Our Vacation to the Turks and Caicos Islands

About a month and a half ago I got the idea that I really wanted to surprise Scotty with a vacation for the two of us for Valentines day! Scotty’s most ideal vacation is just chilling on the beach somewhere with no agenda, work, or obligations. Our last beach vacation was on our honeymoon to the DR almost 4 years ago so I decided it was time we had another beach vaca! Our last trip together was last year in the spring when we went to Europe (whoops…do I still need to do a blog post about this? I’ll try to get to it soon okay? Ha). While it was the best time of our lives it wasn’t exactly relaxing considering we were traveling from place to place every other day for a month! We needed something we could do together that was relaxing and away from the wear and tear that comes from everyday life and that’s exactly what we got! It’s not often that I am spoiled and get Scotty all to myself but for this week it was just the two of us and it was the best!

For Valentines Day, we have a fun day that Scotty plans for me and another fun day that I plan for Scotty (why should the girl be the only one that gets spoiled?!!). For Scotty’s fun day we went go-karting (scary!), out for burgers, and to see a movie of his choosing. I really wanted to get a special gift for him this year that he would not be expecting at all! So I secretly raised and set aside money that I had made and planned out a whole beach vacation for the two of us to take. And boy was he surprised! There was a week in March that the both of us just happened to have nothing going on, which is pretty rare so even though it was short notice we booked it right away!

I ended up deciding on The Turks and Caicos Islands because I was vaguely familiar with it from hearing about it from others and I found SUPER cheap tickets so it was kind of a no-brainer! What attracted me to these islands was the fact that although one of the islands (providenciales) is a huge tourist spot with tons of resorts, the other islands are super remote and secluded. In fact there are only a total of 200 people living there, 2 hotels, a few grocery stores, and only a dozen restaurants! You also have to take a boat to the North and Middle Caicos so most people just take day trips to see it’s beauty or don’t take the time at all which meant very limited tourists! When planning I was searching for the most secluded beaches possible and the places filled with locals and that is when I stumbled upon North Caicos!

Turks and Caicos is also owned by the UK so they spoke english and they used American dollars so it made traveling really easy! These islands are located above the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean so the island was mixed with the most interesting European/Hispanic mix!

We stayed at an Airbnb in North Caicos for the week that was right next to their local grocery store and 5 mins from the beach. We went to Horsestable beach every day and we literally had the ENTIRE beach to ourselves EVERY time we went! We could walk for miles and see no-one (though we did get visited by two very playful dolphins while swimming! So yep, we swam with wild dolphins! It. Was. Amazing.)

There were so many different beaches and exploring to do in North and Middle Caicos that we got to relax and sit on the beach for hours while we also got to explore a ton! And get this, there were hardly any people at any of the places we went to! It was the best of both worlds and just the right amount to relaxation, seclusion, and adventure mixed with getting to interact with the locals which made it the most perfect vacation!

This post is a huge mix of photos I took with my nice camera and a ton of iPhone photos as well! I mixed them together by location! Enjoy!

The first day we went to Mudjin Harbor and had the whole place all to ourselves to explore! That day there were 30mph winds so standing on the cliffs was pretty scary but we loved listening to the sound of the waves crash against the rocks!

We found a cave that led to this secluded beach front! It was a dark climb down but went to a super cool place!

Horsestable beach was the beach that was only 5 mins from us so we went multiple times a day! When we first got there it was cloudy and dark but our last few days the sun came out and the sky turned a beautiful shade of blue!

The first evening we got in the first thing we did was run to swim in the ocean and little did we know that we would be greeted by wild dolphins! They were adorable and playful and would swim around us in circles! Since it was our first time we didn’t bring any of our underwater camera gear with us because we were anxious to just jump in so we only got photos from the dock after we got out of the ocean. It will be a memory we will NEVER forget!!

There was also the most adorable little beach garden that had paths to walk through!

Three Mary Cays was probably the hardest place to find because it was at the end of a very rocky dirt road (that didn’t even look drivable) that went for miles so we passed by it the first time. The 1st day we went was cloudy and super windy so we just jumped/dived into the biggest waves. It was actually pretty scary but we laughed all the way through!

We came back when the sun came out and once again the sky turned a beautiful shade of blue!

A random beach we found while driving! Again, no one around!

The Barracuda Beach Bar and Grill at the Pelican Beach Hotel where I finally got my favorite drink straight from a coconut! We also had an amazing meal here while looking out to the beach!

The sweetest ladies made this amazing homemade ice cream! It was also only around the corner from our beach so we got it quite often! My favorite flavors were chocolate and toasted coconut!

The Ferry that took us to North Caicos

We discovered the Bottle Creek Lagoon on our last evening and it was super cool! The water was super shallow and there were sand islands that you could walk to in the middle of the ocean! We also had inflatables that we rode on in the shallow water and were moved by the gentle breeze. It was like a lazy river but in the ocean!

Also while we were here dark clouds started to roll in but we decided to still stay in the shallow water. It rained for a few minutes but them right in front of us a rainbow appeared so we just stayed there, in the rain, in the middle of the ocean, enjoying the most beautiful evening that we would have missed if we would have left! It was a super cool experience!