Things to do with kids – a Must Read Interview with my two Island Boys

Many of our callers and guests ask about what’s it really like to live with with a family on an island with a population of 32,000.

Common questions I get all the time:

• What do you guys do there?
• Where do the kids go to school? Is there university?
• Do you enjoy living there?
• What types of things do the kids like to do there?

I always enjoy telling them about what it’s really like to raise a family here. There’s lots of info out there on the web for reading and getting a mental picture of it all, but thought I’d do a blog about what it’s like for my own family, and in particular … how my two boys like living on the island.

So … this one’s for you kids out there who are coming on vacation here and wondering what FUN things there are to do in Turks and Caicos!

 

Interview with Naryan (11) and Vijay (9) – written in first person ‘by them’ – a list of their most FUN Things for KIDS to do here in Turks and Caicos

Q: WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU GO TO THE BEACH:

1. find an empty part of the beach where no one else is around and kick the soccer ball around to each other, throw a rugby ball around, or throw a Frisbee around – always fun to dive in the water in between and after playing too
2. take our boogie boards and ride in with the surf, or just float out; or use them as skim boards i.e. run up really fast at the shore and jump on with our knees and slide on the edge of the water
3. build sand-castles that connect through tunnels
4. love when Dad brings the mini BBQ grill and grill up some yummy burgers and hot dogs
5. if going to the beach in front of Coral Gardens reef – take our snorkel stuff and go looking for the turtles eating the turtle grass and follow them around; also watch out for stingrays or listen to the parrot fish chomp on the coral

Q: WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO DO ON THE WATER?

1. we love to go Stand Up Paddle boarding up and down Grace Bay beach (falling off is fun!), going tubing at the back of the boat with our friends, renting kayaks at Big Blue and heading over to the mangroves to look for cool fish and baby lemon sharks; stopping off on some sections around the point to look for iguanas. We also tried surfing with REAL surfboards and OMG that was so super cool!
2. when we go out with all our friends on the Atabeyra it’s always a lot of fun, packing some snacks and drinks in the cooler and heading out sailing to Little Water Cay and all the other little cays around, and stopping at our favorite deserted beach to hang out, walk around and explore, play in the surf, and jump off the boat (over and over and over); oh and sometimes we stop at Pine Cay, it’s so cool to walk inland to see the old abandoned airport and runway there; once we sailed by this abandoned ship in the water that got stuck during a hurricane, we all climbed up the ropes on the side and jumped off – scary yet fun – this is definitely our version of Disney – weeeeeeeeeeee
3. the Undersea Explorer is always a good time too; we always sit close to the front and love seeing the turtles, rays, fish, and occasional shark swim past
4. hanging out at Long Bay beach for relaxing and taking long walks on a Sunday, but also to watch the many kite surfers do tricks and jumps in the water

Q: DO YOU LIKE GOING TO THE FAMILY ISLANDS?

Oh yes, we love going away to any and all of the family islands including North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos, Grand Turk and Salt Cay, but our favorites are:

First, we need to mention that one of the highlights of these trips is actually getting there, TCI Ferry for North/Middle and South Caicos, and InterCaribbean Airways or

Caicos Express Airways to Grand Turk or Salt Cay.

Our favorite Kids Things to Do In Middle Caicos:
After checking out a few spots in North Caicos including our fav place by the Bottle Creek high school to stop and buy a few pies that the schoolkids buy every day, we head straight to Mudjin Harbour – we LOVE it there, just love to run the empty beach, play and swim in the water, and wade over to Dragon Cay and explore the little dips and coves, and to dodge the spray as the waves hit the rock. Oh, and each time we go, we always race up the small hill to see the ‘Hands of GOD’ statue, then down the secret staircase to get to the deserted/hidden beach. By this time, we’re hungry and want to have conch fritters down by Conch Bar at Daniel’s Cafe, hang with Devon for a bit, and checkout the cool handicrafts at the Middle Caicos co-op hut. After all this, jump in the car again, and head to the caves for a while to see the fruit bats, and the bat droppings everywhere – it’s spooooky in there!

Our favorite Kids Things to Do In Grand Turk:
First thing we think about when we think of Grand Turk is how strange it is to see wild horses and donkeys everywhere when driving around. Well it is strange, but also kind of cool at the same time. Some of things we like doing when we go to Grand Turk include walking around the cruise terminal and reading the signs about when the first astronaut that orbited the earth landed right here in Turks & Caicos! Other things we remember and like doing when we go include going to see the lighthouse, spending time at the national museum, and of course having a great lunch and desert at Sandbar Restaurant right on the beach.

Our favorite Kids Things to Do In Salt Cay:
Definitely Whale watching in Salt Cay is our funnest thing to do there! It’s awesome to see them breach out of the water. We also LOVE having lunch at Porter’s Island Thyme Restaurant – the parrot and Mr. Porter himself are both totally hilarious! Oh, and the food is really good too. We really liked the upstairs lounge area of the restaurant, got to feed the turtles and hang out up there for a while to overlook some of the island.

Q: HOW ABOUT RESTAURANTS, WHICH ONES ARE YOUR FAVS AND WHY?

• Mango Reef – kids menu, desert menu, get to play on the beach if we go during the day
• Hemmingways – amazing pancakes with unlimited syrup for breakfast, the best milkshakes ever, get to play on the beach or pool if we go during the day
• Bugaloo’s – yummy food, like watching the dudes bring the conch straight out from the ocean and knock them out; coconut crack conch; get to play on the beach if we go during the day
• Yoshi’s – yummy (and different) food; like to eat with chopsticks, love the soup, get to go over to Potcake Place to see the puppies if we go during the day
• Big Al’s Island Burgers – c’mon … who doesn’t like great burgers with lots of french fries and milk shakes! Get to go over to Potcake Place to see the puppies if we go during the day
• Fresh Catch – Island Bites – yummy (spicy, local island) food, toe tappin’ island music, and get to see Jenardo play his sax! Get to go over to Potcake Place to see the puppies if we go during the day
• Patty Place – best Jamaican patties and amazing Ice Cream!
• Shark Bite – shooting pool after dinner – oh ya

Q: OK, WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT THE BEACH OR ON THE WATER

Definitely Sports – soccer at the (grass, turf, beach) pitch behind the IGA Grocery Store, indoor hockey, sailing with the Picos and Hobie Cats with the Provo Sailing Club.

But here’s some other stuff us kids like to do here:

1. Biking around the neighborhood with friends and hang at each others house, playing video games, soccer, and taking the fishing rods out to catch fish by the canal in Leeward
2. National Environment Center – some really cool stuff to see about birds, plants, flowers, animals, sea life of the Turks and Caicos Islands
3. Going for ice cream at Island Scoop, Giggles and Patty Place
4. Going to Beaches All Inclusive Resort for the day
5. Going to Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay for the day to walk far out in the very shallow water; and going on the jet skis; also to climb the hill there to see the pirates’ carvings
6. Renting a golf cart at Provo Golf Course and hitting balls at the driving range

Q: HOW ABOUT SCHOOL IN TURKS AND CAICOS, DO YOU LIKE IT?

NO! Are you kidding? Well, actually yes, we really like going to The Ashcroft School – all of our friends (from all over the world) are there – and we especially enjoyed writing the blog for the school website about our inter-school soccer tournament

Q: WHICH ISLAND FESTIVALS & EVENTS DO YOU LIKE TO GO TO?

1. Conch Festival because of the bands that play there on the beach, the music and fun atmosphere, the tasting of all of the conch dishes (including Conch in a blanket), and the location on the beach in Blue Hills; alse love David Bowen as the host of the event and all the contests like best conch horn blower, fastest conch knockers, etc
2. Kite Flying at Easter – fun day out on the beach flying kites – there are some massive kites you can see!
3. Eco Sea Swim – hanging out on the beach onlooking at the racers and even kids participating in the kids race for the conch event
4. Valentines Day Cup in Middle Caicos – sailing the model boats and walking across Bambarra beach to the cay in the distance
5. Caicos Dream Tours because you can snorkel the barrier reef and dive for your own conch
6. Mini golf. At Fun World.

Well, there you have it, direct from island kids themselves (no editing by parents here).

Enjoy!