da Conch Shack

On our final complete day while on Provo, we decided to travel to an area that is more representative of local life than the resorts. We traveled to the Blue Hill area and had a wonderful time.

We travelled by local taxi (jitney), to Blue Hill from the Comfort Suites. We had a Haitian driver by the name of Charles that was very nice and accommodating. We drove to a seaside restaurant for lunch, "DA Conch Shack". The guys that perform this type service are not sanctioned by the resorts, so, you must hail them on your own account by roadside. In fact, locals that work in the resorts will not encourage travel by this method.

My impression of this is that the cab drivers that are sanctioned by the resorts have some type agreement with the resorts and the jitney drivers do not. The fact remains, that as an individual on vacation, I have the right to make decisions as to who I will support for the things I desire. The main reason I can see for the extreme cab fares of the resort sanctioned taxis is that the cab drivers charge an unrealistic fee for the services. If the resort will only support their sanctioned cabs, the competition is eliminated and they are raping tourists in cab fares on Provo. It is the old story of the captive audience not having a choice. Any tourist traveling in the islands can make decisions for what they need and shouldn't be subjected to that type fare manipulation.

The very things the island resorts discourage are the things we want to experience. Therefore, on our final day we traveled and lived island style. An example of the rip off practiced by the resorts is this: A resort sanctioned taxi will charge tourists $13.00/individual for service. The jitney driver will only charge $5.00/individual for the same service to the same location.

To provide an example of how less expensive island life is, the following account is provided. We bought lunch for the day, had 3 Red Stripe, and brought lunch back to the hotel for a total cost of $53.00. The round trip cost of transportation was only $20.00 for the two of us. We also stopped at the IGA supermarket and the driver didn't charge extra for that service. The resort sanctioned taxi would have charged us $52.00 for the service and the extra stop would have required us to pay an additional $26.00 for stopping because he would have terminated the trip and restarted it when we came out of the store.

When we were at "DA Conch Shack", we learned a lesson on sustainable resources in the islands. Conch are grown another area of the island. "DA Conch Shack" buys a specific number of the animals and stores them in control pens in the ocean next to the restaurant. The control pens don't allow the animals freedom of movement. The restaurant has a diver with a small boat that gets the animals to the harvesters awaiting on the beach. The harvesters remove the animal from its shell, cleans it, and delivers the conch to the restaurant fresh. There are no needs to have frozen conch on the island.

Countess had a lesson in conch harvesting while were awaiting our lunch. This was a wonderful experience.

The Resorts of Grace Bay

Comfort Suites is not the only hotel on Grace Bay. Directly across from Ports of Call is The Seven Stars Resort. This is a resort development that is set up for investment purposes. It appears that real estate development is the biggest promotion on the island. On most islands of the Caribbean, tourism is the prime market driver. On Provo, the preference is real estate development and it is obvious from the many developments that are in continuos process.

The Ports of Call Shopping Center

The Ports of Call is located directly across from The Comfort Suites Inn. This is the location of Dive Provo, Calico Jacks Resturant, Jimmy's Dive Bar, and ice cream shop, a convenience store and a few other shops that one may find necessary on a vacation such as this.

The Caribbean Delight Garden Resturant

We had lunch nearly every day at this resturant. It had a very fine representation of local food. This is one of the things we really enjoy when visiting Caribbean Islands.

The Gardens of Comfort Suites

These images are of the gardens of Comfort Suites Inn.

Comfort Suites and The Caribbean Delight Resturant

These images were collected in and around Comfort Suites Inn. It includes images of the bar, gardens, pool, our room, and the shopping mall across from Comfort Suites.

Dive Day One Narrative

This is the first day of diving with Dive Provo. The experience was normal as compared to Caribbean diving operations are defined. In that regard, the service was excellent and all of the expected protocol was delivered.

We travelled to Blue Bay and dove two tanks. The ride out and back was 1 hour each way. That was OK as the quality of the experience made up for the long boat rides. I didn't have a partner assigned, so, I followed the dive leader and that was fine.

I was more than impressed with the health of the coral system. The animal life was definitely above expectations. We encountered the normal distribution of life. Above that, we also encountered rays, nurse sharks, horseyed jacks, and baracudda. This was very impressive for the first day of diving. The size and health of these animals was very impressive. At one point a school of 30 jacks cruised by prior to our safety stop on the first dive.

The only deficiency noted for Dive Provo is the lack of maintenance for the travel van. On the return, the van didn't make it home. The engine failed at least 2 times and the driver waited a few minutes. The engine restarted the first time, however, the second time was unsuccesful. The shop sent a rescue van in less than 10 minutes and that was impressive. The problem we encountered were related to trash in the fuel distribution system.

I spent the afternoon with the bar at Comfort Suites. They have 2 for 1 drinks from 17:30 to 19:30 daily. The bar tender has established a large gathering of locals during that time. It appears to me that they are cab drivers that hang out at the hotel daily. There is a lot of emotion in interactions between the bar tender and the cab drivers. The topic of debate for the week is politically oriented. It is election time and that always provides for much debate as well as entertainment.

Countess and I decided to walk along the beach at Grace Bay this evening. There is a large number of resorts that line the beach at Grace Bay. We followed the shoreline and came upon a resturant that was serving dinner for the evening. Although it doesn't appear to have a large occupancy, the resurant at Grace Bay Club has an excellent offering of grilled snapper. I had the snapper and Countess had the tropical fruit plate with grilled spinach. We had three drinks and the meal at a cost of $78.00.

Provo, Turks and Caicos

Boarding from New Orleans to Caribbean destinations is usually an unpleasant experience for me. Today was the exception as there were fewer problems associated with the airline check in. The TSA checkpoint was even more delightful than the check in. The entire process required less than thirty minutes from arrival to seating in the gate area. The ease of this experience is directly related to our arrival time of 04:30 for a 05:30 boarding time.

As trouble free as our departure from New Orleans was, disappointment became reality in Miami. We were originally scheduled for departure from Miami to Provo @ 09:50. It is currently 11:15 and there is no indication of when we will be departing.

At last, we pushed away from the gate @ 12:50 Miami time. Three hours waiting at the gate was not an amusing experience in this particular case. We didn't gety a clear understanding of the problem. It was more frustrating watching the maintenance team work on the left engine of the aircraft from the view of the departure gate.

We arrived on Provo @ 14:15. It was a smooth flight from Miami and everyone was happy to finally get here.

This is "What It's All About"

I met several families that had been displaced as result of the storm. Each member of those displaced families that I met defined their resolve to return to mid-city. That return is stronger than before and one family mentioned that Katrina allowed them to opportunity to appreciate New Orleans and mid-city more as a result. Several families moved away as result of the storm and some resettled in Jefferson Parish. Gradually, these families have returned to their family homes and are rebuilding with more zeal for the home than ever. This festival is a celebration of that effort and the love that it's inhabitants have for it. All neighborhoods have their defining character, Mid-City has its definition as well. It is my personal belief that New Orleans will certainly be different from what we knew it to be. That which will never change is the character of the neighborhoods and the love that we have for New Orleans. I am convinced that is the resolve of the homeowners, local merchants and the musical artists of the city that will provide for it's success.

This is what I'm talking about

Now here is another reason many guys are attracted to New Orleans.