Turks & Caicos 2025-2026 - Trip pics and daily activities
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| Chalk Sound - Turks & Caicos |
Getting to our destination this year was quite adventurous. The initial plan was to leave from Cedar Rapids on Sat morning early and fly from Miami to Turks. We were prepared to get to the airport around 6 am - but all that changed when we got texts about our flights canceling the night before. We got on the phone with American Airlines immediately and spent the next two hours figuring out how we were supposed to get from here to there. The agents could not find 7 seats on any other flights, and similar flight paths got canceled. We found out the whole midwest was covered in fog, which was affecting flights. We eventually settled on grabbing 5 direct flights from Chicago to Turks and hoped we could grab two more on standby. There was no other option.
To make a very long story short...we drove from Cedar Falls to Chicago at Midnight, found a parking spot for our van on SpotHero on the way, Dave and Calvin drove - we got to our parking spot at 5:30 am, caught a shuttle to the airport, hung out in the Admirals Lounge and got breakfast there, and 5 of us were able to get on the flight around 7:30am. David and I split up and he went first with Violet, Drew, Calvin and Eli to figure out the rental car situation when he got there. Vanessa and I almost got on the flight standby, but a person showed up last minute and claimed their booked seat. Vanessa had a great attitude about it! I was upset for awhile but was able to process the changes. She and I figured out our flight path to Turks, and it looked like this: We got on a standby flight from Chicago to Charlotte about 10:30am. We were able to spend most of the evening in Charlotte NC and had a booked flight from Charlotte to Turks about 6am the next morning. The airport was kind enough to get us a free hotel room in Charlotte.
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| In Charlotte grabbing an Uber to dinner |
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| The Uber driver recommended this place for great BBQ and it was SO good! |
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| Boba |
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| She was lucky enough to get a sunrise view on our way to Turks! |
Vanessa and I made the most of our time but checking out a BBQ restaurant, hitting up an outdoor shopping mall area, and had a good night's sleep - finally. We both woke up at 4:15am, got a shuttle to the airport, and were through security and checked into our flights early, so we had a moment to chill in the Centurion Lounge in Charlotte. They had a delicious breakfast area set up and Vanessa was impressed with the iced coffee offerings. :)
I turned on my data as we were landing and Calvin sent me a pic of Violet waving to our airplane from our villa. Unfortunately we were on the left side of the plane but it was so cool to see that!
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| the yellow circled place called Casa Rosada is where we are, and the red line is our flight path |
SO we finally joined our family - Dave picked us up from the airport and we were so glad to be there. Turks & Caicos is a UK territory, english-speaking and uses the US Dollar. So convenient! It feels safe and more developed/organized than other island we've been to.
Day One begins! Sunday Dec 28 (Calvin's 18th Birthday!) I don't know what everyone did Saturday - they had frozen pizzas for dinner and got acclimated to our place. It is incredible. The view is STUNNING. It almost shocks you every time. We face the Chalk Sound - a land locked bay with shallow water and it is so bright blue because of how shallow it is.
I have to use photos to remind me what we did!
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| Dave made a pitstop on our way from the airport to the villa to pick up Calvin's birthday cake. Dave had found this baker and had communicated a lot to get a Lamborghini-themed cake. It was epic. |
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| Casa Rosada |
We ventured out to a couple shops because Violet and Drew wanted to get some funny gifts for Calvin for his birthday. They found him a durag, a bag of gummy worms, and a Monster. This was an "aha" moment why the grocery bill was so high - seeing all the prices was insane. A quart of half and half was $10, jar of peanut butter was $7, a frozen pizza was $7, wowza.
We had ordered some groceries to get us through the first few days. We had all the ingredients for tacos so we made that for Calvin's birthday dinner! We surprised him with the cake and it was a fun moment.
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| Calvin is 18! |
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| He's still upside down half of his life, perfecting a free-standing pushup handstand. |
Don't tell the owners of the villa but we climbed onto the roof to see the sunset!
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| That's the west-facing sunset view. |
We watched the Bears game at 9:20pm (eastern) vs the 49ers.
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| This is how the exciting game went - neck and neck, but we lost right at the end. |
Monday, Dec 29
I woke up to Calvin and Drew making breakfast <3. They are such great people to vacation with! They served up croissant breakfast sandwiches.
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| We wanted to check out Grace Bay Beach, so we drove there - the driving on the left side of the road certainly |
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| Then we drove down a ways and checked out a nearby reef to snorkel. |
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| Nobody was super excited about going to dinner in sandy wet swimsuits but the drive back was 30 min and we were all hungry so we stopped at this recommended place called Turks Kebabs. It was delicious and worth it! |
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| Settling back at home the girls put on these 4 hour face masks. |
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| We played a round of Yahtzee |
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| Calvin gave me a Sharpie tattoo |
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| this dollar I found in the sand at the beach was the Yahtzee winner's prize. |
Tues Dec 30
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| We opted for breakfast out at a nearby restaurant - we all had things like eggs benedict, breakfast wraps, pancakes, bacon, sausage - it was perfect. |
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| Souvenir shopping!--but first COFFEE at Shay's Coffee |
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a place for dude to hang out while their ladies shop
Calvin was complaining of ear pain, which is never a good sign. Sudafed was not touching his ear pressure, so we asked the owner at the coffee shop for a recommendation to get Calvin seen at a local doctor. I was pretty sure he had an ear infection. The guy was so helpful - he called his doctor and gave me the phone and I made an appointment 40 min from the phone call. David took him and he did indeed have a middle ear infection. This was an important find because he CANNOT scuba with an ear infection - this could lead to permanent hearing damage. He was bummed to not finish the scuba certification planned for this whole trip. He got some antibiotics right from the doctor, no pharmacy needed. |
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| Drew and Violet did some of their own shopping - Vanessa and Eli and I tried some frozen yogurt. |
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| After visiting quite a few shops and lots of T shirts later, we stopped at Danny Buoy's and got some water and chips and salsa and Dave and Calvin met up with us. |
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| Dave had ordered a catered dinner so we got back go our place in time to freshen up and settle in for the night. Beef kebobs, rice, mac and cheese, salad, and rum cake was sooo yummy! |
Violet and Vanessa taught me a tik tok dance...it was actually so hard but so fun. Violet posted it and got some funny comments.
Wed Dec 31, 2025 -- last day of 2025!
Dave had gotten a good recommendation for a snorkel spot from the doctor he visited yesterday with Calvin. The doctor was sympathetic to the fact that this ruined Calvin's chances to finish his scuba certification with Vanessa and Eli. He said sunrise is the best time to visit because larger creatures tend to go deep during the night and come up in the morning. Our crew got up a 5:30am, left the house by 6am, and arrived to Smith's Reef about 18 minutes later. I did not go in but watched everyone else. They said they saw eagle rays, lion fish, lots of coral, a sucker fish that kept sucking itself to Dave and Drew *shudder*, which made me super glad I did not go in. I signaled them to come in at 7:30 so Vanessa and Eli could get to the pool to finish their pool dive lesson before the two open ocean dives scheduled later.
We dropped off Vanessa, Eli and David at the pool location and drove 30 min back to get showered and eat breakfast. Drew made crunch wraps and then I made coffee - and got a text at 9:30 that they were already done in the pool already. The lady teaching the lessons said to come back at Noon! I left the villa at 9:30 to pick them up and got em at 10:10. Drew, Violet and Calvin went kayaking on the sound.
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| Morning sun peeking up! |
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| Smith's Reef |
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| Snorkeling pics! |
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| Drew and Violet making breakfast |
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| Regan, the scuba instructor, who helped Vanessa and Eli finish their pool scuba learning |
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| I think that's Drew and Calvin with his durag on |
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| Typing is a stuggle - I put on press-on nails and doing basic tasks for me is very different. :P The girls are not sympathizing with me. |
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| Vanessa sipping her newest mix of juices and ginger ale. |
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| Calvin doing his "morning pushups" |
We are making loose NYE plans! The day is feeling long because we started so early. Hope we can make it til midnight.
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***** BIG UPDATE *****
Violet and Drew got engaged! 12/31/2025 around sunset.
We knew he was going to propose but we didn't quite know when. I was hoping for sunset, so around 4 pm he told us he wanted to do it at sunset right on our patio, which is about 5:15pm. He told her he wanted to dress up and take nice sunset pictures - so she got all dolled up. Dave and I were working on a few year-end work tasks, so we kept it chill. Drew told Calvin about his plan and asked him to be the photographer with Violet's phone.
Drew did not wait a minute! They posed for a couple pics but then pulled the ring out of his back pocket and dropped on a knee, and Violet was squealing! He popped the question and she said yes, and then said "Did all of you know this was going to happen??" Lots of celebrating happened, lots of hugging, lots of video calls, facetimes, and pictures. :)
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| this is Drew facetiming his family |
These second shots are taken on the roof of our villa. We had to all climb a ladder through a hatch to get up there - but it's the only place to actually view the sunset because our pool view faces north. We're so excited for them. God picked the right person for Violet. :)
The next two hours were spent watching Violet process the shock and facetime family and friends and we heard lots of screaming and exclamations.
About 7pm we decided to head downtown to Grace Bay area and go to a pizza restaurant that had been recommended to us. We didn't have reservations but they got us in right away. We polished off almost 3 pizzas, then stopped to get ice cream. We navigate our way through resorts to get to the beach for the NYE celebrations - which actually turned out to be a quite a bust. The music was terrible and there was no countdown. The fireworks at midnight were pretty fun. We had brought beach chairs, and 5 of our group of 7 fell asleep waiting for midnight. The morning had started so early with the 5:30 am wake up time to snorkel so it was catching up with all of us.
The traffic was bad going back - what should have normally taken 25 minutes took an hour and a half to get back. We were all so happy to go to bed!
What a day!
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| Violet and Drew calling people before posting their big news on instagram |
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| last photo of 2025 - snoozing on the beach |
January 1, 2026
After getting to sleep around 2am, we were all happy to sleep in. I made biscuits and sausage gravy around 10am, the girls didn't get up til around 11. It was a really chill day here, processing the events of yesterday. Throwing around a football, reading books, Dave and Drew had celebratory cigars, kayaking, snacking on frozen pizza and freezer waffles, observing cute lizards, blogging. Here's some pics.
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| Calvin picked a pomegranate |
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| of course a cute ring pic |
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| celebratory cigars |
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| Calvin's usually upside down |
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| I learned the pink color on these bougainvillea bushes are not the flowers - just a colorful extension of the plant's leaves. The actual flower on the bush are the tiny white ones barely visible in the middle. |
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| Girls went out to paddleboard for a bit. |
We caught another rooftop sunset, had some chill time, grilled burgers (which all burned but we used back up beef and skillets to make new ones!), also had mac n cheese, green beans, salad, and brownies.
Dave accidentally hurt himself moving knives in the knife block - some of them were turned backwards exposing their sharp back edges, and somehow he punctured his thumb. It bled pretty badly but we found a first aid kit and wrapped it up with lots of pressure so it would stop bleeding. My pics are often only taken so I could remember what we did, not always asking people to stop and smile. I like the candid nature of many of them!
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| directly west - the sun dropped so fast |
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| directly east |
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| charred burgers - not worth salvaging. |
Friday Jan 2nd, 2026
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Dave accidentally hurt his thumb with a knife and wrapped it up good for scuba diving today. The crew all took off at 7:45. I decided to stay back and read.
Violet, Calvin and Drew dropped off Vanessa, Eli and Dave to the marina for their first of two days of diving. They got coffee, shopped a bit, stopped for a few groceries, and came back to the villa. I prepared a devotion, read some of my books, read about the island's history, did a little laundry, and relaxed. It was perfect. A housekeeper came to clean up our place/replace bed linens. |
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| I like this shot - Drew is practicing handstands and Calvin is throwing up a ball. |
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| Drew and Calvin took off a mile away on kayaks to find the sunken plane. They did find it and explored it for about an hour and said it was super cool. |
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| About 2pm I picked up the scuba group! They had 2 successful dives. |
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| They were hungry - caesar salads and smoothies was the next stop! |
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| Dave and I got sandwiches here |
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| Back at the villa we saw some ospreys |
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| and a gorgeous 99% full moon |
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| Violet and Drew made cheesy bread with the leftover hamburger buns |
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| Dave and Calvin battled it out with a game of rummikub |
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| So much pasta and meat sauce |
We played a few rounds of a new game called Pando and had lots of laughs - the concept of the game was easy and I think we learned a lot about each other. Like Dave can move his eyebrows independently and I don't think anybody else can. Drew waits to cut his toenails til it is necessary, and his new car is clean.
Saturday, Jan 3
Last scuba day for Vanessa and Eli. Calvin made breakfast sandwiches with the leftover croissants. They hit our stomachs hard and Violet and Drew felt a little sick on the bumpy ride to the marina. Our plan was to go to Smith's Reef and snorkel. Violet got a boba drink from Beans and Leaves on the way. We snorkeled for maybe 45 minutes. I think those who felt sick recovered - I did not want to get in but I forced myself to. I had to calm my breathing and relax. We saw lots of different types of coral, bright colored fish, and two sting rays. One was easy to see out in the open on the sea floor and one was bigger and hidden in the sand. I was glad the sea water kept us easily buoyant on the surface with not much effort. Calvin led the charge on snorkeling leading us around. As Violet and I were feeling done, Drew stayed back and saw a sea turtle nobody else saw.
The stingrays made it worth it. We drove back to our villa and hung out in the hot tub and just chilled. I blogged a bit. Drew and Violet are talking about what they want to do for their wedding. So many decisions to be made there!
Rain started and it came down pretty heavy - we closed up the house. We talked about what to do for the last two dinners - one was to cook a meal and one was go to out. Drew and Violet were interested in a seafood ramen boil - we also talk about grabbing chicken for pasta again.
It was about time to go pick up Dave, Vanessa and Eli. I was already showered and ready to go so I left the villa around 1:30 expecting to drive 28-29 min and arrive for a pick up at 2pm. I drove down Chalk Sound road and immediately knew I wasn't going to make it in a half hour. The roads were flooding and traffic was moving, but very, very slow. I could not believe how deep it got in such a short amount of time. I had a little panic and pulled over a high ground for a few minutes to gather myself, it was a little crazy. I texted Dave some pics and told him I would probably be awhile. As I pulled over I watched the traffic keep going through the water and figured if they could get through it I could too. I rejoined the flow of traffic, bumping down a curb I could not see. Driving on the opposite side of the road also messes with your head in the middle of that stressful situation. A few slow minutes later, traffic and all kinds of cars slowly plowed through the water and I made it to higher ground. I could see ahead a big dip and a van stalled in the deepest part of it, the drive out of the vehicle standing by it. I looked at Google maps to see if there was a way around it. I only had a few blocks to go til the main road heading east towards the marina, if I could just get there. I knew it was higher and traffic was moving quicker. I found a path through and got on the main road, and thanked God for getting me through that. I did not know how we were going to get back if the rain kept up. I got to the marina by 2:20, and I chose the plan to stop by the grocery store to get food for dinner to cook in the villa, rather than go out in that mess again.
Here's some pics of the flash flooding!
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| this was my first "go" in traffic through all this new found flooding |
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| looks 3-4" deep, maybe more? |
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| this was a pic I took while pulled over to stop and think about whether to wait or go forward |
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| look how deep that semi truck is! |
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| This is the deep part where I saw a van stalled |
I was able to go around this! Yay!
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| I prepped tomorrow's breakfast |
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| The view down one hallway towards the two bedrooms the boys slept in. |
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| From the kitchen the hallway with a little TV hangout area and the hallway with the two bedrooms Dave and I and the girls stayed in. |
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| Vanessa could usually be found making some smoothie concoction. |
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| as I was chopping peppers I could not resist saving and NOT chopping this pair of red hearts! |
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| the view of the gate that closed in our place (from inside) |
I was so glad to not be going out in that watery mess. We made it back but it was just as flooded and stressful going back. The family was ok with that plan. We enjoyed our night - dinner was delicious and we played games.
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| we climbed to the roof to catch a cloudy but still pretty sunset |
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| took more pics |
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| and more pics...Calvin got his groove on for this one |
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| the whole group! |
Sunday, January 4, 2026
Since we didn't wake up early for anything, we planned our bigger cooked breakfast for Sunday morning. I made onion/pepper/shredded potato hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, and cut up the rest of our fruit. It took much longer that I thought since my kitchen tools and pans were different that I was used to...but it was still yummy.
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| Calvin used the time to write (well, draw) in the guest book about our experiences. |
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death of the constantly lost footballs, New Year's Eve sleepy fireworks, Drew and Violet's engagement, scuba, the entertainment that the airplanes provided us from kayaks in Chalk Sound. I didn't see a reference to his birthday but he turned 18!
Dave, Eli, Violet and I wanted to go check out the sunken plane about a mile across the Chalk Sound. It was the same thing Calvin and Drew did the other day and mentioned it was quite a kayak trip but worth it. Violet and I left first, Dave and Eli followed. The entire sound was only 3-6 ft deep, so part of the old plane was still sticking up out of the water. It took us 30 minute so kayaking to get there. It was a little freakier than we thought, and the bottom of the water had tons of holes indicating crab homes. A touring pontoon boat pulled up the same time as we got there and a lot of people got out and muddied up the water, making it hard to see.
The coolest part of the kayak trip out that far was being directly in the path of the airport landing strip. We lined right up to experience landing planes flying right over our heads super close. These memories will have to live in our minds, as nobody had phones on kayaks to take pictures.
Here is where we were on the water compared to the airport and the sunken plane.
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On the kayak trip back from the plane to the villa, Violet spotted the head of a sea turtle pop up right in front of us! We thought we'd go in its direction to see it again, but it must have been faster than us. We never saw it again. Turtles are rare in Chalk Sound.
Shortly after we got back it began to rain. All of us hung out in the rain in the hot tub, then went in when the rain got too hard.
We settled inside, hung out, watched the Bears game (an unfortunate and unnecessary loss to the Lions), opened up the mezuzah out of sheer curiosity, and made plans to go out to dinner.
We got back from dinner pretty late. Violet was feeling kinda sick, developed a cough, and said her breathing was limited, I was hoping she would sleep well. Everyone started packing and went to bed.
Mon, Jan 5, 2026 - travel day back home
Pancakes, Calvin's epic pancake breakfast sandwich, last pictures, and packing were the events of the morning. We left the villa at 8:45am.
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| An unexpected fun moment was when I stepped outside for the first time and noticed a flock of flamingos flying! The sound like deranged geese but they're pink. |
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| our way to the airport |
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| outdoor gate - it was HOT |
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| view of the marina where Dave, Eli and Vanessa had been two times this past week |
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| Appalachian mountain range on our flight from Charlotte to Chicago |
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| gorgeous sunset |
We are driving home from Chicago right now. Flights were smooth, no issues with the two checked baggage, we caught the shuttle to the Sheraton where our vehicle was parked just in the nick of time so we wasted no minutes waiting around.
This was a wonderful trip. Getting there was initially frustrating, tiring, and difficult, but the time spent together, views, experiences, and memories were worth it. Vanessa and Eli are fully scuba certified, Calvin is *almost* but needs to finish, Violet and Drew have a committed future together, and Dave and I are embracing the passing of time and wonderful ways God has blessed us.
