Providenciales and Around

We leave home twenty-five minutes after midnight and never, in many years, had it happened to us to set off on a trip at such a strange time... Our destination will be, once again, the Caribbean and more precisely the island of Providenciales, known to friends as Provo: a strip of land of coral origin, 40 kilometres long and 5 wide, part of the archipelago, as well as of the independent state within the Commonwealth, of Turks and Caicos, located about 900 kilometres south-east of Miami and facing the northern coast of Santo Domingo. A quarter of an hour after setting off we enter the motorway at Faenza and at 1:00 we are in Bologna, but we will not take off from the Bologna airport, but rather from Milan Malpensa... So we continue through this starry spring night, with our eyes inevitably growing heavy.

Sabrina and Federico indeed give in to the temptation to sleep and luckily the radio is there to keep me company, while around 2:00 we cross the Po and half an hour later we are in sight of the Lombard capital. We drive along the entire western ring road and then, following the signs for the airport, we arrive at Parking Go, where we will leave the car for the next ten days, at 3:20 in the morning. A shuttle takes us to Terminal 1 and there we wait for the Air France desks to open... We are well ahead of time and have to wait almost two hours, but in the end we check the suitcases through directly to Providenciales, even though we will have to claim them in Miami, and we collect our tickets, booked, for the first time, as with the whole trip, not through an agency but online, on the Expedia website.

We go through the metal detector and sit down in front of gate number 5A until, having boarded the Air France Airbus A320, at 7:46, slightly late, we take off bound for Paris, identified as flight AF 2415. Having climbed a few thousand metres we fly over the Aosta Valley, with Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn clearly visible, but also the entire snowy Alpine arc... We then cross the curious geometries of the French countryside and, after passing over the vast urban sprawl of the capital, in which we also recognise several monuments, we land at Charles de Gaulle airport at 8:51. We move, without wasting time, from Terminal 2F to 2A and, having found the American Airlines desk, we immediately queue up for check-in...

Having thus once again passed the metal detector, without too many minutes to waste, we find ourselves boarded on flight AA 63: a large Boeing 767 that at 11:31, almost perfectly on time, lifts its wheels off the ground, tackling the Atlantic crossing that will take us to Miami, Florida. Shortly after departure they offer us a providential lunch, then I set the hands of my watch to the arrival time zone (six hours less)... and in the blink of an eye it is early morning again. Almost ten hours of flight is a lot, especially in broad daylight, but they pass without particular jolts and at 14:35 local time we glide gently onto the runway of the M.I.A. (Miami International Airport)... here we are then, a few months later, once again in the States, even if only in transit. We pass through customs without particular problems and then go to claim our luggage...

but an unpleasant surprise awaits us; indeed, one suitcase is missing, and we immediately begin mentally listing what it contained because we will inevitably have to do without it for some time, despite their assuring us it will arrive at our destination tomorrow... Let's hope so, but I have serious doubts about that! So, somewhat sullen, we look for the boarding gate for Providenciales and through gate 2E we board the American Airlines Boeing 737 which, a few minutes late, at 19:12, takes off for the Caribbean island... Flight AA 625 climbs above the clouds, while the sun inexorably sets. The journey, however, is short and at 20:22 we happily touch down at our longed-for destination. We collect our surviving suitcase, go to report the loss of the other, and then look for a taxi to take us to the hotel.

We are very tired and along the way we also come across a honking procession, led by two newlyweds, which makes us lose a bit of time, but in the end we arrive at the Comfort Suites Turks and Caicos, which will host us for the entire duration of the holiday... They immediately give us the keys to room number 167 and finally we can go and rest... with a thought for our poor lost suitcase...

The time zone change certainly cannot be said to have been digested, so we wake up quite early, though we stay lolling between the sheets. After breakfast, included in the room price, we leave the hotel with the intention of renting a car as soon as possible... Several companies are nearby, so we go to Avis, but we don't find the vehicle we were looking for... A short distance away the Hertz office has yet to open its doors, so we go to get information at Silver Deep (a local tour operator) about the possible excursions to do in the area. The lady at the desk is Italian, with origins even in our own city (what a small world!), so we have no trouble understanding what the programmes are... above all the fact that the main excursion we intended to do is today and then not again for 10/15 days. After a brief family consultation we obviously decide to take part...

and the departure is immediate: together with a small group of people we get on a coach that takes us near a tourist harbour. There we are kitted out with masks and fins and in no time at all we find ourselves aboard a small motorboat sailing towards Middle Caicos. As soon as we get out to sea a fleeting shower breaks out and, in perfect Caribbean style, a little later the sun shines again. We ride the waves of a splendid crystal-clear sea following the coastline of North Caicos, the third largest island of the archipelago, with its 116 square kilometres, inhabited by fewer than two thousand souls. We venture into a very blue lagoon, then into the narrow channel lined with mangroves that separates North from Middle (or Great) Caicos and we disembark on the latter...

It is a flat limestone island, 124 square kilometres in area, the largest of the Turks and Caicos, but it is almost deserted, with its mere three hundred inhabitants... and one of them has even come to pick us up, with a collective taxi, to take us, along the only road there is, as far as the Conch Bar Caves. In the central part of the island develops one of the largest cave systems of the entire Caribbean region, complete with stalactites, stalagmites and underground lagoons, so we don't miss the opportunity to visit it... Following, each with a torch in hand, in almost total darkness, a guide who enthusiastically illustrates the most varied geological curiosities to us.

Indeed, the place, a refuge for numerous bats, is also classified as a National Park, but as we expected, in the end it turns out to be nothing exceptional, especially compared with so many other European caves, not to mention Italian ones. We return to the sunlight when it is already past midday and, having got back into our taxi, we move for lunch, a few kilometres along the northern coast, to the wild Mujadin Beach... The beach, a long strip of light sand, stretches at the foot of a steep cliff, and is highly spectacular seen from above, lapped as it is by a sea bluer than ever, but today, unfortunately, it is windy and big waves crash on the shoreline, at the expense of the transparency of the water, which in some photos seen at home made the place look like an immense swimming pool.

We spend some time on that solitary stretch of sand, which despite everything has a particular charm, then, with full bellies, we first regain the road, then our boat... while I notice, with some dismay, that my only shoes (the others are in the lost suitcase) are falling apart. We retrace the entire sea route followed in the morning and stop for a swim and a bit of snorkelling off the coasts of North Caicos, where we observe some coral and several colourful fish... We then make another pleasant but short stop at a picture-postcard beach where we allow ourselves only a walk in search of some shells. Finally we land on Little Water Cay, also known as Iguana Island: an uninhabited coral island, today a protected area, where harmless large lizards live, with a truly archaic appearance, which, were it not for their size, would seem to have just come out of a scene from Jurassic Park.

After this last visit and after a clumsy wave that soaked us almost completely, we reach the end of the excursion... A nice excursion on the whole, which could however have been better if only we had had a bit more luck with the weather conditions. Back at the hotel, by now in the evening, we find out unfortunately, as we feared, that the suitcase has still not arrived... So we go up to the room to tidy ourselves up as best we can and then go out for dinner at a nearby place (Pizza Pizza), where we eat a good plate of pasta, and finally we rush to rest because the dreaded jet-lag has not yet let go of its grip.

We get up slowly and around 9:00 we are having our breakfast... We try to make everything seem normal, but my by now long beard says that something is abnormal, because the things needed to shave were, wouldn't you know it, in the other suitcase, the missing one. In the end we rent a car from Avis, or rather a self-propelled "little grinder": a Daihatsu Charade (registered TC7196) in a fine turquoise colour, which is a whole story in itself... With that we then set off along Leeward Highway, the main road of the island. We stop to do some shopping in a supermarket and then go to the beach at The Bight, in the westernmost part of the wide and scenic Grace Bay. We settle in the shade of some umbrellas, probably public, with pleasant soft white sand underfoot, a marvellous sea with undeniably Caribbean reflections before our eyes, and some buildings under construction behind us...

what a shame; at this rate the concrete will soon have invaded the whole bay. For now, in any case, we are the only bathers within a few hundred metres and we try to enjoy the place as much as possible, running straight into the water to have a first, idyllic, swim. At midday we have lunch with our Lucullan sandwiches and then devote ourselves to the most complete relaxation, trying to unwind as much as possible... And so practically the whole day

I battled all night between information desks and conveyor belts in search of missing suitcases... I get out of bed more tired than when I had lain down... But I do everything to hide it and at 8:00 sharp I give everyone a gentle wake-up call. We have breakfast and then set off with our Daihatsu, while the sky today isn't even as clear as we'd like it to be... Almost resigned, we stop to buy a few pieces of underwear, then continue toward the airport... We drive past it, glaring at it, and head to the southern part of the island, with the view stretching to the right over the ice-blue, almost unreal expanse of Chalk Sound lagoon, until we finally reach Sapphire Beach. The beach, though small in size, is enchanting, washed by shallow, crystal-clear waters, with sublime shades of color, thanks also to the sun that has finally come out.

We enjoy a long swim, even though being in the water is a bit difficult because the sea level is decidedly too low... but it's an inconvenience easily overcome and in no time at all it's almost noon. In the middle of the day the clouds regain the upper hand, with a few drops of rain on top of it, and before lunch, among rather tense faces, I leave Sabrina and Federico on the beach and, anticipating another flight arriving from Miami, I head back to the airport, hoping to return with good news... but I doubt it. I park the car in spectacular violation of no-parking rules and present myself once again at the American Airlines desk... As last night, they tell me to go and check directly at arrivals, but they explain themselves better... So I ask at customs if I can look for my suitcase...

The customs officer, a good quintal of a big woman, Mami-style, but in uniform, tells me to wait fifteen minutes... I wait in anxious anticipation, then I try again and they let me in... With great strides I reach the arrivals hall and there, among many other suitcases, I find ours again!... It certainly must have arrived today (I don't want to think otherwise, but the well-known Caribbean rhythms leave me some doubt about it) and it seems like a strange object: I'd only been without it for three days, but it feels like a lifetime... I pass through customs and they even make me open it, asking what's inside: just clothes, I tell them, because for some time now the only ones I have are the ones I'm wearing...

"Have a good day," they reply, and I walk out triumphantly! I arrive at the beach where Sabrina and Federico are and already from a distance, with broad gestures, I express my victory... So the skies clear, everything is more beautiful, and it's incredible how much the loss of a suitcase can affect a vacation... We have lunch at Sapphire Bay and then return to the hotel to deliver our trophy. We finally put on our sandals and go to the beach in the northern part of the magnificent Grace Bay, near Club Med... The sea unfortunately is a bit rough, but the sun has returned and its colors are astounding. We take a nice swim and it's evening too, among the chiaroscuro of the big clouds passing very quickly over our heads (these too are the Caribbean)... In a finally relaxed and vacation-like mood we linger so long on the shores of the ocean: it feels great and we even enjoy a fiery sunset.

The weather conditions then change suddenly in the evening and when we go out for dinner it's pouring rain... let's hope it blows itself out during the night and tomorrow the sun returns to shine high in the sky.

The sky is still gloomy when we get up, and while we have our classic start-of-day snack another violent downpour breaks out... so we have no choice but to wait for better times. We retreat to our room and while waiting we learn by phone, and with great regret, of the grandparents' early return from their trip to Turkey, due to a physical problem... apparently there are worse things than losing a suitcase! After less than an hour it stops raining and in the distance you can even see a few patches of clear sky... Meanwhile we go out and do the usual daily shopping, then head toward the northwestern tip of the island and reach the Conch Farm. The beautiful pink shell known as the "queen conch" was part of the local diet even before Christopher Columbus landed in the New World.

Today over forty million conchs are caught each year in the shallow waters of the Caribbean islands, and the Turks and Caicos sea produces about four million, but the harvest is declining because of unchecked fishing. The Conch Farm, opened in 1984, is the only conch farm in the world and its goal is to export a million mollusks a year, taking them from reserves that contain three million, in various stages of growth. While the sun also comes out, we take an interesting and original guided tour, starting from the nurseries and ending at the sea in front, where the conchs, after about ten years, complete their growth. Almost at noon, with the sky now clear, we leave the Conch Farm and go in search of a beach where we can spend the rest of the day.

We try, nearby, at Leeward, but the sea is rough and the beach is probably reduced to nothing by a storm surge, judging by the overturned umbrellas, so we decide to change beaches. We go to the central part of Grace Bay, near Point Grace... There the sea is truly wonderful and its reflections astounding, so we stop under yet another public umbrella... In the last few days this is already the third time we've taken advantage of these facilities, and on no other vacation had it happened that we could use such conveniences for free, so much so that I feel I should unconditionally compliment the administration of Providenciales. We take, needless to say, a nice swim, then we enjoy our daily Caribbean corner, while unfortunately big clouds gather on the horizon and not far away a storm even breaks out... Later it starts raining on us too, but not hard, so we hold our position...

The sun then reappears in mid-afternoon, giving us another beautiful glimpse of the day and in the end also a sublime sunset. At dusk we gather all our things and return to the Comfort Suites, then go out for dinner, to eat excellent fish, at a little restaurant nearby (the Caicos Café), concluding a day that started not exactly well, but ended splendidly.

We set off toward the northwestern part of the island, the least populated and also the least touristy... in fact, from a certain point onward, the road becomes unpaved, though in good condition. We follow the signs for Malcolm Beach, a bay about which I had some references, and armed with patience we reach it... but it's a bitter disappointment, with the sea decidedly rough and the beach, reduced to the bare minimum, almost nonexistent. So we backtrack for a long stretch and then venture, through low and thick vegetation, to North-West Point: there the sea is calm and beautiful, with the coral reef just offshore too, but the shoreline littered with seaweed doesn't really convince either Sabrina or Federico, so much so that we decide to definitively take the road back to Grace Bay.

Following the coastline we pass through Blue Hill, one of the three original settlements of Provo, and along the main road we observe some wooden houses, painted in the typical Caribbean shades, then we reach the beach in the southernmost part of Grace Bay, near the small harbor of Turtle Cove, where Smith's Reef is located, a significant coral bank situated just a few dozen meters from the water's edge. In the company of Federico I go exploring with mask and snorkel... We observe some beautiful fish and some interesting formations, then on the way back we decide to change beaches again because the place where we've temporarily camped is hit by a very annoying wind. We go to the same spot as yesterday, near Point Grace, but there too the atmosphere is rather disturbed and the sand flying copiously irritates Sabrina quite a bit.

We have lunch, given the time, and then we get moving again in search of a sheltered place... We end up at Sapphire Beach, in the southern part of Providenciales. There apparently the wind doesn't blow and it feels great... until, in the late afternoon, big clouds arrive in parade to irreparably ruin what's left of the day... but they will have partly ruined the American-style wedding that took place on the beach a few meters from us too. A bit annoyed, shortly before sunset we go to the hotel, go out for dinner at Pizza Pizza, whose manager is an Italian (from Genoa), with whom we exchange a few words, and then we retreat to our room, concluding a day not exactly lucky from a weather standpoint.

The sky is finally free of clouds when we get up. We have our usual breakfast and then head toward the south of the island to see Chalk Sound National Park, an immense expanse of shallow waters, blue and turquoise, dotted with green rocky islets. We follow the entire road that runs along the southwestern edge of the large inland lagoon, dotted with beautiful villas and with magnificent views over the surprising body of water, as far as the asphalt ribbon ends and where there is another bizarre pond, this time completely red, probably due to a microscopic algae that develops in the presence of high salt concentrations. On the way back we then search, on the open-sea side, for Taylor Beach and with difficulty we manage to find the access to the beach, hidden among numerous private properties, but in the end we figure it out.

The bay, all of the whitest and softest sand, is completely invaded by a thin veil of water with crystalline reflections... undoubtedly a beautiful sight... a bit less beautiful, paradoxically, is swimming in it since getting immersed is rather difficult... Not as difficult, however, as accepting the usual, most hateful, party-pooper big clouds that already before noon begin to gather inexorably! We stay at Taylor Bay until early afternoon amid countless chiaroscuro effects due to the alternation of sun and shade, until the latter definitively gains the upper hand and the accumulation of clouds is such that there's really no escape... So we gather all our things and race toward Grace Bay, as far as possible from the unpleasant build-up of water vapor, all the way to Club Med, in the northern part... There there's still a bit of sun and we spend a decent hour or so, then...

we start fighting with the clouds again... what bad luck! A few drops of rain even fall, but undeterred we flex our muscles and stay on the beach... until sunset, when the sun briefly reappears on the horizon, beyond the hateful cloud mass, only to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean. We return to the Comfort Suites with the long shadows of evening and for dinner we go to Calico Jack's, so I can savor the delicious Conch once again, then we retreat to our room, also because in Providenciales they don't even know what nightlife is.

Today it's a week since we left, but it's also the last full day we'll spend on the island of Providenciales... and it doesn't start in the best way, because in the sky a thin haze obstructs the warm rays of the sun (... but what a surprise!?). We go for breakfast and then grocery shopping at the supermarket, then we go to see one of the few areas of Provo still unknown to us: the eastern one, where Long Bay is located. In this part of the island there are no paved roads, but Hollywood-style villas are not lacking, and the signs to get to the beach are practically nonexistent... In the end, struggling a bit, we find the access to the sea even though, as expected, the shoreline turns out to be particularly exposed to the fury of Aeolus and the waves, which crash with great persistence on the shore, make a stop at Long Bay essentially impossible.

We head back toward Grace Bay while a timid sun peeks out and we arrive at Point Grace where we stop for about an hour, because repeated and annoying gusts of wind force us to change area again. Staying in Grace Bay we go further north, to Club Med... There the gusts are less strong and we camp out, while the sky opens up and... hallelujah!... the sun comes out powerfully! As the hours pass the day then gets better and better, even though a more than sustained breeze continues to blow and the sea shows no sign of diminishing its wave motion... Anyway, meteorologically speaking it becomes the best afternoon of the entire vacation... So we can stay on the beach for a long time... Until the last, fiery, sunset and with another wedding that, in the meantime, took place romantically a few meters from us.

With darkness now about to overpower the light we return to the Comfort Suites and later we go to dinner, to Federico's delight, with a nice pizza... at Pizza Pizza, then we go back to pack our bags in anticipation of the imminent departure.

It's the day of the return to Italy... we put on long pants and closed shoes, settle the hotel bill, load all the luggage onto our "jalopy" and set off toward the airport. I leave Sabrina and Federico with the suitcases in front of the departures door and go to return the rental car, with which on the island of Providenciales we drove 333 kilometers. Driven back to the airport by an Avis employee, I rejoin the rest of the family and together we tackle check-in... We say goodbye to our things, which we hope to see again in Milan, and then, after passing a futile metal detector, we wait for flight AA1080 to New York. The waits are rather long and we have to be quite patient, but in the end we board the American Airlines Boeing 757, which almost perfectly on time, at 11:40, lifts off the runway heading for the American metropolis.

Below us scrolls the Turks and Caicos archipelago, including of course Providenciales, then we cross the open sea and after less than three hours, at 14:32, we touch down at JFK in New York. We go through US customs once again, this time we collect both suitcases and immediately check them in for Milan... We pass the last checks without problems and once at gate number 39 we relax a bit with a well-earned snack. Punctually we board flight AA198, but due to some excess passengers we depart about an hour late... and the American Airlines Boeing 767 takes off a few moments before 19:00, while outside the window, through the thick haze, the skyscrapers of Manhattan can be glimpsed... Bye America, bye New York... see you soon, maybe very soon! We climb above the clouds and once the route is stabilized I set my watch hands to the Italian time zone and in an instant it's...

We race toward the Atlantic night... We have dinner and then breakfast within a few hours, while dawn breaks over the old continent... Then we begin our descent toward Malpensa, where we land at 8:52. We collect (unbelievable but true!) all the luggage, including the beach umbrella, sent more as a bet than anything else. We call the Parking Go shuttle and shortly after 10:00 we're on our way home. We take the western ring road of Milan, then the A1 south, so around noon we're in Reggio Emilia and half an hour later in Bologna... Everything goes smoothly and at 13:00 we exit the highway at Faenza to be at 13:10 in front of our home gate. Another pearl of the Caribbean can thus be considered conquered, even though we were short on sun and consequently had to endure too many clouds and too much wind...

but above all we missed Grace Bay with a flat sea, not to mention a bit more serenity in the early days, because of the missing suitcase... All in all, a nice vacation, but not one of the luckiest I can remember.