Vacation Time ...

Just got back from an amazing trip to the Turks and Caicos, which comprises 40 islands and cays in the Caribbean located just south of the Bahamas and east of Cuba and Haiti. Only eight of these are inhabited. We stayed on Providenciales (Provo) which is home to the "Best Beach" as rated by Conde Nast magazine. The water is torquois and calm with an extensive reef surrounding the islands which you need to use a boat to get to. It's so hard to believe that just a few days ago I was baking in the sun and now there's ice on the ground surrounding my house. Ugh! We drove around the island and found beautiful coves and secluded beaches right out of Thornbirds or From Here to Eternity. We even got to meet the locals outside the resort when our rented Jeep broke down several times. They were the most considerate, pleasant people I've ever met. Several times, various islanders went out of their way to help us get our Jeep started and never asked for anything in return. We chartered a boat to take us to a private island for the day. My husband and I, along with another couple, explored the island where we found iguanas sunning themselves, hummingbirds flittering around, and small lizards scattering with each step we took like a scene from Jurassic Park. Though I received a scare in this paradise when we decided to cut across a lagoon, which looked only a couple feet deep. Midway across, we found it getting deeper and deeper until the water was up to my chest. The water was as clear as a swimming pool and the sand like baby powder below our feet, but there was a few large patches of seaweed directly in front of us where something was taking a siesta. As my friend turned around from near the shore, she exclaimed, "Something is moving towards you." I then replied, feeling my stomach rising to my throat, "Ah, are you serious? Because if you're joking, it's not funny." To which she said, "It's getting closer." I ran. Well, as fast as I could in chest-high water. My friend's husband stood still several feet behind me, deciding to air on the side of machoism. The "thing" (which by this time, according to my imagination, was one of those pod things from that Invasion show which was making its way to me to take over my body) swam past him. He said it was just a nurse shark, which has no teeth and therefore couldn't hurt me (or take over my body). For the moment, I was somewhat calm until the next day when he told me that he had told a small fib to keep me from totally freaking out--it was a tiger shark.

Though he did tell me that sharks don't bite people. No, they just give them sharp, pointy kisses.