Winter 2019

By Amy Avenant, DECR Environment Outreach Coordinator Single-use plastic shopping bags will soon be removed from supermarkets and shops across the TCI. The government-approved import ban will come into effect from January 1, 2019, with a ban on the use of single- use plastic bags by retailers to come into effect on May 1, 2019. There ...

Early photographers on Grand Turk. By Jeffrey Dodge Edmund Neale Coverley, one of the most active early photographers on Grand Turk at the beginning of the 20th century, has been the subject of several past articles in the Astrolabe. He is well known because many of his photographs were used to produce early picture postcards. The earliest postcards ...

Foodies are in for a unique experience at The Frenz Deck. Story & Photos By Dominique Rolle, Caya Hico Media Walking with my friend Lorraine Kenlock in her lush backyard garden, I feel transported from Grace Bay into the heartland of the Turks & Caicos—North Caicos—or perhaps Jamaica where such fantastic foliage is a common way of ...

Investigating Grand Turk’s Over Island Graveyard. Story & Photos By Matthew A. Williamson, Ph.D. My apologies to the author John Berendt, who penned the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, for only slightly changing his title for this article. I think it’s appropriate though, given the work that I do and where I live. ...

It’s never too late to get in shape when extreme challenges are ahead. By TCI Explorer John Galleymore ~ Photos By Brilliant Studios, www.brilliantstudios.com As I explained my next planned adventure and what it entailed, a close friend replied, “Hadn’t you look to start getting in shape?” He cited a recent picture of me on East Caicos ...

TCI slave escapes in the early 1800s. By Ben Stubenberg Few endeavors are more woven into the culture and history of the Turks & Caicos Islands than sailing. Ever since the Bermudians rediscovered TCI some 350 years ago and began collecting salt from the natural salinas, boats played a defining role. By day, fast and agile sloops ...

Climate change resilience and East Caicos coral reefs. By Kathleen Wood, Don Stark and Marsha Pardee In January 2017, the Turks & Caicos Reef Fund (TCRF), in association with SWA Environmental and Marine Environmental Services (MES), received a Swift Small Grant from the European Union’s BEST 2.0 Project. Entitled “East Caicos KBA’s Corals and Coasts: A Key ...

Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre celebrates a decade of caring about kids. By Katherine Withers Green ~ Photos Courtesy Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre In November 2008, the Edward C. Gartland Youth Centre opened its doors to the young people of the Turks & Caicos, becoming the first teen-orientated facility in the Islands. The brainchild of the ...

The unofficial national tonic of the Turks & Caicos Islands Story & Photos By B Naqqi Manco, TCI Naturalist “Bush doctor,” I corrected my students, “not witch doctor. He makes herbal medications, he doesn’t fly around on a broom.” We approached the low, flat house, so shrouded in a tangle of fruit trees and wildly scrambling ornamental ...