TCI - Night Two, Day Three

The night before we picked Brady and Theresa up at the airport. We promptly went to one of the restaurants on my list - eating is one of the best things about vacation right? I always make sure to do plenty of research before we go anywhere (tripadvisor and frommers are always good bets) because while eating on vacation is a true pleasure, nothing is worse than overpaying for a bad meal. Unfortunately overpaying for food is unavoidable in Turks and Caicos and overpaying for mediocre food seemed highly likely from what I read. Even so, I was hopeful that atmosphere would account for something and I couldn't resist the restaurant where you essentially dine in a grove of coconut trees amid twinkling lights and cool red decor - it kind of reminded me of Brady and Theresa's wedding reception actually - how you transform a cultural hall into a tropical nightclub I still don't know but I guess it helps to be a lighting and entertainment expert.

Photo of Coco Bistro courtesy of whenwherehow.com

The English guy that seated us didn't really laugh when Ben asked, "Where you from? Jersey?" but otherwise we had great local hospitality from our servers. We ordered an ahi appetizer that tasted less than fresh, but that's our fault for not ordering something they catch locally. Ben and I then shared the 'pork 2 ways' special - tenderloin and pork belly. Really, I should have just ordered a side of pork belly and called it a day. Everything else with it was a mess. Brady and Theresa fared better with some type of curry and mahi with plantains (Brady is a sucker for plantains).



Luckily we had great dessert (Coconut Pie and Banana Chocolate Bread pudding) which helped ease the pain of an otherwise underwhelming meal.



Some people might not be interested in a play-by-play of every meal we had on vacation but it's a very important memory to me. In fact, the day before we had a really nice lunch al fresco at Las Brisas on the Chalk Sound - I had a grouper sandwich with salad and Ben had a steak sandwich with fries - both of which were tasty and only $12 - a steal for island fare....as we will learn.

So now really on to day three. We headed back to the beach that Ben and I had visited the day before. I stayed on the beach and caught up with Theresa while we left the boys to take on the barracudas. They went pretty far out and at one point we saw a fury of splashing leading me to wonder if we shouldn't have given a little more thought to getting that life insurance we were thinking about, but it turns out they were just chasing an eagle ray with a large wingspan. Last time the two of them went snorkeling together they encountered a shark. After that we hiked into the super exclusive Amanyara resort (and by exclusive I mean excluding those who don't have multiple thousands to spend for one night of lodging), because all beaches and water are public property. I'm pretty sure that the chairs and umbrellas that Brady and Theresa found to lounge on were not public property but no one else was using them. The beach and water and front of the resort is divine and I definitely felt rich swimming there.

After a lunch of PB&J in the room we went exploring the island, specifically looking for pirate markings. We never found any but we did find more deserted beaches and got to watch a pelican kamikaze diving for dinner. After driving around some more we ourselves got anxious for some food so off to another restaurant on my list, Mango Reef. Unfortunately this one again ends sadly for me. And this time it's because I didn't trust my instinct but instead ordered something I had wanted the day before - Seafood Paella over the Lobster Ravioli. I blame Ben for this, even though he wasn't directly responsible - I am able to order whatever I want at a restaurant but I/we think it's one of the perks of marriage to be able to try two dishes when dining out so we usually discuss and try to get things the other would like. He turned up his nose at the ravioli , yet despite my protests he ordered what he wanted - the surf and turf. His filet was perfect, his lobster a little overdone, mine wasn't what I really wanted and I got to spend my meal listening to the lady behind me rave about her lobster ravioli. Brady scored with the lobster curry, conch fritters and warm chocolate cake prix fixe menu and I scored by sitting next to him. So it's not just marriage that has it's dining perks but the in-laws bring something to the (literal) table as well.

*For the record - We are not hoity-toity eaters like it might sound. In fact if I could have any meal from anywhere it would be a bean and cheese burrito from Cucas...or ahi carpaccio from Roy's...forget it... a score of dishes from fine dining establishments just came to mind so I guess besides any food from any mexican stand - sanitary or not - and pizza, I like my food fancy. That being said, we had more lobster on this trip than we've ever had in our whole life. It is local and in season (and frankly overrated as a protein).