Turks & Caicos

If you've never been to the Caribbean, you are missing out. Turks & Caicos is beautiful and I recommend for everyone to visit. However, do NOT forget your bug spray. This wonderful island has a tiny mosquito problem. It was recommended to me via a pamphlet to purchase bug spray. But, my wonderful boyfriend told me "Nah, we don't need it." I am still counting, but, I have over 30 bites on my legs. He knew he was in trouble.

Here is Tom - sailing on the first day.

Anyway, back to the island. We spent most of our time on the beach. Tom went sailing one day and then the other day we went snorkeling. I have no idea how I got talked into that one....I guess technically I volunteered to go with him, but, that's neither here nor there. I ended up going. I went INTO THE WATER, people. Can you freaking believe it? We were in a glass bottom boat and we drove over the reef prior to snorkeling so I got to see what was in the water prior to diving in. It looked safe. I did pretty well, but, I had one minor freak out. I couldn't see outside my peripheral view and I started thinking for a second about a shark coming up from behind me and I had a minor panic attack. But, I pulled it together and kept swimming around. We also did some conch diving. Let me define conch diving for you: Conch, pronounced "conk", is a seafood-thingy in a shell. Like that definition? Anyway, we dove down to the bottom and picked up a bunch shells with conch to eat at a later time. Here are some photos of our snorkeling and diving:

We made a quick stop on our snorkeling tour to Leeward Island also called "Iguana Island", one of the many uninhabited islands in the Turks & Caicos. Look at this freaking iguana! It was at least five feet long!!! I may be lying about that.

My awesome diving!

Tom's diving skills

Can you tell that I am EXTREMELY excited to be out of the water?

The conch shells that our group got out of the ocean.

Tom trying the conch RIGHT OUT OF THE OCEAN...I tried it, too.

My conch salad (conch is the white stuff and the rest is pico de gallo-ish)

If you look closely, there is a dark spot in the water - it's a STING RAY!!!

I didn't get back into the water after we saw that.

Here are some other random photos:

Beautiful sunset

I do not know how to apply sunscreen, apparently.

Beautiful beaches everywhere

Me and Tom...watching the sunset and enjoying tasty beverages

Extremely clear water - we could see the ocean floor at 15 feet deep!

We went to dinner at another hotel and then went and did a little gambling. We did great the first hour and then went home losers. :(

Us - playing on the beach.

Here's the view from our hotel room. We had an ocean view - um, where is the ocean? Look way way way way way far out there.

It was a fantastic place and I can't wait to go back.