So hey before I get into Day 4, I want to send a big shout out to my peeps in the Beaches Turks & Caicos Unofficial Facebook group. I have really appreciated all your kind words and views. I love knowing when people enjoy my posts and the FB love has been…I dunno…#rightinthefeels.
OK, enough with all the mush and what not. Let’s get on with Day 4. Because I mean…EPIC.
The morning started with, well. The morning started with a hangover. Less be real, k?
But then Nickie and I met Larissa for a nice beach walk, this time heading the other way down towards Treasure Beach, basically past the Jerk Shack to the coral garden.
Was a very nice morning walk for sure, but I for sure needed some vodk…er, coffee. Coffee is what I meant to say. But also vodka.
So we walked back to our respective rooms. Nickie and I woke the boys and made plans to meet Nonnie, Papa, and Tony at Schooner’s (Caribbean Village) for breakfast. Larissa had to stay behind with Mia, who was sleeping late. Apparently a tough night for Mia as well. I feel ya, Mia. I feel ya.
For breakfast, both Tony and I started with coffee and Bloody Mary (as expected)…
As was NOT EXPECTED, I only got one entrée. I went for the traditional Eggs Benny. And I don’t mean “traditional” as any sort of insult. You know I love you eggs benedict.
Seriously, eggs benedict is like one of those perfect dishes in this world. And this was some good eggs benedict. Exactly what was needed. Well, that and vodka.
I wish I both remembered and also got pictures of what people got, but you know…hangover. I think Owen got chocolate chip pancakes, Myles got the steak and eggs and maybe Nickie got pancakes? Nonnie got both the blueberry pancakes and the Feel at Home (Two Eggs, Breakfast Potatoes, Grilled Tomato, Bacon and Sausage) and Papa may have gotten the same? Two entrees. Nice.
Tony, however….while I did not take pictures, I remember vividly what he ordered. At breakfasts, Tony had a habit of ordering and then being like…wait, what did I just order? For this specific occasion, he got the pork and beans, which raised some eyebrows. For the record though, he ended up liking it.
Then, at the end of breakfast, after we had all eaten, there was this exchange:
Tony (to the waiter): I’ll have some more orange juice. And a side of bacon.
Nickie: Ha, I swear it sounded like you just ordered a side of bacon.
Tony: I did.
Overall, a REALLY good breakfast. I totally forgot I was even hungover. Which worked out. On account of I wanted to have drinks.
After breakfast, we all pulled a total Scooby-Doo and split up. Nickie and Myles swam. Nonnie and Papa started their day of touring around the resort. Tony went to check on Larissa and Mia. And Owen and I walked over to the Shadow Lounge to try and sneak in before NO ADULTS ALLOWED. Since Owen was super tight with a bunch of the staff by then, Leo let us hang for a little bit and play some ping pong.
Shadow Lounge was a super cool place so I was psyched to be able to check it out. And Owen and I split the matches. We played each to 15, with Owen winning one and me winning one. Which worked out. As neither of us cried.
We then made our way back to our room and met up with Nickie and Myles. We then walked down to the lobby and met up with the Falzones…
…for a special meet-up with someone Mia was dying to see, especially after his impressive turn in the Sesame Street stage show the night before – ELMO!! Have I mentioned how awesome this resort is?
And then the 7 of us walked over to the French Village to take a quick dip in their main pool, which I honestly thought was probably the prettiest pool on property.
We grabbed some Miami Vices at the pool bar, did some swimming and then chilled in the hot tub.
It’s funny – you wouldn’t think in temps that feel close to 100, one would want to sit in a hot tub. But I don’t know, still relaxing. Plus, you feel sort of even more like a gangster. Like, “I am so fly, I sit in a hot tub when it’s HOT. YOU DON’T KNOW ME!”
Then, Tony continued to own today.
He had a big meeting coming up the week after we got back so he felt he had to get a haircut. He left us at the pool and went to salon at the Red Lane Spa in the French Village to get a trim.
I love that guy.
We were planning on getting the kids some food at Bobby Dee’s and then meeting Tony at the Jerk Shack. But once we were inside Bobby Dee’s, we decided to just stay and eat there. The burger there tasted like THE BEST BURGER EVER at midnight after hitting Club Liquid so I mean, I was pretty sure that would still be the case.
Well I mean, it wasn’t THE BEST BURGER EVER, but it was still pretty good. As had been the case with other choices here, it was cooked a little more than I would have liked even though I ordered Medium Rare. But again, sill good. I got the BBQ burger with fries.
And Mia got her first shake. Like ever. In her whole life. I felt like it probably wouldn’t be the last.
After lunch, we all adjourned to our respective rooms. And whilst in the room, I had a little taste of the whiskey the housekeeper sent up for my birthday. Which I completely forgot to mention. But when she had come to clean the room, I just sort of asked if we could have one sent up and she saw the decorations and was like, “oh it’s your birthday? I will see what I can do.” Next time I came back to the room, there was a full bottle there. I don’t think It hurt that we gave her a bag of Lindt chocolates AND I kind of helped her clean the room to sort of help things along.
But it was still super nice of her and I wish I could remember her name. I think it sounded like Charlotte, but when I looked at her tag, it was more like Cherlin? I am so sorry not-Charlotte. Because if I could remember your name, I would shout it from the rooftops. Because, in addition to keeping us stocked with beer and wine, you also gave me whiskey. For this, you will always have a place in my heart. And my liver.
We then gathered up our stuff and walked down to the pier. Because we had chartered a private boat with Island Vibes. It was just us and the Falzones going as Nonnie and Papa wanted to continue touring the resort.
We made it to the pier just in time to see our boat coming in…
The boat pulled up on the beach and we met our guides for the day – Lex and Captain Steven – and we climbed aboard.
The plan was to do some snorkeling, hit Iguana Island and see the sights along the way. The boat came complete with a diving board, waterslide, and rooftop seating. And rum.
Here are some shots from the trip out…
Obviously, the ride itself was amazing. On the way, Lex jumped off and pulled up like 10 sand dollars for us.
And I thought the water could not get any more beautiful than the water at the resort but when we got out to the waters of places like Little Water Cay, it was insanely blue. Like, electric blue almost.
At our first stop, we pulled up to a tiny little beach surrounded by cliffs.
Lex pulled up some conch and showed us how you harvest a conch, hammering a small hole in the top and pulling out the actual meat from inside.
He also showed us the Pistol, which is a clear appendage many believe aids in digestion, and informed us its known as an aphrodisiac on the island. So I mean, of course I ate it. It was pretty much tasteless. Did it work? Pfft, I don’t share everything on this blog.
After that, we went and snorkeled off the boat.
It was a cool little area since there was a shipwreck nearby we could swim around and explore. And I was super proud of the boys here. Neither had really snorkeled before and they were both very into it, swimming out with me to pretty deep water and exploring the shipwreck.
When we got back on the boat, Steven and Lex had prepared a conch ceviche from the conch we had just pulled up from the water and served it with some crackers and fruit. And Doritos. On the advice of the captain, we scooped our conch with the Doritos rather than the crackers. It was def a good call. Fresh out of the ocean, the conch was sweet and fresh.
We then headed back out to sea to head to our next destination.
We landed on from what I could gather was the far side of Little Water Cay, also known as Iguana Island. The guys gave us some fruit and let us go explore and feed the iguanas on our own. And we definitely saw some iguanas.
Over the other side, as we made our way through the vegetation, we came upon this shallow lagoon.
And as we were playing around in the lagoon, this guy came up on the beach. He obviously got word we had fruit. Big mouths, those iguanas.
We then walked back over to the boat, grabbed a few beers and waters and just chilled on the beach. And it literally felt like we were the only people in the world right there. Hashtag blessed.
Then it was time to jump on the boat and head back to Beaches. I was kind of bummed we didn’t get to take advantage of the slide and the diving board but this tour was still completely worth it. It’s pricey, no doubt but when you have a larger group like we did, it made sense compared to some of the other options we had. Highly recommend. But that could be the rum talking. But eh, most of what I say could be the rum talking.
After we got off our boat, as we were heading back to our room, we ran into the super nice Shubert family again and stopped to take their picture and give their daughters a couple of sand dollars. Sand dollar dollar bill y’all. Is that right?
Did I use that right?
Then it was off to change for dinner. And remember back in my Day 1 post, I mentioned the whole wine debacle? Well as you might also remember, we did save most of the wine we brought. And one bottle in particular was an important one – a rather pricey bottle of Cakebread Cabernet we were saving for a special toast to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary, the grandparents’ 20th wedding anniversary, and the fact that we could all be together in this perfect place.
So we grabbed the bottle for tonight as the grandparents were leaving tonight AND we had a nice dinner planned. I brought the bottle down to the Turtles bar in the lobby for them to uncork it and spread it out amongst 6 glasses. Nickie and I handed out the glasses and we did a quick toast before heading across the street to Kimono’s in the French Village.
As we walked with our Cabernet in hand and our children, friends, and family in tow, I had yet another moment when I couldn’t believe how lucky and blessed I am to have the life I have. It was a pretty perfect moment.
We arrived at Kimono’s a few minutes later and both Nickie and as I was checking in, both Nickie and I had the same idea to request a specific chef, Cookie. Wait, let me back up a minute…
For those that don’t know, Kimono’s is a Japanese Hibachi style restaurant at Beaches. Located in the French Village, this place gets very mixed reactions in the research we had done before the trip. Some say it’s their favorite place there and others say its way overrated. Regardless, it is the only restaurant on property that requires a reservation. I think I mentioned we made our reservation for this night on our arrival day. If you come, I highly recommend you do the same.
We had also learned in our research that if you are to visit Kimono’s, you should request Cookie if you get a chance. He is hailed as the most entertaining chef there. And he definitely did not disappoint but honestly, all the chefs we saw at other tables seemed like a lot of fun too.
So we settled into our table along with a mom and her two boys – who were also into everything there so it was a very fun table. The atmosphere all over the restaurant was super lively. The music immediately had the kids using their chopsticks as drumsticks and you kind of knew tonight was gonna kick all kinds of butt.
We ordered some drinks. Mai Tais, beers…and Tony and I ordered our first sake bomb of the night. Yeah, I said first. It was THAT kind of night.
And then Cookie came. And shizz got real.
Cookie for sure LOVES his job. Seriously, I can’t say enough about him. He involved all the kids…dancing with Mia…
…And Myles. Who may literally be the most embarrassed kid on the planet on any other day. But here, he totally got into it.
And he brought Owen up to help cook for a little while. Please pay no attention to the annoying laughter. I don’t know who that is ok fine it’s actually me. I mean did you see the size of those glasses. Who would wear such a glasses?
And in what is probably the cutest moment of the trip, he serenaded Mia during the meal. Heart=melting.
He was really awesome. Hm, yeah remember when I said all the chefs seemed great? Yeah, they did. But Cookie was outstanding. Although his aim could use a little work. Myles was the only one that caught a piece of chicken. And that just ain’t right.
Yeah well but Wayne – what about the food?
Man, relax. I was just getting to that. Yeesh. Pushy pushy.
The food was really good, I thought. The shrimp was probably the high point of all the meats served but honestly, I liked all of it. The chicken, the steak, the vegetables, and rice all worked really well together. We have done Hibachi up around here and it was pretty similar to what you would expect at most of those types of places.
Parent-tested, Myles-approved.
After dinner, the grandparents took off and we walked over to check out the Italian bar with the Falzones for a little bit. Yeah all of us….
A little bit about the main outside bar in the Italian Village. It’s a really cool layout right next to the pool…very pretty. And they serve drinks. So it has all the makings of a good bar.
But I will say it often felt like we were in, I don’t know…the bad part of town when we were there? Like everyone was smoking, swearing, super drunk. It felt like the seediest place in the whole resort. Beaches’ own Regal Beagle.
Yeah, like that. I mean, we still brought our kids there. So. When in Rome, right?
After hanging out for a drink, I brought the boys over to the XBOX lounge and met the rest of the crew in the French Village. Tony and I ducked into the bar at Chateau de Paris and grabbed a scotch. We came out of the bar and met back up with the Shubert family again, catching up on what we had all been doing that day. I love all-inclusives on account of making new friends.
By then, it was getting late so we went to grab the boys at the XBOX lounge and got to meet the famous Emmanuel, who had been playing A LOT of NBA 2K with Owen. Emmanuel and Claude were the big stars of Owen’s vacation for sure – we can’t thank them both enough for spending so much time with Owen. He really enjoyed playing with them…and beating them at NBA 2K. We heard about this a lot.
Claude was off tonight, but you guys will meet him soon. Here are a couple pics of Owen and his new bestie, Emmanuel.
Whoosh, that was a jam-packed day….hope you all enjoyed it! Catch you on Day 5.
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