Turks and Caicos

At the end of August, Colin headed to Turks and Caicos to collect baseline data on their lizard population ahead of an ambitious cat and rat eradication. Admittedly, his field work often takes him to pretty nice places, but this was one of the nicest--a luxury resort (the Meridian Club) on a small private island (Pine Cay), which is accessible only by boat and where transportation is by golf cart and bicycle only. (Fun fact: according to Wikipedia, Pine Cay was home to the first tourist destination in the Turks and Caicos!) Because the resort would be closed for the season, we would be able to stay in the guest rooms and eat with the staff. Determined not to be left behind on this adventure, I convinced Colin that Labor Day weekend would be a great time to go.

As it turned out, that was extremely prescient. While we were there, the weather was perfect--hot and sunny, with bright, fluffy clouds and gentle waves lapping at the shore. The day after we left, evacuations for Hurricane Irma began. And two days later, Irma slammed directly into Turks and Caicos and little Pine Cay, which rises only a few meters above sea level.

Luckily, Colin's team finished their work and left with us on Labor Day, and the eradication team evacuated to higher ground in Providenciales, the main city in Turks and Caicos. Although power and communications were down for days, they stayed safe. The eradication work may no longer be feasible given the short time before tourist season begins in November, but that's small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. The damage to the Meridian Club wasn't too bad, either, all things considered.

In any case, here are some photos of the idyllic Pine Cay pre-Irma. I loved every minute on the island and can't wait to go back!

The view from our hotel room. Look at that turquoise water! Paradise, I tell you.

During a walk on the beach one morning, it started to drizzle lightly. Even with the rain, it was still perfection--check out that double rainbow! (And the totally deserted beach--I had it to myself!)

While Colin was working solo one morning, I went exploring and stumbled across this sign post. The words are a bit faded, but look, there's St. Louis! Only 1,586 miles away.

Also on my walk, I hunted for sand dollars. The pre-Irma surf was a little rougher than normal so I never managed to find a whole one, but this one was pretty close.

Driving the golf cart across the island! Like many of the British Caribbean islands, Turks and Caicos drives on the left despite buying American cars with the steering wheel also on the left. I should note that this was the start of what turned into an epic adventure. Colin and I decided to walk from one end of Pine Cay to Water Cay to Little Water Cay, the three of which are connected by tiny spits of sand, to see the wild iguanas on Little Water Cay. We imagined a leisurely, if somewhat long, stroll down the beach. It would have been if we'd gone at low tide, but unfortunately we didn't time it right... 

Instead, we spent most of the walk bushwhacking through spiky shrubs on the uninhabited Water Cay, while wearing swim trunks (Colin) and flip flops (me). It was brutal and we debated turning back. At one spot along the way, previous passers-by had built dozens of rock cairns on the limestone ledge just above the sea. Colin and I added our own, complete with a heart-shaped rock on top. 

Here's Water Cay--very Jurassic Park-esque, totally uninhabited. Beautiful, if somewhat painful to trek across!

Eventually, more than an hour later, we made it to Little Water Cay! Exhausted, we almost started back immediately, but then we saw an iguana ambling across the sand. And then we walked a dozen feet farther to the tree line and saw about 20 iguanas resting in the shade. They were much larger than I expected! And so happy to pose for photographs. (There are iguanas on Pine Cay, too, but fewer. Although one did meander through Colin's study site one afternoon while we were catching lizards.)

Other than that adventure, our trip was pretty uneventful. We worked in the mornings, swam at least twice a day, and capped off every evening with a beer and sunset on the sand. Here, Colin's flying his drone to get video footage of the club.