A new year in the Caribbean! 2013 started out great for me, I landed back in Providenciales on Dec 31st, just in time to go out celebrating with some friends. We started out at Somewhere, a great cafe on the beach and then went to Flamingos for fireworks and a bonfire. Everyone was out celebrating and it was great fun. It was an interesting holiday for me, Christmas on the ski hill and New Years on a beach!
But then it was time to get back to work, we've been slowly getting busier and busier here on Provo. Despite doing almost no calls during the previous two months night shifts, now we were getting a couple calls a night. Always at about three am. Thats the worst time, really breaks up your sleep!
Nothing too exciting happened during January, life moved along as normal. But if February I got to take a great little vacation with some friends. We went to the island of Salt Cay for a couple nights. Now Salt Cay is to the east side of the TCI chain of islands, a little bit south of Grand Turk. It took 25 minutes to fly there in a little eight seater plane - my first time in a plane that small! I was nervous but it was great, with lots to take pictures of as we flew along the islands.
We arrived on Salt Cay Saturday morning, and were met at the airport and got a golf cart ride to where we were staying. The island is so small, that there are only a few cars. Most people just use carts or bikes! Salt Cay is only about 2.5 square miles with a year round population of less the 100 people!
Saturday was just about perfect! It was sunny and flat calm, no wind which made the temperature gorgeous and hot! After a lunch and some beach lounging we went out in the afternoon on a whale watching excursion. Salt Cay is one of the ideal places for it as the humpbacked whales pass it when the head to and from the summer breeding grounds around Silver Bank. It was a bit early in the season, but we were lucky and found a mother and calf in the area. The calf was very playful, leaping and breaching for us, and when they got used to the boat floating near by we were allowed to slip in the water with them and snorkel. The water was clear to about 60ft so the visibility was fantastic.
Our guide is actually a marine biologist who is living on Salt Cay to study the whales and their behaviours, which includes how the react to having humans around. I was just thrilled to be able to be near such amazing creatures, though Mama was a bit skittish. She didn't seem to want to stick to close when we where in the water, but never went too far from the boat so we were able to watch them all afternoon. I think I took about 500 pictures. Had to sort out between whale shots and just water. I did manage to get three or four incredible pictures of mama and the calf together.
We had dinner at the Coral Reef Cafe, then had a few drinks under the stars. I love being able to sit out and stare are the stars when you are outside of the city. They just go on forever.
Sunday was my dive day. One of my friends and I went out. The wind had picked up and it was a bit rough on the water, but its always nice under the surface. Our first dive site was nothing special. It was a pretty place along the wall. We did get to see the most laid back turtle, this guy did not care at all when everyone swam up to him with the cameras. I did have a little frustration with one of the dive guides. They knew that I was a fairly new diver and tried to baby me along, even encouraging me to surface after only half an hour. I'm paying a lot of money for this dive and I wasn't going to surface early! In the end I was one of the last ones up and still had 1000psi in my tank!
We went back to the shore for our surface interval, and I mentioned my issue to the guide, so my next dive was more relaxed. And easily the most beautiful place I've see yet. It was this massive coral garden, and as you are swimming along you suddenly appear at the edge of the wall and its just breathtaking! I love swimming off the wall, feels like jumping off a cliff when everything drops away and you are soaring!
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