Tropical Island Pictures

Archive for the ‘This & That’ Category

I’ve never seen a live pink flamingo before so it’s been pretty amazing watching these incredible birds as they begin to populate flamingo lake…I have a bird’s eye view, so to speak ;o)

Pink Flamingos on Flamingo Lake in Turks and Caicos

This is Simba’s first time seeing pink flamingos as well! He is having a grand old time stalking them. He is very patient and follows them slowly but they know he’s there and are ready to take off once he decides to bound through the water to reach them.

Simba and the Flamingos

Not the best of shots as I had to zoom in way too much…hoping to get me a good camera with a decent zoom lens as soon as I can!

These guys/gals are pink because that is the color of the shrimp they are ingesting. They might end up orange if the shrimp are orange…so maybe the next time I get a picture of them I’ll have to title the post Orange Flamingos!

I hear the lake fills up with tons of flamingos by August so I’ll have to come back to these parts to grab a picture of that!

OMG! Okay I never use that term but OMG! What a party at Lemon Cafe! It was wild, high energy, dance the night away fun!

We ended up getting home at 6:30 in the morning…yikes! It’s going to take a day or two to recover but it was oh, so worth it!

John put on a fantastic fire show with Arabellis…check it out. The picture quality is not that great but you’ll get the general idea.

Arabellis hanging off of John's waist as he spins fire

They were great! Brave girl doing a handstand!

I didn’t get too many pictures as I was enjoying myself so much…but here’s one of the crowd and one of folks dancing on the bar!

A full house!

Oh Yeah! The guys were enjoying the show!

There were a few guys wearing kilts who got up on the bar and danced as well!

The girls were enjoying the show too!

Quicksound was awesome! They rocked the house all night long! Everyone was dancing and grooving and laughing and just totally enjoying themselves and the amazing energy running through Lemon Cafe.

Around 4 in the morning John pushed his way through to the back of the restaurant and gave an amazing fire show wearing his burning man flower pants and cowboy hat! Woohoo! It was hot!

John entertaining the crowd!

It was a night to remember!

Got a gig to housesit for a friend until Sunday! Loving it so much right now! It’s an absolutely gorgeous place that makes you feel like you’re living outdoors. All open and airy and the energy is so peaceful and positive that after you’ve been here awhile you feel like you’re floating on air.

I’m having trouble working because this is what I see when I glance out from the desk I’m at:

View from the desk where I'm TRYING to work

Might have to turn myself around so that I’m not tempted to just spend the whole day in the pool and napping in the sun.

Here’s a view from the outside looking in from the big deck chair I lay in pretty much all day yesterday.

So pretty

Here are a few shots of different views from the pool deck.

View on the right

View to the Left

View in the Middle

I feel like Queen of the Manor…looking down at the village from my vantage point on top of the mountain! It’s great!

Here’s a couple of pictures of the sunset I got to enjoy last night.

Another beautiful Turks and Caicos Sunset

Close up of the Sunset

The beauty of Turks and Caicos still astounds me and the generosity of it’s inhabitants does too. Not only am I lucky enough to be staying in this amazing space but I get to share it with some incredible canine beings. There’s Jazz, Bo, Binah and WD.

Jazz and Bo are Great Danes. Jazz is the boss, she’s sooo beautiful and regal. Bo makes me smile…he’s kinda goofy and independent. Jazz and I bonded right away but Bo took a day to suss me out before he decided I was okay. He let me know he liked me by sitting on my lap…yikes! We had a cuddle and then he just meandered off to find a comfy spot on the couch opposite me.

That's Jazz on the left and Bo on the right

Binah is a potcake. She is so incredibly sweet and just melts into you when you give her some loving. Her eyes are warm and deep and hypnotic.

Binah the potcake

WD (stands for White Dog) is a visitor. She wanders in for breakfast and dinner and is very skittish. She won’t let me pet her at all but this morning she did come close enough to sniff my hand when I held it out to her.

Jazz and WD

Here’s Binah loving on Bo while he sits in some sort of yoga position. I love when he does this, it makes me laugh out loud!

Bo getting ready to meditate?

Once these dogs know you they’re gentle and sweet but I wouldn’t approach them if I hadn’t been introduced. They definitely guard their home well! It’s impressive to see them charge the gate when they hear someone coming. I feel very lucky that they seem to consider me a part of their pack! Okay, off to do a little bit more work and then a dip in the pool!

I’m loving my bike! Finally got it after it was held up in customs for a month. It’s a 3 speed with foot brakes.

I’ve been leery of handbrakes ever since one of John’s came loose, got caught in the spokes of the front wheel and I saw him do a swan dive over the handlebars onto the pavement! That was over 30 years ago but it’s stuck with me.

Rode for a half hour this morning and it felt so good. Have to build up the strength in my left knee before I try longer rides but it shouldn’t take long if I ride every day for at least half an hour.

Here she is!

My Bike - No Name Yet

Now I need a name for her. If you have any suggestions…leave a comment, I’ll consider anything!

Yesterday was a a great day! We booked ourselves onto the Atabeyra gloworm cruise. It was way cool. We set sail at 4:45, Andrew and I drank us lots of rum punch…good stuff…then we watched a beautiful sunset.

Beautiful sunset on my favorite boat!

Sunsets are always incredible when seen from aboard the Atabeyra

Half an hour after the sun went down the  glow worms commenced their bioluminescence mating ritual. Flashes of green light lit up the waters surrounding us as the glow worms collided. It was pretty darn amazing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture any photos of the glow worms.

Here’s Andrew and Yia-Yia just hanging out eating nachos and salsa. Yia-Yia was pretty impressed with the boat ride and the glow worms!

Yia-Yia and Andrew just chillin'

We encountered a beautiful speed boat called the Wazz Up on our travels, it already looked crowded but was going to pick up more people on the shore…yikes! Made some waves that rocked the Atabeyra as it zoomed by us!

Wazz Up?!?

We headed over to The Vix to eat a late supper. If you get a chance you need to go to this Turks and Caicos restaurant on Sunday as they have traditonal Sunday Roast day. I had the roasted beef with Yorkshire pudding…it was delicious!

John and his Mom at Vix Restaurant

All in all, a pretty great day here in Turks and Caicos!

I love my coffee…I’m not a coffee connoisseur by any means. I like Tim Horton’s…yeah, I know kinda sad, huh. I don’t drink cappucino’s on a daily basis but really crave them every once in awhile…like last night.

The problem with cappucino’s in Turks and Caicos is that every place I’ve had them seems to burn the milk. They just can’t seem to get the foam right. Graceway IGA is not bad…but the taste just isn’t there.

The only cappucino on Island that I look forward to having is made by John at Lemon Cafe. It’s perfection! He really knows how to make ‘em! He should though as he made cappucino’s on a daily basis for years at the restaurant he used to manage in Montreal.

Cappucino & Lemon Tart at Lemon Cafe...Yum!

Not a great shot but look at the foam, light and fluffy! One of Lemon Cafe’s cappucino’s and a lemon tart, mmmmmm…just so good!

Sunrise from the Front Deck

Just thought I’d throw a picture of the sunrise from our front deck in here. Wish I had a view without all the wires but I still look forward to watching the sun come up every morning.  Okay, off I go…time to make the coffee