AMPHIBIOUS ADVENTURES

Kim and I spent last weekend on East Caicos exploring the caves and cutting back the trail. It's been a while since we've used that particular trail and it had overgrown considerably.  The bush can be particularly thorny inland on East and it was necessary to wear full length clothing and gloves. The mosquitos were not too bad during the day but it was hot and hard going. The cool water in the last cave along the trail was certainly a welcome relief and the visibility was as clear as ever.

We saw a fantastic array of birdlife along the way including a solitary flamingo, numerous egrets, three owls and a very talkative blue-grey gnatcatcher. On the beach was loud Cuban crow and along the Middle Caicos coast a troop of tropic birds must have recently migrated in to mate and nest. We found a large snake skin near on the trail and then a defensive rainbow boa on the beach guarding its hole or maybe a meal.

That night we camped on Joe Grant’s Cay and cooked on an open fire. The stars were incredible but despite the constant breeze the mosquitos drove us inside the tent for the majority of the evening. We ventured down the north coast of East Caicos the following day and caught sight of Reynolds old sisal and cattle ranch for the first time. It’s a short way into the bush and worthy of exploration another time.

The solitude and beauty of this part of the Turks and Caicos are intoxicating. Stay away developers; some places should remain scared and are best experienced in their natural state. No need for pools and balconies here.

April 2010; we're back fresh from our trekking adventures in the Andes and keen to put our earth boots back on. A long weekend on North and Middle Caicos was just what was called for and we had a number of trails we wanted to explore again and prepare for a summer season of hiking.

Many of the old trails are overgrown so dressed in long pants and shirts, and with machetes in hand we hit the dry tropical forests on the western side of North Caicos. It's such a unique part of the island and one of the few areas where the old forests still exist and you can actually walk under the trees not through them!!

We followed this up the next day with some bush walking near Lorimers on Middle and a fabulous walk along the beaches near Haulover Plantation. What a culturally rich part of the Caicos Islands and one rarely visited by day trippers.

For good measure we finished our weekend with a circuit on the Crossing Place Trail before heading back to Provo on the last ferry. It's a good hard walk across sand and rock but nothing a plate or two of Danny's 'conch and grits' can't prepare you for. If you're interested in hiking in the TCI give us a call.  We're keen to find a posse of regular hikers and hiking the Crossing Place Trail is the perfect warm-up.