Beautiful and Elegant: British West Indies

A couple of years ago, my daughter and I decided to escape the madness of the Christmas holiday season and jet off to somewhere tropical, serene and spectacular. This was a last minute decision that seemed to throw our travel agent into a tailspin. Where could go that would fulfill all our apparently unique expectations? She was focused on the usual run of the mill Mexican Rivera or Hawaiian holiday packages, none of which we were interested in simply because they implied the busy, touristy, panic-mania we were trying so hard to avoid! While these places may certainly have fulfilled the tropical or spectacular part of our quest, serenity was not in their description. Disillusioned and running out of time, we decided to do an independent search.

That’s when we discovered the British West Indies and a fabulous group of eight Caribbean islands called Turks and Caicos. Covering some 193 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean and located 575 miles southeast of Miami in the Bahamas, these islands boast sugar white sandy beaches complimented by crystal clear waters, one of the longest coral reefs in the world and are renowned as one of the world’s best diving destinations. We decided on the island of Providenciales, affectionately known by those who know, as “Provo”. Flying from Miami, we picked up a twin prop “puddle jumper” and in one short hour, arrived in paradise found.

Our first destination was the Beach Club, a family oriented establishment in various stages of apparent disrepair and teaming with squealing children on a mission. Maybe, if you’re looking for a family vacation, this is perfectly adequate. We were relieved that our cottage was clean, insect, lizard and rodent free, and there was a decent family style beach front restaurant. But you would have to know Heather and I to understand why it just wasn’t up to our expectations. I know that one shouldn’t judge the quality of their vacation by their hotel room; you’re not going to be there most of the time anyhow! But there’s something just wrong about coming “home” to a less than charismatic vacation place, especially when it wasn’t exactly inexpensive!

On the second morning of our Provo adventure, we had gone for a 2 mile run up the beach. We came upon a beautiful palm thatched beach front bar, and stopped in for something tall and cold. It turns out, the bar was attached to a luxury condominium resort called “Grace Bay Villas”. This was where things got interesting…