Hi there! Glad you could make it to our blog of Tropical Island Pictures of Turks and Caicos!

In October of this year I’ll be moving to the Turks and Caicos Islands whereas John is already there! I can’t wait to join him!

UPDATE: I’m on Island now…got here November 1st!

We’ll be adding Turks and Caicos pictures as well as our thoughts on being expats.

To make sure you don’t miss out on any new shots or thoughts, use these buttons to add the Tropical Island Pictures Blog to your favorite personalized home page, or your favorite RSS reader.

I absolutely love, love, love Sundays in the Turks and Caicos Islands! We started off the day with Rebecca and brunch by John, always yummy!

We then headed over to Heather’s place in Chalk Sound, close to Taylor Bay. Heather has created a beautiful, creative, serene space in which to do her art. Here’s the view.

Just incredible!

Then we played dominoes! Finally, I’m going to learn how to play. I really enjoyed it, still don’t quite get the strategy of playing certain tiles over others but that will come with time and practice. We’re going to start an all girl’s team and enter the competition next year if we get good enough!

Heather, John & Rebecca

It’s sometimes difficult to find people you’re compatible with here on Island. I’ve been very lucky. Heather and Rebecca are both incredibly amazing women and I’m enjoying getting to know them.

Hopefully there will be many more domino games to come!

Wow…can’t believe how fast the time is going here in Turks and Caicos. It’s been two months since I’ve posted anything here…yikes!

November 1st marked the 1st year anniversary of me moving from Montreal to the Islands. Hard to believe it’s been that long. John’s been here two years already!

We moved downstairs into the boathouse in November and are taking our time decorating it to our liking…well, actually John is doing the decorating which is just as well as he’s so good at it.

Here’s a photo of the sunrise this morning. It had just stopped raining…so beautiful!

Every morning there's usually a spectacular sunrise in Turks and Caicos

Although the view above is not the ocean I’m used to, it ain’t too shabby! It kind of reminds me of some of the places up North we used to rent. There are tons of birds here that are a joy to watch…especially when they land close and the dogs and Miss Kitty try to catch them.

Both Oscar and Shaka went into hunting mode when they saw this bird land!

You can barely see this bird as it’s color blends in with the branches behind it.

A regular visitor to the boathouse.

I really should get a book or look up bird species because I have no idea what types of birds these are. All I know is that I like them!

The animals have settled in nicely at the boathouse. We tried leaving Shaka and Miss Kitty upstairs where they belong but they would have none of it. I guess they just got used to being together with Oscar during the six months we were at the mansion and couldn’t bear to be apart. So we’ve inherited them!

Oscar and Miss Kitty are still best friends and Shaka normally just shakes his head at both of them when they get into their nonsense, play mode. Both Shaka and Miss Kitty are my constant companions while Oscar has become the keeper of the castle. He roams and protects the place from all sorts of unknowns.

My constant companions

I’ve begun referring to Miss Kitty as Killer which is a more apropo name for her. She decapitates her victims, turns them inside out, nibbles on them a bit and then leaves the rest of the body for John or I. We don’t know where she’s hiding the heads anymore…under Shaka’s pillow used to be her favorite place to leave them. She chewed up a rat the other night and left it in John’s room for him…John stepped on it getting out of bed…he was not impressed!

Miss Kitty aka Killer

I’m heading into Montreal on the 12th of January until the 16th. My niece Jennifer is getting married! Although I’m looking forward to getting off Island for a bit and am excited about the wedding, I am not looking forward to the cold! It went down to 25 celsius here last night and I slept with a comforter! I do believe I’ve become an Island girl.

I got up this morning just as the sun had almost completely risen…a little late for me, probably had something to do with the pitcher of mudslides I made and drank yesterday!

I think I have a bit of Island fever. It’s pretty quiet on Provo during September. Lots of things close and seems like most people take their vacations during this month.

Anyway, although I missed the sunrise…this beautiful Island treated me to a double rainbow without the rain!

Double Rainbow in Turks and Caicos

When I see stuff like this I get such an overwhelming feeling of awe and am struck by just how blessed I am! I still pinch myself almost everyday just to be sure it’s all real!

This just goes to show that old saying isn’t always true! You know the one that says to experience a rainbow you need to experience the rain, or something like that. Well, in Turks and Caicos…you can just live the rainbow part and that’s what it seems I’m doing!

I so look forward to every morning here in Turks and Caicos! The sunrise is one of my most favorite times of day. I often forget to take pictures of it as I’m so engrossed in watching night turn into day. It’s like seeing a tv slowly bringing a picture into focus.

Beautiful Sunrise in Turks and Caicos

The water becomes a reflecting pond in August and September. It’s really breathtaking! Miss Kitty loves watching the sunrise too…she follows me around and then climbs a tree to get a better look!

Miss Kitty Watching the Sunrise

I’m not a real cat person but Miss Kitty has stolen my heart! She’s got the personality of a dog and is Oscar’s best friend…she was down on the beach with him yesterday, playing in the sand!

And here she is catching me taking pictures of her…she’s already had her first snack (lizard) of the day…but is on the hunt for more!

Miss Kitty on the Prowl for Breakfast

The dogs really aren’t into watching the sunrise. They wait until it’s fully up before they start to move. Here are Oscar and Shaka down at the beach waiting on their buddy to show up.

Oscar and Shaka on the Beach

And here he/she is!

Oscar and Shaka's Buddy

The best part of waking up in Turks and Caicos is the gentle, caressing sound of the water. It is a slow waking that allows you to stretch and yawn and return to your body slowly as opposed to being jerked back into it by the harsh sounds of sirens, buses, car horns,etc.

Okay…the dogs are finished with their play-date so off to take them for their morning walk and then feed them their breakfast! It’s a beautiful day in the neigborhood. Hope everyone is having a great holiday weekend!

Since Hurricane Irene, we’ve had lots more fish on the shore of the beach…hence more pelicans. They look like a gang when they come flying in to eat in the morning.

Gang of Pelicans

I swear tonight’s sunset brought tears to my eyes. I feel so blessed to be able to experience this place and am still so in awe of its natural beauty.

Turks and Caicos Islands Sunset

Like Ron (my new BFF) said, “If you stop noticing the beauty of a place, it’s time to leave.” I don’t think I’ll ever stop appreciating the beauty that Turks and Caicos offers!

Wow…it’s been almost a month since I’ve posted. August has been busy…guests at the mansion, then I visited Montreal for 2 weeks…came back to Turks and Caicos, took a week to catch up on work since I didn’t bring my computer with me to Montreal.

Was just getting back on track to start taking pictures and posting again when Hurricane Irene came to visit! Whoa! My first Category 2/3 Hurricane. It was definitely impressive.

It’s interesting as you start off feeling excited…running around, putting things away, tying things up and trying to figure out the best place to be once the storm hits. As the wind picks up, you start to worry a little but you’re still feeling pretty much okay because you still have electricity and you can communicate via phone or facebook and put up great, silly  pictures like this one!

John clowning around at the beginning of Hurricane Irene

Once the power goes out and the trees look like they’re going to snap from the force of the wind and the noise of the hurricane grows so loud you can’t hear yourself think…you might feel a bit of tightness in your chest and just hope that it isn’t your time to go!

As the hurricane picks up and the eye passes close by…you feel you might lose your mind with the screeching, sleep is almost impossible. If you have everything closed up it becomes really claustrophobic.

I was extremely lucky in that my bedroom was pretty insulated and I was actually sitting outside on the balcony having a cigarette during the height of Irene.  It felt like I was in a different world out there…there was a cool breeze and a mist of rain that felt good and the noise level was tolerable.

I spent most of the hurricane there…when I did come up and opened the door to walk the short path to the house to get to the kitchen, I suddenly realised once again that we were living through a category 3 hurricane. It was surreal.

Once over, you emerge from your hiding place to survey the damage. We got off fairly easy. There were leaves and palm fronds down all over the place, the windows were filthy and there was a huge tree that came up from its roots to lay across the driveway so we couldn’t get out until the next day.

Here’s a video of the aftermath of Irene in Provo…the water she dropped was incredible!

All in all, my first hurricane was exciting, awe-inspiring, scary, mind-numbing and absolutely great because I lived through it!