Resort Report
- Survivors of WW II Submarine Attacks Rescued September 20, 2024The remarkable brush of a lifeboat with the Mouchoir Banks and TCI. Story & Illustrations By Eric Wiberg & Andrew Warren In previous editions of Astrolabe we documented how, from over 130 ships attacked around Turks & Caicos Islands and The Bahamas during World War II, at least 72 survivors landed in the TCI and a further ...Read more about this post
- Blue Hills Back in the Days September 20, 2024The beginning of remarkable change. Story & Photos By Richard Grainger The article in the Winter 2023/24 issue of Times of the Islands, “Blue Hills—An Authentic Seaside Settlement,” reminded me of my first visit to Blue Hills in 1971. At that time, it was the name of the entire island of Providenciales, not just one settlement. It ...Read more about this post
- Shifting Sands September 20, 2024An itinerant shipping container. By John Charles Hopkins Barrels, bottles, buckets, buoys, cargo slings, coconuts, crates, nets, planks, poles, roots, rope, sea grass, seaweed, stumps, and tree trunks: an alphabet of flotsam abounds along the shores of Bay Cay and other outlying barrier islands that flank North Caicos. The locus is Spanish Point where the Caicos Bank protrudes ...Read more about this post
- The Awakening September 18, 2024Twilight on the reef is a magical time. Story & Photos By Kelly Currington The Turks & Caicos Islands are famous for the powder-white, sugar-sand beaches and stunning turquoise water; they attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the country every year. For divers, it’s the wonders of what lies beyond where sand meets sea and beneath ...Read more about this post
- Forty Years and Counting September 18, 2024Heritage straw work carries cherished memories. By Diane Taylor I carried very little when I left my home on Pine Cay in the early 1980s. At one time, people who felt an emotional attachment to the county or land they had to leave took with them a handful of earth to cherish as fond memory of paths ...Read more about this post
- Happy as a Clam September 18, 2024Getting the edge on seagrass meadows. By Natalie Ritter (The School for Field Studies), Violet Apodaca (Bowdoin College), Kira Kaplan (Smith College), Lily Marynik (Wellesley College), Sophie Moniz (Connecticut College), Rory O’Connor (Lehigh University), Paul Stanley (University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Aliya Swearngin (Grinnell College) Edited by Dr. C.E. O’Brien, The School for Fields Studies, Center for ...Read more about this post
- Humans, Birds, and the TCI September 17, 2024Our “feathered friends” are an important indicator of environmental health. Story & Photos By Dolly Prosper, DECR Environmental Officer: Terrestrial Ecologist Humans have always been fascinated with our avian neighbours. Throughout history, the relationship between humans and birds has been multifaceted, encompassing utility, symbolism, and mutual benefit. The genesis of our intricate bond was due to caloric ...Read more about this post
- A Hodgepodge Masterpiece September 17, 2024Getting to know the Shortnose Batfish. By Kelly Currington One of the amazing things about scuba diving is that every time you enter the ocean you have a good chance of seeing a creature you’ve never seen before. It’s always exciting when that happens! There is no shortage of odd or weird looking inhabitants on the reef, ...Read more about this post
- The Legend of Captain Kidd September 17, 2024A tale told by the “Old Time” men of Blue Hills. By Jim Brown Before the days of cable television and YouTube videos, folks would swap stories as the evening’s entertainment. What follows is a “tall tale” about lost treasure that might have been whispered around the glow of an oil lamp in the Blue Hills of ...Read more about this post
- Caring for Beasts of Burden July 3, 2024Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue films donkeys in TCI. Story & Photos By Mark S. and Amy Meyers Donkeys never asked to be brought to the Caribbean, the Far East, Europe, or even Australia. They were quite content living in Africa. Domesticated around 5000 BCE by the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, donkeys were quickly traded throughout the civilized world, ...Read more about this post
- Designed to Be Different July 3, 2024Ocean Breeze Resort, North Caicos By Jody Rathgeb ~ Photos By Tom Rathgeb If resorts could talk, most of them would say many of the same things, touting their international flair, luxury settings and “perfection in paradise.” Ocean Breeze Resort speaks of something different. This new boutique resort in the Turks & Caicos would say, simply, “This ...Read more about this post
- “Burnt at Sea” July 3, 2024The story behind the inscription at West Harbour Bluff. By Jeff Dodge Not long ago, Dr. Donald Keith, a marine archaeologist and Turks & Caicos National Museum board member, asked if I might be interested in a research project. The topic was an 1842 inscription on a rock outcropping on West Harbour Bluff at the southwest end ...Read more about this post
- Heroic Rescue at Sea July 2, 2024Dolphins lead boat to plane crash survivors. By Ben Stubenberg 11:00 AM / Grand Turk Most of the morning hours of January 3, 2023 had slipped away with quiet routine at the JAGS McCartney International Airport when Air Traffic Controller (ATC) Danial Thompson arrived for his shift. As he took the hand-off from the other ATC who was ...Read more about this post
- When Art is Joy July 1, 2024The making a fine arts gallery — Grand Turk style. Story & Photos By Titus de Boer When the unexpected meets artistry, magic happens. Discover how a dreary afternoon in Germany led to the birth of a fine arts gallery in the Turks & Caicos Islands, weaving a tale of resilience, creativity, and a dash of serendipity. ...Read more about this post
- One Fragment at a Time July 1, 2024Restoring TCI reefs. By Kort Alexander and Kara Rumage, The School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos We sit on the siderails of the boat in anticipation, hands holding our masks and regulators in place. The captain counts down from three and we lean back until our tanks hit the water. We are instantly ...Read more about this post
What's Inside The Latest Edition?
On the Cover
Tucked at the northeast corner of North Caicos is Greenwich Channel, formed at the northern tip of Bottle Creek by the convergence of Horsestable Beach and Bay Cay. By using a drone Master/Craftsman Photographer James Roy of Paradise Photography (www.myparadisephoto.com) was able to capture this dramatic abstract image. The shallow water and shifting sandbars and channels create surreal natural art in many hues of turquoise and green.
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