Provo Turks and Caicos 12/17-1/1

My wife is a teacher and is only free during school vacations so we decided to go to TCI on the 2 most expensive weeks of the year. I looked at a map to find nonstop flights from Boston and TCI was an easy flight with a midday departure.

Arrived at the Provo airport a bit late and were greeted by a full house at immigration. Forget about social distancing but at least every North American was vaccinated and tested within the past 3 days. Took 1.5 hrs to get through immigration.

We rented this cottage on AirBnB - https://abnb.me/qbhVeIC0Mmb. Utilitarian and not expensive. Perfect location on the island. No more than 15 minutes from one end of the island to the other, except for rush hour. Since we were only 2 people, we opted for a small place with some screened in outdoor space. The cottage is located on a canal in Cooper Jack Settlement. The canal was bright and clear and full of life. Turtles regularly came up to sun themselves and we saw paddle boarders occasionally. Absolutely no bugs for the entire 2 weeks and we rarely had to use the AC since daytime temps were in the low 80s and nighttime in the mid 60s with a omnipresent breeze.

Ate out the first night at Chinson’s Grill shack that had real Jerk Chicken and pork and was full of TCI citizens. Perhaps one other table of tourists. Apparently, they also bake the white bread that is so common and we saw tens of loafs leave the restaurant with families. They also have a Chinese menu but we were not willing to chance it on our first night.

Our favorite restaurant meal was at Omar’s hut where I had a snapper escovitch and my wife had local jerked lobster. Great music and vibes right on the water. In fact there are picnic tables in the water if you are adventurous. Da conch Shack is a tourist trap but the dusk view and cracked conch were serviceable. We also enjoyed an early dinner at Turks Kebob where we had a good to very good Doner and Grilled chicken.

We only ate out a few times since I enjoy cooking so we explored most of the food stores. IGA is the dominant supermarket with the main larger store on the leeward highway. As others have suggested, food costs are 30-40% higher than in Boston but all the markets were well stocked. At the Gourmet IGA, there were Oysters from Cape Cod,Bell and Evan’s organic Chicken and a cheese selection with some great buys. I got a triple crème from Iowa that was very good and only cost $7. The only local produce is grown on North Caicos and is very expensive. A bag of Basil for 9$. Other local herbs were available at similar costs. Choice Angus beef is available as is good veal from miami. We cooked a 16 oz Angus Rib eye that cost $22 which was fine for 2 people.

Since there is absolutely no fresh water on Provo, you only drink desalinized water and the local Beer , Turks head is made entirely of desalinated water. They produce 2 million bottles/cans per year which is amazing. It is warm in TCI and Caribbean styled lagers are the norm but over XMAS, they had a Belgian Quad that was authentic and their 6%IPA was very chuggable.

Since this is a wine board, let’s talk about wine choices - At the supermarkets and even at the specialized wine stores like The Wine Cellar, you will see supermarket wines at 30%-40% higher than Boston prices. However, there are some great buys as well. I have never seen Hamilton Russell Pinots at a supermarket but the 2020 was only $31. Merry Edwards Sauv blanc at $31, a good CDR Rasteau 19 at $13. If you can tear yourself away from the beach, you can get some great finds. Roses are incredibly overpriced. Minuty Cotes de Provence at 28 is a bit steep since its 11 at Trader Joe’s.

Beachwise, we avoided Grace bay beach as often as we could but along the same beach further towards the Leeward, Sunset beach has all of the beauty of grace bay but without crowds and there is public access right at the beach. We also watched kite boarders at Long Bay and spent several days at Taylor Bay beach which is extremely shallow but spectacular at sundown. Our favorite place on Provo was the Northwest point where we spent a day and only saw 1 person on the beach. The ride out there is incredible. If you can drive in snow, you can drive to the point but it feel like an amusement park ride. We got stuck once but there were plywood boards on either side of the deep sand so we could get out easily. The tidal pools at the point as worth the drive as are the waves crashing onto the point.

If you are there for a week, it’s definitely worth taking the ferry to North Caicos and drive to Middle Caicos. The experience at Bambara beach is quiet and you can walk out to the island easily at low tide. We had the best Conch fritters there from the first shack. The view of Mudjin harbor and the islands is worth the day trip. Caves are beautiful and the crowds are non existent. We also spent a few hours in Kew and visited a few farms as well.

As far as Covid is concerned, The policies in TCI were very strict. Every time we went to a store, we were sprayed and temp tested. Masks were required and we often saw people outside always wearing masks. Even at outdoor restaurants, we wore masks to walk a to the table and to the rest room.

My only criticism of the vacation was the return trip. We arrived at 1130 am for a 455pm flight. We flew biz class and expected a lil higher quality of service. Hardly!! It took us 3.5 hrs to get from the car rental place through check in and through immigration. The entire airport was overflowing and there was no social distancing. I would estimate that 20% of Americans returning refused to wear masks and there was no official presence to get them to put masks on. One bright individual said to me - We are out doors (wasn’t true) and don’t need to wear a mask even though he was 2 feet from me with his entire family unmasked. Luckily, as we approached the check in, there was an American Airlines employee who reviewed all covid tests. This particular family had refused to test and were pulled from the line and excluded from boarding till they tested. 2 of them tested positive and the father went ballistic. The entire family was removed from the airport.

We have traveled extensively through the Caribbean basin and were pleasantly surprised by TCI. It’s an extension of the Bahamas in the Atlantic but the quality of the beaches and the ocean make TCI a must visit.

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Love Provo! We went in June and booked again for this summer. Surprisingly weather is quite pleasant in June and it helps that grace bay is north facing… My kids still talk about the jerk chicken at Omar’s.

Great report! Love Turks & Caicos… in about a 5 year stretch we went 4 times… great place to go with kids.

We always stayed ON grace bay beach, as i find that is a beautiful place… it’s almost never busy… the odd few people but generally a large expanse of white sand, with very few people on it. Some other beaches are nice too of course, but we just always picked a resort on the beach, with pool etc… made kids living easy.

Stayed at Middle Caicos once (dragon cay i think it’s called)… that place is beautttttiful. I agree on a day trip. Overnight is a bit rough as dining options are hugely limited. We drove 20 mins to find a place that had burgers…
but in the morning when the entire bay is yours and yours alone - amazing.

Wine - always brought wine luggage… customs allow it, and restaurants allow it. easy peasy.

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“best” resort without kids - probably hard to beat when there’s an Aman in the area?

Anguilla.
Ha. I kid but not really. We love Turks but whenever we finally get to travel without kids it’ll be to Anguilla. The new Aurora even has a weekly chartered flight from Teterboro to avoid the connections in Miami/sxm/San Juan.