Fall 2025 Archive

The Caribbean Giant Centipede. By Bill Rhodes ~ Photos By Marta Morton My two young sons were doing what they always do when we visited the Islands. They were outside our villa sneaking up on unsuspecting lizards, mostly small anoles, to see if they could catch one. In this game of hide and seek, though, the lizards ...

Kevin Swann By Jody Rathgeb ~ Photos By Tom Rathgeb To check out Kevin Swann of North Caicos is to check all the ways in which he is a Renaissance Man. His areas of expertise run wide: Construction? Check. Security? Check. Import-export logistics? Check. Auto mechanics? Check. Hospitality? Check. It’s no surprise, then, that this Renaissance Man is ...

Reducing light pollution in the Islands. By James Solecki, Island Villa Lighting One of the most magical things about life in the Turks & Caicos Islands is that we’re surrounded by beauty in every direction — turquoise seas, white sand beaches, and, on a clear night, a dazzling canopy of stars. Or at least, we should be ...

Queen Conch and the Graveyard Hypothesis By Emma Boling, Sofia Gonzalez, David Marsh, and Emma Pranger, Spring 2025 students ~ Edited by C.E. O’Brien, Associate Professor of Tropical Marine Ecology and Dani Backman, Waterfront Assistant, The School for Field Studies, Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos ~ Special thanks to Fall 2024 Grave Conch-erns research team: Zachary ...

TCI is home to the spineless ancestor of all creatures with a spine. By Dr. Eric S. Cole Sometimes scientists get it so right it’s almost magical. In 1999 Neil Shubin and a small team of paleontologists began flying to the furthest north stretch of land above the Arctic Circle, Ellesmere Island, to excavate an exposed bit ...

How many stars can you see? By Thomas A. Lesser, Former Senior Lecturer, American Museum-Hayden Planetarium In the daytime there is one star you can see — the Sun. At night, the answer is not so clear. Most estimates suggest that one should be able to see some 9,000 stars. Since at any one time, about half ...

The ups and downs of the sisal industry on the Caicos Islands. By Jeff Dodge The production of sisal fibre on the Caicos Islands in the mid to late 19th century was an effort to find a crop that would grow on land Loyalists from America had originally planted in cotton. In addition, the government in 1889 ...

Shine beyond limits: Shakem Charles is 2025 TCI Top Model By Courtney Robinson, Founder & Executive Producer TCI Top Model Contest ~ Photos By Renau Destine Photos shot on location at Villa Solara, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands The summer of 2025 marked more than just the return of the TCI Top Model Contest after a decade-long hiatus. ...

Charcoal production is driving forest loss in Turks & Caicos. Photos By Agile LeVin, Visit Turks & Caicos Islands The Summer 2025 issue of Times of the Islands included the feature article “Clearing Away Paradise” by Ben Stubenberg. It described how rampant construction in the Turks & Caicos Islands, especially on Providenciales, is leading to the widespread ...