Steph Runs For Wine: TCI 2022: We all need paradise (Part 2)

JUNE 6

We are now onto our 4th full day in Providenciales!

I can safely say that we are beyond relaxed and content at this point. How could we not be? Time together on the most beautiful beach in the world, with the clearest blue water and sugar sand beach, and seafood to die for...that's our kind of vacation.

Today we picked up our rental car....Greg went on a run while I walked to the rental car place just down the road from our resort. He met me there to pick up the car....a very very beat up Honda Fit, which made us laugh. TCI is a British territory, so they drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheel was on the right. Back in 2015, we rented a Vespa. I felt much much better about the car, no matter how beat up it looked! The car even came in Japanese....what an experience.

We decided to explore a bit of the island, starting with the Turtle Tail area on the Caribbean side. Prince had a villa there and we were determined to find it. I wasn't quite sure where it was but we had success! The whole Turtle Tail are is full of pretty spectacular villas. And we found Prince's! I figured we were totally trespassing on private roads, but YOLO.

After salivating over the rich people's estates, we made our way to Bugaloo's in the Five Cays area. It's a hole-in-the-wall restaurant right on the water. Last time we were here, fisherman were actually just off the water cleaning up the day's catch, which we then got to enjoy for lunch at a table right in the sand. No fisherman today, but we still enjoyed great conch, cocktails. and local Turks Head beer, and we waded out into the water (it's very shallow). The water was exceptionally warm over here, so not refreshing, but still a good afternoon.

It was getting so hot out, definitely the hottest day so far, so we drove to Turtle Cove to do some swimming and snorkeling at Smith's Reef. We needed relief! There were very few people in the cove. The water is very shallow, so a great spot to snorkel....you just have to be careful you don't get too shallow and scrape yourself up.

That concluded our exploration for the day. We finished off the last of the first bottle of local rum we purchased...perhaps we should slow down? Nah!

We chose the Pelican Bay Restaurant at the Royal West Indies resort. I loved the look of this resort and I was enjoying getting the chance to check out other accommodations on the island for potential future stays (always thinking about the next adventure!). We got a table on the patio, and there just happened to be a wedding reception about to start. A DJ was playing some great music and it was fun to check out the dances and the toasts of the new couple. Greg thought about crashing the wedding. I ruin all his fun by telling him no sometimes. But don't fear....he got a selfie. Food and drinks at the restaurant were great of course!

JUNE 7

Another day with the rental car, so another day of adventure! Morning and early afternoon spent at the beach.

We ventured to the local rum store, FOTTAC (Flavors of the Turks and Caicos) to purchase the rum we planned to bring back home. You can't buy Bambarra in the United States, nor can you ship it there, so we had to bring it back in our luggage. We enjoyed the rum tasting and probably went a little overboard. Eight bottles for us of Black, Coconut, Reserve, and Trouvadore rum, and one bottle of Reserve for a colleague of Greg's.

We drove to probably one of our favorites restaurants in Providenciales, Da Conch Shack. It's a few miles from the hotel, right on the water. It was a beautiful evening getting close to sunset.

The restaurant wasn't crowded at all and we got a table in the sand. Best rum punch on the island and the grouper is to die for. One of my favorite things from this place is that they always have a few stray dogs hanging around who enjoy being spoiled by the patrons. The island has a pretty big stray population (they call them Potcakes) and you can walk them or even adopt them and bring them back home. They try to take good care of them.

One of the excursions tourists can enjoy is riding horseback along the beach. There was a group that came by while we were eating. Someday I'll get up the nerve to get on a horse because it really did look like fun.