Looking for Info on Turks

Police presence is definately around. Seven is just down from our house at Villa Renaissance. Just be mindful and not flashy. From Seven, you can walk to almost all the places I mentioned with ease. Enjoy! You can normally find Standley at Somewhere
 
Tammwi,
We are staying at the Somerset. Where is that in relation to everything?
Val
 
Police presence is definately around. Seven is just down from our house at Villa Renaissance. Just be mindful and not flashy. From Seven, you can walk to almost all the places I mentioned with ease. Enjoy! You can normally find Standley at Somewhere

Thanks. I'm happy to know that you at least can spot the police and they are around. I never take any of my expensive jewelry pieces on vacation, not even SBH. It's just something I've chosen not to do over the years - not necessarily due to crime, but that's part of it. I've seen too many instances where things are lost on the beach, in the water, or just left behind when traveling home. I've got some fakes that I wear when I want to bling it up in the islands :cool:
 
Well, for a number of reasons and family commitments we did not make it to St. Bart this year. Then a week freed up with our schedules and within a month we were able to plan a trip to Turks and Caicos. There were 6 of us my son, his wife, and a year and a half granddaughter, my other son, husband and myself. We stayed at the resort called "The Somerset". Very great accommodations, 3 bedrooms each with its own TV and bath, living room, dining room, kitchen, and balcony.

Upon arriving we took a taxi to the resort at the cost of $14 a head, $84 without tip. And it was only a 10 minute drive. Our agency said we really did not need to rent a car since everything is within walking distance. However, once we checked in we felt we needed a car. First, we like to explore the island and second, to get to the grocery store. Many people use bikes to get around the island and that is what we did to go to IGA upon arrival. The distance was a little over a mile and we just purchased the basics for the next morning. But even with the basics we had about 7 bags. We put some of the items in a backpack and the rest of the bags on the handlebars. It would have been another $10 a head each way to the grocery store. So add another $40 to what we spent to get to the resort we decided to rent a car the next morning. We were able to take the car to the airport for departure and just leave it in the parking lot and give the keys to the attendant.

Well, the prices were a bit on the high side at IGA. Here are some of the things we purchased and the prices: oranges $2 a piece, one tomato $3, a lb of coffee $10, bacon $10, half gallon of juice $6.50, and the real bargain was a 6 pack of Heineken $17.99 Corona about the same. You can buy a case for $68. We found that going to the Wine Cellar you can save about $10 a case. I think the Heineken was $55 a case for cans.

Places that we ate at were:
Hemingways-on the beach a lunch and dinner place. We had lunch there since it was close to our resort on 2 days.

Mango Reef for dinner - we enjoyed this for dinner.

Bella Luna-the food there was excellent. They also have a pizza place attached and we ate there one night. Pizzas are small about a medium size pizza back home, so we orderd 4 pizzas.

Caicos Cafe-great

We wanted to eat at CoCo Bistro but were unable to get a reservation so we ate a Bay Bistro instead. We were a little disappointed here since it got great reviews. 2 had great meals and 3 of our meals were not that good. 2 of them were on the special for the night too.

Sharkbite-for lunch one day after exploring the island.

We basically stayed at the resort most days. One day we went to Taylor Bay but it took us a while to find it. We met a family that said this was their second day looking for Taylor Bay.

We felt very safe on the island. I think I saw a police car only once. It was different driving on the other side of the road but you get used to it rather quickly. My son and I were chosen to get a pat down search at the airport. When I asked why we were so lucky, she mentioned since we printed our boarding passes at the resort and they did not issue them it did not go into the computer for the random choosing of people.

We did have a great time just reading, relaxing, and going to the beach. it was perfect for the little one when it was nap time. So now I can say I went to Turks just like I have been to Mexico. Would I go back I don't think so even though the beaches are great and the water crystal clear. It isn't St. Bart.
I do have my St. Bart trip planned. We will be going in April of next year during my spring break. Since I am a teacher I need to plan trips around the school calendar.

I would love to plan a short trip to St. Bart in November since we have 5 days off but United does not fly out of EWR mid week then. Guess I just dream until April.
 
VW - thanks for this report. It appears that all that I have read agrees with your assessment that things are very expensive on this island. Was a bit surprised at the taxi fares though. We have a car rented for our trip in September - how did you find gas prices?? I fear that I, too, will compare it to my beloved SB. There's no getting around it and I fully expect that it will not live up to it. We haven't been any other place for many years now. IMO no place can compare for what we are looking for in a vacation. But, with just six days (two of which will be half taken with travel) we decided to return to the place of our honeymoon many years ago. Beach, reading and relaxing are at the top of our list too but do enjoy a good evening meal so I've been trying to get a few ideas before leaving.
 
NHDiane, I know what you mean about going back to your honeymoon place. We were considering going back the the Bahamas this year for a big anniversary but chose Turks instead. The gas was $6.00 a gallon. When we went to fill up before the airport it only took 3 gallons and my husband said that can't be right, we had used a half a tank of gas. But it was right. It only took the 3 gallons.

You know what I found interesting - when you get your check for dinner, some places add the gratuity and it is only 10%, others leave it blank for you to fill in. And the place that only charged 10% was one of the better restaurants. The restaurant around the pool 15%. Also there is a 12% tax added too.
 
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