unfortunately. One hilarious thing was the number of bikini tops that would come loose when the ladies jumped.....I joked that those were the most boobs I've seen in one day. I was smart to have my rash guard on!

After snorkeling, we continued onto to Little Water Cay (aka Iguana Island). It's an uninhabited island just east of Provo, by Mangrove Cay, that was formed over a few decades after Hurricane Donna hit and closed the channel that used to exist there between the Atlantic and Caribbean. The channel is completely closed now and the only inhabitants of the island are rock iguanas. And there are a ton of them.

The water off the island is even more pristine than on Grace Bay and really has to be experienced to truly appreciate it. Greg and I took SO MANY PHOTOS to try to capture the beauty and the fun we were having.

One of my favorite photos from our 2015 trip was taken on this beach, one of me sitting cross legged with my back to the camera and facing the sea and we wanted to recreate it....we weren't quite in the same spot as before but Greg did an awesome job as photography is capturing the serenity. I love these photos.

I did, however, end up with a lot of sand in my pants.

One of the things that Greg was very intentional about on this trip was that he was leaving work behind, not an easy thing to do for a VP level job. But he left his laptop at home and only had his work phone for emergencies, although he always left it in our room. He knew he needed to trust his team, and posted the importance of that on Linked In along with an appropriate photo. It was so important to take the time to disconnect while also being an example of a leader to your team.

We walked across the strip of island to get to the Caribbean side, where there is a very shallow inlet and beautiful beach. Said hello to a couple iguanas on our way.

People from all the tours were having a fantastic time over here....swimming, drinking, taking hilarious photos. Our tour guide, Tino, was our resident photographer and seemed to be having just as much fun as the tourists.

Sadly, our time on Iguana Island was coming to a close, but the fun wasn't ending quite yet. We had a blast dancing to music and finishing off the rum punch on the boat on the ride back. Our fellow tourists and our tour guides, Tino, Tario, and Emmanuel were so much fun!

After we got home, we chided ourselves for not booking this trip twice while on vacation....we were there for 10 days after all, and each trip is a little different. You never know who you'll get as a tour guide and as fellow group of tourists. We had so much fun and were exhausted as we made our way back to our hotel room. Definitely needed a nap before dinner!

That night we chose to walk to a local Italian restaurant, Lupo. After all the beer and rum punch consumption, a good plate of pasta was needed. We didn't take any photos at the restaurant but we took advantage of the lighting at sunset to snap a few before we walked down the beach.

The food at Lupo was outstanding, especially since it's on a Caribbean island! Definitely some place we would come back to in the future. 

Only one more full day until we have to go home...sad!

JUNE 11

After how tiring the day before was, we knew today would be low key. We wanted to soak up as much of the beach as we could, try to finish off our rum (oh my gosh we needed to dry out!), I wanted to finish my fourth book of the trip, and probably take a nap on the beach.

Greg thought it would be funny to capture just how dark his tan had gotten over the course of our trip.

Crazy what a Filipino bloodline will do!

I tried to appreciate every moment of this day, not knowing when we'd be coming back again. That included a banana daiquiri in the water.

Every night we had chosen a different restaurant for dinner, but tonight I wanted to stay casual and go back to Somewhere Cafe. Plus a little extra exercise by having to walk down there was good. It was one of the best sunsets of our trip, so I'm glad we chose to go there.

JUNE 12

Oh no....it's time to go home!!

It was an ADVENTURE getting back home. The airport in Provo was insanely busy, so I'm glad we had a priority ticket because we got to skip the check in line that was probably at least an hour long. The security line was another long wait, and then the waiting area was packed full of hundreds of people. 

Our flight was routed through Charlotte before getting to Austin, but there were actually two flights going to Charlotte at the same time, our flight and then one that had been delayed from the night before. There was a ton of confusion and unfortunately the gate agents didn't explain this very well. I'm glad I was paying attention because a lot of people were trying to go through the wrong gate and at the wrong time. The airport is very small....after you go through the gate, you leave the building and actually have to walk outside to your plane and board on a ramp. When they called our flight and we were told to board, at the same time as the other Charlotte flight, there was no one to direct each of us to the appropriate flight, leading to a lot of confusion outside as we were all intermingled together. Once we figured out which plane was ours, we find out we've breached security and weren't even supposed to be out there yet. A 15 minute wait outside the plane while they finished cleaning it and then thankfully we were finally on board....after sweating too much in the heat outside.

The flight attendant was on the money with delivery of a double rum and coke to me and a bourbon and coke to Greg almost right away, however, while the rest of the plane boarded (did I mention I love First Class and wish I was wealthy enough to fly that way all the time? But alas....). 

We were now running about 30 minutes behind on take off which was not a great thing considering our layover in Charlotte was only 90 minutes. I was getting nervous about making the connection, with having to go through Customs and get our bags and recheck them and then make our way back through security. 

But first, a bizarre thing happened. Someone had food delivered onto the plane from one of the restaurants inside the airport. Apparently they needed to board before it was ready, so it was delivered right to the plane (I've never seen this). However, nobody could figure out who it belonged to or if it was even the right plane. 

It was weird. But I did offer to eat it if no one else claimed it! I have no idea whatever happened to it.

Once we got through Charlotte, and through Customs (which only took about 15 minutes), we had to wait for our bags. And wait......and wait.....and wait. FORTY MINUTES after we landed, we got our bags, which left us with a whopping 5 minutes to make our flight. Needless to say, we were sprinting. I haven't run since my surgery, and I was wearing flip flops, and security had a line. The TSA agent let us go by a few people without having to go through the full body scanner and he was saint. And then we find out our flight was delayed by 15 minutes....YAY!!

We made it on the plane with a few minutes to spare and I was basically dying.....so another rum and coke for me!!

I also took an opportunity to document my own epic tan from the trip, as epic as a tan on an Irish girl can be. 

We were on our way to Austin and I was SAD! But our day was not over yet....

Once we got to Austin, we had no gate. For 45 minutes, we waited for a gate. Then we got the privilege of waiting another half an hour for our bags....except not all our bags made it. Two out of our three checked bags (with all our rum!) made it on our flight. The third was on the next flight to Austin....which of course was running 90 minutes late. It was now 9:30 at night and the flight was scheduled to arrive around 11pm. We could have it delivered or just go eat, come back, and wait for it. We chose the latter.....except of course it took them an hour to unload the luggage, along with the luggage from six other flights onto the same carousel, so basically the baggage claim scene was insane. Thank God our bag was one of the first off.....and we could FINALLY DRIVE HOME!

We arrived home at 12:30....over 14 hours after we left the resort that morning. 

BEST TRIP EVER, even with the crazy travel day. 

CAN I GO BACK NOW???

I hope you've enjoyed the recap and all the photos!