Resort Report
- A New Hope? June 22, 2021TCRF tests alternate, non-antibiotic treatment against SCTLD. Story & Photos By Alizee Zimmermann, Turks & Caicos Reef Fund From wreaking havoc on the Florida Reef Tract to now threatening the stony coral population of reefs in 17 countries and territories, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) is proving itself to be the most aggressive, virulent and indiscriminate ...Read more about this post
- Bonefish Ahead! June 22, 2021Hauling bonefish with Willis Taylor “back in the day.” By Diane Taylor ~ Photos By Marta Morton It was Easter Monday of 1982. On a whim, a small group of us (six, to be exact) sailed from Pine Cay to Sandy Point on North Caicos with Richard Kriss on his 22′ sailboat Little Wing. It was beautiful ...Read more about this post
- Child’s Play June 21, 2021What was the life of Taíno children like? By Bill Keegan, Betsy Carlson and Michael Pateman The huge interest in the Paleo Diet got us wondering. If eating like a “Caveman” was a great idea, then why not other ancient practices, like childrearing? However, developing Paleo-Parenting guidelines proved challenging because children are largely invisible in research on ...Read more about this post
- Be Prepared! June 21, 20212021 hurricane season poised to be active. By Paul Wilkerson The Tropical Atlantic region is fresh off the most active hurricane season in history, with 30 named storms and 14 hurricanes, with 6 major hurricanes. While no two seasons are alike, can we expect similar results for the 2021 season? Hurricane season runs annually in the Atlantic from ...Read more about this post
- Born of Necessity June 21, 2021TCI’s first airline comes to life. Story & Photos By Bengt Soderqvist After Fritz Ludington’s Provident Limited kick-started the development of Providenciales in the fall of 1966, a lot of changes occurred. Nothing changed more dramatically than the way people were traveling. Up until that point, the main modes of transportation had been walking and boating. The sailing ...Read more about this post
- A Phoenix on North Caicos March 24, 2021Bottle Creek Lodge opens again. By Jody Rathgeb~ Images Courtesy Bottle Creek Lodge Here’s a new adage for the Islands: You can’t keep a good tourist site down. Proof? Bottle Creek Lodge on North Caicos, which has opened to guests for the third time in nearly 30 years. The new Bottle Creek Lodge, under the ownership of Jim ...Read more about this post
- Selective Packing March 24, 2021The nitty-gritty of filming the East Caicos Expedition documentary. By Matthew Matlack ~ Photos by Matthew Matlack and John Galleymore Filming the East Caicos Expedition documentary was a thrilling endeavor. I had not been camping in years, I had just one experience under my belt filming in caves (which had a gift shop with snacks at the ...Read more about this post
- People of the Islands March 24, 2021Telling “A Caicos Sloop Story.” Story and Photos By Michael P. Pateman, Ph.D. and Vanessa A. Forbes-Pateman In the Summer 2019 Astrolabe, we introduced “People of the Islands.” This project seeks to tell the story of “Islanders” through a first-person narrative. The various interview topics include boat building, food/cooking, bush medicine, island migration, cultural traditions, music, dance, ...Read more about this post
- In Plain Sight March 24, 2021Treasures on the beach. By Melissa Heres, Waterfront Assistant, The School for Field Studies The beach has always been a special place for me, linking the land we traverse every day and the incredible ocean environment that looms below. This link, if it could talk, could share so many stories. The stories of how rocks have eroded ...Read more about this post
- An Osprey Day March 24, 2021Ready for the unexpected. Story & Photos By Lorna Rae Daniel-Dupree, Lorna Rae Photography Broken away from the mainland at West Harbour Bluff tands a sheer, sharp faced coral rock—a 30-foot high tower protruding out of the ocean. Nestled on top, safe from human intervention, perches an osprey nest complete with a pair of chicks. It is January ...Read more about this post
- Sunsets and Island Time March 23, 2021A perfect pairing. Story & Photos By Ben Farmer, Waterfront Assistant, The School for Field Studies “Is it pretty tonight—the sunset?” “I’ve never seen a bad one.” This is a dialogue between two characters in Carl Hiaasen’s novel Skinny Dip. One character, Joey, is temporarily blind after a harrowing experience at sea, and Stranahan is describing the evening Florida ...Read more about this post
- The Green Invader March 23, 2021New reporting hotline for green iguana sightings. By B Naqqi Manco, Acting Assistant Director of Environmental Research & Development, DECR Our very special endemic Turks & Caicos rock iguanas Cyclura carinata was recently down-listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) category from Critically Endangered to Endangered. This is due largely to decades of ...Read more about this post
- Pandemic March 23, 2021How much of Taino depopulation was the result of disease? By Lindsay Keegan, Betsy Carlson, Michael Pateman and Bill Keegan Today’s “Talking Taíno” is brought to you by the letters R and N. First R—not the pirate’s favorite letter (which actually is the C)—but R0 (“R naught”), the mathematical term that indicates how contagious an infectious disease ...Read more about this post
- The Birth of an Airport March 19, 2021Providenciales’ international airport started out as a handmade runway. Story & Photos By Bengt Soderqvist Pre-COVID-19, the Providenciales International Airport was bustling with flights from around the world, especially on weekends during the busy winter/spring months. In 2019, nearly half a million visitors arrived on the 9,199-foot runway and passed through the singular terminal building. International airlines ...Read more about this post
- TCI in World War II January 3, 2021The Fauna, Part II 1942 By Captain Eric Wiberg In the Summer 2020 issue of the Astrolabe, the author detailed the first part of the tale of the Fauna, a 1,272-ton Dutch steamship. The Fauna left New York on May 6, 1942 destined for Grand Turk with a crew of 29 men and a load of cargo, ...Read more about this post
What's Inside The Latest Edition?
On the Cover
This spectacular shot was captured by Seth Willingham, also known as @waterproject on Instagram. He’s been a professional photographer for 15 years, traveling the world capturing images of nature from beautiful destinations. He says, " From the moment I first saw Turks & Caicos from the airplane window I knew this place was going to be different. On our first night at Grace Bay, we were blessed with a glorious sunset and the colors of the sky and water were truly mind blowing."