turks and caicos bucket list

1 April 2013

james and i are excited and sad about the news – i knew that the day would come, when we would have to move…and some told me it would happen when i felt the happiest on island – and how right they were. we have a lot to do before we leave and hope to make the best out our last days in provo.

so, i made a short bucket list of things i have been postponing since day one, and want to fit in before we leave –

* go parasailing, and face the fear of heights

* eat out at coco bistro, trip advisor’s number one restaurant in provo

* dive with james, and hope i don’t get to see any sharks

* cross the ferry, and go cycling with friends through north and middle caicos

* explore the one spot on island i haven’t been to, the remote beach in west harbor

* visit our capital city, cockburn town, in the island of grand turk

* go to salt cay, for humpback whale watching

* take james on an helicopter tour of the islands

* and the hardest one…get my father to come visit!

so, provo friends, what are the things you still want to do whilst on island – spill the beans!

picture of grace bay beach, news for april fools day (but seriously, this is all on my bucket list).

happy easter weekend

30 March 2013

1 Comment

happy easter weekend friends! we are having a four day weekend, and for the first time we are not taking advantage of our days off to travel. we are staying home, and feel quite happy to have a long relaxing weekend on island.

i always miss my family during this holidays. we have the tradition of getting together to spend easter weekend at our family home in the north of portugal – we eat, drink, go for long walks, shop at the local market, and spend hours chatting by the fireplace with a glass of port wine!

so i try to make up for it with fun things to do on island. we went for drinks to the new bar that opened this week, right next to lemon 2 go cafe, – the sandbar – this place is going to be the perfect spot for pre and after dinner drinks. also we have booked to go for a special easter dinner at the new italian restaurant that is now open in grace bay area – via veneto – i am so excited to try it out!

wishing you all have an amazing weekend, hopefully with a bit os sun too! xx – j

ps – last year’s easter weekend in provo

his dive story / 44

27 March 2013

5 Comments

Another awesome day diving at Northwest Point. We had been diving mostly West Caicos, the Channel and French Cay lately as the north side of Provo has been battered with strong surges.

The first dive was at Amphitheater and it is by far one of my favorite dive sites as the reef wall just drops and drops in what appears to be like seats at an amphitheater. We did the right wall this time and it was amazing with just about the right amount of sunlight coming down.

The second dive was at Thunderdome, which was once a location of a French tv show similar to Survivor. The structure has all crumbled but the sea life there is great. We usually stop by here after doing our wall dive.

I tried to stack my macro lens to catch these little fishes call blenny. I am trying to catch them when they shoot out as you can see the entire length of their body. Really cool but next time!

Enjoy the video and pics. Soon, it will be time to start wearing my 3mm but for now at 25c, I am still on 7mm. :)

my previous diving posts – HERE

his dive story / 43

13 March 2013

1 Comment

It’s me again after a couple of weeks off diving due to a flu and bad sea conditions. In fact, we still have not dived out in Grace Bay at all as the sea has been very rough coming from the north. The water temp has dropped to about 25c and I have been wearing my 7mm suit. I am starting to enjoy using my new camera gear setup and playing with the wide angle lens. I think I need to get the dome next! :)

These pics show the different types of sea creatures we have in abundance. I love the crab. The picture does not do any justice to the size of this crab as it was BIG and missing one giant claw! It was not shy at all and wasn’t bothered that I was trying to get a close up.

The blue and black fishes that you see are really pretty to look at and I have not seen them in a group like that before.

And then those baby blue parrot fishes are definitely feeding off the corals. They are so cool to watch when they swim together in a big group.

Enjoy and until next time, hopefully, we will get to dive Grace Bay again.

read more his dive story posts over here – james

ps – lion fish, an invasive species.

his dive story / 42

5 February 2013

1 Comment

his-dive-story-42-b This dive was in the channel. Somewhere between morthwest point and west caicos. The best time to dive the channel is when the tide is high as the reef wall is on a slippery slope so when the tide is receding the current will be unbearable, dragging you down towards the slope and the viz will be bad as all the silt will be kicked up.

Anyway on this dive we were told that this is usually where one would see gurnards, flying fishes but since last year’s hurricane they have seemed to have disappeared! Well guess what??? I found them on this dive as i went off alone as i usually do a deep profile dive and it was on my way up was when i found these two gurnards.

his-dive-story-42 Amazing looking especially when they open their wings and voila! The irresdescent blue spots are just so beautiful but one of them is missing part of its wing or else it was bitten off by another fish. Enjoy the video.

I used my new red filter on this video. Still testing and playing. I have now two INON macro lens that I stack and a new wide angle. Technique technique!!! Ciao and until next time – James

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