Last Day on Grand Turk

This morning was busy. We had planned on having everything done with nothing left but to get into a truck and get to the cruise center. We were up at 7:00. I thought we were all packed up. But I was not. Still loose ends. A couple things to drop off at the Harrison’s house. A couple more files to get squared away. I still had a closet full of clothes. Final goodbye with Denzel our neighbor. I had one minor meltdown trying to keep Davis on task.

We hoped to get to the cruise center by 9:00 and have breakfast aboard the Destiny. I think we left for the museum to drop off keys and say goodbye to Maya by about 10:00. Saying goodbye has been harder than I thought it would. I gave a quick hug to Joseph. He is already busy working for someone else.

We have been praying that Tropical Storm Danniel would stay far north. My worst fear was that the ship would be cancelled today. No. Even early, while we were still at the house, we saw cruise passengers riding scooters and golf carts down by us. Our ship was injavascript:void(0).

We were able to pull the truck all the way down the pier to the ship. We came with 25 suitcases. We left with 22.

“Is this all for four people,” asked the security guy.

“Well, we have been here for a while,” I said.

It took a while to get unloaded, get on board, get into the room, and get the truck back off the pier. As an extra vote of friendship, the cruise center invited us to ride the Flowrider one last time. We made the 12:30 excursion time. We had a great fun last hour and a half at the cruise center, got on board at 2:00, and sailed away into the sunset.

Lucas, Davis and I all got haircuts. It has been a few months and Deneen said we were starting to look a little “castaway.” We just finished dinner. Davis is running around with an unbelievably cute young lady. We are now far from Grand Turk. And not just by distance.

Last Evenings with Friends, Tuesday

On Tuesday it took most of the day to load our stuff into the shipping crates and get everything packed into suitcases. With everything in order, we left our “north bound” goods with Tropical Shipping. By late afternoon we had cleaned out the house, got the hurricane shutters out of the attic, and gave a few more things away to friends.

On Tuesday night we had dinner at the Bohio with the management of the Carnival Cruise Center. Another great dinner with people who have become pretty good friends. The visit was nice. I appreciate the help and support the cruise center has given to me and the museum, especially with our Children’s Program. I also appreciate being appreciated, and this dinner was meaningful. We were able to make arrangements for our departure on the Carnival Destiny on Wednesday.

After dinner I had to run over to the museum to complete some last minute filing and get some emails out. Joseph and Kenlove showed up and we had a spontaneous for-old-times-sake hang out party. Though this one became a little tearful and extremely sad. With all of the work to leave and the transition of museum staffing, it has been very hard to say goodbye to some of the people that have been the most important.

Tuesday night we sat in the museum house. It no longer looks like our house. Don’t get me wrong. We have left it fully furnished. But all of the things that made it ours are gone. We hooked the computer up to the TV and watched a downloaded episode of the Bachelor Pad. By the time it was over, everyone had fallen asleep on the floor. Maybe this seems like a boring last night. But it is fitting. We came as a family. We leave as a family. The last two years between have been a little different. But the last night on Grand Turk we spent together. Not happy about going. Not sad about leaving. Just together.

Last Evenings with Friends, Monday

Well, our last two days on Grand Turk were spent in unbelievable stress, and unbelievable relaxation.

Since Friday, I have been trying to get a shipment of our goods out of Grand Turk and into the states. In one word, paperwork. In another word, packing and building shipping crates. We only shipped two crates back. It is stuff we thought was important, but its probably all junk.

On Monday, I finally connected with a US customs broker and began our US paperwork. Monday late afternoon I actually gave my last tour of the museum. Dan from Blue Water Divers has never been through the museum. On the dive boat Sunday he asked if I would give him a tour before I left. I said it was getting down to it and he better get there quick.

It wound up being pretty cool. Dan and Amber brought a couple people. Joan and Hedley showed up. I made Deneen and the boys do the tour as well. I think there were twelve of us. Joan, who has had the Chinese restaurant, is leaving Grand Turk at the end of the month, this may have been the first time she has been to the museum. I did a tour of the museum and a behind the scenes tour of the lab.

We ran over to the Bohio for sunset. Deneen and the boys have been hanging out there for a lot of the last two months. We had to settle our account. It was crazy. If this is any indication, one evening a couple weeks ago Davis bought five cokes while he was swimming in the pool. The Bohio has been our resort away from home. Not the least of which, it has been an incredible place to shore dive. I think we did shore dives five weekends in a row there in July and August.

On Monday night we ate dinner with Dan and Amber at the beach bar on Mitch’s house. This was a great evening with some great people that I have really liked. Mitch and Audrey were there. We had a few really nice steaks left in the freezer. Dan scored a bunch of lobster. Grand Turk is a crazy place. You can’t get a cup of good coffee, but you can eat lobster until you are sick. A good dinner turned into great stories and a lovely evening.

Last Dive

Today, Lucas, Davis and I did our last two dives on Grand Turk. We went out on a Blue Water Divers boat with Dan. As these were our last dives, he let Davis choose our two dives sites.

Davis has been talking about diving the Amazing Abyss for weeks. We did this dive first. This dive site is the farthest dive site south of Grand Turk. About half way to Salt Cay. The site is very lush with lots of soft coral. As we came over the wall, we dropped down the wall and could see a large ledge below. Lucas and I dove to about 110 feet and looked at an 19th century anchor stuck in the side of the coral wall. Dan dropped to 135' and killed the largest lionfish that I have seen on Grand Turk. I killed a lion fish at about 90 feet.

We took the fish home and cleaned it. The large one measured 15 1/2 inches. The other two lionfish in this picture are really big lionfish. Thats how big the big lionfish is. Its huge. These are probably the last lionfish that I will clean on Grand Turk.

Last Children's Club

On Saturday, we held the final Children's Club day of the summer. This was our long anticipated trip to Gibbs Cay.

Gibbs Cay is a small cay off the east side of Grand Turk. It is where the "swim with the stingrays" excursion takes place. When stingrays here boat motors, they swim up to the beach and hang out. When we got the boat up to the beach you could see a half dozen small stingrays swimming around. We got the kids unloaded and in the water. This was a great day for many of the kids this was the closest they had ever been to large marine life.

Today was no exception, as far as adventures go for me. When the kids came out of the water for snack I swam over to the reefs that were off to out south. A very large stingray was sitting under one of the reefs, he was probably four feet across. HE saw me came up and then came up to where I was swimming. I think he was expecting me to feed him. He swam beside me for several minutes and let me touch him. By the time I got back to the beach, it was just about time to go back to Grand Turk.

Last Tour

This evening I did my last behind the scenes tour. Laura and Camerron are diving all weekend with Blue Water and they set up a private tour of the Molasses Reef Wreck and the Conservation Labs. One of the things that I have always thought was missing on Grand Turk was some kind of visitor services bureau or something. A couple years ago, right before the hurricane, I met two divers at the museum. It was their first day on Grand Turk. I told them of three events that were going on during the week and told them they needed to eat at the Osprey on Sunday night where Mitch would be playing. I saw them at all three events and had dinner with them on Sunday. When they left they came to tell me that this was one of the best vacations that they have ever had and that Grand Turk was an amazing place.

The next day I met three divers at the museum. It was their last day on Grand Turk. They said the diving was great, but that there was nothing else to do and they just stayed in their hotel the whole week. They hated Grand Turk.

Ever since that day I have tried to go out of my way...

Anyway, I took Laura and Camerron up to the Bohio after their tour. The Bohio has the best chef on the island. They had dinner. They also did not have a car. I ran back, picked them up, and took them back to their hotel. It's Friday night. They need to go to the Saltraker to see Mitch play. Thats where everyone will be. But I went ahead and gave them a heads up on a couple guys they were going to run into. Like always.

Visitor services engagement. That has become my expertise. I have gotten very good at it, just as I have one more weekend on Grand Turk.

Oh, it is also Deneen and my 22nd anniversary.

Ok, This is Crazy

When we were shark diving the other day Jesse was telling a story about a guy who caught a 6 foot tiger shark on the north reef of Grand Turk.

Well, he came by the museum today. This was Amdeep, he has been in the TCI for the last two years completing a turtle study. In April he was out with a local fisherman catching and tagging turtles. They came across and began following a tiger shark in shallow water. Amdeep thought he saw a large hook in the fin, so they decided to catch it.

The tiger shark is a very aggressive and very dangerous type of shark. It is what you are suppose to stay away from. Amdeep showed me several pictures. They followed the shark. Caught the shark by the tail. Roped the shark. Brought the shark up on the boat. And then took off what was an ID Tag. The shark had been tagged in Bimini, Bahamas. The tag assumed that the shark had been caught and killed. But no, Amdeep actually caught it alive. They removed the tag and sent it back to the organization that tagged it. Then stuck a turtle tag back in the fin and let it go.

Now that is crazy!