The amazing smell of good coffee....

Yes, it has been a long time. 

In 2014 I spent very little time on my dear Grand Turk but this year I am making up for it! We already came three times since the end of January, and found some interesting new things in town.

One that I specially loved, it is the Coral Café. I so needed a café while I was living in Grand Turk full time ! but now is finally here.

Open from 6.30 AM to 2.30 PM, located in the atrium of the Osprey Beach Hotel, by Blue Water Divers, the Coral Café has a tempting selection of beverages from teas & coffees to sodas. I particularly like the lattes and the possibility of choosing between regular milk or veggie milks like soy and almond.

Yummy breakfast (eggs, omelettes, bagels, egg rolls toast and more!) is served until 11 AM and during the rest of the day you can still enjoy the tasty muffins and cookies. 

Everything at a very reasonable price. 

The service is really good and it is always a pleasure to talk with lovely Erin. 

There are some tables inside and other ones outside. 

Good ambience to enjoy your time having a nice cup of tea and a croissant, while reading a book, using WiFi or just relax.

It is a very cozy place, perfect for these windy days when a  hot cappuccino is needed, or even sunny days to start your morning and wake up with a tasty coffee.

So, if you haven´t yet, go and try it. You will not regret it! They have also a Facebook page: search for The Coral Cafe.

Back to write after a while....

Well, at least back to my little blog for now. Hoping to be back on the island at some point in the winter. 

But it was not easy to go back to write here, when my last post was about visiting Karin at the hospital. It feels so far away and so close that moment, when I read it again... 

I am done with the acceptance stage when she visited me in my dreams. It was a nice feeling but still missing her and that will not change. 

I borrowed some of the pics you, guys, posted on her wall (and some of her own albums). I hope you do not mind but I am sure she would have loved to see the whole collection of the loving messages from her friends in this Little Grand Turk warm hug for our dear Karin.

New hospital

Saturday evening for the first time I went to the local new hospital. I went to visit Karin who has a back problem. The doctors still do not know exactly what it is, but she has to rest for a few days there.

Everything was so quiet. I guess there were not many patients. I have no idea how many beds the hospital has but I do not think there are many.

Everything looks neat and clean and new.

Visiting hours are 2 to 4 pm and 6 to 7.30 pm so we arrived around 6.45 pm.

Beautiful garden and parking lot, Nice paintings on the walls and kind employees at the entrance and information desk.

Karin told us that the food is good too. I hope the doctors are good too. We¨l see.

So far, no diagnose but they are giving her some pain killers and some kind of therapy to release the pain in the back muscles.

I had planned to visit her again before leaving the island but Karin discharged herself LOL.

I am back! :)

Yes, I am back. And really happy to visit J

Just for a few days but I had to bring again The Little Grand Turk at least to tell what I found on my little beautiful island J

I arrived Wednesday evening on the 5 pm flight from Provo and that was the first surprise. Schedule changed and, of course, price more expensive. USD 95 each way. However I have to say that the employee in Provo was very attentive and charged me only USD 5 for the extra bag with my diving gear.

I had come from Miami with AA 1653 where I found lovely Shannon Fleitas and we had both been upgraded to first class. We waited our ATC flight at Guilley’s where internet is still not working (since I left in December I guess…) but it was great to talk there and just watch around.

Phyllis told me that the weather had been unusually hot and humid in May but these last 10 days had changed to cloudy and a little cooler. Still is. But today I went diving anyway. I went with Smitty, always a beautiful experience and I will dive with Daniel hopefully this week.

The Deli is no longer working and I miss it. Really miss it since my vegetarian options has been reduced dramatically. However I had the chance of enjoying vegetarian wrap at Salt Café last Thursday, vegetarian plate at Salt Raker last night and hoping to have vegetarian quesadillas prepared by Mariam tomorrow at Sand Bar J

I also noticed that the Dominican grocerie store has become bigger and nicer with lots of good and new things. In general, the prices on the island are higher than last December though…

I have been doing my daily walks mainly in the North of the island but I will start walking the South as I used to do when I lived here to see what it is new up there. It is so nice to walk around again looking these beautiful waters around…

I found new buildings close to La Breeza and other places and I will investigate what they are or they are going to be. More to come tomorrow if internet works better. These days has been on and off…

There is always room for more...

Oh, yes.

Sometimes I wonder if they are coming to the island or going to the DR... But what is the difference? The biggest question here is: How do they manage to put so many things on the boat and sail with them between here and the DR?

Does everything arrive? Does anyone care?

Anyway, it was pretty interesting this morning trying to guess how many things there were on this boat. At least 3 cars, a couple of fridges, beds, mattresses....

I did not even try to estimate the number of kg. or lbs. that boat carried but the courage of the ones on that boat is really something to admire...or maybe the need of doing the job does not allow any other kind of thought.

Island life has these things... The price of living in paradise is sometimes like this.

Tomas on the island ... and after

Well. Tomas was here and his effects are still around... Friday afternoon and evening, the island looked so dead...

Everybody was at home or protecting windows, placing sandbags, etc.

All the stores closed (or almost all of them...). Cloudy sky, a little windy but the ocean on the west side calm as a pool.

I prepared my "emergency backpack" and went to my friend Phyllis' place to spend the night. I do not like to listen to the strong wind and the waves (I knew that calm would not last...) on my own.

Around 2 am we heard a big noise: one window had broken. It was the only one on the west side that was not protected and Phyllis brought this big panel from outside to cover the hole, since the screen was already gone.

For a few minutes both of us were holding it but realizing that we would not be able to hold it for hours, although it was certainly a very good arm workout...

So, clearly in those moments, creativity is really good and we built some kind of barricade to stop the big piece of wood from falling by using bottles of vinegar, boxes filled with dog food cans, bottles of water and everything that we were able to find ... and it worked.

Yesterday, the Atlantic side was completely calm again... Tomas had decided to go somewhere else.

However on the west side (...my side) the wind was still strong and the waves quite wild. I went home to see how things were and I found a couple of chairs that had flown around the deck but nothing too bad.

Today the ocean is still wild (not as bad as after hurricane Earl) and windy/noisy but I am back home hoping to be able to dive again in a couple of days.

Tomas is far from us but his effect is still over here, at least on this side of the island. Of course, it also affected the supermarkets that have not much to buy so I am anxiously waiting to see if anything comes tomorrow...

It also had an impact on the cruises. Tomorrow's cruises had been already cancelled and we'll see what will happen on Tuesday.

But, we have to look at the good part. No big damages.Nobody hurt.

Nature is being nice with us. So, let's be thankful.

See you soon.

PS: Here's the pic of our barricade for the western window, built in the middle of the night :)

Still here... well not here but I'll be back soon ...

Yes, I know. It's been a while... But I have been super busy with my IDC (Instructor Development Course) here in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras...
And it was totally worth it because now I am a PADI Open Water Instructor, something that I have been dreaming of for a couple of years :)

Now I am training to be instructor in some specialty courses (I already have the Emergency First Response specialty and Oxygen Emergency Provider done)

And yes, I miss my little Grand Turk, the turquoise water, the unbelievable visibility and the sunny days mainly because it has been raining in Utila since before I arrived and it never stopped. Well, it stopped for about half an hour a couple of days but now we are currently waiting hurricane Richard.

It is now at 130 miles of Utila, estimating that will hit the island Sunday morning or noon. Everything almost prepared: food in the fridge, candles around the house, movies to watch (if there is power) and lot of water and other things. Of course, as in any Caribbean island, many people prepared their stock of rum, vodka and beer just in case LOL

Utila is a small island too (7 miles by 2.5 miles), with about but totally bilingual Spanish-English, full of foreigners that are allowed to work with almost no restrictions and and amazing and intense diving activity. Many people come here for training in all levels, so there are divers everywhere.

But yes, there are things of my little Grand Turk that I miss a lot and I want to come back since this time I will not be there for long and I want to enjoy the island as much as possible.

However there is something I do not miss at all: the prices. Living in Utila is waaaaaaaaaay cheaper. Just to give an example, today I went to a small supermarket to buy a few things I needed: 2 litres of orange juice, 4 candles, 5 avocados, a huge packet of Oreos (the one that has 3 dozens of them...), 1 lb of very good cheese and 1 litre of soy milk: USD 8. Clearly is more expensive than other cities in Honduras but much cheaper than our island. And yes, everything is brought from the cities "in the continent" to here too, however the prices don't double or triple. Different policies I guess.

Well, now I go to watch a movie (if the satellite works...or in my laptop) and then to bed since tomorrow Richard's winds will wake me up really early I guess.

And I will see you all really soon. One week more of training, then a bit of Miami and I will be back in Grand Turk.

xoxo