A Field Trip

I am not sure if you ever get used to riding your bike down the road next to donkeys, cows and chickens; having flying fish zoom by while looking for whales; or saying hello to everyone you pass – but I hope not! And that is what life is like on Salt Cay, so very special.

The Turks and Caicos, in general, is an amazingly beautiful and diverse island chain, you could spend many years exploring the 40 different islands and cays here in the TCI. If you would like to stay a lifetime then come and get to know the people, an equally enjoyable endeavor. Over the past few days I have had the opportunity to get alittle further afield then the two islands Vale and I have been using as our bases. One of the smaller uninhabited cays, Gibbs Cay, has curious stingrays hanging out in the shallows.


The waters here are staggeringly beautiful and the islands so distinct and interesting. Over my two-day field trip exploring 5 new islands and the waters around them for whales, I have gained an extraordinary new appreciation of the extent of diversity. You can do any number of activities from just doing nothing and being completely pampered and catered to - to hiking and exploring a tiny island that makes you feel as if you are the first person to set foot upon it. For me I enjoy the latter, and always have. And I worry about all the development that has already sprung up and the scores more that seems to be planned for the future.

Providenciales, Provo for short, is where most people fly into when coming to the Turks and Caicos and for some it is the only island they ever see, which is unfortunate because there is heaps more to this island chain. However, on Provo many high-end resorts have sprung up along the beaches over the past 10 to 15 years and some say have changed the character of the island. I can’t really speak to changes in the island’s character because I have only been visiting for two years now. Provo still seemed like a very nice place to visit to me, but I was happy to come back home to Salt Cay. There is such a different feel to these smaller islands, where life is simple and sweet. And everyone knows your name, or if they don’t they will soon enough.

On both Grand Turk and Salt Cay we have met wonderful and generous people who are interested in our project and want to do everything possible to help. It is a marvelous feeling of community on these islands, especially on Salt Cay; where the community really works together to ensure that visitors are having good experiences and that their neighbors are well. One of the main sources of entertainment on Salt Cay is Porter and Haidee Williams who own Island Thyme Bistro and run the Greenflash Café. If ever in Salt Cay – both a must to visit.

Greenflash Café sits right at the dock and about 300 yards away you can often see whales all along the western side of the island where the wall drops of to deep water. At the Greenflash, Porter and Haidee have installed a new horn to alert everyone when they spot whales off the wall.