Resort Report

Taking on native orchid propagation by seed flasking. Story & Photos By B Naqqi Manco, Department of Environment & Maritime Affairs Several years ago, I attended an orchid show in Tampa, where orchid growers and the orchid product marketers who follow them gathered to display and sell their finest plants. The rich chocolate scent of a maroon-spotted-white ...

Coral reef health: then and now By Don Stark, Chairman, Turks & Caicos Reef Fund During the summer of 2001, we spent three months living on Providenciales and diving nearly every weekend. During nearly all those dives, we shot video of the dive sites. We have had the opportunity to dive most of those sites again in ...

TCI Flight School makes flying dreams a reality. By Kathy Borsuk Aviation has long played a major role in this isolated, ocean-locked archipelago. Not only are the skies the “highway” connecting the country to the rest of the world, but airplanes serve as a lifeline in ferrying people and supplies from one island to another. But what pilots ...

Vacationing in TCI takes a turn for the affordable By Kathy Borsuk When I visited the Venetian Ridge Vacation Villas office to interview developer J. Kelly Sullivan for this story, I met him bubbling over with enthusiasm. He had just returned from his hometown of Toronto, where he was a lead sponsor of Toronto’s Ultimate Travel Show, ...

The spectre of Value Added Tax has been laid to rest. By Lindsay McCann, Director, Morris Cottingham & Co., Ltd. Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it. — “Macbeth” Macbeth, Act I, Scene 4 “ … I will instruct the Governor not to sign the Commencement Notice which would have brought in VAT on 1 April ...

Captive endangered turtles return to the sea. By Kathleen Wood, Department of Environment & Maritime Affairs ~ Photos By Amdeep Sanghera, TCI Turtle Project For ten endangered sea turtles—six green turtles and four hawksbills—it was a long journey from a fisher’s boat back to the sea, but on January 30, 2013, they finally swam home, thanks to ...

Final “missing” endemic plant found on Grand Turk Story & Photos By B Naqqi Manco, Caicos Pine Recovery Project Manager The Turks & Caicos Islands have nine species of native plants that are found nowhere else on Earth —they are unique to, or in biological terms endemic to the Turks & Caicos Islands. Of these nine plants, ...

Harvesting benefits from the “Tree of Life.” By  Kathy Borsuk ~ Photos by Christine Morden, Paradise Photography Coconut trees are so common in the Caribbean as to be almost invisible, especially to longtime residents. If you have them in your yard, they quickly turn from delight to nuisance when the bulky leaves “molt” and the heavy shells ...

A look at TCI’s once-formidable salt industry. By Chris Morvan In the Turks & Caicos Islands in the early part of the 21st century, the only real “industry” is tourism. What the country produces at the moment is intangible, consisting largely of wonderful memories. But go back just a generation and you’ll find that some of these ...

A tribute to the Range Rats of Grand Turk By Bill Hocking “I salute—from my space helmet—the Range Rats, the unsung heroes of the space race to the future.” Buzz Aldrin, Apollo XI, 1969 On a clear St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1958 at 7:15 AM, the first Vanguard missile was successfully launched into a highly stable orbit. ...

The scoop behind Provo’s scooter renaissance. By Kathy Borsuk ~ Photos By Nancy Gargano When I first moved to Providenciales 20 years ago, many folks used scooters to get from Point A to Point B. There was little traffic, fewer people and places, and life was a lot more laid back. However, as the roads deteriorated and ...

Villa Mani takes villa vacations (and retirement) to a new level. By Kathy Borsuk ~ Photos By Christine Morden & James Roy, Paradise Photography If you could retire anywhere in the world, and do anything you desired, what would you do? If you had the resources to choose any vacation spot on the planet and savor every ...

The colorful flavors of local fare. Story & Photos By Ramona Settle There are many restaurants in Providenciales with gorgeous settings and upscale ambience, but sometimes I’m on a quest for simpler island fare. I want to mingle with locals, experience island life, eat like a native. (It also gives my wallet a break!) The Bahamas, Jamaica ...

A cultural explosion is rocking Provo! Every Thursday from 5:30 to 9:30 PM at The Bight Children’s Park, over a dozen local food vendors, entertainers and cultural acts come together for Island Fish Fry, to create an evening of “all things TCI.” The Turks & Caicos Tourist Board, in collaboration with the Department of Culture, ...

Understanding what happens to light underwater brings new appreciation. By Suzanne Gerber ~ Photography and Photo Captions By Barbara Shively If you’re lucky enough to be around any of the Turks & Caicos’ legendary coral reefs on a sunny day and peer down into crystal-clear turquoise waters, you might think you’ve stumbled upon the world’s largest natural ...