Turks & Caicos in Sapodilla Bay – Part I

This is a trip report of our beautiful vacation to Turks and Caicos. We stayed at a beautiful villa on Sapodilla Bay which was wonderful.

Friday

We had a full day of work and school, packed our bags, and was picked up at 8:30 to be taken to LAX. It went a lot better then I was expecting considering our flight left at midnight. GG didn’t sleep for the first hour which was apparently problematic since I passed right out. He was trying to score cookies from the flight attendant while the husband whispered things to him across the aisle. Oops.

Saturday

We had a layover in Atlanta, had breakfast, and then hopped on our next flight. We arrived at the airport which was pretty busy. We went through customs easily, although I had a guilty conscience and declared that I was taking meat & veggies through which once I stood in line and had them look at my paper, they waved me through. When I did the same thing in Costa Rica they searched my bag and looked at me like I was a very bad person! Although I didn’t declare it then… it was freaking snacks! I realize why though but still. I need my food, man!

Grace Bay Car Rentals met us at the airport with a sign, as did the property manager for our house at Sapphire Sunsets on Sapodilla Bay. I highly recommend Grace Bay Car Rentals in Turks & Caicos because they are half the price of Hertz or another place! They don’t have a ‘stand’ at the airport so you have to pay the parking fee, but that was no big deal. All their cars have the steering wheel on the right side of the car but that makes you more aware of driving on the left, I think. They also have car seats although we ended up taking our own which we were happy we did. (Theirs looked really old and trashed.) We got home, toured the beautiful beautiful home, and then a few of us jumped in the car to get to the IGA supermarker. It was packed but we got our stuff and go out.

Fun fact, you can’t buy alcohol on Sunday’s. We were so happy it was a Saturday. 🙂

We BBQ’d hamburgers and hot dogs, which were so yummy. Then it was time to hop on the Jammin’ boat for the Glow Worm Tour!

Let me tell you about this glow worm tour… Captain Bill is a character! The trip was 3 hours long, which was two hours too much. However, this mating experience of glow worms was so cool, it was worth it! The lights were turned off twenty minutes before eight, and then suddenly the whole ocean was lit up with green flashes of light for about five minutes. We got up close with the little light squiggles and it was pretty rad.

We then came home and collapsed into bed.

Sunday

Our first full day on the island! It was also GG’s 5th birthday so we started it off by just playing in the water and sand down at the beach. The water is so green, you almost can’t believe these photos. It is awesome though.

It was also Easter and they had NO eggs at the IGA. So the kids had easter bags full of stuff. Apparently Sammie asked JJ if the stuff was ‘really from her’. Oops. Oh well.

I was also bit by a bug the night before (I remember waving it away) and my eye was red and scratchy. Later on in the day it swelled up. So fabulous.

Dinner was a special night out at Coco Bistro, which is almost universally acknowledged as a fabulous restaurant over on Fodors. It definitely lived up to the name. Katie, Jerra, and I all had the lobster. I switched out my rice with steamed veggies. The husband had this fabulous seafood pasta which included lobster, scallops, and a few other things which he said was fantastic. Grandpa had the Korean Prime Rib… and I can’t remember what Evie had! The restaurant was outside, surrounded by palm trees and nice music. The service was a little slow as reported but I got up and asked them to take the kids orders very early after we realized it might take awhile. So the kids got their food (which made them happy) and we got to keep drinking and enjoying our food which was just perfect too! We were all having fun and on island time, anyway.

Monday

We had a lazy morning and spent some time on the sand in the morning. My eye from the bug bite was twice the size it was the night before and completely freaking me out. I ended up taking Benadryl on the scheduled time table and it finally started to get better. I looked horrible.

We wanted to explore a bit later. I really wanted to go to Da Conch Shack restaurant over in Blue Hills, but then we thought going to see the Conch Museum for the kids would be better. However, here the Monday after Easter is a celebrated holiday so it wasn’t open! We heard about the Children’s Park which was holding a festival and kite flying contest. We thought we would go explore that first. I want to say that none of these places have addresses on them. 🙂

Can I stop for a moment to note about how there are virtually NO street signs on this island too? Or they are only showing in one direction of the road? Argh. Probably why they don’t need addresses! The island is small. Plus when we drive two cars, one car knows where we should be going – but since they are following they just have to follow… and follow… and follow. And then we get lost. Then the other car takes over… and then we get lost again. haha 🙂 Hello International calling plan for TWO people in your group, not just one? Oh well. Also, today was a fun day for “Left, Left Left!” reminders of driving on the road.

We were looking for Sharkbites, but we ended up at West Bay Club Bar & Grill which was perfectly acceptable. I had the hamburger which was really good, and covered in bacon. YUM. The husband had the fish & chips with snapper, Evie had the Cracked Conch. The Conch almost tasted like calamari, it was squishy! I just tried a little bite.  Jerra had a chicken salad, Grandpa had the ceviche. All was really nice and we enjoyed it. The hotel looked middle of the road and perfectly nice. The pool was small but had some fun fountains to play in. The beach was nice and had lounge chairs.

We walked down the beach to the Children’s Park where the festival was playing. First of all, it was so incredibly windy. It made me SO happy to be over on our calmer side of the island! I think we were really unlucky to have such a windy day then though. By the time we walked to the festival (through the sand), walked up to the park to get tickets to do all the bouncy slides & things, walked back down to the slide… which we realized was a WET slide once the kids were at the top of it (it was one of the REALLY tall ones), walked back inside to do the other bouncy things which we immediately couldn’t because the kids were melting down due to their wet clothes… (Yes, my kids don’t like sand on their hands – or anything really on their hands – and can’t function until it’s fixed.) By the time we got the clothes changed, they just really wanted to leave.

Which was perfectly fine because I was feeling sooo dizzy from walking back and forth, the hot sun, and not that much water. I almost had a dizzy spell and gulped down water and was fine then. Once we got home we got Griffin down for a nap and he slept a good two hours. He was very tired after though! Sam just rested in her room for an hour until she wandered out. 🙂 I guess she is too old to nap although we tried!

Dinner was a nice walk over to Las Brisas, which was super short and perfect. The ambiance was wonderful. The back deck looked out on the Chalk Sound, the water was turquoise, they had music playing, and we got to watch the sun set behind part of the island. The husband and I had the steak, which was delicious. I got mine with two sides of steamed veggies. The husband had the mashed potatoes. My sister had the coconut shrimp, which she said she loved. Grandpa had the conch salad which was good. We ended up going home for dessert, as they were out of a few favorites so the kids settled on ice cream. We decided we would definitely visit Las Brisas again a few times for our stay, simply because the walk was so easy and everyone could drink and not worry about driving!

Some of the adults stayed up, however I collapsed into bed. Apparently there was a big long discussion about religion and politics that I’m glad I missed… because apparently it was a doozy!

Tuesday

I snuck off in the morning and visited the Caicos Bakery over near Seven Seas (I want to go back and explore that hotel!). It got rave reviews online and I picked up croisants, chocolate croisants, almond croisants, and a few other things. I didn’t have any (although they smelled delicious in the car ride home) but were raved about from the house members. I’m not sure if it was worth driving 30 minutes for (15 min there and then back with no traffic) but it was a nice change. I also probably bought too many and they didn’t take credit card. I was glad it was on the early part of the trip when there were still bills in my wallet! 🙂

GG was still suffering from an awful sunburn/rash on his neck. It didn’t look bad but when we put suntan lotion on it, he started screaming and wouldn’t stop until after we wiped it off, put aloe vera on him, and then finally tossed him in the shower to wash everything off. He chilled out in the house while Sam and I went and made sandcastles. After an hour, the lure of the iPad and movies couldn’t keep Sam away so she went in and I read a nice book! We had lunch and then the kids went out in the water while it was cloudy to play a few fun games with Grandma and Auntie.

Later in the afternoon we got ready to leave. We wanted to explore a little and shop before we went to the Somerset Beach dinner which we had heard favorable reviews from as they hold it every Tuesday night. However, driving two cars on the way there, we got a little lost from one another (and no cell phones!) but somehow we found each other while we were doing circles in the roundabouts. Pure luck! Anyway, we stopped at the Wine Cellar to restock our wine. Then we went in search of the hotel again.

The Somerset was a beautiful hotel. The front desk was nice, the pool was gorgeous, and the beach setup was amazing! If I had one complaint, it would be the DJ was way too loud. Their woofer, or whatever bass speakers, were so loud they were static-y and no one could hear anyone else talking. We were one of those annoying groups who asked the DJ to turn it down (which was glorious) but after 10 minutes, we noticed it slowly creeped back up. The dinner was fantastic. They had grilled lobster (only one per ticket!), mahi-mahi, chicken, ribs, salad, corn on the cob, and pasta & hot dogs for the kids. Most of the adults went back for a hot dog, they were so good.

I had the lobster and mahi mahi. They were obviously marinated with something and I cringed as I was eating it and paid the affects for it a little later but I survived and it was yummy. After feeling the after-effects, I really wish that was the night I brought my cooler full of food… which I did the other previous nights but didn’t need it then! Alas. Still. Can’t complain too much about grilled lobster on the barbie!

If you go there to eat, try to get a table that is set to the side of the speakers, it might help. We were directly in front of them, although down the beach a bit. The ambiance of eating while your toes were in the sand, and hearing the ocean waves on the beach can’t be beat! I think the kids will remember it for a long time. They were able to eat s’mores on the beach and cook it themselves. I also have to say our waitress, Nadine, was the most fantastic and cheerful person we have seen on the island. That is saying something because the people here are all really cheerful.

We got home and I collapsed into bed.

End of Part I 🙂 Read on to Part II!