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Music Boat 2012 -Day 3

Today we touched land!
And although it started to rain just a tiny but last night, the skies were clear in Grand Turk!

We booked an off-shore excursion before leaving Ottawa, the 10-day forcast the week before we left predicted thundershowers all week on the island but we prayed... and was it ever beautiful! We docked along white sands and blue seas.
Our excursion was scuba diving on the West side of the island and the famous "Wall" (a renowned diving spot where the reef drops from 30 feet to 7,000 feet – needless to say, our "beginners scuba diving lesson" didn't take us down the Wall, just around the edge of it. Grand Turk, the Capitol of Turks and Caicos is an island oly 7 miles by 2 miles with no property tax, no crime, and church every day. Our diving instructors (see photo) were two young guys with loads of experience. They were excellent teachers and were very pleased with how clear the visibility of the water was considering the storm only several days before.
After our AMAZING dive (I'm very proud of my parents for taking on such an adventure), we stopped at a local bar that was part of an inn called "Manta House" owned by 2 Canadian (Toronto) women and ate grilled grouper and cracked conch (conch is very popular on the island, shells everywhere). The cracked conch is prepared like lightly fried calamari. The take the muscle-like meat out of the shell and beat it and tenderize it then flash—fry it. Yummy!
After a bit of shopping and walking along the beach by the pier, we were back on the ship in time for dinner and a show.
Royal Tailor and Peter Furler. Let me just say, if you ever get a chance to see Royal Tailor live... GO! These young guys are full of energy, amazing musicianship, and Torin moves like a young Michael Jackson. They played a few songs from their 2012 Grammy nominated album "Black & White" and blew the audience away.
Peter Furler surprised fans by appearing on stage with a guitar and tiny little practice amp. He performed an acoustic version of his solo songs but the best part, was when he invited Phil Joel on stage to join him on some Newsboys classics (starting with Entertaining Angles). A real blast from the past for Newsboys fans! I could have guessed that the two of them being on the same ship and the Newsboys being there, there would be SOME sort of collaboration.
It was a great day, and we hit our staterooms early for bed.Our day in Grand Turk wasn't nearly ling enough... and tomorrow's our last day :(

photos:

breakfast before our day ashore
two Carnival cruise ships at the same pier
scuba diving
cracked conch
Peter Furler  Phil Joel

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