SOUTH CAICOS A HUGE HIT WITH PROVIDENCIALES STUDENTS

Our Year 6 class, from the Providenciales Primary School, had an exciting week visiting the neighbouring island of South Caicos, where we were welcomed by the entire local community.

Just after arriving on the TCI Ferry from Providenciales on Monday, June 11, the buzz was all over town that there was a group of very enthusiastic visitors to the small island of the Big South.

About an hour after arriving on the 1½-hour ferry ride with Caribbean Crusin’, the class set off for a fantastic snorkeling excursion with Capt. Tim Hamilton, a local fisherman, and his son. After seeing a Caribbean reef shark, a barracuda, three lobsters and one lion fish, we rode to Long Cay for a relaxing picnic. We played games, as well as making sandcastles out of things we found on the beach.

When we got back, Ted Weldon, developer of Sailrock, took the class on a tour around South Caicos showing us the historic Boiling Hole, the Highlands House, nine wild donkeys and even the new development of Sailrock.

On Tuesday, the class had an amazing two-hour historical walk with District Commissioner Emily Malcolm. She taught us so much about the island. It was so cool that she had memorized all the facts and dates.

Our class then had lunch at Sunset Cafe, run by a kind, friendly restaurant owner Darryl Cox. The food was delicious. We picked up how to play dominoes (a popular game) with the help of the friendly local residents.

On Tuesday afternoon we took a dip in the pool at our amazing hotel, the Ocean Beach Resort, run by Cleo Cox. He was so nice to us and also prepared some great meals for us in his large dining area with the most beautiful view of Dove and Long Cay.

In the evening, with the help of one of our chaperons, Neil Behlmaier, we successfully built a working bonfire down at the beautiful East Bay, where we made hot dogs and S’mores.

On Wednesday, we visited the School for Field Studies. They took us hiking, where we did a 150cm investigation and went snorkeling to explore the underwater world. They even invited us to lunch. We played games together such as freeze tag, and after all that we all went to the beach and picked up trash.

We met the South Caicos primary aged children at a rugby session organized by Jamie Tait from the Turks and Caicos Island Rugby Football Union. We played several games with them. They really appreciated us coming to play with them, and it was really fun for us too!

On Thursday we woke up bright and early, packed our lunches, and were off on another boat adventure. Thanks to the help of Mark Parrish from Big Blue Unlimited we had a yummy conch salad, freshly made and were able to build a raft from the rubbish off the beach.

Friday we learned a traditional TCI hobby. Bonefishing was a great experience for our class, although we didn’t get a chance to actually catch anything, we still had a great time with Capt. Gangar Lockhart.

Our class planned and fundraised for this adventure for the entire school year and could not have been happier about how fun and interesting our visit turned out to be. But it all would not have been possible without a lot of support from the local community including Caribbean Cruisn’, Big Blue Unlimited, Sunset Café South Caicos, Ocean Beach Resort, School for Field Studies, District Commissioner Emily Malcolm and Sailrock development.

South Caicos is so much fun, and we recommend anyone who has not had the chance to visit there to do so this summer. And please say “Hi” to all the friendly residents of South Caicos from the Year 6 class at Providenciales Primary School.