Resort Report

The first-ever, human-powered circumnavigation of the TCI chain. Story & Photos By John Galleymore ~ Aerial Photos By Merinda Duff It’s weird how an off-the-cuff comment can plant a seed in your brain that can alter your life dramatically. Back in 2015, I had just finished a solo walk through the Turks & Caicos Islands from South ...

The real backstory of “Cool Runnings.” By Ben Stubenberg “Life is a struggle. Anything worth doing in life is a struggle.  And anytime you enter a struggle, you are going to suffer.  People think suffering is something to be avoided.  No! Suffering is reality.”  — Tal Stokes On a windy February morning in 1988, the captain of the first Jamaican bobsled team ...

Exploring the origins and interactions of the ancient Lucayans with ancient DNA. By Kendra Sirak, Bill Keegan, Betsy Carlson, and Michael Pateman About ten years ago, Tellis Bethel, retired commodore of the Bahamas Defense Force, started a campaign to name the waters surrounding The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) the “Lucayan Sea.” Covering 180,000 square miles ...

Tropical season could spell trouble. By Paul Wilkerson The predictions are in, and it appears that the hurricane season for 2022 will likely result in above normal activity for the Tropical Atlantic. Thankfully, the overall odds of a storm impacting the Turks & Caicos Islands is relatively low based on historical data. Nevertheless, it is appropriate to ...

Keeping Islanders clothed in “the old days.” By Jody Rathgeb There was no Amazon. No Island Bargains. No daily flights from Miami. No family members zipping away to buy fashions abroad. So how did Turks & Caicos Islanders in “the old days” get the clothing part of their basic food-clothing-shelter needs? Look to the women. Their homespun businesses ...

Beryl Nelson By Jody Rathgeb ~ Photos by Tom Rathgeb and Courtesy of Beryl Nelson Q:  How did you come to live in the Turks & Caicos Islands, Beryl? A:  Well, it’s a long story . . .  Actually, the story itself is simple: Beryl Nelson, who grew up in Michigan and Indiana, decided when he came of age ...

The Grand Turk Tortoise Chelonoidis alburyorum keegani By Bill Keegan, Betsy Carlson and Michael Pateman Just as the hare is zipping across the finish line, the tortoise has stopped once again by the roadside, this time to stick out his neck and nibble a bit of sweet grass, unlike the previous time when he was distractedby a bee humming ...

TCI birding: Questions answered; questions raised. By Simon Busuttil There are around 11,000 species of birds in the world. “Around” because the number changes all the time. Totally new species are fairly frequently discovered, and a thankfully few (as yet) others are deemed extinct, but most of the changes occur through “splitting” existing species. These “splits” come ...

The fateful final voyage of a treasure-laden Spanish galleon. By Ben Stubenberg ~ Original Painting by Richard McGhie Strewn across the long barrier reefs and shallow banks that encircle the Turks & Caicos lie more than 1,000 shipwrecks. Each one comes with a unique yet kindred story of crew and passengers staring down death as relentless waves ...

One dose released Tristan to bloom. Story & Photos By Kelly Currington For anyone who loves the sea, the feeling of being connected to its powers seems to come naturally. We feel drawn to it for our sense of peace and balance, and to reset from the chaos of everyday life. When we slip below the surface ...

Protecting one of the Islands’ biggest natural wonders. By Katharine Hart and Cathy Bacon, Turks & Caicos Islands Whale Project Photos By Katharine Hart, Deep Blue Charters Each winter, hundreds of North Atlantic Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) travel thousands of kilometers from their summer feeding grounds in colder waters to the turquoise shallows surrounding the Turks & Caicos ...

The relationship between the salt industry and the American flamingo. By Skylar Wuelfing, Waterfront Assistant, The School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies Looking out across the salt flats of the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), one can often spot a flamboyance (or large group) of brightly colored birds known as American flamingoes (Phoenicopterus ruber). These ...

Salt production on the Turks & Caicos Islands (Part 1) Story & Postcard Images Courtesy Jeff Dodge Salt was the most important industry on the Turks & Caicos Islands for almost 300 years. Salt was of critical importance, not only for culinary purposes, but to preserve meat and fish. Since salt production involved so many people and ...

Remembering the Jennings brothers. Story & Photos Courtesy Dr. Carlton Mills In the early 1960s, the only fishing plant in the Turks & Caicos was in South Caicos. This attracted fishermen from throughout the Islands who came over to improve their livelihood. Many of them stayed on the fishing bank for several days diving or hooking conch ...

Third Annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival By Matthew Matlack, Sea Turtle Creative When I received notice that the documentary short, “East Caicos Expedition” (www.eastcaicosexpedition.com), had been accepted into the Turks & Caicos International Film Festival, I was elated. I shot the film over three whirlwind days in October 2019 with the plan being to take ...