Day 506 - Grand Turk

Today Jaco & I both went ashore in a place that neither of us had been before. It wasn’t too exciting. In fact, the beach was stunning, but the rest of what we saw was kind of a dump. I don’t think that it helped that it was Sunday afternoon or that we docked in a rather obscure place, but Jaco wasn’t fussed to come back. I was quite excited when I heard they had Canadian Doctors on the island! After all, a good day in Fort St. John is never going to be as good as a bad day in Turks & Caicos! I’m anxious to talk to Dustin & Janis, as they holidayed here for a few weeks in January & had a wonderful time. I’m sure they found a more scenic place than we did!

That said, we had a brilliant time at the beach. We arrived just as it was clouding over & a few spittles of rain chased away the majority of the other passengers. Adding to that, the rest of the passengers stayed at the beach right next to the ship, so we quite literally had the entire beach to ourselves! I think there were about 2 other couples at either end of the beach & we were right in the middle.

The water was cool, but the colour was unbeatable. You couldn’t help yourself. You had to go in. It was just too tempting. The stunning turquoise blue lulled you in past the gentle waves that crashed onto the finest white sand your toes have ever sunk into. It was pretty hard to get out of the water.

Jaco swam out to a buoy & back, while I lingered in the water, took photos & wrote ‘Turks & Caicos’ in the sand. When the ‘Cabana Boys’ wanted to take away our loungers, we figured it was time to head back to the ship. We walked back to the terminal, hand in hand, flip flops & swim suits on… It was a great afternoon! We’ll see what he thinks of Turks & Caicos when it’s -30 & we can’t get out of the driveway due to snowfall.

I went out just after sailaway & saw a double rainbow fill the sky. Finding my way back to the Medical Centre, I inquired about our diving status. It looks like I’ll be diving in Tortola, St. Maarten & Antigua. I’m pretty stoked for all three. Apparently in Tortola we see a ship that sunk in the 1800’s & one of the portholes still has glass in it. Antigua is supposedly crystal clear visibility with plenty of sea life. St. Maarten is a shark dive. Yes, holy hyperventilate. I was sucking air just looking at the photos from the previous diver’s photos. They aren’t great white sharks, but they might as well be. They have fins on their backs, plenty of teeth & beady little eyes. If you don’t see a post after that day, well, you’ll know it wasn’t pretty! Ha ha! It will be the dive of a lifetime! I LOVE LIFE! Whoo hoo!

Jaco read a rugby magazine while I watched a Russell Crowe movie – The Inside, I think. It was pretty intense right ‘til the end! After it finished, I promptly ran upstairs to catch the last ½ of the Diane Cousins comedy show. She was hilarious! I think I’ll go again next cruise & drag Jaco out with me. She’s Welsh & highly entertaining!

With that, I’m off to bed. The sprouts are watered & sadly getting moldy again. I’ll buy some nylons tomorrow & try that. Wish me luck.

xxxxMaria

Just off the ship

 And you're right at the beach!

 Here we are!

 Love the water

 Fantastic!

 Inviting!

 This is a great day!

 That's my man!

 Just look upside down to get the hint.

 Splash

 Waves

 Rocks

 Cheese

 Kiss

 Smiles

 We had...

 the entire beach...

 To ourselves!

 Back onboard

 Nice rays

Double rainbow!