Today the Ventura was docked in Grand Turk, the largest of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Last time we had been here was in 2009, on the Artemis so it was a familiar view that met us when we looked out from our balcony. The whole island is only six miles long and has a long pier at which only one ship can dock.
The beach at Grand Turk has powder soft, white sandy beaches is dotted with small palm trees, which afforded the sun loungers a welcome shade. We gathered together our swimming things and went ashore. There are quite a lot of duty-free shops near the port and we spent some time looking round them, buying some more postcards. One of the shops was selling small (50ml) bottles of various spirits, so we bought a selection to take back to our cabin to drink out on the balcony. 🙂
We did all the usual things that people do in the Caribbean; sunbathed, swam in the sea and watched the world go by. We decided to have an ice cold beer and Trevor went to a nearby bar on the beach to get them. They were $7.00 each (nearly £5.00!) which was extortionate, especially as the locals probably only pay about $2.00 US for them.
Some of the photographers from the ship were dressed (top half only) in dinner jackets and bow ties (they had shorts on the bottom half) and had trays with bottles of ‘champagne’ on them. They were coming round trying to get us to pose in the sea with a glass of ‘champagne’. As if I’m going to allow anyone to photograph me in my cossie! :-p
At lunchtime we went back to the Ventura and I enjoyed an al fresco meal of cold meats and fresh salad as well as some more beer. Then we went to the purser’s desk to post our postcards.
The rest of the day was just spent doing the usual; afternoon nap, sitting by the pool, enjoying a cocktail or two, then getting ready for dinner.
This evening we went to the Waterside for the dinner buffet, which was Asian. We enjoyed a delicious selection of Chinese and Thai food, washed down with Tiger Beer.
The show tonight was called “Hot Ticket” and consisted of songs and excerpts from current West End shows, including The Phantom, Dirty Dancing and The Lion King. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of prosecco during the show.
Later on, in ‘Wetherspoon’s’, they were having a 70’s themed quiz which was actually a lot harder than we’d imagined. Some of the questions were pretty obscure. Mind you, a lot of people say there’s no such thing as a ‘hard’ question; you either know the answer or you don’t.
So we didn’t do all that much today, apart from laze about and enjoy being on holiday. 🙂