My wife and I just returned from a week at RWI. We are in our 60's plus and have been to at least 8 other Caribbean destinations over the years. This was the best.

There can't be a more breathtaking landscaping plan than RWI's. From your room to the pools, the beach, the office, the restaurant (Mango Reef) - every walk, every vista is a treat for the eye and the imagination. Flowers in every color and shape and plants and trees in every size and leafy variety filled the curved walkways. It was a pleasure to go anywhere on the resort property.

Our room was clean, comfortable and filled with amenities we weren't expecting. We didn't pay attention to the washer/dryer available and how that should affect the clothes we lugged around. Don't bring anything more than three days of change. Besides living in your bathing suits, you can wash and dry everything else and wear it again before you leave. We were in a studio which had a fridge and microwave. I would have liked a stove but we managed just fine. The bed was perfect and the air conditioning was superb, abetted by a quiet ceiling fan. The bathroom/shower/tub was new and clean and stocked with all the towels and toiletries we could ever use. The housekeeping staff was efficient and invisible. Notes we left requesting anything, were immediately satisfied.

All of the staff were helpful and friendly. From the girls at reception to Sherman who was everywhere to the beach staff of John and Virgulus were smiling, respectful, helpful and ready with advice. We have always been impressed by the friendliness of island people. Those on T&C were among the best we've met.

The beach and the water are beyond compare. I'm not giving up on my love of the beach on Grand Cayman but my wife insists Grace Bay is better. The color, the feel of the sand, the caressing water is exceptional for sure. Combined with the resort facilities, perhaps it is the best.

The Mango Reef restaurant is a great place to eat. We ate there twice and the meals were exceptional. The prices are reasonable compared to quotes we heard from other restaurants. Try the grilled snapper - it's the best I've had anywhere.

To be perfectly honest, we thought the shuttle service to the IGA market, at $20 per couple, was excessive. You only get a half hour to shop and the shock of the prices eats up half of that time. When you take 4 or 5 couples it comes to $80 to $100! I know gasoline is expensive but it can't explain these prices. Take the Gecko bus at $11 per full day, use it for shopping, a tour or restaurant trip and save yourself some money.

My husband and I just returned from a 5 day trip to Provo for our 10 year anniversary celebration. We live in the suburbs of Philly.

We had an absolutely WONDERFUL time in Turks and Caicos. The Royal West Indies was just what we expected....it was very clean (although we had some tiny ants in the kitchen area), very pretty, with good service. We had a beautiful view of the ocean from our balcony (we stayed in room 134). the restaurant at this hotel was decent but not among the best meals we had while we were there. The staff there is very friendly and curteous, if not always knowledgeable about things. You could tell that they (and almost everyone on the island) are not as sophisticated about the tourism industry as you probably find on some other islands. But as I said, everyone was so friendly.

The beach is amazing. You can really walk for miles and the sand just feels so great on your feet! The water was perfect. we used the snorkeling equipment from the hotel and a sea kayak - the beach guys were really nice and helpful (they even helped me search for my husband one day when he swam a little too far out into the ocean!)

The snorkeling on the island was very good, although perhaps not as spectacular as we have seen in other places. Our standards might be very high, though, since we've snorkeled in Thailand and I've snorkeled while sailing through the British Virgin Islands. I think the snorkeling was best when we went out on a sailboat. It is very nice though, that there are many beaches on Caicos where you can snorkel right from the beach. You can walk to the reef in front of the Coral Gardens Resort. Another nice one is called Smiths' Reef.

We had some excellent meals (expensive!) - especially at a place called Magnolia and at the Grace Bay Club restaurant called Anocoana (the resort next door to the Royal West Indies - definitely worth going to at least for a drink and sitting outside - it is very romantic).

There was a lot of construction going on all over the island but it didn't really bother us.

other highlights of our trip....we took a sea kayak out one day and ended up on an isolated beach (Leeward Beach) that was covered with Conch shells. we ate lunch at a place called Bugaloos - where the owner cooked fresh conch for us that he took from the sea that morning. we went for a sunset cruise on a sailboat and visited Iguana Island...thousands of cute iguanas live there. We used Sail Provo and were happy with the trip.

Don't forget to look up at the sky!!! The star watching is unbelievable!!

The Beaches resort looked like a fun family spot. we might go back there with our three young kids.

We absolutely loved Turks & Caicos and the Royal West Indies Resort. Since the resort is a nice size everything is close and the beach area, pools and landscaping are beautiful. I think RWI has the nicest section of beach, the most beautiful pool/landscaping and the most comfortable beach lounge chairs. Guests had the use of two Hobies, water noodles, shovels/pails and bicycles. The noise from Club Med, which is right next door, was not an issue. We requested a ground-floor studio unit close to the pool and unit #313 fit the bill perfectly. It was steps away from both pools and had a secluded cactus garden patio. We had a full size fridge, small sink (dish liquid supplied) a microwave, toaster, coffee maker (coffee was included) and a washer and dryer (soap provided). The bougainvillea bouquets throughout the unit were a nice welcoming touch. RWI has a shuttle, which goes to the grocery store twice daily, at a cost of $20. for 1 or 2 guests. There was a very nice Manager’s welcome party on the Monday evening which included punch/rum punch, conch and jerk wings. Another nice touch is the complimentary internet access in the front lobby. We were amazed at the range of television stations available; we got our Toronto CFTO news.

After researching on the internet we took canned tuna, crackers, margarine, cheese slices, bagels, breakfast pitas, peanut butter, Miracle Whip, salt/pepper, granola bars and snacks with us. Our plan was to eat breakfast and lunch in our unit. However, we found the lunch prices to be about one third the cost of dinner so we enjoyed breakfast on our patio, had a drink and granola bar around 11:30 then ate a full meal at the Mango Reef between 2:30-3:00. We ended the day with a lunch item (i.e. bagel with cheese, tuna sandwich) around 8:30. We bought wonderful fresh baked bread ($2.49), orange juice ($4.85), ice cream ($5.99), water ($1.29) bananas (.77), cheese ($3.45) and Diet Coke ($9.99/24) at the IGA and we didn’t find the prices bad. We ate three dinners (average $75 for two entrees, one dessert, no alcohol/appetizers) and four lunches (average $25) at the Mango Reef, one lunch at Bugaloos ($14) (car required), dinner one night at Coco Bistro ($76.68) (a five minute walk) and one breakfast at Gilley’s at Leeward Marina (car required). All meals at Mango Reef were excellent. I had the 16 oz. Jamaican Jerk Porterhouse Chop ($24) and the filet mignon for dinner; Willie had the Caribbean Combo of steak, jerk chicken and grouper ($24) and the King Crab. We shared, and really enjoyed, the pina colada bread pudding ($9). We ordered the pizza on Tuesday night (second at half price $22 total) and we really enjoyed them. The mango cream salad dressing is amazing. Alexis was a wonderful waitress, a delightful girl, and offered us suggestions on sightseeing. Since my husband is a great fan of conch (he ordered the conch sandwich EVERY SINGLE DAY) Alexis suggested we try Bugaloos roadside conch stand in Blue Hills on the day we rented a car. Willie had the cracked conch and said it was the best he had ever tasted. Since I am a North American Princess (and I do not eat seafood) I stuck with a safe can of Diet Coke! My husband thoroughly enjoyed his shrimp dish at Coco Bistro but my meal was less than satisfactory; watery French Onion soup and a very greasy rib-eye steak. I was looking forward to the crème brulee but since I did not enjoy anything except the potato and vegetable I decided to skip another disappointment. You know you are in trouble when they hand you each your own can of OFF when you enter, the mosquitoes were terrible! We had a wonderful full breakfast at Gilley’s for $5.95. We knew it would be good as most of the customers were locals.

If you ever rent a car, make sure it is a 4-wheel drive (or better yet a HUMMER); there are potholes big enough to swallow a small car. We rented from Provo Fun Cycles & Autos in Ports of Call and I would not recommend them nor use them again. If the price seems too low, there has to be a reason. There were 73,186 km on the car, the horn did not work, the car was pretty bashed up and the tires were bald. We were terrified the thing was going to leave us stranded somewhere. Cost for the car was $45. plus a $15. government fee and $10 gas and after 5 hours we had only put 70km on the car. Even with a map it is difficult to find the tourist spots, as there are no signs anywhere and lots of road construction.

It was a very relaxing holiday, one we will definitely repeat, and we were more than pleased with our choice of R.W.I. Next time we will definitely take OFF bug spray (remember, aerosol cans are prohibited on the plane) and after-bite and we will use a taxi to find Sapodilla Bay instead of renting a car.

We absolutely loved Turks & Caicos and the Royal West Indies Resort. Since the resort is a nice size everything is close and the beach area, pools and landscaping are beautiful. I think RWI has the nicest section of beach, the most beautiful pool/landscaping and the most comfortable beach lounge chairs. Guests had the use of two Hobies, water noodles, shovels/pails and bicycles. The noise from Club Med, which is right next door, was not an issue. We requested a ground-floor studio unit close to the pool and unit #313 fit the bill perfectly. It was steps away from both pools and had a secluded cactus garden patio. We had a full size fridge, small sink (dish liquid supplied) a microwave, toaster, coffee maker (coffee was included) and a washer and dryer (soap provided). The bougainvillea bouquets throughout the unit were a nice welcoming touch. RWI has a shuttle, which goes to the grocery store twice daily, at a cost of $20. for 1 or 2 guests. There was a very nice Manager’s welcome party on the Monday evening which included punch/rum punch, conch and jerk wings.

After researching on the internet we took canned tuna, crackers, margarine, cheese slices, bagels, breakfast pitas, peanut butter, Miracle Whip, salt/pepper, granola bars and snacks with us. Our plan was to eat breakfast and lunch in our unit. However, we found the lunch prices to be about one third the cost of dinner so we enjoyed breakfast on our patio, had a drink and granola bar around 11:30 then ate a full meal at the Mango Reef between 2:30-3:00. We ended the day with a lunch item (i.e. bagel with cheese, tuna sandwich) around 8:30. We bought wonderful fresh baked bread ($2.49), orange juice ($4.85), ice cream ($5.99), water ($1.29) bananas (.77), cheese ($3.45) and Diet Coke ($9.99/24) at the IGA and we didn’t find the prices bad. We ate three dinners (average $75 for two entrees, one dessert, no alcohol/appetizers) and four lunches (average $25) at the Mango Reef, one lunch at Bugaloos ($14) (car required), dinner one night at Café Bistro ($76.68) (a five minute walk) and one breakfast at Gilley’s at Leeward Marina (car required). All meals at Mango Reef were excellent. I had the 16 oz. Jamaican Jerk Porterhouse Chop ($24) and the filet mignon for dinner; Willie had the Caribbean Combo of steak, jerk chicken and grouper ($24) and the King Crab. We shared, and really enjoyed, the pina colada bread pudding ($9). We ordered the pizza on Tuesday night (second at half price $22 total) and we really enjoyed them. The mango cream salad dressing is amazing. Alexis was a wonderful waitress, a delightful girl, and offered us suggestions on sightseeing. Since my husband is a great fan of conch (he ordered the conch sandwich EVERY SINGLE DAY) Alexis suggested we try Bugaloos roadside conch stand in Blue Hills on the day we rented a car. Willie had the cracked conch and said it was the best he had ever tasted. Since I am a North American Princess (and I do not eat seafood) I stuck with a safe can of Diet Coke! My husband thoroughly enjoyed his shrimp dish at Café Bistro but my meal was less than satisfactory; watery French Onion soup and a very greasy rib-eye steak. I was looking forward to the crème brulee but since I did not enjoy anything except the potato and vegetable I decided to skip another disappointment. You know you are in trouble when they hand you each your own can of OFF when you enter, the mosquitoes were terrible! We had a wonderful full breakfast at Gilley’s for $5.95. We knew it would be good as most of the customers were locals.

If you ever rent a car, make sure it is a 4-wheel drive (or better yet a HUMMER); there are potholes big enough to swallow a small car. We rented from Provo Fun Cycles & Autos in Ports of Call and I would not recommend them nor use them again. If the price seems too low, there has to be a reason. There were 73,186 km on the car, the horn did not work, the car was pretty bashed up and the tires were bald. We were terrified the thing was going to leave us stranded somewhere. Total cost for the car was $45. plus $10 gas and after 5 hours we had only put 70km on the car. Even with a map it is difficult to find the tourist spots, as there are no signs anywhere and lots of road construction.

It was a very relaxing holiday, one we will definitely repeat, and we were more than pleased with our choice of R.W.I. Next time we will definitely take OFF bug spray (remember, aerosol cans are prohibited on the plane) and after-bite and we will use a taxi to find Sapodilla Bay instead of renting a car.

My wife and I stayed at Royal West Indies Resort in the Turks and Caicos May 9-20, 2004. We loved it. Beach is awesome, clean, and never full. Beach chairs (with umbrellas and small tables) were always available, only about 1/4 to 1/3 full, ever. Grounds were fabulous with many different species of plants, and exceptionally well-maintained. Rooms were very nice, with ceramic tile, granite countertops, great furniture, clean, and new. Nice spacious balcony, with a table and chairs. Studios have a kitchenette, with microwave, utensils, and 3/4 size fridge. They also have a washer/dryer with free detergent, which saves on packing! Restaurant on-site, Mango Reef, was very good. We liked the food much better there than some of the others nearby, which had more ambience but not as good food, in our opinion. RWI has free e-mail access in the lobby. Just sit at their computer and go, or use their Wi-Fi hot spot with your computer.

We find Royal West Indies to be an amazing value on this island. Only real drawback--it lost its in-house spa (Spa Tropique) the week we were there. Now you have to travel to get a massage, or pay extra to have them travel to your room. Also, no work out facility, but most people just run on the beach.

These islands are EXPENSIVE, make no bones about it. Minimum cab ride was $6.50, and most were $12-13. It was $4.80 for one can of Coke at Anacona's. Mixed drinks like pina coladas at all restaurants were $6-10, averaging $8. The very high prices cannot be ascribed to high import duties or shipping costs, either: in many different grocery stores, it is $2.50 for the local beer, $3.00-3.50 for imports. This is $15.00 for a six pack of the LOCAL, non-imported beer. Moreover, entrees of the locally caught fish ranged from about $25 up to $39, averaging about $28-32.

For expensive dinners, I recommend anything with the Appleton Rum sauce at the Mango Reef in the RWI, the seabass at Coyaba, and seafood at Coco Bistro for the atmosphere (among the palm trees). For inexpensive, the Wednesday $10 rib special at Tiki Hut, the calamari appetizer at Tiki Hut, the fish and chips at Sharkbite, and the chicken parmigiana and conch fritters at Calico Jacks. We tried to eat at Bellaluna's, but they were not open when they were supposed to be, so we can't recommend them (we waited 45 minutes and left). You have to eat at Bugaloo's a shack (literally) on the beach, but great value and a fun trip.

I dove with three different dive operations on Provo (Dive Provo, Turks and Caicos Adventures, and Art Pickering's Turtle Divers). I wholeheartedly recommend all three of them. You will not go wrong with any of them--they will all set up your gear for you, explain your dive sites, etc. All were friendly and knowledgeable.'

My husband and I stayed at RWI in April 2004. We are in out late 20’s and come from the East Coast. We stayed in an oceanfront studio. The rooms were terrific. They were tastefully decorated, very clean and new. Our studio had a wonderful balcony with an incomparable view of the ocean. We were in building 2 and I would recommend staying there if you can because of the proximity to the beach and the views. The room also had a washer/dryer (detergent was provided as part of room service), a refrigerator, sink, plates, utensils and Tupperware. The resort still has customer service kinks to work out, but overall we were very pleased and would return.

Provo was much more expensive than we were anticipating. To help with the high prices at restaurants, we went to the local grocery store. RWI arranges for a shuttle that is $20 roundtrip.

The general facilities at RWI are outstanding. There are two exquisite pools and unbelievable landscaping. The resort is directly on Grace Bay, an amazing beach.

The resort has one restaurant, Mango Reef. We ate there once for dinner, once for lunch and had the conch fingers and conch fritters once. We were not impressed with the restaurant and found it far overpriced for the quality. From speaking with other guests, meals at the Mango Reef were very hit or miss.

In addition, RWI has a tour desk located on the beach, which provides towels, free snorkeling equipment, and free Hobie usage. However, the tour desk is “not affiliated” with the hotel, a detail that is easy to miss. We booked a trip with Silver Deep through the tour desk and discovered later the tour desk added a referral fee of ¼ of the trip price. We would advise asking the tour desks about options on the island, but booking all trips directly. The number for the various tour groups can be found in promotional magazines all over the island. The trip with Silver Deep was satisfactory, but we found the staff there to be very confrontational when we inquired into the tour desk charge. If we returned, we would book through another tour company.

There were a few restaurants on the island that we enjoyed very much. Grace’s Cottage at the Point Grace resort was absolutely superb. It is not oceanfront, but it is an amazingly romantic cottage with various decks where the tables are arranged in small clusters. The service was top-notch and they have an amazing pastry chef. My husband and I both had seafood entrees and they were terrific. This restaurant is fine dining and pricey (about $36 an entrée), but absolutely worth every penny.

We also enjoyed another higher end restaurant, Anacona, located right next to RWI. This restaurant has chic décor and is right on the ocean with live music and a lounge where people gather later in the evening. We found the food here to take risks, and be quite good.

A more moderately priced restaurant ($26 an entrée) was Caicos Café. It is a rather treacherous walk on the road from RWI and may be worth a cab in the dark (minimal sidewalks, fast cars). Although this restaurant is located in a shopping plaza, they also have created a wonderful atmosphere with interesting trees and string white lights. The service here was lacking, except for the French woman who appeared to be the owner, but the food was good.

For a more casual choice, we enjoyed the oceanfront poolside restaurant at The Ocean Club, a short walk from RWI. They had nice menu options and the food was good.

Overall, we loved our stay on Provo. There are few restaurant options other than in the hotels, but there are few reasons to stray from the general resort areas. We found the locals to be unpracticed in the art of customer service, and on a few occasions frankly unwelcoming, which adds further incentive to the inclination to stay within the Grace Bay area.

Trip Report – Royal West Indies (April 4 – 11)
Just recently returned from a fabulous one week stay at RWI on Grace Bay and would like to share our trip report with the board – Enjoy…
(Warning: this is a long one – I took a couple of days to put it together)

Pre-Trip Info This was the second trip to lovely Grace Bay for my boyfriend and I. And just to give you an idea on our perspective, we are a couple in their late 20’s, with 2 previous trips to the Caribbean under our belts (T&C and Antigua) (Stayed at the Sands last time) – We are from New England so we love WARM, SUN & LOUNGING AROUND.

We are not the type of couple who looks to be very active & touring around – simply give us good sand, turquoise water and some cocktails, and we are the happiest of campers.

The Flight to Providenciales
We had nothing but smooth travels down to the Caribbean via American Airlines. Our flight left Hartford promptly at 6:20a.m. via Miami, and landed in Provo at 12:30 – this was great because we still had almost a full day ahead of us to start enjoying our vacation.

Customs in T&C was extremely easy (last time we went, the lines were LONG and it took quite some time), we were cleared in on our shuttle to the RWI within 30 minutes.

Royal West Indies
We checked-in with ease at the RWI – very friendly staff & courteous. I had to remind myself to slow down to ‘island time’…

We had a garden/botanical view room on the bottom floor (#314). Our room was a beautiful suite, and you can tell that the resort is brand new. Some extras that we enjoyed were the washer/dryer, full size refrigerator, plentiful storage space and all sorts of “homey” items you needed for your stay (Tupperware items, dishes, dishtowels, cutlery, etc). I’ve heard many people on this board report the landscaping is magnificent, and they were 100% correct. If you’ve ever stayed at the Sands, the RWI has a smaller property, and a more cozy feeling. Our room (and all rooms) have a nice porch area right outside (not screened in, not a huge deal, but if I got buggy at night they were a small nuisance). There is still construction going on at RWI, they’ve told us the ETA for completion is June. Once completed, there will be a front office and have a similar setup to the Sands where is the office is in the front of the resort. Housekeeping services I rate as excellent! Whatever we asked for me got, they even did our dishes on the days I could not get to them. Always need and clean and the staff was warm and kind when you spoke to them.

Poolside – The pool at the resort is breathtaking (not as large as other resorts), a good size with plenty of chairs available in and out of the shade.

The Mango Reef restaurant is located right near the pool, so it was easy to hop out and grab a drink when necessary (as with most people, I highly recommend the rum punch at the bar – my boyfriend highly recommends the local Turks Head beer – he loves it!)

Mango Reef Restaurant (at RWI)
We had the pleasure of dining at the resorts restaurant 3 times. The day we arrived we sat at the bar and had a very enjoyable lunch – Eric had the conch fingers and I had the Mango Reef salad (fresh greens, chicken, mango, pineapple and the mango cream vinaigrette)

We ate breakfast and another lunch there as well on other days. All meals, in my opinion, were top notch – we enjoyed them very much.

Other Dining Choices
As everyone knows there are MANY places to dine out in Provo, here’s our list of restaurants we went to while on vacation.

We started with a quick trip on our first night to the local Graceway IGA (this has improved even more than the last time we visited!) The cab fare to the store was ~$12.00 each way (no shuttle offered from RWI, a small negative). We bought fruits, breakfast food, alcohol and snacks.

This worked out well, as we ate breakfast in most morning to save a little cash. Having snacks right in the room was a huge plus as well, it was nice to take a break from the sun, come up to the room and enjoy a nibble while watching the lizards play on our porch.

The other restaurants visited are:
Latitudes (Ports of Call – 10 minute walk from hotel) – casual dining – I had the beef tacos – very yummy!
Calico Jacks (Ports of Call) – more casual dining (very hospitable staff) – attended the all you can eat pasta night – highly recommended
Mango Reef – At RWI resort – more pricey, but many dishes to choose from & very romantic atmosphere (had a chicken dish that was out of this world)
(also on one night did ‘take out’ from Mango Reef – pizza & salad – it was FANTASTIC (and had leftovers for our lunch the next day)
Coco Bistro – we saved this restaurant for our last night of vacation, and it was worth the wait. This restaurant is about a 5 min walk from RWI, and the atmosphere is absolutely breathtaking, hard to explain over email, it’s a must-see! I had a filet and it was out of this world, my boyfriend had the sirloin and could not stop “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing”.

Places we would have liked to try/go back to if more time:
The Caicos Café (5 min walk from RWI) extensive menu choices – middle of the road prices
A new Cuban restaurant opened up “Cubavera”, but heard from some folks staying at the resort it was very good!
The Gecko Grille (at OCW) – looked at the menu and looked wonderful
Anacaona (Grace Bay Club) – Walked by at night and the place is beautiful & was very packed (more expensive there too)

The Beach
Grace Bay, and its beautiful turquoise waters, are just as amazing and beautiful as I remember them to be.

The calm waters and perfect temperatures are what made us yearn to return to TCI. We had stayed in Antigua last year, and in my opinion, the waters could not compare to Grace Bay. The fine sugar-fine sands were the same as I remember also….feels so good beneath your feet.

Recent posts regarding choppy waters proved to be untrue (however, I heard it was raining the week before we arrived, so it is possible).

The next resort in line is Club Med – Saw some topless women there. I had read posts in the past of people asking if naked sunbathing was allowed, and most people responded NO – well, this is not the case. I remember one morning when a young girl jogged by our resort topless and in a thong – my boyfriend was pretty happy about that….we looked at each other and both said “Club Med girl”..

On the subject of naked sunbathing, we did stumble upon a nude beach – yep, no lie…however, never anyone there. Here’s how to find this beach…walk right out of RWI, keep walking down past Club Med, then past Ocean Club (OC is the last resort on this end of Grace Bay) keep walking by limestone rock for another 10 minutes, and you will finally see the sign “Caution, nude beach, pass at your own risk”

You do have to somewhat have to play the “put-two-beach-towels-on-your-chairs-by-the-water-or-not-have-a-seat-game” – Strange, some days in front of the resort were deserted and only a few other couples and other days during that week, you had to save some seats no later than 10:00a.m.

The beach chairs I found were more comfortable than those we saw walking by other resorts (RWI’s are padded!)

We packed two rafts and blew them up when we got there. We got this hint from a traveler a couple of years back, and it’s well worth the $3.00 spent at Target. The resort had the foam noodles to use as well for your floating needs.

Excursions
I’ll stress the fact that the two of us are big ‘beach loungers’, and we didn’t have intentions of doing many activities. We used J&B Tours to do an excursion we had 2 years ago. The “Island Getaway” was a wonderful and amazing way to spend the day. A shuttle picks you up in the morning and takes you to Leeward Marina. From there, you are whisked off by boat to a secluded island (cay) of your choice for the day (this trip is $195.00/couple). The tour company provides a beach umbrella, cooler filled with food/water/wine/beer and snorkel gear. I highly suggest bringing your own snorkel gear if you plan on doing a lot of it. The snorkel equipment they provide is not that great, lots of leaks, etc.

We were dropped off at 10:30a.m. and when asked what time did we want to be picked up, we responded “the latest you can do” (which was 4:00pm – but they were kind and came at 4:30 and gave us an extra ½ hour).

If you had not seen us up close, one would have mistaken us for 2 kids, we played in the sand all day, explored our island and lied around naked for a short time too ;-)

We did the ‘Beach Cruise’ 2 years back (1/2 day cruise to Little Water Cay to see iguana’s, snorkeling and shelling on Fort George Cay) – Not done this time around, but highly recommended…shelling was our favorite part.

We had all good intentions of renting a 4-wheel drive vehicle to tour around and go to Malcolm’s Beach, but that never happened. We basically got too lazy and just enjoyed tooling around the beach every day.

A recommended excursion we came up with on our own is the “Walk to Snorkel” day trip! We threw together a backpack including our snorkel gear, cold water, snacks & beach cover ups and headed down via foot on the beach towards the Coral Gardens Resort. Previously we had snorkeled at the White House Reef, and were planning on doing so again. I spoke to Annie at the tour desk (at RWI) and mentioned this to her, and she had a better idea which proved to be just as much fun (without all the people). We did walk down the way of Coral Gardens, but we stopped a short ways before in front of Treasure Beach Villas (no sign, but you can see small villas set back a distance with the tiki huts on the beach in the shade). Here is where Annie suggested we drop our stuff and snorkel here – what a great suggestion!

We had the whole area to ourselves and saw some amazing sea life.

The reason we made a day of this is because the walk from RWI down to this area is a good roughly 3 miles+

It’s very enjoyable if you’re up for it, you can see what all the other resorts look like that you hear mentioned on the board so often.

On our journey back to RWI, we stopped at Hemingway’s for lunch – the food and resort were as awesome as we remembered (you gotta love eating right on the beach).

Bring tons of sunscreen (not that you don’t know this already) – we had a super large bottle of spf 15 and another bottle of spf 45 and used both up within days. Definitely got cooked, but came home with a very nice tans (this was much needed especially since Connecticut’s total snowfall for this winter season was 73 inches!!)

JO-JO The Resident Dolphin
On our trip report from 2 yrs back, we had to sadly report that we never caught a glimpse of the resident dolphin named Jo-Jo.

Well, I’m happy to report we saw him 3 times on this trip!!

The first occurrence was directly in front of RWI believe it or not. The gentleman sitting next to me said “I just saw Jo-Jo jump out of the water”. I thought he maybe had one too man rum punches, but he was right. A group of us turned around and I was immediately nervous the first time I saw him jump out of the water. The first impression is ‘wow, that kind of looks like a shark’. He fiddled around and then made his way down the beach and we lost sight of him. Same thing happened on the morning of our departure, but he was closer this time, and we took a walk along down the beach and followed him all the way to almost the Allegro, then he swam out deep.

What a treat that was!!

We also heard from a couple of locals that Jo-Jo warns the residents when rain is coming by swimming up and the down the channel where the boats travel. He was spotted there many times at the end of March, and sure enough it poured for days right before we arrived (they had not seen rain since August, but warned us days of rain in a row are very rare).

Time to Go Home…
The week was a dream come true and I cherish all the new memories Eric & I made there. I was very sad the day we had to leave, but the wonderful thing was our flight to go home was not until 4:00, so we were able to get up early and spend from 8:00a.m. till past noon on the beach!

We took advantage of late check out (2:00pm check-out for $40.00 only if no-one is checking into your room that day – well worth the money!)

The beach was a dream, the sunsets were absolutely breathtaking, the water was perfect – I wish I could be back there right now as I type this report from my desk at work.