Since getting to TCI is a trek from the west coast, we had an overnight layover in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Joy and I found a great Peruvian-Japanese fusion restaurant on the trendy Las Olas Blvd. for dinner!
We ended up staying at the iconic Bahia Mar by Doubletree on Ft. Lauderdale Beach for our overnight layover.
We had an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean and the intercoastal waterway from our balcony at the Bahia Mar.
Joy and I was able to take a nice walk along the water front in the morning before our connection to Providenciales Island.
Southwest operates many of their international flights out of Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). Our flight is the middle one to Providenciales. They still use their usual 737 aircraft for international routes.
This was an amazing view of the coastline of Providenciales as we were landing. Turks & Caicos is in the Tropical Atlantic.
Turks & Caicos Islands are a British territory so the Union Jack flies high above their islands. We were under the jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Government now. LOL.
Our taxi took us to our resort, the Ports of Call Resort, after arriving in Providenciales.
The bartender Jackson greeted us with our welcome rum punch made from local rum.
The resort had a cool mural of the islands of the Turks & Caicos Islands. The Turks islands are to the right of South Caicos. It did not make this photo.
The resort had shops and restaurants on their property as well. The colors were very vibrant which is typical of the Caribbean and Tropical Atlantic.
Joy posed with one of the "pirates" in the courtyard of the Ports of Call Resort.
We went to explore the top rated beach on Trip Advisor, Grace Bay Beach, afterwards. Our resort had a private stretch of sand on this beach for the guests!
I continued to enjoy my rum punch by the pool at the resort.
The staff at the hotel recommended we go to "Da Fish Fry" for dinner. I loved the food!
Local restaurants and vendors have booths with fresh seafood and other homecooked dishes for sale at "Da Fish Fry."
This lady is pounding down the conch for the conch fritters! These were the most amazing conch fritters that I ever had!
Jackson, the bartender, told us to make sure we sample the local island beer too at "Da Fish Fry."
![H17]](Honeymoon17.jpg)
We also got fresh coconut water too!
The evening ended with a march and musical show by a Junkanoo Band.
Junkanoo is like a "carnival" celebration with bright colored costumes.
This guy with a conch shell on his back led the Junkanoo procession. Conch is very common off the coasts of the Turks & Caicos Islands.
This is the private beach area of our resort on Grace Bay Beach. The beach attendant made sure to have umbrellas and chairs set up for the guests each day.
I got some pool time in the morning also.
I think most of the guests were at the beach so I had the pool area to myself!
Joy found a nice sea shell on the beach when we were waiting for the tour boat to arrive for our snorkel adventure.
Joy and I are enjoying our ride out to sea on the snorkel adventure.
The skies look threatening, but it was actually pretty sunny for most of our snorkel trip. The tropical islands can be like this with a brief shower during the day or night.
The crew dove in to get fresh conch for a conch ceviche for us.
I am exploring what lies beneath the ocean near the third largest barrier reef system in the world.
This was Joy's first time snorkeling.
Mr. & Mrs. Roy are posing for an underwater picture using my 4K action camera.
Here are some cool fishes near the reef.
This was our boat operated by Island Vibes Tour.
We headed to a deserted island after snorkeling to chill for sometime.
The deserted island was amazing!
Joy is posing by the boat on the deserted island. Turks & Caicos has many uninhabited islands.
We are posing on the beach on the deserted island.
The crew showed us how to remove the conch meat from the shells.
This is what conch looks like out of the shell. Conch is a sea snail.
I went out looking for iguanas with some of the others on the tour.
We found a few iguanas on our expedition.
I am enjoying a lagoon area on the deserted island.
I don't think we wanted to leave the beautiful deserted island :(
However, the crew did make our departure from the island better with fresh conch ceviche and rum punch!
We also found some deep water to use the water slide on the boat! It was fun! Yeah, that's me using the slide!
Joy enjoyed swimming in the warm water!
Joy and I are enjoying the rum punch and the party on the boat!
The sunset over the Atlantic was beautiful from the boat.
We took a luxury SUV taxi from our resort to Mango Reef for dinner after the snorkel adventure.
Mango Reef is a highly rated fine dining establishment on the island.
I had the local lobster curry. It was delicious!
The restaurant had open air dining.
Ports of Call had an amazing open air lobby too. It was cool to come back to day or night!
We had great weather the next day to take advantage of the beautiful Grace Bay Beach!
Joy and I enjoyed swimming in Grace Bay!
Joy is flexing her muscles on the beach.
Joy is showing off her new dress by the tropical fruit at the resort.
We had dinner at the top restaurant on the island on Saturday night. Coco Bistro books out for months during the peak season! We were lucky to get a reservation on short notice!
Coco Bistro started a casual lounge also called Coco Van using an Airstream Van as the kitchen. It was just rated the #1 new restaurant in the Caribbean!
I got a drink that looked the Jamaican flag at the bar at Coco Van. I think it was a "rasta punch."
We dined underneath the palms at Coco Bistro.
Joy and I enjoyed the atmosphere a lot at Coco Bistro.
I got local ahi tuna with fried sesame rice balls on a bed of asparagus.
Joy got conch served two ways.
I enjoyed the beach on Sunday morning too.
I got my toes in the water. Ass (almost) in the sand. LOL. They don't sell liquor on Sundays in TCI.
We flew out from PLS on Southwest's special edition plane, "Tennessee One."
We enjoyed beautiful views of the tropical Atlantic from the plane as we took off from PLS.
We stayed at the Hyatt House by Ft. Lauderdale Airport that night for our overnight layover. I was able to watch my Cowboys beat the Eagles in the suite!
We had to connect through Denver on the way back. LOL. We ended up going from a tropical environment to a snowy environment!
For our honeymoon,
Joy and I picked Turks & Caicos Islands in the tropical Atlantic
Ocean. Turks & Caicos are a group of islands that are a
British territory near the Bahamas. It is absolute paradise with
the #1 rated beach according to Trip Advisor for 2018. However,
getting to Turks & Caicos from the west coast is quite a
chore! We ended up having to fly to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and
doing an overnight layover to connect to our flight to
Providenciales. I am an "A List" member for Southwest Rapid
Rewards so our flights were comfortable as I get earlier boarding than
most people, and we also have access to priority check in counters and
security lines at most airports.
After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, we took a Lyft to our hotel on Ft. Lauderdale Beach. The Bahia Mar is an iconic hotel with a yacht club right across from the ocean. It is a Hilton property also since they affiliated with Doubletree. I was greeted as a Diamond guest, and we got a room upgrade to a water view room. After getting settled in, we took another Lyft to an amazing Peruvian & Japanese fusion restaurant called SuViche. We enjoyed the Peruvian style ceviche, sushi, and lomo saltado (filet mignon). I also had a Pisco cocktail. We figured this was a good preview of what we will experience.
The next morning, we had time to take a nice walk along the waterfront in Ft. Lauderdale Beach. I found a local coffee shop to get my iced Americano, and we enjoyed our usual complimentary breakfast for Diamond guests at the hotel. Afterwards, we headed out to the airport for our flight to Providenciales International Airport. The flight time to Providenciales was only about one hour and twenty minutes. We flew over Bahamian waters before approaching the Turks & Caicos Islands. The views were amazing.
After arriving at PLS Airport, we took a taxi to our resort in Grace Bay. Ports of Call Resort was a medium sized laid back resort. It was quiet, and we enjoyed the tropical lush landscaping around the property including the pool area. The bartender, Jackson, welcomed us with a rum punch drink made of local rum. He also told us about an event that they have on the island every Thursday night called "Da Fish Fry." "Da Fish Fry" is an outdoor festival where locals and tourists party. Local restuarants make fresh food for sale. Also, there is live music. We enjoyed the best conch fritters that I ever had. The evening ended with a marching band performance by a Junkanoo Band. Junkanoo Bands are like a carnival masquarade celebration. They go back all the way to when slavery was abolished on the island. The island has a big Junkanoo celebration on New Year's Day.
The next morning, we enjoyed our mornings on the private stretch of beach on Grace Bay Beach that the resort owned. The resort had a beach attendant there who put out umbrellas and chairs for the guests. We also had access to free kayaks, paddleboards, and floats to enjoy the relatively calm and clean water. There was a large stretch of coral reefs around the islands so the water by the coast is very clear and clean. The colors change almost hourly too from blue to turquois. It is very beautiful, and yes, I think it is the best beach that I have been to just like Trip Advisor says. Afterwards, I chilled by the pool too before we had to get ready for our snorkel adventure.
Our snorkel tour picked us up on Grace Bay Beach. There were some others waiting for the boat too, and we met some cool couples that were staying near our resort also. Joy and I both agree that the people outside of California are much friendlier. The one couple we met from Florida was really nice. We actually ran into them again after our snorkel trip since the island is so small, and they invited us to join them at a local bar in Ft. Lauderdale for their short lay over on the way back home since it turned out we were on the same flight. The first project for our crew was to dive in and find conch for a conch ceviche for us. Afterwards, they took us outside of the reef to go snorkling. The snorkling was OK, but it was not the best snorkeling ever. I think Belize was the best snorkeling that I ever experienced followed by Punta Cana. We enjoyed swimming around in the warm waters however.
After our snorkeling adventure, we went to a deserted island to relax. The crew showed us how to take the conch out of the shells. We were able to go explore the island and see the iguanas that live there. Afterwards, we departed the island for deeper water where we could use the water slides or jump off the top of the boat. I enjoyed the water slide. The crew served us the conch ceviche, sandwiches, and rum punch! I enjoyed floating around the pool after we got back to the resort on a pool float before dinner. It was so relaxing!
That evening, we had reservations at Mango Reef. Mango Reef is a highly recommended restaurant on the island. We took a luxury SUV taxi from our resort to the restaurant. Taxis are not cheap on the island even though the taxi drivers compete for repeat business. They drive on the other side of the road since it is a British territory so we did not want to rent a car, but it looked like driving on the island would be easy since there are no traffic lights. They use round abouts mostly. We enjoyed our dinner at Mango Reef. I had the local lobster curry. Prices on the island are pretty high compared to other Caribbean destinations. They use the US Dollar as their currency also, and most everything has to be imported in to the island.
The next day, we had a full day to enjoy Grace Bay Beach. We started bright and early after the complimentary breakfast at the resort. The weather was great too! We were able to swim in the warm water and just chill under a beach umbrella. For lunch, we tried a Caribbean restaurant at the Ports of Call Resort. We were able to go explore the shops around Grace Bay in the evening before dinner.
For dinner, we went to the top restaurant on the island. Coco Bistro is booked out for months sometime. We were able to get reservations, but it was late! However, since there was a three hour time difference, it worked out great for us. Coco Bistro features outdoor dining underneath palm trees in a beautiful garden setting. They also have a lounge area called Coco Van. I enjoyed a cocktail at Coco Van before we had dinner at Coco Bistro. The food was amazing! It was an expensive night, but we enjoyed the food and ambiance a lot!
The next morning, we got more beach time on Grace Bay Beach. The weather was great again. We had to depart the resort around 12:00 since they recommended passengers get to the small airport about three hours in advance on the weekends. The airport was a little primitive for such a nice place. After lunch, I decided to get a massage at the airport spa. We flew out on Southwest's Tennessee One to Ft. Lauderdale. I was proud to fly on Tennessee One as we (Republicans) retained the Senate seat in Tenneseee last week during the mid term elections! After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, we took the hotel shuttle over to the Hyatt House. I booked a nice suite for us. We were so tired that I just ordered Uber Eats for us, and I watched my Cowboys humiliate the lowest of the low Eagles on Sunday Night Football!
After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, we took a Lyft to our hotel on Ft. Lauderdale Beach. The Bahia Mar is an iconic hotel with a yacht club right across from the ocean. It is a Hilton property also since they affiliated with Doubletree. I was greeted as a Diamond guest, and we got a room upgrade to a water view room. After getting settled in, we took another Lyft to an amazing Peruvian & Japanese fusion restaurant called SuViche. We enjoyed the Peruvian style ceviche, sushi, and lomo saltado (filet mignon). I also had a Pisco cocktail. We figured this was a good preview of what we will experience.
The next morning, we had time to take a nice walk along the waterfront in Ft. Lauderdale Beach. I found a local coffee shop to get my iced Americano, and we enjoyed our usual complimentary breakfast for Diamond guests at the hotel. Afterwards, we headed out to the airport for our flight to Providenciales International Airport. The flight time to Providenciales was only about one hour and twenty minutes. We flew over Bahamian waters before approaching the Turks & Caicos Islands. The views were amazing.
After arriving at PLS Airport, we took a taxi to our resort in Grace Bay. Ports of Call Resort was a medium sized laid back resort. It was quiet, and we enjoyed the tropical lush landscaping around the property including the pool area. The bartender, Jackson, welcomed us with a rum punch drink made of local rum. He also told us about an event that they have on the island every Thursday night called "Da Fish Fry." "Da Fish Fry" is an outdoor festival where locals and tourists party. Local restuarants make fresh food for sale. Also, there is live music. We enjoyed the best conch fritters that I ever had. The evening ended with a marching band performance by a Junkanoo Band. Junkanoo Bands are like a carnival masquarade celebration. They go back all the way to when slavery was abolished on the island. The island has a big Junkanoo celebration on New Year's Day.
The next morning, we enjoyed our mornings on the private stretch of beach on Grace Bay Beach that the resort owned. The resort had a beach attendant there who put out umbrellas and chairs for the guests. We also had access to free kayaks, paddleboards, and floats to enjoy the relatively calm and clean water. There was a large stretch of coral reefs around the islands so the water by the coast is very clear and clean. The colors change almost hourly too from blue to turquois. It is very beautiful, and yes, I think it is the best beach that I have been to just like Trip Advisor says. Afterwards, I chilled by the pool too before we had to get ready for our snorkel adventure.
Our snorkel tour picked us up on Grace Bay Beach. There were some others waiting for the boat too, and we met some cool couples that were staying near our resort also. Joy and I both agree that the people outside of California are much friendlier. The one couple we met from Florida was really nice. We actually ran into them again after our snorkel trip since the island is so small, and they invited us to join them at a local bar in Ft. Lauderdale for their short lay over on the way back home since it turned out we were on the same flight. The first project for our crew was to dive in and find conch for a conch ceviche for us. Afterwards, they took us outside of the reef to go snorkling. The snorkling was OK, but it was not the best snorkeling ever. I think Belize was the best snorkeling that I ever experienced followed by Punta Cana. We enjoyed swimming around in the warm waters however.
After our snorkeling adventure, we went to a deserted island to relax. The crew showed us how to take the conch out of the shells. We were able to go explore the island and see the iguanas that live there. Afterwards, we departed the island for deeper water where we could use the water slides or jump off the top of the boat. I enjoyed the water slide. The crew served us the conch ceviche, sandwiches, and rum punch! I enjoyed floating around the pool after we got back to the resort on a pool float before dinner. It was so relaxing!
That evening, we had reservations at Mango Reef. Mango Reef is a highly recommended restaurant on the island. We took a luxury SUV taxi from our resort to the restaurant. Taxis are not cheap on the island even though the taxi drivers compete for repeat business. They drive on the other side of the road since it is a British territory so we did not want to rent a car, but it looked like driving on the island would be easy since there are no traffic lights. They use round abouts mostly. We enjoyed our dinner at Mango Reef. I had the local lobster curry. Prices on the island are pretty high compared to other Caribbean destinations. They use the US Dollar as their currency also, and most everything has to be imported in to the island.
The next day, we had a full day to enjoy Grace Bay Beach. We started bright and early after the complimentary breakfast at the resort. The weather was great too! We were able to swim in the warm water and just chill under a beach umbrella. For lunch, we tried a Caribbean restaurant at the Ports of Call Resort. We were able to go explore the shops around Grace Bay in the evening before dinner.
For dinner, we went to the top restaurant on the island. Coco Bistro is booked out for months sometime. We were able to get reservations, but it was late! However, since there was a three hour time difference, it worked out great for us. Coco Bistro features outdoor dining underneath palm trees in a beautiful garden setting. They also have a lounge area called Coco Van. I enjoyed a cocktail at Coco Van before we had dinner at Coco Bistro. The food was amazing! It was an expensive night, but we enjoyed the food and ambiance a lot!
The next morning, we got more beach time on Grace Bay Beach. The weather was great again. We had to depart the resort around 12:00 since they recommended passengers get to the small airport about three hours in advance on the weekends. The airport was a little primitive for such a nice place. After lunch, I decided to get a massage at the airport spa. We flew out on Southwest's Tennessee One to Ft. Lauderdale. I was proud to fly on Tennessee One as we (Republicans) retained the Senate seat in Tenneseee last week during the mid term elections! After arriving in Ft. Lauderdale, we took the hotel shuttle over to the Hyatt House. I booked a nice suite for us. We were so tired that I just ordered Uber Eats for us, and I watched my Cowboys humiliate the lowest of the low Eagles on Sunday Night Football!