Resort Report

Investigating the Turks & Caicos Rock Iguana. By Sally C. Dowd As the heat thickens and the wind subsides, biologist Jimmy Wehsener carefully steps around dozens of cacti on the southern reaches of Big Ambergris Cay, one of hundreds of remote islands scattered in the Atlantic that together form the Turks & Caicos. The flat turquoise sea ...

Watching what octopus do all day and night. Story & Photos By C.E. O’Brien, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Tropical Marine Ecology, School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies South Caicos How does an octopus spend its time at home? That’s what I and two researchers from Brazil teamed up to determine in a recent study ...

Yolande Robinson. By Alejandra Parnell ~ Photos By Renau Destine Photography Learn and Lead Ltd. is more than just an educational centre. It is a beacon for hopeful students and their parents, looking to grow and develop not only as pupils, but as individuals. As an educator for over two decades, Yolande Robinson has made a significant ...

A new study has the answer. By Jade Prévost-Manuel, Visit Turks and Caicos Islands Flamingos have a long history as an emblem of the Turks & Caicos Islands, but until recently, little was known about how many of these birds call the country home. Now, new research suggests that more than 5,300 American flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) inhabit ...

The Corn Snake ~ By Bill Rhodes Snakes. A lot of people simply do not like them. Unless you are my 8-year-old granddaughter. For her last birthday she begged her parents to buy her a Corn Snake (Pantherophis guttatus). They are beautifully colored in shades of red and orange, growing to lengths of 5 feet when ...

Returning to wildness, one backyard at a time. Story & Photos By Kathleen McNary, BSc., ALM, PhD “It is not the Land that is broken but our relationship to it” ~ Robin Kimmerer, 2013 Habitat and biodiversity losses ravage the planet. In fact, a group of researchers and the Nature Conservancy (Freedman, 2019) now estimate that as much ...

For three decades, the name SWA Architects has quietly threaded its way through the story of the Turks & Caicos Islands. Ask anyone involved in building, planning, or development on Providenciales and odds are, the initials “SWA” will draw a nod of recognition—not because the firm has ever shouted the loudest, but because its work ...

The story of the West Caicos Fibre (Sisal) Company Ltd. By Jeff Dodge A species of the agave fibre plant was introduced to the Caicos Islands in the mid 1800s. At first it was hoped fibre production would replace the cultivation of cotton, which ended around 1813 due to pests, diseases, and worn out soil. The cultivation ...

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 ...

Moray eels. Story & Photos By Kelly Currington If stunning turquoise water, powder-white sand beaches, and a welcoming culture are what your getaway requires, the Turks & Caicos Islands have most likely been a bucket-list destination, and rightfully so. The waters and reefs of the Turks & Caicos are a wonderland of flora and fauna, and this ...

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 ...