We left Wilmington on Thursday August 21st...scratch that, we were supposed to leave Wilmington but our flight was canceled and we had to make a made dash drive to Myrtle Beach to fly to Charlotte - this should have been red flag #1. We arrived into the tiny airport in Providenciales and took the short ride to Beaches Turks & Caicos.
Welcome to heaven on earth!
Friday morning greeted us with a fresh fruit breakfast served on our patio before we took to the white sands of Grace Bay. Beaches Turks & Caicos is located on a picturesque stretch of Grace Bay with countless watersports available such as snorkeling, glass bottom boat rides, sailing, scuba diving, water tricycles, paddle boarding, and kayaking. All of those wonderful options and what did we decide to do on our first day? We grabbed a Miami Vice and plopped ourselves down on a lounge chair to work diligently on our tan. I mean, we didn't want to enjoy all of the available activities on our first day, right? We sampled another restaurant for lunch and I saw my long lost friend, Elmo! Elmo was just as happy to see me as I was to see him! We grabbed another Miami Vice to go and exerted all of our energy to get us over to the adults only pool in the Key West Village where we made sure each side of us was tanned evenly all afternoon. Friday night there was a Sesame Street Stage Show in the French Village so we wandered over to check it out. It was so cute! Beaches is partnered with Sesame Street so Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch, Burt, Ernie, Abby Cadabby, and Super Grover were all singing and dancing on the main stage.
We also found our pictures posted in the French Village!
After dinner we wandered by the water sports center to sign up for a snorkeling cruise on Saturday and were told that nothing was scheduled because the weather was predicted to be a little stormy. We thought nothing of it as we watched another glorious sunset. Saturday morning we woke up to a light rain so we went to a restaurant for breakfast and decided we'd enjoy our suite and read, watch tv, and nap. We ventured out in the rain and went to The Cricketers Pub to play games. I definitely beat my Momma at Battleship! By afternoon, the rain slowed and we went to check out the Pirates Island Waterpark. A few laps on the lazy river and the black clouds came back out and rained on our parade (you laughed - admit it!). Saturday night we went to my favorite restaurant, Kimonos. Kimonos is a Japanese hibachi style grill where they cook in front of you. Since there were only 2 of us we were seated with a larger family group from Connecticut who were celebrating several birthdays. We became part of the family within an hour and celebrated with cake and sake bombs.
Sunday brought more rain and the announcement that the island of Turks & Caicos was officially enduring Tropical Storm Cristobal. More rain meant more naps, more restaurant tastings, more reading, and a trip to the complimentary Red Lane Spa hot tub and plunge pool. We ran into our new family at each restaurant we went to and bonded even more since we learned they were supposed to have flown home on Sunday and the PLS airport was now closed thanks to the storm. The family was told it may be Thursday before they could get home! We can began to panic internally since we were supposed to fly home on Monday. When we decided to not let the rain ruin our fun, we continued our pursuit of sampling the menus at each of the 19 restaurants on resort. Sunday night my Mom had her first and possible last experience with sushi at Soy, then we had our main course at the seafood restaurant, and dessert at the Italian restaurant. We groaned all the way back to our suite before falling into a food coma.
Monday brought a lighter rain so we thought we should be fine to fly home. We saw our Connecticut family at breakfast and they burst our bubble by telling us flights were still canceled. I called US Airways and they confirmed but told us to call back in a couple of hours because they were discussing send an extra plane down since there were so many people stuck. We called back as they said and sure enough they were sending another plane! I had the concierge track down our other family to tell them the news! We all celebrated our last night in Turks & Caicos because we were flying home Tuesday morning!
Our 4 day weekend unexpectedly turned into a 5 day getaway but Beaches Resorts handled the storm like professionals and kept everyone calm and having fun. I asked for some quality mother/daughter time and boy did I get it! We had a fantastic time enjoying a fabulous family resort. Beaches truly showcased their supreme service during our tropical storm adventure and I can't wait to return...when it's not hurricane season!
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