Chilling on the beach, Colada smoothies and crazy amounts of conch...and it's only day 4!

                             

We had planned to go kayaking on day 4 but when we woke up the wind was pretty crazy and it would have made for quite hard work to kayak across the channel, not that you would know it from the pictures of the crazy calm water above! so we opted for a beach day instead, which pleased Jade greatly as it meant Sunny was allowed to come too!

Jade is very well travelled...we made her list today, 34 countries and counting! so for her to say that Provo has the best beaches she has ever seen is a pretty big compliment! in the picture above though it's not hard to see why!

Bang on with our colour co-ordination again! those who've travelled with Jade before will know that posing for this shot was a bit nerve wracking for Jay-dee as it involved climbing over rocks!

Jade's been taking plenty of 'family pics' of the 3 of us while she has been here...

and of course she's been getting involved too! Sunny is one adored potcake! or cake pot as Jade would say!

Jade was so impressed with her first patty she tried the other day that she requested more of them for lunch! This time we went to Chinson's and persuaded Jade to get a chicken loaf instead...and to try some coco bread - both are amazing! and it was nice to sit outside, listen to some Bob and chow down.

Jade's first experience with a drive through atm!

and her first experience with a smoothie from froots! We both opted for the pina colada - and wow I forgot how good those smoothies are, it had been far too long! 

We whizzed back to Pelican Beach in time to catch the Sunset...

that is pure delight on Jade's face right there!

I promise this picture is not fake...it looks like it is but it's just because the colours were so crazy vivid and we managed to catch a particularly amazing sunset that night! 

We ended the night at Da Conch Shack.  Jade was having trouble deciding so she went for the conch combo platter...a great intro to all things conch!

We took a walk on the beach whilst waiting for our food, and were amazed to discover all the conch shells in the sea! 

and here is the pile of discarded conch shells after the conch has been removed...check out the awesome pink colour on the inside of the shell! 

It was a great night...great food, great company, great atmosphere! 

and Jade has definitely become a conch convert! 

Scuba, Sunbathing and Sunsets at Chinson's...and it's only Day 3!

So today Jay-dee got to put into practice her newly learnt skills and go on her very first dive...ever, and what better place to do your first dive then here in Providenciales!

We took a 45 minute boat ride out to the dive site at North West Point. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the water was clear and it was the perfect day to see some fish!

By and Jade got suited and booted, and then it was time to jump off the boat!

After a few last minute nerves and a slight panic on the surface after Jade's weight belt fell off, she made her way down to 60 ft and was diving like a pro in no time.

Here are the triumphant divers after their 1st dive, they saw alot of tropical fish but not too much else so they were ready and eager to take on the 2nd one!

The 2nd one proved much more fruitful, and they saw a pretty big barracuda (which Jade is still seeing when she closes her eyes days later!) it gave her quite a scare! along with a reef shark, an enormous lobster, a turtle and a sting ray.

As they made their way back to the boat, the captain told me to throw some pringles out in Jade's direction.  The fish would eagerly swim to the surface to eat them up, and she would get to see them up close! Unfortunately as I threw the pringles in Jade's direction the wind blew and they went in the opposite direction ending up right on top of Byron.  The next minute a whole group of 10 or so snapper fish were surrounding him gobbling up the pringles and one over zealous snapper ended up flapping around in his face! It was pretty hilarious, and I was laughing so hard I forgot I had the camera in my hand so I'm afraid I didn't get to capture it! but if you look closely in the pic above (which I took straight after) you can still see some of the snapper lurking behind him! 

Everyone was all smiles after the 2nd dive, and after eating some cupcakes! it was time to just soak up the sun on the boat ride back to the marina...

...and what a boat ride it was! 

Here we are with Bridget, Jade's dive instructor and our friend from church.

After the diving fun was over we went up Harbour View Drive which is a great little lookout point and By snapped this pic of us and the crazy turquoise ocean behind us! 

We also got a good view of the marina where we had set out from on the dive boat.

We headed back to Emerald Beach (our local) to soak up some sun before dinner time.  Jade was amazed at the conch that you can just find randomly on the beach! 

and we spent a couple of hours working on our tans...

and it seems Jade's 'photographing Sunny obsession' is rubbing off on me too and I couldn't help but snap away as he wondered around...

...he's actually getting pretty good at posing for me now! Check out that cutie pie!

As it was Friday night, where else does one head but Chinson's, because their Jerk Chicken special is amazingly awesome! The owner happily posed with Jade for a pic as the sun was setting in the background, and we tried to restrain ourselves on the drive home from not eating it all up but it was hard because it smelt sooo good!

So it was a day of firsts all round and Jade's experience with Jerk Chicken was definitely a good one! and is sure to be just as memorable as her first scuba dive too!!

Tracking down the pirates, Taylor Bay and Taco Tastiness...and it's only Day 2!

Another fun filled day here in Providenciales! We went to Pirate's Cove in the morning and Jade was quite the adventurer scaling the top of the cliff until she found the ladder that led down to this amazing view.

We also saw four sting ray in the super clear water, here is one we managed to take a snap of before it got camera shy.

Sunny was pretty pleased that he could join in the day's excursion...thanks to his new biggest fan - Jay-dee!  She even wanted to take him to dinner with us!

Then we headed to one of my fave beaches on the Island, Taylor Bay, and we were greeted with that super clear aqua water...it never disappoints.  How funny it was to think that only 2 days earlier Jade was  trudging through a snowy New Jersey and now here she was basking in the sunshine and the warm Provo waters!

We played a spot of frisbee in the shallow waters while Sunny topped up his tan.

We were quite amazed that despite being thousands of miles apart we had managed to colour co-ordinate our toe nails perfectly!

We had a late afternoon ice cream snack at Giggles, and bought Sunny a snazzy new snoopy collar that he is showcasing in the pic above.  We were chilling at the marina here whilst Jade was practicing her scuba skills in the pool all ready for her first time dive experience! 

After an action packed day we headed to Somewhere, our fave Mexican restaurant on the beach.  We were loving these brightly coloured tortillas and salsa we had to start, and even better was the cool little lounge chairs we got to chill in on the upper deck of the terrace.

Our fruit punches were pretty impressive too, and Jade and By went for their infamous fish tacos whilst I got the beast of a burrito in the middle of the pic below!

We had the best night feasting down on our tasty food accompanied by some local island tunes that were being played live, all the while sitting under the stars and listening to the waves of the water below.  Day 2 was good to us.

Cupcakes, Coral and Chicken 'n' Ribs...and it's only Day 1!!

Jade is finally here!!! She arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon and after picking me up from work we headed straight for Coral Gardens.  This was Jade's first glimpse of the amazing beaches here on Provo and she was pretty impressed! 

So we wasted no time and got on with some snorkelling, we saw a baby baracuda, parrot fish, puffer fish, a pretty big snapper and even a lionfish.  It wasn't a bad day at sea!  

We went home to get changed and ready for dinner and Jade gave me this amazing array of cupcakes she had brought me at 'Crumbs' cupcakery in New York!!!!!!!! I was beyond excited! This is why she is my best friend! She knows me too well! Not only did she bring me cupcakes but also a ton of my fave English chocolate and baking supplies! She is the best!

It was happy sunny times with our cupcakes! 

The problem was which one to choose because they all looked amazing and I could have happily scoffed the whole lot! but I settled on a mint choc one...best cupcake ever!!! They were seriously the best I had ever tasted!

Even Sunny wanted to get invovled! 

We ended the night at Tiki Hut for their Chicken 'n' Ribs special! Jade was particularly impressed with the ribs and enjoyed the setting right on the Marina.  Of course after that it was home to eat more and more of those yummy cupcakes and catch up on all the goss!

It was a great first day! and we're so excited to have Jade here and hope the next 5 days go super slow so we can enjoy every minute of her trip!