Interview By Andre Garneau and Embry Rucker

Historical Photos Courtesy TCI National Museum Collection

Hilly Arthur Ewing was born on December 11, 1930 in Blue Hills, Providenciales. He grew up to become one of the Turks & Caicos’ original political leaders. In fact, the government building currently housing the National Insurance Board and Premier’s Office in Providenciales is named in his honour.

In this article, Hilly looks back on the old days in Blue Hills (when Providenciales was snubbed as “west of the buoy” by people from Grand Turk), his political career and development in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The old days in Blue Hills

When I was young, the people lived off a little farming and men did their own fishing — that was their income. Many built boats and used boats to go to Haiti, the Bahamas and Dominican Republic. The money was not big because the cost of living was very low but on those headings you could really make it. In those days when a man got 10 pounds he was one of the richest men in the country. We used to go and get conch and dry them and carry them to Haiti and get food and other things from Haiti in return, you called that “most exchange.” There was no use in bringing Haitian money back because you couldn’t spend it here. So all the money you made off the conch you had to spend it there.

To dry a conch you tied two strings to it and hung it across a piece of wood, one on each side so the wind could get to it. That was a bad smell, particularly if it rained then you had to dry the conch over.

There was only a small scale of employment: the lobster industry employed the few people who were left. You could make good money off crawfish. There was one plant in Providenciales and one in South Caicos.

Establishment of a legislature

During the 1950s the Legislative Council was more of an advisory board which was represented in each island. Gustavus Lightbourne and Paul Higgs were two of the people who were involved in it too. We had to go to Grand Turk once every three months for the board meetings with the governor. Before the board was changed to Legislative Council the members had to sail there by boat. They would go as far as South Caicos with their own sloops and then the government boat would come there and pick them up.

At first there were no polling stations but when the board was changed then polling stations were introduced and people had to go and vote.

The board ended after the death of Fuller Walkin in 1966. They had a bi-election. I ran for that election but I didn’t have any contestant so I won by acclimation in 1966 and that was the first election of members of the Legislative Council. At the time I was the representative for the entire community of Providenciales. Only long afterwards they started to make constituencies. There was the Bight and Five Cays, and Blue Hills was the major constituency. I was never sworn in until April 1967 so that’s how far apart the legislature was, it wasn’t at all active. The meetings were called by the administrator, who was appointed by the governor of the Bahamas when he saw fit. The Turks & Caicos Islands didn’t get their own governor until 1973.

I can remember when we used to fly a one engine plane to Grand Turk to council meetings. On our way down we had to stop for Mr. Robinson and land on the salina in Kew on North Caicos on the back of the village. That used to be the frightful part of flying — wondering how we would get back up in the air.

In 1972 we had another election and I won that one with a landslide. That was when we made more changes and from that time on we not only had the Legislative Council but an Executive as well. At that time there were not two houses because the members who sat on the Legislative Council were the same members to sit on the Executive. We would make laws into the legislature. When it came to approving the laws, we would go to the Executive Council, so it was only a change of hat because it was the same people!

This ran until 1976 when the UK brought in the new system of ministerial government. The parties came into being in 1976 too. Before that time, the party system didn’t exist. I lost the 1976 election which was the first ministerial election. Walter Cox won the seat for Blue Hills. The party system came into force when the election was over and Jags McCartney won. He had to run around to see if he could find some people to form a government, because it was a party constitution. He embraced the opportunity and said this would be the first ministerial government ever ascended to power. In fact this existed until 1984; after the chief minister ran into problems in Miami, the British scrapped our constitution and ruled directly. In 1988 when my party (PDM) won, we managed to get the constitution back.

Building inspector

In 1977 I was employed by government as the first building inspector in the Caicos Islands. I held this position until 1988. This was under the Public Works Department. In fact everything was not set up the way it is now because today the building inspector would be under the Minister for Natural Resources. Club Med came in the 1980s while I was working for the government. Some of the contractors didn’t like me because I used to make them take things down that were not right. They used to take some shortcuts and I wasn’t one of those people who took shortcuts so I would say, “You have to do it right.”

I held this post until 1988, after that I decided to go back into politics. At that time a guy came here by the name of Mr. Wason, he coaxed me not to go into politics again because he wanted me to become the senior building inspector. I said “no” because the voice of the people in my ear said that because of the work I had done before in politics, I would be the best one to help. So I went back to politics. I took up a ministerial post in 1995. I went through every office except the chief minister. In fact I was the deputy chief minister. I retired in 2003.

Economics in the Caicos Islands

In the 1950s and 1960s when the establisher of Provident Ltd., Fritz Ludington, came to Providenciales, Gustavus Lightbourne was still on the Board. Provident Ltd. was committed to the government to build some roads, mostly in exchange for land. So they got to work from all over the island and everywhere Provident had property they built subdivision roads and private runways. We built the first airport road by hand where one engine planes could land. I was one of the contractors together with Ray Ward.

Politically I was also involved in the debates over the roads and the land. Nobody in the Caicos Islands or Providenciales would ever knock down such development, because it was registered in their minds that it was time for something to happen here. We were tired of being called “West of the Buoy.” Even a fly would have voted in favour of that development. So we had no regrets and up to now we have no regrets because the doors were opened for development.

Provident Ltd. came in and did the development and here is the result from it. Fritz Ludington didn’t live to see all of the beauty of it, but the good and the bad would go together, as there were some things that happen good and some bad.

We had about 800 people living in Providenciales, in fact we had more than that but most of them rushed off to the Bahamas because there wasn’t anything taking place here. Only the pure in heart stuck around and stayed. I was in that crowd of people who didn’t leave. There are many children who were born in the Bahamas by TCI parents. A lot of them came back to live here. The law says once a child is born by TCI parents or even just one parent or when they have grandparents from the TCI, they have a right to come here.

Health care and medicine

The first trained nurse was my sister who went to Jamaica where she married. Her husband was a doctor. She then came back to Providenciales and her first major case was Pastor Tom Rigby who got stabbed in his back. It took three or four days to sail him to South Caicos because it was the closest place to get to a doctor. She had to go on the boat with him and keep him alive until he got to South Caicos. This was the medical pursuit in my family. It came down to my son Dr. Rufus Ewing.

School and education

There was a school in Blue Hills where the old clinic used to be. Kids used to walk from Kingston in the Bight to that school and every afternoon they had to walk back home. If you were a second late, the teacher would beat you for those late seconds. We had to walk every day: never absent and never late. We first had a school in the Bight in the early 1970s. The Ianthe Pratt School was the first school there.

The first high school we had here in Blue Hills was the Clement Howell High which came in under my administration in the 1980s. There also was a private school in Five Cays which was operated by McKevey. It went as far as second grade; afterwards the children had to go to Blue Hills where Raymond Gardiner (from North Caicos) was.

In fact, Mr. Gardiner was the first teacher I knew. He taught me from infancy until I was ready to leave school. When I look back at my time at the high school in Grand Turk the education was closely matched. Not many children went to Grand Turk. It was very costly and the children couldn’t get the care they needed, therefore they couldn’t learn. They had this segregated thing about Caicos and Grand Turk which was a bunch of foolishness. When it comes to education all of my children went to high school in Grand Turk because there was no high school in Providenciales. Only my last daughter attended high school in Providenciales; afterwards she went on to graduate from the law school in London.

Hurricane Donna

The first hurricane I had much knowledge of was Donna in 1960. I was a small boy when the hurricane in 1945 hit. Donna was a devastating hurricane. We didn’t lose as many lives in 1960 as we did in 1945 but we lost a lot of houses — people were building clapboard houses then. We managed to get a good relief and materials and to start and build better houses. In fact, I don’t hear the people praise the British Government too much on the relief, they were praising President Kennedy. He sent down a ship in the Wheeland Cut. It was there for about three weeks off-loading goods, food and materials. We had to transport things from Blue Hills to North Caicos because the nearest point the ship could get into was the Cut.

Who are your children?

Rufus is my youngest son. He is a doctor. My youngest daughter is Rasheda. She is a lawyer. My second daughter, Marjorie, is a school teacher in Five Cays. Althea and Claudine were agents for American Airlines. Claudine now runs her own office. My eldest son Arthur lives in the USA but before he went there he was a police officer here in Providenciales. I have Glennie, he went to the West Indies Training College. He is now working at the clinic. I don’t remember how many grandchildren I have. I also have great-grandchildren.

Closing words

Politics is not the easiest thing to be in. It gives and takes a lot. I appreciate my political career for travelling almost the whole world. On the other hand you have people who believe you could do hell and all and you just can’t do it. You are trying your best but they still think there is more that could be done. These are times when you regret, “Why I have to put up with this?” Then you look back at it and say, “If there is anything to be done for the country, don’t give up now.”

Wrapping up the whole thing, I enjoyed my 15 years in government (I spent 8 years as a minister) so there were many times when people would come and ask me things. I would give politicians my best advice and they appreciated it. I thank God I have done my best and did my part to keep things going.

Music and dance are integral parts of human life. Every culture in the world has songs and dances that are used to mark important occasions and special ceremonies. Among the Tainos these were called arietos.

Taino communities are characterized by the arrangement of houses around a cleared central space. Dancing and singing associated with communal ceremonies was most often conducted in this central plaza. One of the most important ceremonies was the autumn feast. Men and women wore wreaths of grasses and flowers on their heads, strings of shells on their arms, hips and legs, and in the Bahamas (including the Caicos Islands) they are said to have worn crowns made of feathers. The ceremony began with a procession into the central plaza with the people dressed in little more than their ornaments, although married women wore a short skirt made of woven cotton. During this ceremony, food was offered to the spirits (cemies). The shamans (behique) would give a small piece of the cassava bread, which had been offered to the spirits, to each of the participants. These pieces were carefully preserved until the following year (much as Catholics keep palm leaves from Palm Sunday until the following Easter). Their singing and dancing were accompanied by drumbeats.

Drums were only used on the most solemn of occasions. These included celebrating the deeds of the ancestors, preparations for war and ceremonies associated with marriage and death. Men and women danced by themselves in rows or circles with their arms around the waists of their neighbors. The songs that were sung were part of their sacred knowledge passed down from the chiefs to their successors. These songs — oral histories — sang the praises of the gods and the heroic deeds of the ancestors. Each song could last three to four hours, and the dancing continued until the dancers collapsed from exhaustion and intoxication. The latter was the result of consuming copious quantities of “beer” made from either fermented cassava (uicu) or fermented corn (chichi).

During some ceremonies, the chiefs would inhale a narcotic snuff made from the crushed seeds of the piptadenia tree. The snuff (cohoba) was placed on a platform at the top of a carved wooden statue representing the cemi with whom the chief wished to communicate. By entering a trance they were able to ask the spirit for special assistance and divine the future. Their visions set the course for future actions. At times, this was accompanied by the playing of a ball game, called batey. The game consisted of 10 to 30 players on each side who attempted to move a spongy “rubber” ball the length of the court without using their hands or feet. Both sexes played the game, but always separately. The outcome of the game often was used as public justification for community-wide decisions on the proper course of action.

The importance of arietos as sacred knowledge is apparent in early Spanish attempts to establish control and extract tribute from the Tainos. Faced with insatiable demands from the Spanish, the Tainos organized a war party consisting of over 6,000 men under the leadership of the cacique Guarionex with the intention of wiping out the Spanish colony at La Isabela. Bartholomew Columbus received advance warning of the planned attack, and, in violation of Taino rules of behavior, attacked after dark and captured the caciques who were directing the rebellion. The caciques, including Guarionex, were released after promising never to rise up against the Spanish again. However, shortly thereafter, Columbus realized that he had made a mistake and sought to take Guarionex as his captive.

Guarionex had gone into hiding among the Macorix (a group on Hispaniola that spoke a language different from Taino). The Spanish demanded that Mayobanex, the cacique of the Macorix, turn over Guarionex. Although his sub-chiefs argued that Guarionex must be surrendered to avoid war with the Spanish, Mayobanex could not bring himself to do so. He replied that it was not reasonable to give him up to his enemies since he was a good man, had wronged no one, had always been his friend, and had even taught Mayobanex and his wife how to do the “Arieto of Magua” (where Guarionex’s province was located), a ceremony that was highly valued. This act of defiance was too little too late. By 1504 all of the principal chiefs, including Guarionex and Mayobanex, had been deposed by the Spanish. Nevertheless, it is telling that sharing the sacred knowledge contained in the Arieto of Magua was considered a primary justification for loyalty.

Singing was also an important part of curing ceremonies performed by behiques. Called to exorcise the evil spirit that had invaded the body of a desperately ill person, the behique would use a bone or wooden spatula (often carved at one end to represent a Taino cemi), to induce vomiting and thus purge their body of its profane contents. They then inhaled cohoba or swallowed a narcotic herb (gioia) that allowed them to communicate with the spirits. After lighting a torch they danced and sang around the body accompanied by the rhythmic shaking of a rattle. After some time, an object was removed from the body and was identified as the cause of the illness. If the individual recovered, the reputation of the behique was enhanced and the object was kept as a cemi.

A variety of musical instruments were used during arietos. As mentioned, the most solemn occasions were accompanied by the beating of a wooden “tongue drum.” These drums, called maguay, were made entirely of wood and lacked the animal-hide head that is typical of other drums. (The Tainos had no large mammals from which drumheads could be made.) The drum was beaten with a single wooden stick, and provided the beat that was followed by the singers and dancers. For their part, the dancers wore strings of shells that “tinkled” together with the rhythm of their movements. Based on archaeological finds these seem to have been made mostly from Olive shells (Oliva sayana). It has also been suggested that women played castanets, which may have been made from opposing clamshells.

The Tainos also had rattles, as mentioned in conjunction with the curing ceremonies of the behiques. Although the Spanish described these as made from wood, it is more likely that they were hollowed out tree gourds. Two types of maracas are described. The first was small and held in both hands, which suggests that it lacked a handle. The second had two handles, described as scissor-like, and were much larger. We know that gourds were used as water containers so these may have been used primarily when calling upon spirits associated with water. In addition, some of the earliest pottery bowls in the Caribbean have hollow “adornos” affixed to the sides that contain small clay pellets that cause them to rattle when shaken. Adornos typically represent animals in at least two perspectives. The animal associations with particular spirits may have carried over to the more prosaic use of undecorated rattles. Alternatively, these rattles, which typically are not preserved in archaeological sites, may have had incised decorations representing particular cemies.

The Spanish recorded that trumpets made from the shells of large marine snails (for example, queen conch and triton’s trumpet) were used for signaling. Indeed, examples of shell trumpets are well known from archaeological excavations in the islands. Moreover, the making of a shell trumpet cannot be accomplished through the simple smashing of the uppermost point of the shell. The apex of these snails is far too hard and dense to create a useful mouthpiece, so the uppermost portion had to have been carefully removed. What is surprising is that we have found trumpets made from a variety of different large snail shells (cobo) and in a variety of different sizes. Each of these would yield a different tone that would reflect differences in the signal being presented, but may also reflect the use of trumpets as a musical accompaniment to particular arietos.

One of the most spectacular trumpets was found at the Governor’s Beach site (GT-3) on Grand Turk. What is remarkable is that this small triton’s trumpet shell (Charonia variegata) had been used to the point where the ridged surface of the shell was worn flat where the person blowing the trumpet held it in their fingers. After cleaning the shell and experimenting with its use as a trumpet, we found that it would only emit a sound if held with fingers placed exactly on the worn surfaces. It is hard to imagine why such a long-used and apparently prized instrument was discarded, especially when it still worked perfectly 800 years later!

One of the most enigmatic musical instruments is the bone flute. Although few have been found in archaeological contexts, and the Spanish chroniclers provide only passing mention of their use, their existence cannot be denied. Interestingly, the Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida has a collection of eight such flutes that were donated by a private collector. Dr. Peter Roe, a well-regarded authority on Taino mythology and iconography, examined these and concluded that they were authentic. The bone flutes are made from human leg bones and have open ends with holes drilled along their central axis. The occasions on which such flutes were used are not described by the Spanish.

The brass bells that were brought by the Spanish fascinated the Tainos. This in part comes from the Taino association of gold or brass objects with a heavenly source (turey). Columbus’s most desired trade items were small hawks bells (bells attached to the feet of hawks trained for hunting). In addition, the brass church bell at La Isabela was highly esteemed as “turey that speaks,” because the peal of this bell called the faithful Christians to mass.

The term arieto tends to be associated with formal occasions, yet Las Casas noted that women would spontaneously break into song as they worked together on the drudging task of processing manioc into cassava bread. Thus, while scientists may try to find logical meaning to such frivolous activities as singing and dancing, we cannot deny that “music hath charms to soothe the savage beast.”

Dr. Bill Keegan is Curator of Caribbean Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. Dr. Betsy Carlson is an Archaeologist at Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc., Gainesville, Florida.

The face of tourism in the Turks & Caicos Islands is on the precipice of change. For years now, developers and the government itself have encouraged a high-end and exclusive market geared towards the crème de la crème of the travelling public, offering luxury and exclusivity to those whose lifestyles demand only the best.

Now, with the introduction of a brand new, first class sports stadium that saw the country proudly prove itself by successfully hosting the 36th annual CARIFTA (Caribbean Free Trade Association) Games in 2007, and with more events in the pipeline, there is an impetus of sport that will augment the Islands’ natural attractions as a tourist destination.

Sports tourism, if managed correctly, will only serve to complement the Islands’ steadily growing swanky reputation. The Turks & Caicos Islands Government is pro-actively pursuing growth in this sector, and the Minister of Finance’s most recent budget address gave a taste of things to come. “With the success of the CARIFTA Games behind us, we plan to use this as a catalyst to develop sports tourism as part of our efforts to diversify the economy,” said the Honourable Floyd Hall, revealing that the Office of the Premier plans to invest $1.5 million in sport tourism initiatives and future events, including $1 million for the TCI Sports Invitational and $500,000 for the inaugural TCI Grand Prix.

Even without those ambitious future plans, sports enthusiasts have already begun to enjoy a surge of sporting competition and activities on the Islands. So far this year, the country has seen in the CARIFTA games an athletic competition that, according to President of the International Association of Athletics Federation Mr. Lamaine Dick, “was on par with the World Championships.” While an enormous sense of relief might have triggered this ever so slight overstatement, it was still a welcome compliment.

Hot on the heels of the CARIFTA games, a party of New York’s finest socialite ladies converged on Providenciales for their “Princess Race,” an event usually held in the Hamptons, and sponsored by Cartier — an indication of the perfect match that the TCI Tourist Board has achieved to complement the country’s already “elite” reputation.

Later in the year, world class athletes from all corners of the globe will gather in Providenciales for the Island Triathlon Series, a gruelling 80 mile event that will bring welcome international coverage, increasing awareness in both leisure and sports tourism markets.

But the spark that lit the public’s sudden enthusiasm for sports was undoubtedly the unexpected but well deserved success of the CARIFTA Games held in April. You simply couldn’t ignore its significance. It seemed to cap off the recent years of surging development and mark the commencement of a new era. There was hardly a person in the country who wasn’t touched by the poignancy of the moment; that the games went off without a hitch proved the country’s capacity to host an event of international standards.

The CARIFTA Games are generally regarded within the region as the “Caribbean Olympics.” Held annually since 1972, the competition is open to junior track and field athletes up to 20 years of age from countries within the Caribbean community (CARICOM members). As well as being a showcase for junior athletes, the games give them much needed exposure and experience, and many have the ability and attitude to become future Olympians.

Each of the 26 participating countries was allowed up to 70 athletes, broken down into “Under 20” girls and boys and “Under 17” girls and boys categories, with no more than two competing in the same event. The entire three day track and field competition includes more than 150 separate events.

TCI won the bid for the 2007 games just over two years ago and since then, the organisers have worked non-stop to get the country’s infrastructure ready in time. Promises of a brand-new stadium seemed like pie in the sky when the announcement was made by Hon. Lillian Boyce (then Minister of Sports) in 2005 and skeptisism was rampant.

Work on the stadium proceeded in earnest and as the date drew nearer, doubts began to vanish and anticipation grew. And, although the stadium was still undergoing finishing touches as late as the week before the event, people began to realise that CARIFTA was really going to happen in this tiny country.

Hon. Boyce gave a moving speech at the opening ceremony, amidst the seamless displays of dance, song and fireworks. She said, “These games will always be remembered as one of the defining moments in the history of the Islands . . . it is strong evidence of our vision and determination to our people and the future of the country.” She added, “CARIFTA has always played a significant role in the region, but this year it has done that and more. A huge feeling of national pride, optimism and unity has engulfed these beautiful Islands and it’s impossible to recall any event that has brought the people of the TCI together like these CARIFTA games.”

Accolades came pouring in from athletic organisations and the competing countries. Neville McCook, IAAF area representative, said that the facilities and preparations were excellent, and as the smallest country to ever host the games, the TCI coped remarkably well with one of the largest consignment of athletes in CARIFTA’s history.

So much about the games were inspiring — not least the fact that they were focused solely on the region’s youth, which seemed to epitomise this country’s enthusiasm and hope for the future, both economically and developmentally.

It didn’t even seem to matter that team TCI came away without a medal. The infectious enthusiasm of the crowd and the athletes themselves fittingly lent the games a sense of sportsmanship that seems so often lacking in today’s competitive arena. The mood of unbiased encouragement for all the competitors, regardless of nationality or performance, let the whole region know that this was a defining moment for the country, and that for TCI, this event was about more than athletics.

Jamaica stole the show with a medal count of 76, but, fitting to CARIFTA spirit, dedicated all their medals to the people of the Turks & Caicos for their hospitality and warmth.

Only in the Caribbean would you find crowds at a sporting event partying to impromptu junkanoo performances. They arrived prepared and geared up, and supporters from every country merged as one with their drums and horns and whistles to create a real celebratory vibe. In fact, the crowd almost stole the show from the athletes . . after all, who wants to watch the long jump when you could be doing a hop, skip and jump of your own in the stands! “Capturing the Spirit, Fulfilling the Dream,” sang the TCI youth choir, and they couldn’t have more accurately hit the nail on the head.

As the Honourable Dr. Carlton Mills said on opening night, amidst the well syncopated series of presentations, “The Turks & Caicos Islands are no longer just a little country, we are a force to be reckoned with!”

The Princess Race, though, was an altogether different kettle of fish. Whilst classed as a bit of a joke within the sporting world, the two day event seemed to go down rather well here, and certainly helped to place the TCI firmly on the map within the moneyed set. A selection of the “A” list’s finest ladies were handpicked to give shopping and cocktail sipping a rest, ditch their Valentino dresses and Jimmy Choos, and embark on a two day sporting event that saw them kayaking, diving, golfing and jet-skiing, all in the name of charity.

The women participated in their two-day extravaganza with gusto, albeit with tongues planted firmly in cheek. And although they were perhaps their own fiercest critics prior to the race (“We have to be kayaking at 8:00 AM? I really don’t know what I’m getting into!”), it didn’t take long for the sense of competition to bubble to the surface. The ladies showed that there was far more to them than their social graces and bystanders were heard commenting on their sheer perseverance and determination, which, frankly, seemed to come as a bit of a shock to all.

And, of course, who can criticize when it’s all in the name of a good cause. The event was held in support of Innocence in Danger, a child protection organisation that aims to bring public attention to the plight of children who are victims of trafficking and sexual abuse.

All the “princesses” walked away with 18 Karat gold bracelets just for taking part, whilst the winners received Cartier watches. Cartier also donated $100 per competitor to the charity.

Those who prefer a more serious approach to their sporting events won’t be disappointed with the Island Triathlon Series taking place in Providenciales later this year. Branded as the “newest and most innovative triathlon,” the arduous contest can be relied upon to put the “sports” back into “sports tourism.” Event organiser Hala Bissada and team have worked tirelessly promoting what will be the inaugural race in a ten year series held on islands around the world, with its own World Championship planned to be held again in the TCI in 2010.

Over 500 athletes are said to have already signed up for the event, which will completely take over Providenciales on December 1, 2007, with many world class athletes and pro-triathletes already on board.

The race will involve an original distance of 80 miles, broken down as a 1 mile swim, 66 mile bike ride and 13 mile run, and television rights have already been snapped up by Canada’s TSN and Big Picture Entertainment, who will distribute the series across Europe.

The event is an incredibly exciting opportunity for the country. Floods of athletes and spectators will fill the hotels in what is traditionally off-season, and every major TCI excursion organiser, resort and tourist organisation have pledged their support.

The event will also call for major public participation and the need for 200 to 300 volunteers is essential in ensuring the event runs smoothly. From roles that anyone can handle, such as water distribution and athlete registration, to more specialised responsibilities like certified divers along with jet ski, boat and kayak operators to ensure swimmers’ safety, and motorbike riders who will accompany the runners, this event will be one that the people of the country can get behind with their assistance.

This experience will deal the Turks & Caicos Islands a winning hand in securing its reputation as a premier sporting destination. With such serious competitors and highly respected athletes taking part (including Ironman champions Rutger Beke and Lisa Bentley and rising triathlete stars Lewis Elliot and Desiree Flicker, to name just a few), word of the Islands’ potential is bound to spread like wildfire amongst the athletic community.

It seems that there isn’t a slice of the pie that the TCI doesn’t have its hands in as far as sports are concerned — from the inspiring and exciting CARIFTA Games to world class athletic competition in the form of the Island Triathlon. All can help TCI add “sports” to its noted attractions of “sun, sand and sea.”

By Kathy Borsuk ~ Illustrations By dbox Inc.

Dellis Cay has always been a rare and magical place. Tucked between Fort George and Parrot Cays along the string of jewels between Providenciales and North Caicos, seekers of the secluded have prized its sugar-sand shores and vibrant turquoise waters for ultra-private beachgoing. As well, a quirky combination of tide and currents makes Dellis Cay the best place for finding shells in the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Dellis Cay will soon share its treasures with a handful of highly discriminating clientele. Recently purchased by Dr. Cem Kinay, the 560-acre private island is now part of the prestigious O Property Collection, an innovative, design-driven international real estate development group. Kinay promises to make Dellis Cay among “the world’s rarest living experiences” with a limited collection of private villas and residences.

The vision behind The O Property Collection (OPC), according to Dr. Kinay, chairman and CEO, is to become the world’s first design-driven premium property developments. Kinay believes, “Design is an interactive part of the living experience. Design creates the basis from which essential concepts like comfort, technology, aesthetics and ecology work together to achieve balance.”

For the Dellis Cay project — OPC’s debut and the cornerstone of the pioneering company — Kinay united a cadre of the world’s leading architects and designers who share his philosophy. Together, they will sculpt a magical luxury destination community, where unobtrusive structures complement the cay’s exquisite natural setting, and interiors effortlessly fuse nature and functionality. Amenities and service will be peerlessly managed by the award-winning luxury hospitality group Mandarin Oriental Hotels, owner and operator of 21 of the world’s most prestigious hotels and resorts, and devoted to combining “21st century luxury with Oriental charm.”

Each of the architects is devoted to the development of one portion of the island. From Milan, renowned Italian architect Piero Lissoni has created the Mandarin Oriental Hotel & Residences, along with the nearby Beach House Residences and Beach & Ocean Villas. From Tokyo, Kengo Kuma was chosen to create the Spa at Mandarin Oriental and the Spa Lake Villas, while Shigeru Ban lends his expertise to the design of beach villas and over-the-water villas linked by a discreet deck. Singapore-based Carl Ettensperger will design a set of the Caribbean’s first over-the-water villas to follow the natural curves of the shoreline, while offering unobstructed views of the sea. London’s David Chipperfield will design and develop a natural peninsula on the north shore, where residents will indulge in magnificent views of the glistening water and protected lush mangroves. Also London-based, Zaha Hadid has overseen the Dellis Cay Master Plan and will create luxury residences, beachfront villas, a commercial building with restaurants and boutiques and a marina planned for the cay’s eastern flank. Each of the architects will contribute to developing the western end of the island, where buyers will have the opportunity to choose one of the astounding villa designs as their new home. Plans are for the Dellis Cay project to be completed in three phases over the next two to five years, with the first phase, described below, scheduled to open in 2009.

Blending into the scenic southwestern shore on an unspoiled 35 acre beachfront site will be The Residences at Mandarin Oriental Dellis Cay. Surrounded by porcelain-white sands, sheltered coral reefs and protected mangrove reserves, the secluded hideaway will feature 25 exclusive hotel suites, 17 private stand-alone villas and 78 multi-roomed apartments.

The hotel — simple and elegantly designed — will be the first visible building when arriving by private boat from Providenciales. An open sequence of public spaces on the ground floor will interweave services, restaurants, pools and facilities. The upper two floors are reserved for the hotel suites and residences, while the gracious roof is dedicated to exclusive penthouses with private pools. All accommodations are designed with expansive outdoor terraces and balconies providing panoramic views of the ocean, beachfront and lushly landscaped grounds. Completing the picture are infinity-edge swimming pools, sun decks, tennis courts, a beach club, a well-equipped business center, a library and resort boutiques. A choice of innovative cuisine, emphasizing fresh, local ingredients, will be featured at the signature restaurant and bars in a variety of settings, both indoor and outdoor.

The dramatic 30,000 sq. ft. Spa at Mandarin Oriental is set in beautifully designed pavilions that seem to float over a tranquil lake. The spa will focus on a holistic approach to wellness, including inspiration towards lifestyle improvements, with 15 individual rooms and VIP couples suites, state-of-the-art heat and water treatments, an outdoor Watsu pool and a fitness center.

Opportunities to own within the Mandarin Oriental include two-bedroom residences and one-bedroom duplexes, with only four, three to four bedroom penthouses available. Each of the 24 residences is a home of its own, with interior design highlighting the building’s generous proportions and luxurious appointments.

At the Beach House Residences at Mandarin Oriental, nine buildings provide a variety of living possibilities, from spacious two-bedroom residences to three-bedroom duplex penthouses. Distributed around a central pool, the buildings are surrounded by distinctive water areas interconnected by walkways offering private beach access. Each beach house residence enjoys unobstructed ocean views and is fully serviced by the Mandarin Oriental staff.

Tucked away along the northeast and southeast areas of the hotel are the five to six bedroom, 4,000+ sq. ft. private beach and ocean villas, also designed by Piero Lissoni. Understated and discreet, these villas promise complete privacy and a luxury of space indoors and out.

Under Mandarin Oriental’s precise managment and legendary service, residents and guests will enjoy a five-star luxury hotel experience, with 24 hour room service, concierge, housekeeping and doorman services and a host of entertainment options. The apartments and villas will be managed for private use or to be included in the property’s inventory of accommodations. “The idyllic location and spectacular design of this development provides Mandarin Oriental with another opportunity to showcase our hideaway concept to those in search of a private sanctuary,” said the group’s Chief Executive Edouard Ettedgui.

For more information on the Dellis Cay development, visit www.delliscay.com, stop by the showroom at Saltmill Plaza, Providenciales or phone 649 941 7201 or toll-free 1 800 644 0533.

Once upon a time there was a sleepy island called Providenciales. Just about 550 men, women and children lived there. There were no roads and no cars. There was no television. There was no airport. And visitors from other countries were rare.

And then one day, so the story goes, a boy, playing on the beach, saw a little boat arriving off the Caicos Bank. In the boat there was a man with his guitar. The boy ran home as quick as he could to find his mother. “Mama, mama,” he shouted excitedly, “There’s a coloured man on the beach!” That (white) man was Tommy Coleman, one of the pioneering members of Provident Ltd. He had arrived in his small Boston Whaler to take a look at the 4,000 acres of land offered to the group. The proposal would involve the initial development of the island, with a small inn, some roads, a dock and an airstrip. He wanted to speak with the residents, the Turks & Caicos Islanders, before the deal was struck. It was Spring 1966.

Bengt Soderqvist was another member of Provident who arrived that year, this time in an old army PT boat, named Seven Dwarfs and loaded with supplies, including what would be the first car on the island. Originally from Sweden, Bengt was taken on as a surveyor by entrepreneur Frederick “Fritz” Ludington, who led the Provident group, while they were both in Great Exhuma in the Bahamas. He tells how wind came to Fritz that the British wanted to develop an island in a place called the Turks & Caicos and the rest, so they say, is history.

“So Fritz got together some people with serious money,” Bengt recounts. They included Teddy Roosevelt III (the former U.S. president’s grandson) and Richard “Kip” DuPont. “They probably thought, ‘Fritz has found another island here somewhere, we’ll put in some money and go down and build a little airstrip and a little inn and then build our own houses, and then we’ll need a little extra land so we can sell it to our friends, make a little club,’ that’s probably how the whole thing started.”

Bengt, although busy with surveying, was obviously struck with the beauty of this remote island he found himself on and Providenciales has remained his home ever since. He says, “I was 28 years old. I was the only Swede who’d been here. To a Swede, to see coral like that, to swim around in an aquarium, it was amazing. I remember in the middle of winter I used to say ‘Well, if I could somehow get in contact with all eight million Swedes and tell them what I’m doing right now, 90% of them would want to swap places with me!”

Today, Providenciales may not be home to those seven million Swedes but the Island has changed — just a little. That the rate of development and the increase in population on this 38 square mile island has been dramatic is more than an understatement. In 40 years, the population has grown to an estimated 24,000, a figure which many claim is actually quite conservative. And whereas almost all of those 550 people living in Providenciales in 1966 were Turks & Caicos Islanders, today the nature of the population has chanaged almost beyond recognition, with Belongers accounting for just over a quarter of all residents.

Things happened slowly at first and, by 1980, the number of residents stood at just under the 1,000 mark. “H” Hinderaker, who found himself in Providenciales in 1979 with a group of fellow Norwegians and now runs a successful architect’s practice here, remembers that maybe 10% were expatriates at that time. “There were maybe 50 to 60 on a year-round basis and then during the holidays there was an increase of people who had vacation homes here, maybe taking it up to 100. They were mostly from the U.S. Some Canadians. A Frenchman, two Germans, a couple of Finnish people, oh, and The Swede of course!”

By 1981 there were sufficient people for the first travel agency to be set up by Chloe Zimmermann, a French-Moroccan native. Marco Travel’s methods were basic. “There was no airport, so I was working through a friend who had a travel agency in Boca Raton, Florida. I would telex people’s requests for flight bookings to my friend and she would deliver the ticket to our friend the pilot, who would fly the ticket here and I would give the ticket to the people and they would pay me, and he would fly the money back. And people said, ‘Wow, we’ve got a travel agency.’”

It was between 1980 and 1990 that resident numbers really skyrocketed. Official figures show that over this decade the population of Providenciales increased by 500% — to almost 5,000 people. Club Med, the first-ever resort on the island, was built in 1984 and the creation of an international airport was linked to this key development. A small airstrip — built by local residents and then extended by Provident — already existed, but the new airport took the island into a whole new league and Providenciales opened up to the world.

So today, just over 40 years since some of those first expatriates set foot on shore to find opportunities and homes on beautiful Providenciales, non-Belongers vastly outnumber Turks & Caicos Islanders. The majority of the estimated 18,000 are, as would be expected, people from neighbouring Caribbean nations — Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas. U.S. citizens, Canadians and British have also traditionally settled in large numbers. But in recent times, the variety of different nationalities in this small and still relatively little-known island chain has grown to record levels, with some more surprising nationalities now calling the Turks & Caicos Islands home.

Atu Finau has the proud title of being the only Tongan living and working in Providenciales. The quality assurance manager for Air Turks & Caicos arrived just over a year ago and admits he had never heard of the Turks & Caicos before. “At first I thought it may be a group of islands near Turkey and then I looked it up on the Internet and discovered it was in the Caribbean,” he laughs. Never having been outside of the Pacific, he moved here with his wife and daughter, for “curiosity and adventure.” He remarks that his workplace is “like the United Nations!” “There are only two Turks & Caicos Islanders here at work. Most people here are from the Philippines, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Belize, Nepal, Brazil . . .”

In fact, a total of 63 different nationalities were granted the right to live or work in the Turks & Caicos Islands last year, and by far the majority of these reside in Providenciales. There are St. Lucians and Barbadians, along with Bolivians and Brazilians, Colombians and Guatemalans; there are Germans and Belgians and Swiss and Swedish; Romanians and Polish; Turkish and Jordanians; we have Nigerians and Ghanaians; Russians and Chinese; Indians and Filipinos; Koreans, New Zealanders and Fijians. There is no doubt that Providenciales is now truly a cosmopolitan island.

By far the largest national group to have arrived in recent times couldn’t have come from much farther away — the Filipinos. The fourth largest group to be issued work permits last year (after Haitians, nationals of the Dominican Republic and Jamaicans), it is estimated that there are almost 2,000 Filipinos in TCI today, mostly in Providenciales.

Marie Papico is one of the 500 that arrived last year. She works as a nanny, having found her job on the Internet. She explains that the majority of Filipinos work in construction and in the resorts, while many others are nannies and health care sector employees. Most have discovered the Islands through family connections. “There are a lot of opportunities for work here,” Marie explains. “Good salaries, the same weather as in the Philippines, the people are nice and it’s safe. Safety is a big one, because our families back home will not worry about us so much over here.”

The Philippines has experienced a substantial exodus of its people in the last few years, with the Turks & Caicos Islands just one of the latest places to be discovered by Filipinos escaping the economic hardships in their country. Educating your children is almost impossible on current salaries, says Marie, and, for many Filipinos, leaving their children with other family members while they earn money abroad is the norm. Sonia Carurucan has been here for two years. She cannot even speak about her family without tears welling up in her eyes: “I have 3 children back in the Philippines. They are aged 3, 11, 16 and 24. It is a big sacrifice, a really big sacrifice to leave them to come here and work. But it is necessary.”

Many of those arriving from the Philippines, and from other areas of the world, are temporary residents, their presence dictated by the country’s need for their manpower or by their own economic requirements. The majority of the over 200 Chinese nationals granted work permits last year are working on the construction of the Seven Stars Resort in Grace Bay; the Turkish on The Atrium in Leeward; and the large group of Mexicans (300 were granted work permits last year) on other construction projects linked to tourism in the country. Sonia, who works for Marco Travel, thinks she will be here for “another five years at least” to see her children through their education.

These changes in the composition of the island affect many sectors of the economy. To ensure all of their audience is kept informed, local newspapers like The Free Press publish news from Haiti, Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Mexico, and travel agencies such as Marco Travel (a significantly larger and more modern operation 25 years after it was established) note a marked increase in travel bookings to the Asian region. More ethnic restaurants are opening their doors and grocery stores are being forced to cater to a diverse clientele too.

In fact, Providenciales has changed so much recently that many Turks & Caicos Islanders from other parts of the archipelago do not recognise it. “Provo is considered by many as this foreign place, this foreign country,” says David Bowen, the TCI Government’s director of culture. “You have folks in Grand Turk who will come here only to shop or for a meeting, but they don’t want to spend the night here, they want to go back to Grand Turk because they don’t have a sense of belonging here. They go to the stores and they don’t see our faces, they see foreign faces. They go to restaurants and they hear a foreign tongue.”

In all other islands in the archipelago (apart from Parrot Cay where no Belongers live), Turks & Caicos Islanders remain in the majority. While only just the case in Grand Turk (2,921 Belongers and 2,797 non-Belongers), in Salt Cay the percentage of Belongers is at its largest — out of a population of 114, only 19 people are non-Belongers.

Naturally, many citizens of other countries who come here for temporary employment will end up staying and making Providenciales their home, as so many “expats” have already done. Yoshi Ono, from Japan, found himself working as a chef at a local resort five years ago, a chance job that appeared when he was on his way back to Tokyo from a holiday in Florida. He has since opened two sushi bars of his own on the island and met his St. Lucian wife Noriette here, who also came to Providenciales to work temporarily. Businessman and Thai restaurant owner Jumphol “JP” Srinark, from Bangkok, has lived in the country for 17 years. Now a Belonger, he also met his wife Nancy, from the Dominican Republic, on the island. Nigerian Dandy Owoh landed a job at Club Med seven years ago through a chance encounter with a friend in Lagos. He married fellow Nigerian Doris, a science teacher at a local church school here, and they now have an 18 month old son who was born in the Islands. A total of 18 different nationalities were granted permission to stay in the country last year, through “permanent residence certificates,” from countries as diverse as Syria, Ghana and Cuba. There is no doubt that Providenciales is now truly a cosmopolitan island.

The Islands are also seeing the return of sons and daughters of those first expatriates who settled here 20 to 25 years ago. Karen Misick, a Turks & Caicos Islander and daughter of former Chief Minister C. Washington Misick (and niece of the current Premier, Michael Misick) grew up in Providenciales in the 1980s, and went to school with many of these first expatriate children. She returned to the island a couple of years ago to work. “Most children I grew up with went away to study and have now come back to work. There are a lot of people who grew up here who still consider Turks & Caicos their home whether their family is from the United States, Europe, Haiti, Jamaica or wherever,” she says. “Your heart is still going to pull you back and economic advancements are pulling people back too, as there are a lot of opportunities in lots of areas.”

Karen is enthusiastic about the changing face of Providenciales and the vast numbers of different nationalities working and living here. “It’s a great thing! I think we have a huge opportunity to show the rest of the world how to have all these cultures mingle and work together positively,” she enthuses. “We have a huge responsibility, more than ever, to treat all nationalities with respect and not take advantage of the rights that Belongers have.”

Guiline Brutus also grew up in Providenciales in the 1980s. Her mother arrived in the 1960s, hers and many fellow Haitian nationals’ presence linked to the maritime trade between the neighbouring countries. Guiline grew up in Blue Hills as a Turks & Caicos Islander and a Haitian. She is proud of her heritage and culture, and has spearheaded the creation of the first nationality-based non-profit organisation in the country. One of the aims of the Haitian Heritage and Cultural Foundation is to educate second and third-generation Haitians and other residents about her country. “Haitians have played a major role in the development of the TCI, because they were the first migrant labourers,” she says. She feels that their role in this development has not garnered as much respect as it should have and explains that, although the situation has improved in recent times, Haitians have also suffered discrimination as a nationality in the islands. The foundation’s goal is to change that through educational and community programmes that also showcase the rich art and culture of this Caribbean nation. “We want to create programmes for children so they can take pride in being Haitian,” says Guiline.

Ironically, the most recent large national group to arrive in the TCI has also just established a non-profit organisation to showcase their cultural identity. The Filipinos Volunteer Association will, explains founding member Marie Papico, be a civic action group to assist non-governmental and government projects in the Turks & Caicos Islands, while at the same time sharing the culture of this far-away country with its new island hosts. “We want to be a part of this community, so that when we leave we can say that we did something, we enjoyed ourselves and we contributed something . . . that we were not just here to make money,” says Marie.

As TCI’s director of culture, David Bowen welcomes other nationalities organising themselves in this way and sharing their rich culture with others. But he adds that theirs and other nationalities’ displays of cohesion now exacerbate the challenges that Turks & Caicos Islanders face in ensuring their own cultural identity is strengthened.

With the speed of development, the heritage and culture of these Islands has been somewhat sidelined, says David, and efforts must be made today to ensure that a sense of national identity does not disappear now that so many other strong cultures are making the Islands their home. “Unfortunately we as a people have not discovered unity as yet, culturally,” he commiserates. “There is still an issue of Grand Turk people against South Caicos people against Provo people. So we as a people have not got used to the idea of each other in our own country and we still have issues as to our own identity. So when you have people of different nationalities coming in here, and they are united or you see them as a group or you see them celebrating, it’s difficult for some people to deal with that on many levels.” However, Bowen hopes that the wealth of nationalities now in the Turks & Caicos Islands, even if concentrated in Providenciales, “will inspire people to look at themselves and try to identify ourselves as a people.”

Karen Misick also sees modern-day Providenciales as an eye-opener to the need to showcase Turks & Caicos culture and history. She says she enjoys hearing stories from her grandmother and her friends about “back in the day,” but believes that there needs to be a greater focus on this aspect of society here. “It’s really important to acknowledge your history and acknowledge the importance of it and share it with the other people that are sharing their culture,” she asserts. “I don’t think having all these different nationalities and cultures here is a threat to us, but I think it is now more important than ever to take hold of our culture and make it important. It’s great what the Maritime Heritage Federation is doing and what David Bowen is doing to focus on culture, and there needs to be more emphasis on this now.”

One of the places to start ensuring this happens is in the primary schools. With Belongers only just in the majority amongst schoolchildren in the Islands, and with many schoolteachers in the Turks & Caicos from other countries, the time for education about Turks & Caicos culture is now. David has some programmes ongoing in the schools, but stresses that more resources and attention need to be focused on this area. “It’s important for TIs and also for kids who are foreign, so they get a sense of TI culture as they are growing up along with TIs. So when they reach adulthood there isn’t a sense of separation and there’s more of a cohesiveness between the two.”

The next generation in these Islands will be the most cosmopolitan yet and, as other islands in the archipelago develop and inter-cultural marriages continue, this diversity will spread. Along with Haitian, Dominican, Jamaican and Canadian Turks & Caicos Islanders, there will be Filipino, Mexican, Nigerian, Russian and Japanese Turks & Caicos Islanders, and many, many more ethnic blends. And all of them will consider these small islands in the middle of the Caribbean their home.

Meanwhile, Bengt Soderqvist, one of the first European expatriates in Providenciales, has plans to continue his journey to other places. He has signed up as a passenger on Virgin Galactic’s inaugural commercial flight into space. Time will only tell if a multitude of nations will follow in his footsteps this time.

Story by Suzanne Gerber ~ Photos by Barbara Shively

Pity the poor eel. It never makes anyone’s Top 10 list of Favorite Fish. In fact, for many underwater visitors, the mere pronunciation of its name inspires profound fright, often bordering on terror, or, at best, disgust. And an actual sighting of one of their serpentlike heads, teeth flashing in an ominous opening-closing motion, can be enough to propel an uninitiated swimmer or snorkeler straight out of the water.

Yet despite appearances, eels are rarely harmful — unless provoked, of course. The opening and closing of that fearsome mouth is merely an eel breathing, never meant to hurt or frighten. And those beady eyes that seem to follow your every move are just how God constructed the humble eel. As with snakes, if we can get past our own unconscious fears or squeamishness and come to appreciate the striking beauty of this creature — and learn a little about its behavior — we might just become impressed enough to start actually seeking out eels next time we are underwater.

Keepin’ it eel

Eels make their home in every ocean. While the Green Moray is the most common, there are actually 19 different families of eels and more than 600 unique species around the world, the majority in the wider Pacific. Only one family lives in the fresh water of rivers, lakes and streams. The western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea are home to some 15 species of morays, though divers and snorkelers seldom encounter more than 7.

During the day, morays usually hang out in crevices and holes in rock and reef. This habitat both protects them from predators and gives them the advantage of being able to attack prey from a hidden position. Most people see eels in this position, but one of the most exciting things you will ever see is an eel swimming in the open, foraging for dinner. If it happens to be an eight-foot giant Green Moray, as my dive buddy and I saw in Bonaire once, your heart will race — hopefully with excitement, not fear.

Eels have a unique method of swimming, called anguilliform, in which they flex their whole body into lateral waves. The lateral compression of their tails results in increased swimming efficiency. (Compare a flattened oar to a rounded pole and you get the picture.) Anguilliform swimming is never more dramatic than when an eel darts out of his hole to seize prey. And here’s something Brother Eel has over even Michael Phelps: he can swim nearly as well backward as forward, which comes in handy when he’s being pursued.

Most species are possessed of an excellent sense of smell. With their two nostrils widely separated — instead of being close together as on most fish — eels have developed over the millennia a highly refined olfactory sense. The one exception is the Garden Eel, which has huge eyes and small nostrils. As a result, Garden Eels rely on their good eyesight and not their sense of smell to capture food.

As for those famous pearly whites, there is actually a wide range of sizes and shapes of teeth among eels, ranging from huge fangs to low and rounded choppers. All morays are carnivorous, but different species feed on different prey. The Green Moray, for example, which eats small fish, shrimps and crabs, has a mouth that extends back to behind the eye and sports single rows of large, sharp teeth in both jaws as well as along the roof of his mouth.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the eel (well, once you get past the dental profile) is the elongated, flattened body. It has thick, scaleless skin that’s covered by a protective layer of yellowish mucus, which repels parasites and disease. (This mucus is what makes a Green Moray green.) Another clever characteristic of morays is their ability to tie their bodies in knots, which gives them greater power to rip apart their food.

Eels have a peculiar larval stage, called leptocephalus, during which it looks nothing like the adult it will grow up to be. During this phase, the youngster is completely transparent and highly compressed, and drifts along with the plankton in the open ocean — sometimes covering a few thousand miles over several weeks (or months). Eventually the eel will stumble upon a suitable habitat, at which time it will begin to transform into a small juvenile eel. Adults don’t move around much, so their leptocephalus phase provides their “overseas experience.”

Green morays

Green Morays, the most common eel in these parts, can actually be any color from yellowish-brown to bright green. Found in water shallower than 150 feet, this solitary fish is typically found hiding out by day in rocky crevices of the reef with just his big head poking out.

Not that many people would be tempted to pet an eel, but don’t be enticed to feed one, either — the rare bites that have been reported usually occur during inappropriate feedings. And whatever you do, don’t eat them! Green Morays can acquire the toxic dinoflagellates microalgae from feeding on coral, and if infected will give humans Ciguatera poisoning, which results in unpleasant gastrointestinal problems lasting up to several days.

Because of their size, Green Morays command respect from divers, especially photographers. Barbara feels pretty comfortable getting close enough for photos, such as you see here, because she has a large camera and strobe between her and the eel. And yet she says she’s never had a scary experience and that they’ve actually been pretty compliant about posing for some great shots before beating a hasty retreat into their hole.

Barbara loves to recount the story that Smitty, her favorite Grand Turk dive guide, told her about the time he spotted a large Green Moray on the reef ahead of him. It was mostly out of its hole, its eyes fixed on a porcupine pufferfish swimming toward it. Just as Smitty thought, “Oh, no, ain’t no way,” the greedy moray made a lightning-quick grab and had the puffer in its mouth. A look of pure shock came over the moray’s face as the puffer blew up in its mouth, needle-sharp spines sticking out in all directions. Needless to say, the moray opened as wide as possible and out swam the puffer.

Spotted morays

True to their name, Spotted Morays are easily recognized by the pale to dark greenish-brown spots and blotches that cover their upper body. Sometimes called the Long-finned Eel, this thickset species grows from two to four feet, though they can reach lengths of seven feet and weigh over 35 pounds. Known for their curiosity, this little guy is unlike his fellow eels by his eagerness to come to the water’s surface to have a look at you!

Goldentail morays

Goldentail Morays tend to have golden tails, but the most divers usually see is an exposed head. According to David Smith, an eel expert with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., this species, which grows to one to two feet, has a remarkably wide range of color patterns. Usually it is dark with small pale spots and lines, but sometimes the pattern is reversed, i.e., light with dark markings. Occasionally it has large, irregular blotches instead of spots.

Chain Morays, also known as Chainlink Morays (or just the Chain Eel) are found in shallow inshore reefs and along rocky coastlines. Their bodies, which can grow to 18 inches, range in color from white to yellow with brown and have black or gray “chain” markings similar to certain seasnakes. The more gold-colored and chainlike the patterns, the more their movements are camouflaged — though if you look carefully you can spot them hunting for their favorite snack (crabs) in sunny tide pools. This critter is often mistaken for a seasnake. But look for a dorsal fin on his back, a dead giveaway.

Sharptail eels

The Sharptail Eel is so single-minded about dinner that unlike most other eels, it’s frequently seen out on the town. Gentle and non-aggressive, it’s possible to pick one up with your bare hands. Sharptails often have “hunting buddies” alongside them — opportunistic fish hoping to share in the fruits of the eel’s labors.

Garden eels

The Garden Eel was an unknown creature until scuba- diving became popular three decades ago. Since then, it’s a rare diver who hasn’t come into contact with these fascinating colonizing creatures. Usually found at shallow depths above 50 feet, Garden Eels live in individual sandy burrows, which they construct with a gland in their tail which secretes slime that makes the sand stick together. This is why their burrows do not collapse.

To feed, the Garden Eel rises out of its burrow, revealing about two-thirds of its body, and dines on zooplankton in the current. The Garden Eel relies on its sight and not its smell to capture food.

Divers often see 50 or more in one patch, but as they sense our approach, the frightened Garden Eel will retreat backward into its hole, where it will stay even when spawning, protecting itself from predators by sealing off the burrow with a mucus plug. When swimming towards a colony of Garden Eels, you might think it’s just a field of wavering seagrass, but as you come closer you begin to notice that the grass is disappearing. Though most Garden Eels are notoriously shy, if you move in slowly, they might let you get within three or four feet before darting into their holes. Barbara seems to have an affinity with Garden Eels, for she’s snapped many spectacular shots over the years.

(Special thanks to David Smith, eel expert with the Smithsonian Institution, for his positive identification of Barbara Shively’s Goldentail Moray and the interesting information here about the larval stage of eels.)

New York-based Suzanne Gerber writes about scuba, travel and health for a variety of publications. Book your next dive trip at www.suzanne@worldofdiving.com.

Avid underwater photographer Barbara Shively discovered Grand Turk diving in 1997 and has returned every year. It is her passion to share the coral reefs’ beauty with friends and family through her photographs. See her work at: http://shivelygallery.home.comcast.net.

By B. Naqqi Manco, Senior Conservation Officer, TCI National Trust and Martin Hamilton, UK Overseas Territories Programme, Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew

Biologists often ponder what thoughts were going through the minds of the people who witnessed the death of the last member of an entire species. What did the Cincinnati Zoo’s keeper of Martha, the last living passenger pigeon, feel in 1914 as he froze the bird’s body for the Smithsonian Institution? As a late 1600s sailing ship’s crewmember scornfully ate the last bite of the last of that despised Indian Ocean sailors’ food source, the dodo bird, was he aware it would be the last time he would have to taste it? When a Rapanui man on Easter Island felled the last toromiro tree, did he know that it signified the collapse of his advanced, literate Pacific culture?

Extinction is a natural process — the dinosaurs are a good example of a natural extinction. But since humankind has been dominating the Earth, extinctions caused by our activities have increased dramatically. Through habitat loss by our greed for land, introduction of non-native invasive species, over-harvest of natural resources and pollution, many of the world’s plants and animals have been put in a position where their long-term survival is in question.

One would like to think that in the “Beautiful by Nature” Turks & Caicos Islands, we would never have to face the prospect of witnessing the extinction of a native species. At this time, the Turks & Caicos National Trust is working in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (London) and the Turks & Caicos Islands Government to make sure that one very special species will not become extinct in the Turks & Caicos Islands. In doing so, we hope to set a precedent that no native plant or animal extinctions will occur in our backyard.

The backyards that are in danger are the pine yards of Middle and North Caicos and Pine Cay. The Bahama Pine (Pinus caribaea variety bahamensis) forms vast stands of savannah-like scrub in the northern Bahamas, entirely skips the islands of the central and southern Bahamas, and appears again only on Middle and North Caicos and Pine Cay. These trees are true cone-bearing pines, not related to the “cedar” or Australian pine, a noxious invasive tree that invades the Turks & Caicos coastlines.

Few people outside of the islands of its native range ever see a “Caicos pine,” as their habitat is difficult to access and not a particularly comfortable one in which to be. Caicos pines grow on low-lying limestone bedrock with flooded solution holes on Middle and North Caicos, and on hard-packed sand on Pine Cay. Both of these habitats are extremely hot, with uneven ground and thorny shrubs. Despite this, walking past a healthy pine yard on a warm, breezy day will fill one’s nose with the unmistakable, strong, pleasing scent of long-leaf pine.

The pine yards are an ecosystem rich in plants and animals, some of which can occur nowhere else. The critically endangered Kirtland’s warbler, a small North American songbird, winters in the pine yards of the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands. Several species of iridescent beetles only develop in the trunks of dead pines that have been burned in lightning-ignited fires. Even the fire is “native” to the pine yards — periodical fires started by lightning strikes burn out thick underbrush and allow pine seedlings to grow up, remaining the dominant and defining species of their realm. The adult trees shade out the underbrush from growing too quickly, so young trees are dependent on the presence of older trees to reach maturity. The tall, lush, deep forest green pines have been so useful to the history of the Islands (for making pitch and boat staves before both were available commercially), and such an icon of natural beauty, that they have been selected as the Turks & Caicos Islands’ National Tree.

Around 2001, residents of Pine Cay began noticing that something was wrong with their population of the national tree. Later, National Trust-affiliated botanical researchers noted the same problem on some trees in Middle Caicos — a sticky, dusty black coating on the needles accompanied by a sticky white flocking. Whatever it was, these coatings were killing the pine trees — fast. The trees threw off infected needles more quickly than they could replace them with new, healthy ones. The leaf quality was not good enough to allow the trees to produce seeds in their cones; later, they did not even have enough energy to set new leaves.

Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew researchers Martin Hamilton and Michele Sanchez began working on an identification of the problem in 2004. Martin Hamilton, head of the UK Overseas Territories Programme at Kew, found the source of the problem by drawing from his extensive horticultural training. The white flocking on the needles was a scale insect — later submission of samples to an insect pest specialist in the United Kingdom revealed the insect to be the pine tortoise scale, an important pest on pine trees in North America. Scale insects only move as larvae; when they find a suitable place on a pine needle, they clamp down onto it and become fused to its surface with a waxy coating. There, they suck sap from the needles. Living on a diet of pure tree sap makes the little insects hyperglycaemic — they consume so much plant sugar, they must pass most of it out their back ends as waste. This “honeydew” drops on the pines’ needles and other plants, and becomes infested with a fungus called sooty mould — which is the black coating noticed on the pines and other plants. This is the same fungus that makes sapodilly and citrus trees turn black in the Caicos Islands, and it blocks out light available to trees, resulting in reduction in food productivity. This, coupled with the parasitism of the scale insect, is killing our national tree.

Martin Hamilton returned in April 2007 along with new UK Overseas Territories Programme colleague Marcella Corcoran to further assess the infestation and damage. Research this year has shown that well over half of the individuals in our pine yards have died. Arduous hikes brought our team deep into the pine yards, where we assessed a number of points on each island where pine is present. Using measurement methods developed specifically for this project, the researchers documented percentage of trees killed, infestation level, tree health and recruitment (reproduction). Seedlings are present in many dying stands, but most are infected with scale and without newly dropped pine needles to feed forest fires, they are threatened by the understory scrub growing up and blocking out their light. While in some habitats there are natural predators to eat scale insects, our native ladybug beetles and wasps do not seem to find the pine tortoise scale appetising. If nothing is done to counteract this problem (which was very likely of human origin), the Kew team estimated that within ten years, our complete pine population would become functionally extinct.

How did the pine tortoise scale, an insect that cannot move in its adult female form, and whose adult male form is a weak, short-distance flyer, come to be on our native pines when the insect hails from the American northwest? While we have not yet been able to verify the material source, the most likely method of introduction was on live, cut pine trees imported at Christmas time. The Turks & Caicos Islands have few restrictions on plant importation, though laws requiring imported plants to be pest treated before importation are in the works. Pest treatment (usually by high-intensity ultra-violet light, a process called “phyto-sanitisation”) prior to export is expensive for plant sellers and buyers, and they will typically forego the phyto-sanitary process if it is not required by law. Unfortunately, this means that insect pests, fungi and even mammals, reptiles, and birds can be transported on plant material and introduced to our islands. Some of these introductions may be of little consequence. Others, like the introduction of the pine tortoise scale, can lead to the swift collapse of an entire ecosystem.

Will the pine tortoise scale cause the extinction of our national tree? Not if the National Trust and Royal Botanic Gardens can stop it. Our research has identified several stands of trees that are apparently resistant to the scale — most notably on Pine Cay and Middle Caicos, where a few remote patches of seedlings are eagerly growing up, lush and clean, in direct proximity to heavily-infested trees. A similar phenomenon occurred on Bermuda with their native cedar, which was nearly extirpated by an introduced scale insect but which was brought back from the brink of extinction by earnest propagation of seeds from a few resistant trees.

The National Trust has been collecting seeds of apparently resistant trees when possible, and has also begun a trial rescue nursery to grow seedlings in a carefully maintained area, free of scale insects. Marcella Corcoran concentrated her April 2007 fieldwork on acquiring pine needle samples from both infested and apparently resistant trees for a DNA analysis to find possible solutions to the problem. The Trust and Kew Gardens will also look into options such as vegetative propagation and cloning. A long-term species recovery project has been written and is currently being considered for funding by the Turks & Caicos Government.

One complication for habitat rehabilitation is that the pine trees maintain their own ecosystem, and it is likely that important considerations will have to be made about replanting, controlled burning and scale presence monitoring. Spraying stands of trees with insecticidal oils, injecting systemic pesticides and direct application of treatments would be extremely expensive and difficult, as well as detrimental to all of the other insects in the pine yards (many of which are probably yet unknown to science), but are still being considered for limited areas. There is hope for the future in using seeds and clones of naturally resistant trees to increase the population, and certainly the Trust is working with the most renowned plant research institution in the world to solve the problem.

National Trust staff members share a common sentiment — that if we do not love what we’re working to protect, then we won’t be good at it. Our research team, made up of National Trust staff members as well as international colleagues, keeps this as our unofficial team slogan as we carry out the work to save our national tree from extinction. We do not want to have to lament the loss of another species by human hand, and do not wish to be the observers documenting the loss of a magnificent tree. We hope that our work will prevent the need for any child in the future to ever ask the questions, “What was a Caicos pine? What did they look like? Where did they go?”

The Turks & Caicos National Trust is a non-governmental organisation established by TCI Government mandate in 1992 to safeguard the natural, historical and cultural heritage of the Turks & Caicos Islands for present and future generations and the enjoyment of all.

For more information on our Pine Project and how you can help, please contact the National Trust at (649) 941-3536 or by email at tc.nattrust@tciway.tc.