Winter 2019

Survivors of U-Boats: Vineland in 1942, Part II By Captain Eric Wiberg In the Fall 2019 issue of Astrolabe, the author detailed the sinking of the Canadian dry-bulk ship Vineland, on April 20, 1942 by the German submarine U-154 while it was roughly 90 miles north of North Caicos. The survivors voyaged in three lifeboats until they ...

Searching lost wrecks on Salt Cay. Story & Photos By Dr. Joost Morsink and Dr. Ruud Stelten South of Grand Turk, a small and sleepy island rests in the Atlantic Ocean: Salt Cay. With approximately 90 inhabitants on 2.6 square miles, this is the least populated of the main inhabited islands in the Turks & Caicos Islands. ...

You can’t enjoy one without the other. By William J. Cook ~ Photos By Marta Morton Few places in the world offer the birding paradise that can be found in the Turks & Caicos Islands, and there are many vantage points from which to take in these wondrous, diverse and colorful creatures. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for ...

Funeral traditions in the Turks & Caicos Islands. By Jody Rathgeb Death is not a likely topic for a magazine such as Times of the Islands. The sunshine, blue waters and swaying palms of the Turks & Caicos are so full of life that the alternative seems very far away. Yet people do die here and have ...

Researchers assess the impact of sargassum seaweed in the TCI. By Kristy Lee and Sylvia Myers, MSc students, University of Greenwich; Debbie Bartlett, Ph.D., Faculty of Engineering and Science University of Greenwich; Franziska Elmer, Ph.D. Marine Ecology Lecturer, School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies From the UK, the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) are something we ...

Are we doing enough to conserve them? By Ewa Krzyszczyk, School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies When you think of mangroves, do you imagine blue skies, crystal clear water, lush green forest, dragonflies silently gliding above, the songs of the mangrove cuckoos? No? You might want to honor them a visit. In her article, “The ...

Meeting Humpback whales in Grand Turk By Brian Heagney, B.Sc Marine Biology ~ Photos by Sabine Frank & Brain Heagney The Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) are made up of a number of islands and cays divided into two distinct groups . . . somewhat obviously, the Turks Islands and the Caicos Islands. These are separated by ...

Understanding rip currents and rip tides. By Paul Wilkerson Travelers from across the globe descend on the Turks & Caicos Islands at a steady pace throughout the year. Nearly all are drawn by photos of the clear turquoise waters that surround the country. Our family fell into that category. Images seemed surreal, and we wanted to see ...

North Caicos shop offers big scoops of opportunity. By Jody Rathgeb ~ Photos By Tom Rathgeb  Many know the silly childhood chant, “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” In the case of Parrotice on North Caicos, though, it was the land that screamed, calling out, “I want to be an ice cream shop!” ...