Chillin' in Turks and CaicosBy Judith Ritter
Are the words “lovely little hotel, lovely little island” even still a phrase possible to use when speaking of the Caribbean with its mega-resorts, casinos, duty-frees and cruise ports? Well, TCI has escaped this and so has The Ocean Club Resort. If the word “resort” conjures up hoards of tourists, fake waterfalls in crowded swimming pools and overly cheery activities directors pushing “fun and games” and drinks, forget it. Ocean Club, despite its moniker is none of that. Instead, discreet low rise buildings surrounded by asparagus ferns, hibiscus and palms sit just steps from along stretch of, Grace Beach, one of the gentlest beaches I have ever visited, and the beach with the most turquoise waters I’d ever seen outside of the sea in Fiji.
Another oddity at this latitude is Gecko Grill’s spectacular martini bar. Sitting at the dark wood bar, with its louvered windows and lazy ceiling fans made me feel as if I was in an ex-pat watering hole in the Caribbean of the 1950’s. I half expected a Bogart or Brando to appear in white linen suit and Panama hat. As for the martinis, Scott Grey, the bartender at Gecko for 5 years, had a lot to offer…77 choices of vodkas (Grey claims vermouth’s musky taste ruins the taste of a martini). The vodka bottles, some very beautiful, line the wall. There was the rare Silent Sam, the hard-to-find Russian delight Youri Dolgoruki that, according to Grey, took three months to find, almost as long as Grey spends shaking each martini! With reluctance, I had to leave my paradise, Providenciale and my room at The Ocean Club resort, but my three days there were like a three-week vacation, just an hour and a half from Miami, but a million miles from winter. Getting there: WHERE TO STAY on Providenciales (Provo) WHERE TO EAT Three Queens (649 941 5984) Clover’s Sailing Paradise WHAT TO DO Tour the Caicos Conch Farm 9:00 AM-3:00 PM Thirty minute tours for six dollars for adults and three for kids WHERE TO FIND NIGHT LIFE |
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It was one of those weeks in the Northeast when the wind has picked up and the snow doesn’t fall in delicate flakes, but stings as it whips against your skin. It’s one of those weeks when you spend more time than is healthy staring at your screensaver with its impossibly turquoise water and palm tree so still you can hear the sound of the water rolling in on the white sand. When the temperature dropped to 25, that’s when I walked into my screensaver. Or so it seemed when I arrived in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos and stood on the beach at sunset in front of my hotel, The Ocean Club Resort.
Turks and Caicos is a British territory an hour and half flight south of Miami. Thought of by some as The Bahamas stepsister, Turks and Caicos is coming into its own as a tourist destination. The islands (an archipelago of forty, with only eight inhabited) are hot and dry, and surrounded with coral reef so abundant with sea life that TCI, as the old British crown colony is called, is one of the world’s top dive spots,. Dive or not, the thorny acacia trees, stunningly red bougainvillea and long stretches of white beaches are a balm for the winter soul. And so is The Ocean Club Resort.
Club Med is about a mile down the beach from Ocean Club, but let them keep their staccato of activities and strings of barter beads. I’ll take my homey suite, huge screened porch, ceiling fan and wicker chaise lounge where I relaxed and read old Oprah Magazines after a hard day alternating between hammock and beach chair. After all, I had to rest up for the next day of snorkeling in pristine waters and kayaking off the shore.
Providenciales has some wonderful, funky local restaurants such as Three Queens (reputed to have the best red beans and rice around) and Clover’s Sailing Paradise. Housed in a pastel little shack on the beach, this conch paradise is the project of Sam and Clover. Sam dives for conch in front of the restaurant and Clover, sometimes even running onto the beach with her pan, cooks up the conch. Their specialty is cracked conch, hammered until tender and then floured and fried. Sailing Paradise is also a hotspot for dominos aficionados. Get there early if you go on Saturday nights.
For something more elegant, I didn’t have to go far from my cozy home at Ocean Club. Gecko Grill, at the Ocean Club Resort, is considered by many to be the best restaurant in Providenciales. Gecko is famous for its conch recipes, the local culinary obsession, and is a favorite haunt of movie stars like Morgan Freeman and athletes like Redskins’ LaVar Arrington. Both Gecko Grill and its sister restaurant Cabana Café offer traditional and unusual conch recipes. One favorite is curried conch and considering the chef, Nicola Giordano is Italian from Montreal, Canada that makes the Caribbean/Indian dish even more of an oddity.