Times of the Islands Summer 2024

TIMES 

SAMPLING THE SOUL OF THE TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS SUMMER 2024 NO. 147 

OF THE 

ISLANDS 

COOL DONKEYS 

Fine art in Grand Turk 

DOLPHINS TO THE RESCUE 

Survivors at sea

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contents 

Departments 

6 From the Editor 

21 Looking Back 

Hurricanes Making History 

By Bengt Soderqvist 

26 Creature Feature 

Masters of Change: Peacock Flounders 

By Kelly Currington 

62 Resort Report 

Designed to Be Different: 

Ocean Breeze Resort, North Caicos 

By Jody Rathgeb ~ Photos By Tom Rathgeb 

77 About the Islands/TCI Map 

81 Subscription Form 

82 Classified Ads 

Features 

38 When Art is Joy 

The making of a fine arts gallery— 

Grand Turk style 

Story & Photos By Titus de Boer 

44 Heroic Rescue at Sea 

Dolphins lead boat to plane crash survivors 

By Ben Stubenberg 

54 “Burnt at Sea” 

The story behind the inscription on 

West Harbour Bluff 

By Jeff Dodge 

Green Pages 

32 One Fragment at a Time 

Restoring TCI reefs 

By Kort Alexander and Kara Rumage 

TIMES 

OF THE 

ISLANDS 

SAMPLING THE SOUL OF THE TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS SUMMER 2024 NO. 147 

On the Cover 

Aysha Stephen is Grand Turk’s newest artistic sensation, 

renowned for her iconic “Cool Donkeys” paintings. 

Aysha’s love of art started at Richmond Hill Prep Primary 

School in Providenciales. She started painting in 2013, 

professionally since 2016, “doing what I love and bringing 

happy art to others.” Her creations are quite the hit 

with visitors to TDB Fine Arts Gallery. It recently opened 

within the Turks & Caicos National Museum on Grand 

Turk and is dedicated to showcasing art “Made in TCI.” 

To read more, go to page 38. 

68 

Astrolabe 

68 Caring for the Beasts of Burden 

Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue 

Story & Photos By Mark S. and Amy Meyers 

72 Run Aground 

Shipwrecks of the Turks Islands (1500–1800) 

By James Jenney 

MARK S. MEYERS 

4 www.timespub.tc

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This playful dolphin is likely “Dreamer,” thought to be the offspring of JoJo, Providenciales’ iconic Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. His playful 

antics and natural joy are truly “pure, lovely, and admirable.” 

Excellent and Worthy of Praise 

It’s been an unsettling Spring, with the cases of tourists arrested for having ammunition in their luggage initially 

drawing negative international attention, bomb threats, a dismaying shark attack, rainstorms bringing out the worse 

in the roads around Providenciales, too much construction, and election fever starting. Whew! 

But as usual, I find the perfect antidote in Scripture: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, 

and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8) 

This issue is full of such subjects, starting with Ben Stubenberg’s masterfully told tale of a rescue at sea spearheaded 

by a group of heroes from Grand Turk and a pod of dolphins. It reminds us that doing the right thing and Providence 

often work together to make miracles happen. The concept is mirrored in the story of how Titus de Boer started his 

new fine arts gallery in Grand Turk and the local artists who are filling its walls with treasures. 

Speaking of admirable feats, don’t miss Bengt Soderqvist’s recounting of the 1945 Hurricane that swept Gus 

Lightbourne and crew out to sea for 13 days and their memorable return home to Blue Hills 47 days later. 

Climate change continues to rear its head in the Islands. “Excellent” is the work done by a group of caring, commited 

folks to help save and restore the beautiful reefs, “One Fragment at a Time.” 

I am always so grateful to our contributors, who are certainly “worthy of praise” for reminding us of things that 

are “true, honorable, and right.” Thank you for your reminders of all that is good. 

Kathy Borsuk, Editor 

timespub@tciway.tc • (649) 431-4788 

6 www.timespub.tc

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Experience Turks & Caicos dedicated to 

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As the Destination Management and Marketing 

Organisation (DMMO) of the Turks & Caicos Islands, 

Experience Turks & Caicos is poised to lead the country 

into a new era of tourism excellence. By focusing on sustainable 

tourism development, community engagement 

across the Islands, data collection, and product enhancement, 

the organisation is committed to building a vibrant 

and resilient tourism industry that benefits visitors and 

residents. Our strategic plans will ensure that the TCI 

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beauty, rich cultural heritage, and unforgettable 

experiences. 

Established in June 2023, Experience Turks & Caicos 

is a public/private partnership based on three key pillars—Sustainable 

Development, Inclusive Growth, and 

Competitiveness. Through Sustainable Development, 

Experience Turks & Caicos will ensure the protection and 

enhancement of all tourism assets and benefits. Based 

on this pillar, we will establish national and international 

partnerships to encourage the private, public, and civil 

sectors to work together to make the tourism industry 

more sustainable and beneficial to all. 

As we market the TCI as a multi-island destination, 

Experience Turks & Caicos is seeking to ensure that all 

communities benefit from the tourism industry. Inclusive 

Growth speaks to that mission. Tourism is the main 

industry, the lifeblood and heartbeat of this country. As 

we invite visitors to explore our Islands, we are expanding, 

improving, and diversifying our products to reap 

maximum spend and improve the livelihoods of all. 

While the Turks & Caicos is one of the top premier 

luxury destinations in the Caribbean, we cannot rest on 

our laurels. Staying competitive requires us to collaborate 

and seek partnerships with stakeholders to ensure the 

product we offer remains at a quality one for the affluent, 

high-end market we target. Our Competitiveness is 

a key pillar to the survival and continued success of our 

tourism industry. 

To stay true to these pillars, here are some initiatives 

that Experience Turks & Caicos will undergo this year. 

• “Rooted in Community, Growing Together” This local 

campaign is designed to foster and develop a close relationship 

between the DMMO and communities around the 

country. The campaign will include school visits, revival 

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and artisans, and the celebration of national 

heroes. 

• Community Connect Meetings Experience Turks & 

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islands as well with tourism stakeholders. The meetings 

aim to educate everyone about the organisation, its plans, 

and to understand the needs of the tourism stakeholders 

and where we can provide support. 

• Exquisite Turks & Caicos Through our Strategic 

Development Unit, we are seeking to develop immersive 

experiences for our visitors. We will be working with businesses 

in the tourism sector to enhance their offerings 

through grants up to $5,000. 

• Product Development From hashtag signs and the 

enhancement of trails to the creation of new products 

and the promotion of the weekly Fish Fry, we will be working 

closely with communities and stakeholders to ensure 

there are products to draw visitors around the Islands. 

• Collaboration with Stakeholders Forging strategic 

partnerships with airlines, travel agents, tour operators, 

and international tourism organisations will expand reach 

and attract more visitors. By working together with industry 

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and best practices, ensuring that strategies remain relevant 

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• Event Sponsorship To strengthen our relationship 

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TIMES 

OF THE 

ISLANDS 

CLEAR | MOVE | FORWARD 

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Kort Alexander, Titus de Boer, Kathy Borsuk, 

Kelly Currington, Jeff Dodge, James Jenney, Mark S. and 

Amy Meyers, Jody Rathgeb, Kara Rumage, 

Bengt Soderqvist, Ben Stubenberg, Lisa Talbot. 

. 

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS 

Kort Alexander, Titus de Boer, Kelly Currington, 

Anthony Forbes—Triple A Event Photography, Heidi 

Hertler, iStock Photography, Dr. Donald H. Keith, Morgan 

Luker, Mark S. and Amy Meyers, Michael Morton, Ellington 

Osborne, Tom Rathgeb, Shutterstock, Jason Soderqvist, 

Lisa Talbot, Charlie Todd. 

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS 

Gideon Jacques Denny, Richard McGhie, 

Aysha Stephen, TCI Government Archives, 

Wavey Line Publishing. 

PRINTING 

PF Solutions, Miami, FL 

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20 www.timespub.tc

looking back 

From September 12–18, 1945, “Hurricane #9” traveled from The Bahamas into Florida and the US East Coast as the second Category Four 

storm of the season. This is the storm that swept Gus Lightbourne and his crew away from Providenciales and stranded them at sea for 13 

days. After it passed over the Turks & Caicos Islands, it pounded the Florida coastline as shown above. 

SHUTTERSTOCK—THE EVERETT COLLECTION 

Hurricanes Making History 

How Providenciales’ historical hurricanes made their mark. 

By Bengt Soderqvist 

After Hurricane Dorian devastated the northern Bahamas in 2019 there was a lot of speculation about 

what would happen to Providenciales if a similar hurricane would hit here. Dorian was very strong and 

moved slowly across the northern Bahamas, which created an enormous storm surge. We have been very 

fortunate on Providenciales. Not since Hurricane Donna in 1960 have any of the hurricanes built up any 

significant storm surge. In trying to imagine what damage a hurricane with storm surge would do to 

Providenciales today, we can learn from history. 

Times of the Islands Summer 2024 21

When Hurricane Donna hit in September 1960 there 

was no development in the low-lying areas that were 

flooded. From records available online we know that 

Donna passed Providenciales on the north side. The 

records don’t show the width of the eye of the hurricane, 

but very likely Providenciales was in the southern eyewall. 

The front spin must have caused enormous swells to be 

formed on the reef and a lot of water to be pushed inside 

the reef. I recall Frank Forbes and Alfred Stubbs from The 

Bight telling me that some of the water came over the 

dune, but it did not reach the settlement. In 1960, all the 

sandy land in front of The Bight was available to soak up 

water. Most of that area is today covered with buildings 

and paved roads and parking lots. 

As Hurricane Donna moved to the west, the backspin 

pushed water onto the Caicos Bank. As more and 

more water was pushed to the north across the bank, 

it crashed into the southern shore. Where the land was 

low the water was pushed inland. From Five Cay Bay the 

water was pushed north through Cheshire Hall Creek past 

the site of Walkin Marine and into the valley of where 

Kewtown is today.The main footpath between Blue Hills 

and Five Cays was crossing this valley. Charlie Rigby from 

Blue Hills told me that because of the flooding the footpath 

could not be used for six weeks. Charlie also told 

me that “the water in the valley was so deep that we could 

dive for conch.” A storm surge like that today would put 

water on top of the check-out counters in the downtown 

Chris “Fineline” Stubbs shows Bengt Soderqvist the ”Donna Line” still 

visible on Bristol Hill. “Fineline” was part of the original survey team 

in 1966 and enjoyed returning to the scene 57 years later! 

grocery store. 

For my early survey work I used aerial photos that 

were taken in the spring of 1961, about six months 

after Hurricane Donna. In the photos a white line 

could be clearly seen along the southern shoreline of 

Providenciales. The line showed the scar in the rocky terrain 

that the top of Donna’s tidal wave had created. The 

top of the wave had removed the loose rocks and the 

white limestone was left bare. 

When we did survey work in the area in late 1966, the 

scars were still clearly visible. The guys on my survey 

team named it the “Donna Line.’’ The highest elevation 

JASON SODERQVIST 

TCI GOVERNMENT ARCHIVES 

These segments are part of an old map drawn from aerial photos taken in the spring of 1961. “Donna Cut” had been created about six months 

earlier and the storm surge from Hurricane Donna flushed out the sand and silt from the gap between Water Cay and Pine Cay. Notice the 

name “Done Bobbin Point” at the southern tip of Little Water Cay. 

22 www.timespub.tc

of the tidal wave was somewhere in the Bristol Point area 

in Turtle Tail at an elevation of +16 feet. 

In the southern part of Long Bay, close to the shipyard, 

the “Donna Line” was partway up the dune. In the northern 

part, Stubbs Cove, where the dune is lower, the water 

had pushed far inland. The people in The Bight told me 

that the water remained there for a long time. A storm 

surge like that today would make The Shore Club look 

like a lighthouse sitting in the ocean. 

To the east of Providenciales, there used to be a large 

island named Water Cay. After Hurricane Donna, we had 

Water Cay, Donna Cut, and Little Water Cay—Donna made 

two islands of the old Water Cay. When I first arrived in 

the fall of 1966, the water was still deep enough that 

we could pass through Donna Cut with a regular outboard 

engine, but Mother Nature had started the repair 

work. There were sandbars growing south from Water 

Cay and north from Little Water Cay. Sometime in the 

1990s the two sandbars met and the two islands were 

joined together again. Donna Cut had become Half Moon 

Bay. In 1966 most people named Little Water Cay “Done 

Bobbin.” In rough weather, once you enter the Leeward 

Channel the water gets calm and you are “done bobbin’.” 

I love those old names. I doubt there is any other place in 

the world where you can sail past Done Bobbin and head 

for Heaving Down Rock. Further to the north, Hurricane 

Donna also opened up the gap between Water Cay and 

Pine Cay, but it only took a few years before the two 

islands grew back together again. 

I am fortunate to have in my possession a complete 

set of H.E. Sadler’s original books, Turks Islands Landfall, 

signed by the author. About Hurricane Donna Sadler says, 

“ . . . but there was fortunately no loss of life. However, 

the main force of the storm was directed against the 

Caicos settlements, where approximately half the population 

was made homeless. Tidal waves (sic) submerged 

large sections of the Caicos Islands and a new mouth was 

carved out of the west coastline at Bottle Creek, while the 

settlement of Whitby was isolated by a lake of seawater.” 

Sadler’s original books are out of print, but his daughter 

Marjorie has published an updated edition which also 

includes all of her father’s original volumes. It’s available 

in bookstores and makes excellent historical reading. 

A different hurricane that also had a lot of impact on 

Providenciales was the Hurricane of 1945. Hurricanes 

were not given names in those days. I had heard different 

stories about how Gus Lightbourne and his crew were 

lost at sea for several days before they eventually wound 

up in The Bahamas. After Gus retired and before his pass- 

ing in 2005 he spent a lot of time alone in his house in 

Wheeland. I stopped by and visited him a few times and 

we used to talk about the good old days. During one of 

my visits, he told me about the 1945 Hurricane. I did not 

record our conversation, but I made some notes. Gus’ 

recollection matches the information that can be found 

online, where the hurricane is named “Number 9.” 

This map of “Donna Cut” is drawn from 1969 photos. It shows in yellow 

how the sandbars had formed, but that you could still navigate 

through the cut. 

This February 1969 aerial photo shows that by 1969 Water Cay and 

Pine Cay were already joined together again. 

TCI GOVERNMENT ARCHIVES 


PHOTO COURTESY TANYA LIGHTBOURNE 

Gus was 24 years old at this time and he had a 

sloop that was built by James Dean. The James Dean 

that I have known for several years was his son, had 

the same name, and was also a boat builder. In addition 

to Gus there were four more men from Blue Hills 

on board. Those were Livingston Swann,Thomas Palmer, 

his brother Joseph “Boy” Palmer, and Hovis Rigby. In the 

evening of Thursday, September 13 they were anchored 

at Frenchman Creek together with several other sloops. 

Frenchman Creek is on the west coast of Providenciales, 

just north of West Harbor Bluff, which some people call 

“Split Rock.” The sloops were all planning to sail to Haiti 

in the morning. During the night the wind started to pick 

up. When Gus described how the condition got worse, he 

mentioned the word “brinestone” a few times. I assume 

that he meant that they could smell the salt in the air 

as the storm was approaching. A couple of hours before 

daybreak on Friday, September 14, the bowsprit, where 

the anchor line was fastened, broke off and they started 

drifting. The track of the hurricane shows that it crossed 

West Caicos, so they were now very likely in the northern 

eyewall of a strong Category 3 hurricane, which increased 

to a Category 4 the next day. 

In 1945, Gus Lightbourne would have been 24 years old. In this photo, 

he may be at least 10 years older. 

At this time they made the decision that probably 

saved their lives. Gus did not tell me who came up with the 

idea. He just said, “We decided to chop off the mast and 

make a sea anchor.” Dragging the sail and the choppedoff 

mast behind them helped stabilize the boat somewhat 

and kept them from capsizing. About six weeks later, 

they learned that all the other sloops had capsized and 

everybody had drowned. 

There are a lot of coral heads in this area and it’s a 

miracle that they reached deep water without the boat 

being broken up. Gus told me that they “hit hard one 

time,” but the boat did not spring a leak. Later on during 

that day, Gus said that it suddenly got very calm. They 

were now, of course, in the eye of the storm. After the 

eye had passed on its westerly track they got hit by the 

backspin of the storm and were thrown to the north. The 

northerly drift continued until Wednesday, September 19 

before the sea finally calmed down. Gus said that the 

swells were still big, but the waves were not breaking 

any longer. Using the stump of the cut-off mast they 

managed to rig up a small sail. They knew that they had 

drifted far to the north, so they started sailing south in 

hope of finding land. 

The following day, Thursday, September 20, using 

part of the sail they managed to collect some rainwater 

to drink. It still took several days of sailing to the 

south before they finally spotted land. During the moonlit 

night of Sunday, September 23, they could suddenly 

hear and see a reef breaking in front of them. Behind the 

reef was the dark silhouette of an island that had some 

hills. Gus said that it almost looked like Providenciales, 

but they soon realized that it must be Samana Cay in The 

Bahamas. They were now sailing to the west, staying way 

off the breakers on the reef. After clearing Samana Cay 

they continued on a southerly course till they reached 

Bird Rock, which is off the northwest point of Crooked 

Island. 

After rounding Bird Rock they sailed south along the 

west coast of Crooked Island until they made landfall on 

Long Cay, where it was a large settlement in those days. 

It was now Thursday, September 27—finally safe after 13 

days at sea. 

Gus said that the people on Long Cay took good care 

of them. They spent the next few days recovering from 

the ordeal, then started the repair work on the boat. It 

took quite a while to get the boat refitted and back in 

shape, so it was not until the end of October before they 

reached back to Providenciales. Gus figured that they had 

been away 46 or 47 days. 

24 www.timespub.tc

Bengt Soderqvist and his son Lars plotted a possible route that Gus Lightbourne and his crew took during their 13-day ordeal during and 

after the Hurricane of 1945. They explain, “We know where they started and we know where they ended up. We also know that they were in 

the eye of the storm in the middle of the day on September 14. We also know that it took them four days to sail from Samana Cay to Long Cay. 

They had been sailing to the south for four days before they reached Samana Cay, so we used the same distance to determine the furthest 

point to the north that they had drifted.” 

During their stay on Long Cay a yacht had stopped by 

on its way from Florida to the lower Caribbean. The yacht 

was planning on a fuel stop in Grand Turk and had promised 

to deliver the news about the survivors. The message 

was more like a rumor by the time it reached Blue Hills, so 

nobody knew for sure that the five of them had survived 

until they stepped ashore on the beach on that happy, 

memorable day in Blue Hills. 

The following quotes from H.E. Sadler’s book Turks 

Islands Landfall shows how devastating the 1945 

Hurricane was: 

er-related articles for Times of the Islands. He also keeps 

current his Facebook page Turks and Caicos Islands 

Weather Info with local forecasts and information. 

“All told, 79 people were drowned and 2 lost their lives 

on land. The loss of life was particularly severe in the 

Blue Hills area, where a quarter of the male population 

between the ages of 15 and 69 were drowned while out 

fishing on the Caicos bank.” 

“There was scarcely a house which escaped damage. 

The number completely destroyed or damaged beyond 

repair were as follows: 

Grand Turk 152 

Cockburn Harbour 80 

Salt Cay 18 

The problem in Providenciales was particularly difficult, 

as many of the men were drowned.” a 

The author wishes to thank meteorologist Paul Wilkerson 

for reviewing the article. Paul occasionally writes weath- 


JOHN A. ANDERSON—SHUTTERSTOCK

creature feature 

Opposite page: The first time the author encountered a swimming flounder, it reminded her of a magic carpet moving across the reef. 

Above: This pair of male and female flounders are likely initiating a mating dance. 

HEILO JETZKOWITZ—SHUTTERSTOCK 

Masters of Change 

Getting to know the Peacock flounder. 

By Kelly Currington 

I’m pretty confident in saying that most of us have seen “The Little Mermaid” movie and probably fell in 

love with Ariel’s adorable little sidekick, Flounder. Though not actually a flounder fish, he wiggled his 

way right into people’s hearts and became a household name, so much so, that people often associate 

the word “flounder” with this animated character. 


Though not as plump or as traditionally “cute” as 

Ariel’s flounder, the Peacock founder (Bothus Iunatus: 

Genius Bothidae) is a beautiful and unique creature with 

just as big a personality—you just have to take the time 

to get to know them. 

Whether snorkeling or diving in the stunning waters of 

the Turks & Caicos Islands, you have undoubtedly passed 

right over this obscure fish and never knew it, as they are 

masters of disguise. You think you see movement in the 

sand out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn 

to look, you see nothing more than sand—but there is 

something there, invisible in plain sight. 

tive of this species. Peacock flounders’ eyes are on the 

left side, which is more brightly colored than the right. 

This eye migration is a crucial adaptation of nature 

that is necessary for their survival. Flounder lay buried 

in the sand, hiding from predators and hunting potential 

prey, so if their eyes were on opposite sides of their head 

they would have a limited range of vision, leaving them 

vulnerable to predators and it would diminish their ability 

to hunt effectively. 

Their coloration is also different from larvae to adulthood, 

as the pigment cells (larval melanophores) which 

are located on both sides of the body in low abundance, 

KELLY CURRINGTON 

For the Peacock flounder, camouflage means survival, and they have the ability to blend into their background in less than eight seconds. 

Flounder are distinctly identifiable by their flatness 

and shape of their bodies—lending to their other known 

name of flatfish—and having both eyes on one side of 

their bodies. Amazingly, these pronounced physical characteristics 

are not present at birth, but instead develop 

over the course of three growth stages: egg, larval, and 

adulthood. 

They start life with one eye on each side of their head 

just like most fish, but then something straight out of a 

science-fiction movie happens as they mature from larvae 

to adulthood, through a process called metamorphosis. 

One eye literally migrates to the other side of the fish’s 

head through a slit formed during separation of the dorsal 

fin from the cranium, resulting in both eyes being 

positioned on the same side, which renders the fish blind 

on the side the eye moved from. This method is distincdisappear 

from the blind side and are only present on 

the side with the eyes. Other changes are also happening 

at this time—their body depth increases, they become 

more rounded in shape, the swim bladder disappears, 

and teeth develop. 

Another interesting tidbit about these flat fish is that 

the pelvic fin on the eye side is longer than the side with 

no eye. Luckily, this asymmetry does not hamper the 

flounder’s mating game. In fact, a male will breed with 

up to eight spotted beauties in his territory year-round. 

The warming and cooling of the sea is what most likely 

controls when spawning happens. The male and female 

flounders approach each other and touch snouts, then 

the female will swim away. If the male follows, the mating 

dance begins. He approaches her from the left side 

and raises his pectoral fin high. She moves her pectoral 

28 www.timespub.tc

This close-up shows how a flounder’s eyes are both on the right side of the body, giving them better vision as they lay buried in sand. 


fin up and down, possibly signaling that she’s ready to 

mate. The male will slide underneath her and they slowly 

rise together off the sea floor to a height of around two 

meters (approximately six and half feet), where the male 

releases his sperm at the same time the female releases 

her large clutch of eggs, creating a cloud of sperm and 

eggs in the water column. This process ensures that the 

highest number of eggs will be fertilized in what is called 

“serial spawning.” 

This process only lasts only about 15 seconds and 

then both fish return to the sea floor where the male will 

“check” the female to ensure her eggs were released. If he 

detects that they were not, he will repeat the dance until 

he is satisfied the spawning was successful. Once he is 

satisfied, the male and female will return to the floor and 

swim away from each other quickly. 

The spawning is intentionally done in the water column 

so that the eggs will be carried by the currents. 

Fertilized eggs float near the surface as they drift, but as 

the embryos develop, the eggs sink. Around fifteen days 

after the mating dance, the hatchlings emerge and float 

in the open ocean for the next four to six months, going 

where the current takes them. This is when the magical 

eye migration happens. 



This male Peacock flounder is raising his pectoral fin, one of the first steps in the mating dance. 

Don’t underestimate this serial lover, the male is also 

a formidable adversary and protects his territory and his 

ladies with an unexpected fierceness, running off any 

other male attempting to play on his turf or woo one of 

his paramours. These females are vital to the longevity of 

the species as they can lay two to three million eggs each 

year, increasing the odds of survival. 

Since camouflage directly contributes to a flounder’s 

survival, nature has equipped them with the ability to 

blend into their background in less than eight seconds 

by changing color to match their immediate environment 

like sand and coral. This enables them to flee from predators 

and hide in plain sight. In one study they were even 

capable of matching a checkerboard pattern. (Can you 

imagine how much fun “hide & seek” would have been 

as kids if we could do this?) There is still a lot that isn’t 

understood about how they control the change, but studies 

have found that it is directly linked to their vision 

and hormones and is controlled through neurotransmitters, 

which send signals that mediate changes in the 

melanophores. Different colors result from different concentrations 

of pigment granules in different areas. 

Though flounder do rely heavily on ambushing their 

prey, they are also active hunters and can swim steadily 

at about 0.37 miles per hour, hitting bursts of nearly 0.5 

miles per hour. That’s pretty quick for a little flat fish. 

Flounder prey mainly on benthic organisms (creatures 

that live on the sea floor) such as small crustaceans like 

shrimp and crabs; fish including anchovies, mullet, and 

menhaden; and invertebrates. 

30 www.timespub.tc

Flounder are mainly solitary creatures, coming 

together to spawn. Individual male and female territories 

differ in size, with males having a larger territory 

and females having more sub-territories within the male’s 

boundaries. Males have a home turf ranging from 50 to 

360 m 2 , and one male’s territory does not overlap another’s. 

The females’ turf ranges from 20 to 50 m 2 . Both 

genders spend their days and nights in different areas. 

Male flounder spend their nights closer to shore, while 

females seek deeper water; both return to their daytime 

territories early in the morning. 

Larger fish like snappers, sharks, and rays are predators 

of flounder. When a perceived threat presents itself, 

flounder dive into the sand and bury themselves in the 

substrate, leaving only their eyes exposed, or change 

their color to perfectly match coral they may be on. Since 

each eye can move independently of the other, they have 

a clear view of the world above them and will only reappear 

when the threat has been eliminated. They can sense 

movement and vibrations in the water through their lateral 

line. This allows them to “feel” the water and know if 

it’s safe to emerge. 

It’s estimated that these fish can live up to ten years. 

They can be found in very shallow waters, literally skimming 

the shoreline, to as deep as 80 meters (262 feet), 

so whether snorkeling off the beach or diving on the 

reef, you are likely to enter flounder territory. This is one 

reason to be aware and careful where you walk in the 

shallows and where your fins are when diving. 

Flounder move through the water with grace and elegance, 

their bodies flowing over the floor with absolute 

precision. The first time I encountered a swimming flounder, 

it reminded me of a little magic carpet and that’s still 

how I describe them. 

When you are lucky enough to be immersed in the 

sea, regardless of the depth, slow down and soak it all in. 

Sharpen your awareness of the creatures that call it home 

and you will open a world seen through the eyes of Ariel. 

Protect and preserve this wonderland! a 

Protecting, Preserving, and 

Restoring the Coral Reefs of the TCI 

Come visit our Coral Growing Facility 

and get your TCRF merchandise! 

Located at South Bank Marina. 

We are open 1-5pm 

Monday - Friday 

Rashguards, Stickers, BCD tags and more! 

All proceeds go to our environmental 

projects in TCI. 

Author Kelly Currington says, “I always turn to the sea 

when my soul needs calming. Being immersed in the 

weightlessness of the underwater world and absorbing 

all the energy that it holds is a healing process for me. 

Learning as much as I can about the creatures I encounter 

connects me to the sea and brings a level of respect 

and an appreciation for them that drives me to be a better 

version of myself. I hope sharing what I learn will do 

the same for others.” 


green pages 

Newsletter of the Department of Environment & Coastal Resources 

Head office: Church Folly, Grand Turk, tel 649 946 2801 • fax 649 946 1895 

• Astwood Street, South Caicos, tel 649 946 3306 • fax 946 3710 

• National Environmental Centre, Lower Bight Road, Providenciales 

Parks Division, tel 649 941 5122 • fax 649 946 4793 

Fisheries Division, tel 649 946 4017 • fax 649 946 4793 

email environment@gov.tc or dema.tci@gmail.com • web https://www.gov.tc/decr/ 

KORT ALEXANDER 

This close-up details a colony of rose coral being grown in the coral lab at the School for Field Studies in South Caicos. 

One Fragment at a Time 

Restoring TCI reefs. 

By Kort Alexander and Kara Rumage, 

The School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos 

We sit on the siderails of the boat in anticipation, hands holding our masks and regulators in place. The 

captain counts down from three and we lean back until our tanks hit the water. We are instantly transported 

to another world. Schools of yellow and blue grunts congregate warily under a nearby ledge while 

silvery barracuda with gaping mouths full of sharp teeth glide by on their morning prowl. An endless 

array of colors flash by as numerous fishes—angelfish, butterflyfish, wrasses, jacks, parrotfish, tangs, 

snappers, just to name a few—go about their daily lives. 

32 www.timespub.tc

green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources 

A large colony of elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) grows on the reef near South Caicos. 

At the center of all this activity are corals and the that form giant colonies and build hard skeletons of calcium 

carbonate which form the foundations of reefs in 

reefs they create. A thick trunk of deep orange elkhorn 

coral extends from the hard bottom towards the surface, tropical seas worldwide. 

gathering sunlight with branches that resemble open Corals not only provide shelter for fish and structure 

for habitat, but also serve as the basis of energy 

hands (hence elkhorn’s scientific name, Acropora palmata). 

Other species, including brain corals and boulder for the entire ecosystem. Using tiny tentacles, coral 

star corals, dot the reef with a dazzling variety of textures polyps ensnare and feed on plankton floating through the 

and patterns. 

water, but they get most of their energy from microscopic 

algae called zooxanthellae that live inside their cells. The 

The power of polyps 

zooxanthellae use sunlight to make food through photosynthesis 

and share the energy that they produce with 

Although they are immobile and might seem more like 

plants, corals are actually animals, most closely related the coral polyp in exchange for shelter. This energy then 

to jellyfish and anemones. They are made of thousands gets passed up the food web through animals that feed 

of tiny individuals called polyps, mere millimeters in size, on coral, forming the basis of one of the most biodiverse 

HEIDI HERTLER 



HEIDI HERTLER 

ecosystems on the planet. 

Coral reefs, including those in 

the Turks & Caicos, provide economic 

value through coastal protection, 

fisheries, and tourism. Reefs absorb 

some of the impact of ocean waves, 

protecting the coastline from being 

damaged and eroded, especially 

during intense storms and hurricanes. 

Coral reefs form protective 

barriers that enclose lagoons, providing 

nursery habitats and feeding 

grounds for fish and other organisms 

that serve as a primary source of protein 

in many tropical countries. Many 

of these countries also have tour- 

From top: School for Field Studies research assistant Miranda Williams checks on coral fragments, 

with bleached Orbicella annularis coral nearby. Ocean temperatures reached record 

heights in 2023, causing widespread coral bleaching. 

School for Field Studies students Adriana Yeo and Claudia Buckenmeyer maintain coral nursery 

structures and promote coral growth by removing algae. 

ism-based economies, which rely on 

coral reefs to draw visitors. Estimates 

of the total economic value of coral 

reefs worldwide vary but are in the 

range of tens of billions of dollars 

every year. 

Corals in crisis 

Sadly, coral reefs are now facing several 

threats to their existence. As 

global temperatures rise, marine heat 

waves have become more frequent 

and severe. In the summer of 2023, 

the Caribbean experienced record 

ocean temperatures, with a buoy off 

the Florida coast reading a stunning 

temperature of 101.1°F (38.39°C) 

in July. As a result, reefs across the 

region, including here in the Turks & 

Caicos, experienced a mass bleaching 

event. Bleaching occurs when corals 

become heat-stressed and expel the 

zooxanthellae that live inside their 

tissues. Without their zooxanthellae, 

corals lose their vibrant coloring 

and main source of energy. Bleached 

corals are likely to die unless water 

temperatures drop immediately. 

The threat of bleaching is coinciding 

with existing coral stressors like 

overfishing, disease, and pollution. 

In 2008, elkhorn and staghorn corals 

around South Caicos were ravaged 

by white band disease, and in 2019 

stony corals in TCI were devastated 

by stony coral tissue loss disease 

(SCLTD), resulting in a 62% loss of 

coral coverage on reefs around South 

Caicos. While these diseases are no 

longer prevalent in TCI, they have 

exacerbated the threat now posed by 

bleaching. Unless these challenges 

are addressed, many corals could 

soon be driven to extinction, spelling 

disaster for the communities that 

depend on them. 

34 www.timespub.tc


Reef revival 

Luckily, there are steps we can take to help the corals. 

To restore and build more resilient reefs, coral nurseries 

have been established in recent years on reefs around 

the world. Small pieces of coral colonies are taken from 

a healthy reef and attached to underwater nursery structures, 

which provide more ideal conditions for corals to 

grow. Once these coral fragments reach a certain size, 

they can be returned to the reef in a process called outplanting. 

Outplanted fragments then grow into full-size 

colonies themselves, providing more habitat for fish and 

improving the overall health of the reef. 

In 2023, the South Caicos Coral Reef Consortium 

(SCCRC) was established as a collaboration among stakeholders—the 

School for Field Studies (SFS), Salterra Resort 

and Spa, the Turks & Caicos Reef Fund, and The Reef 

Institute—with the common goal of supporting South 

Caicos reef recovery. To accomplish this goal, SFS has 

led the construction and implementation of several coral 

nurseries. In the spring of 2023, coral nursery structures 

were installed at four sites (at two different depth categories) 

around South Caicos, which were selected based 

on accessibility and location, bottom type, and available 

data. Five different structure types were tested to determine 

which was the most cost-effective. A total of 300 

fragments of two coral species—elkhorn and staghorn— 

were attached to the structures. The five types of nursery 

structures include a rope and fishing longline, a PVC tree, 

a PVC rope square, a PVC line square, and cement blocks 

with PVC pipes. 

Beginning in the fall of 2023, SFS students and staff 

have regularly conducted maintenance dives to remove 

algae from the nursery structures and monitor coral 

health. Each coral fragment is photographed to determine 

its growth rate and health. SFS students have found that 

nursery structure type doesn’t seem to impact growth 

rate, but that corals grow faster at the shallow nursery 

sites (10 m), possibly 

because shallower corals have greater access to sunlight 

for photosynthesis. 

Once the coral fragments have grown to a viable size, 

they will be outplanted onto a nearby reef. During the 

fall, SFS students investigated five potential outplanting 

sites, each of which was assessed to determine the size 

and number of resident fish and the diversity of substrate 

for coral to grow on. Shark Alley, one of the five sites, 

From top: A partially bleached fragment of staghorn coral hangs from 

a nursery structure. 

School for Field Studies student Kara Rumage maintains coral fragments 

on a PVC tree structure. 


HEIDI HERTLER 




The Reef Institute and School for Field Studies staff stand in the newly built coral lab at SFS, where corals will be grown for future outplanting 

onto reefs around South Caicos. From left to right: John Caleb Fix, Heidi Hertler, Leneita Fix, Miranda Williams, and Mike Tavares. 

has the most herbivores such as parrotfish. These fish 

play a crucial role on coral reefs by eating algae, which 

compete with coral for space on the reef. However, relative 

to other sites, Shark Alley also had more sand and 

rubble, which are unstable and hard for coral to grow 

on, making it less suitable for outplanting. This example 

demonstrates the many often-contradictory factors that 

go into selecting sites for outplanting. 

In addition to the coral nurseries, other initiatives are 

also underway. With the support of The Reef Institute, 

SFS has designed and constructed a land-based coral laboratory, 

which was finished in late fall 2023. During the 

spring of 2024, the lab was populated with 54 colonies 

representing 13 species of coral, including mustard hill, 

finger, rose, and flower corals collected from local dive 

and snorkel sites. The collected colonies were chosen 

because they were damaged or already detached from the 

reef. The lab environment helps mitigate external stressors 

and gives the corals better conditions in which to 

grow. Lab corals are also being fragmented into smaller 

pieces, which has been shown to dramatically increase 

growth rates. Once healthy, these lab-grown corals will 

be moved to the underwater nurseries and eventually outplanted, 

bolstering local reefs for years to come. 

Back on the reef, we swim through the blue water 

towards one of our nurseries. There, coral fragments 

hang from trees of PVC and lengths of fishing line strung 

between thicker ropes. Many are partially or fully bleached 

after suffering a brutally hot summer, but against all odds 

some still have a vibrant apricot color. In these tiny fragments, 

swinging gently with the ocean swell, lies the hope 

of a reef restored to its full potential, bursting with life 

and able to support a robust economy centered around 

fisheries and tourism. All it takes to make this vision a 

reality is some PVC pipe, a scrub pad, and a little elbow 

grease. a 

The School for Field Studies (SFS) is a US-based, academic 

institution that provides multidisciplinary, field-based 

environmental study abroad opportunities to undergraduate 

university students. Long term data collection by 

staff and students is a crucial element of observing and 

understanding climate impacts, beneficial to stakeholders 

and essential to policy makers. 

To learn more about the SFS TCI program, visit www. 

fieldstudies.org/tci. For detailed article references, contact 

Director Heidi Hertler on South Caicos at hhertler@ 

fieldstudies.org. 

36 www.timespub.tc

38 www.timespub.tc

feature 

These “scenes from South” display the pristine seas surrounding the island and the fishermen and boaters who daily ply the waters. 

Opposite page: The “Caicos Chronicles” series by Middle Caicos artist Dwight Outten is hugely popular. He is currently working on a similar 

series for Salt Cay. 

Above: The TDB Fine Arts Gallery is the TCI’s newest art gallery, operated by the country’s longest established art promoter Titus de Boer. 

When Art is Joy 

The making of a fine arts gallery—Grand Turk style. 

Story & Photos By Titus de Boer 

When the unexpected meets artistry, magic happens. Discover how a dreary afternoon in Germany led to 

the birth of a fine arts gallery in the Turks & Caicos Islands, weaving a tale of resilience, creativity, and a 

dash of serendipity. This is the captivating and vibrant journey of TDB Fine Arts, where the echoes of the 

past meet the promise of the future, and every artwork tells a story as colourful as the Islands themselves. 


The beginnings—Bamboo Gallery 

On a grey, cold, and rainy afternoon in January 1990, I 

found myself amidst the familiar landscapes of Hamburg, 

Germany—my birth city. Only a month prior, I had relocated 

to the Turks & Caicos Islands. I had found a place 

to live on Providenciales, paid a deposit on a retail space 

for my art gallery, and navigated the labyrinth of bureaucracy 

inherent in an overseas move—establishing a bank 

account and applying for a work permit and business 

license, among other things. This brief return to Germany 

was to tie up loose ends, a seemingly simple task. Yet, 

in those days, the complexities of German bureaucracy 

made those of TCI appear a walk in the park. Ironically, 

today both have evolved into equally convoluted systems. 

Anyway, this was it. I was leaving Germany for good, after 

11 years, heading back to the region of my childhood. 

On that dreary afternoon, when the phone pierced 

the silence it brought long-distance news from the 

Turks & Caicos Islands. “Titus,” came the voice of the 

local real estate agent, who, in a twist of fate, is now 

the Honourable Premier, “I regret to inform you that your 

business license application has been denied. But don’t 

worry, we’ll resolve this upon your return.” His words lingered 

as I hung up. A few weeks later, I found myself 

The art shows hosted by the Bamboo Gallery in the 1990s became 

synonymous with “must-attend,” showcasing local and quality Haitian 

art. Here, Titus de Boer stands with the late Phillip Outten, one of the 

local artists often showcased at the gallery. 

DENISE DE BOER 

Former Bamboo Gallery artists (from left) Patricia Moore, Dwight Outten, and Pamela Leach, with art promoter Titus de Boer at a recent reunion 

lunch in Providenciales. 

40 www.timespub.tc

sitting in the business licensing office in Providenciales. 

“So, it’s a retail license you were denied?” a friendly and 

sympathetic official questioned. “What exactly is your 

intended business?” After I clarified that a fine arts gallery 

wasn’t akin to a typical retail shop, her gaze lifted, a 

smile curled, and she declared, “Alright, let’s categorise 

this one as miscellaneous.” 

With my “miscellaneous” business license and work 

permit in hand, the Bamboo Gallery threw open its 

doors in April 1990 at The Market Place. The ensuing 

14 years were a symphony of bliss. The art business is 

my confessed love. It intertwined my days with not only 

intriguing, imaginative souls—the artists—but also with 

clients whose penchant for art made them a delight 

to interact with. The art shows hosted by the Bamboo 

Gallery in the 1990s became synonymous with “must-attend,” 

showcasing local and quality Haitian art, and as 

time unfurled, pieces from as far as Africa and South 

America were included. 

Ultimately, my persistent refusal to acknowledge the 

inevitable shift of business activity to the Grace Bay area 

led to the downfall of the Bamboo Gallery. By the time I 

recognised this transition, numerous other galleries had 

emerged, dominating the art scene with their “Grace Bay 

Beachscapes.” A change was imperative and so it was 

time to relinquish the Caicos and venture towards the 

Turks Islands. 

A new chapter—TDB Fine Arts 

In the spring of 2021, during a conversation with a 

friend in the nation’s capital the idea was casually suggested: 

“Why not open an art gallery on Grand Turk?” We 

were exchanging stories about how the pandemic had 

impacted our businesses; for me, the 2020 shutdown had 

been nothing short of devastating. It was time for a fresh 

start and the notion of re-entering the art business had 

been lingering in my mind. Between 2021 and 2023, I 

embarked on a journey to turn this idea into reality. I 

forged relationships with new artists, re-established connections 

with old ones, reached out to collectors and art 

publishers, and scouted for a location for the new gallery. 

By the summer of 2023, I thought that the perfect 

space for a gallery had been found, a spacious gallery 

that could effortlessly host anywhere between 50 to 80 

masterpieces at any given moment. The location, while 

not a masterpiece itself, appeared sufficiently promising 

and so I set my sights on an opening slated for November 

1, 2023. 

But as the legendary John Lennon once quipped, “Life 

Dwight Outten and Titus de Boer share a light moment critiquing the 

artist’s “Caicos Chronicles” series. 

is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” 

And indeed, life had quite the comedic plot twist in store 

for our Grand Turk gallery. Just when we were ready to 

unveil our creation, life chortled and threw us a googly 

(a curveball for non-cricketers) that would make any seasoned 

bowler jealous. Not only had the lease conditions 

for our chosen venue gone from “fair” to “suboptimal,” 

but it turned out that our unit was as mouldy as a fine 

wedge of Roquefort cheese. A quick reality check forced 

us into an artful escape act—we needed a new location, 

and we needed it yesterday. 

When life throws you a googly, staying optimistic 

becomes a challenge. The simple fact was that we found 

ourselves in a situation where we had a collection of 

paintings ready to go on walls but no gallery space to call 

our own. To provide context to those unfamiliar with the 

nation’s capital, retail space isn’t exactly abundant here, 

a fact confirmed by calls to several friends and associates. 

Then one morning as I engaged in a casual conversation 

with an acquaintance in Grand Turk, he turned to me 

and suggested, “Why don’t you consider moving into the 

museum? We have a small space in there that could be 

perfect for showcasing art—though I must warn you it is 


quite petite.” Later that day 

when we viewed the space, 

I finally understood what 

he meant and I couldn’t 

help but be puzzled by his 

suggestion. “Quite petite? 

Try minuscule,” I thought 

to myself as I stood in 

the 116-square-foot former 

foyer of the splendid 

and historically significant 

“Guinep House,” which 

serves as the home of the 

Turks & Caicos National 

Museum. 

It is said that “things 

happen for a reason” and 

it was time to look at all the positives of this move— 

and there were several. For starters, the location and 

the address, Turks & Caicos National Museum, are hard 

to beat, parking is ample, and your footfall is guaranteed. 

As the weeks rolled by, with freshly painted walls 

and carefully selected artwork, I grew increasingly convinced 

that perhaps this was a hidden blessing. When an 

astonishing 45 works of art graced the walls, it became 

abundantly clear that it was indeed a stroke of good fortune 

in disguise. 

As Picasso wisely stated, “Others have seen what is 

and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why 

not.” On December 4, 2023, as dozens of visitors enthusiastically 

appreciated local art and photography adorning 

the walls of Grand Turk’s newest and only fine arts gallery, 

I knew that a new and exciting chapter in Turks & 

Caicos art history had begun. 

Here’s to the Renaissance!— 

The artistic marvel of “Made in the TCI” 

I’ll be perfectly honest, when the TDB Fine Arts Gallery 

opened within the Turks & Caicos National Museum on 

that memorable day in December 2023, I was uncertain 

about what to expect. While many established artists 

from the Bamboo Gallery such as Dwight Outten, Benada 

Oduma, Pamela Leach, and Patricia Moore had joined TDB 

Fine Arts, along with new talents like Grand Turk’s Aysha 

At left (from top): The TDB Fine Arts Gallery has fast become a focal 

point for residents and visitors who like to come in and talk art and 

culture, surrounded by some great art, “Made in the TCI.” 

Grand Turk artist Aysha Stephen creates one of her iconic “Cool 

Donkeys” in the TCI National Museum’s botanical garden. 

“Team TDB Fine Arts” pose outside the Turks & Caicos Islands 

National Museum, the gallery’s new home. 

42 www.timespub.tc

Stephen, I remained uncertain about the reception from 

the buying public. 

Grand Turk differs significantly from Provo, where 

tourists with substantial spending power abound. In contrast, 

Grand Turk attracts a different type of tourist, with 

fewer extravagant spenders, and much of the local business 

relies on cruise ship visitors. I questioned whether 

they would purchase local art from a gallery proudly 

showcasing “Made in the TCI.” Now, after over half a year, 

I can confidently affirm that they indeed do. 

Just as it was years ago in April 1990 when a gallery 

first opened its doors in Providenciales, an island 

with just 4,000 residents and fewer than 50,000 annual 

tourists at the time, TDB Fine Arts isn’t just an art vendor—it’s 

a storyteller. It shares the narrative of the TCI art 

scene—from a former supermarket shelf-stacker turned 

local scene painter, to Grand Turk’s artistic sensation 

Aysha Stephen, renowned for her iconic “Cool Donkeys” 

capturing hearts worldwide, and even a small community 

of artists in Haiti who have finally found a dependable 

outlet for their artistry. This is the vibrant tale of the TCI 

art scene. The term “renaissance” denotes a revival or 

renewed interest in something. Grand Turk, with its newest 

and now sole art gallery, is making such a profound 

impact in the regional art world that it might just be apt 

to declare, “Here’s to the Renaissance!” a 

To learn more, contact Titus at (649) 247-1108, email 

tdbtci@aol.com, or visit www.facebook.com/tdbfinearts. 

At right (from top): A visibly delighted art collector on Grand Turk, Mr. 

Derek Been, holds his latest acquisition, a painting by Dwight Outten. 

Grand Turk artist Aysha Stephen poses with tourists and her latest 

“Cool Donkey” creation. 

Titus de Boer and artist Aysha Stephen welcome students of the Ona 

Glinton Primary School following TDB Fine Arts’ launch of its nationwide 

art lecture tour. 


SHUTTERSTOCK

feature 

Above: Artist Richard McGhie painted this watercolor image to depict the dolphins directing Captain Kell Talbot, Anthony Forbes, and Jervis 

Simmons on the boat I Comin’ Now to find the victims of a plane crash in the seas off Grand Turk. 

Opposite page: After the miraculous rescue, a pod of dolphins gathered around the boat to seemingly celebrate with the survivors. 

RICHARD MCGHIE 

11:00 AM / Grand Turk 

Heroic Rescue at Sea 

Dolphins lead boat to plane crash survivors. 

By Ben Stubenberg 

Most of the morning hours of January 3, 2023 had slipped away with quiet routine at the JAGS McCartney 

International Airport when Air Traffic Controller (ATC) Danial Thompson arrived for his shift. As he took 

the hand-off from the other ATC who was about to go on lunch break, the tower phone rang. It was Provo 

Approach ATC calling to say that a twin-engine Cessna 340 with four souls heading from St. Kitts to Provo 

reported being low on fuel and might have to make an emergency landing in Grand Turk. Danial quickly 

informed the airport firefighters to prepare. 

11:18 AM 

A scratchy, static-filled voice cut into the Grand Turk air frequency 118.6. “This is Cessna November 824 

Bravo Charlie. We cannot make it.” Danial radioed back, “What is your position?” 

“19 miles southeast of Grand Turk. Going down in the water! Ditching! Going down in the water.” 

Then silence. 


ELLINGTON OSBORNE 

The response 

This was Danial’s first emergency. He had earned his certification 

to manage the tower unsupervised less than two 

months earlier. But he knew what to do and switched to 

the emergency frequency 121.5 in an attempt to reach the 

Cessna or any other aircraft in the air in hopes they might 

get a better signal. One pilot did respond and briefly 

made contact to confirm the Cessna was in trouble and 

ditching. When Danial asked 

her to update, she radioed 

back, “No Joy,” meaning “No 

Contact.” Danial went through 

the emergency notification procedures 

beginning with calling 

back Provo Approach and 911 

to report a downed aircraft and 

the approximate location. 

Danial’s supervisor, Captain 

Irvin “Porky” Robinson and 

the tower technician Gordon 

“Chef-G” Wilson had heard 

the emergency blare over 

the airport intercom alerting 

the fire trucks. They radioed 

back and rushed to the tower. 

Danial told them that the pilot 

reported he was ditching 19 

miles southeast of Grand Turk. Captain Irvin, also a commercial 

pilot, and Gordon went to the map on the wall 

and measured out the distance from the airport to determine 

the approximate location. They didn’t have much 

to go on but used their best judgment to estimate the 

plane’s position 14 nautical miles east-northeast of Salt 

Cay. Irvin and Gordon then marked the spot with an X. 

Meanwhile, the TCI emergency response system went 

into effect with further notifications to the Department of 

Disaster Management and Emergencies (DDME), Ministry 

of Health, the Grand Turk Hospital, the ambulance service, 

the Ministry of Tourism, the TCI Regiment, and the 

Red Cross. Director of Health Disaster, Education and 

Training Charlene Higgs took charge of coordinating the 

government groups. 

The plane crash of the Cessna 340 on January 3, 2023 was first reported to the tower at JAGS 

McCartney International Airport in Grand Turk around 11 AM. 

This is the Cessna 340 that went down off the waters of Grand Turk with four souls aboard. 

An informal response from a network of boaters called 

the Grand Turk Search and Rescue Operation also kicked 

in. Co-founded by Ed Forbes and Hartley “Bonefish” Squire 

four years ago, the association had responded to distress 

calls from hundreds of boaters in the waters off Grand 

Turk and Salt Cay and made a number of rescues. On 

this day, both Ed and Hartley canceled all plans to focus 

on mobilizing their band of 

mariners to assist with the 

search. 

At the same time, the 

TCI Marine Police, whose 

boats in Provo were too 

far from Grand Turk to be 

effective, contacted the 

US Coast Guard Rescue 

Coordination Center in 

Miami to request assistance. 

The US Coast Guard 

forwarded the request to 

the liaison office in the 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

46 www.timespub.tc

Bahamas that diverted two 

US Coast Guard aircraft 

in the air—a twin-engine 

turboprop HC-144 Ocean 

Sentry and a Sikorsky 

MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter—to 

the crash location. 

A US Customs and Border 

Patrol (CBP) Bell 212 helicopter 

also joined in. 

12:00 NOON 

As the emergency 

response was set in 

motion, boat captain 

Kellison “Kell” Talbot, 

owner of Deep Blue 

Charters, was calmly preparing 

his 31-foot boat, I 

Comin’ Now, to take some 

cruise ship visitors to 

This map shows the initial estimate of the crash location, marked with an X (see red circle). 

Gibbs Cay to snorkel with 

the stingrays. For the popular and highly respected boat 

operator, it looked to be another sunny day for an excursion 

until a police car pulled up to the boat ramp near 

Jack’s Shack. The officer stepped out and informed Kell 

that a small plane had gone down in the ocean and asked 

if he would be able to help with the search and rescue. 

12:30 PM 

Text messages about a plane going down in the ocean 

flooded the chat groups and social media with fast and 

fluid speculation. Gordon glanced at his cell phone and 

saw someone’s text stating that Kell had left the dock 

in his boat heading for South Caicos to locate the survivors. 

He and Captain Irvin instantly realized the error 

Without hesitation, Kell agreed and cancelled the 

afternoon tour. Two friends, Anthony Forbes and Jervis 

Simmons, happened to be at the boat ramp with Kell, 

heard the conversation with the police officer, and on the 

spot offered to join the search. Kell knew them as experienced 

and reliable boaters and welcomed their help. 

“So, where did the plane go down?” Kell asked the 

police officer. “Off South Caicos,” she replied. Kell thought 

to himself that this is a huge area to look for a raft or 

someone floating in the ocean. But he finished fueling 

up his boat and set off anyhow, heading west across the 

Turks Channel towards South Caicos in hopes of getting 

lucky. Two other boat captains, Tim Dunn and Ranfurly 

Been, had also received word of the crash. Tim prepped 

his boat, Esmeralda (Emerald Escapes) and quickly found 

two friends, DJ Devano Pierre and Zeus Butterfield, who 

dropped everything to help. Ranfurly, a firefighter on 

Salt Cay who had been in touch with the Grand Turk ATC 

about a possible emergency landing, also readied his 

boat. Fellow firefighter Walrico Hanschell joined him as 

crew. 

and called Kell who had been out for about 20 minutes. 

“You’re going in the wrong direction!” Gordon hollered. 

“The plane ditched northeast of Salt Cay. Stand by. I’ll get 

you the coordinates.” 

Somehow, when the crash information was passed 

down the chain, the location of 19 miles southeast of 

Grand Turk had become garbled or confused. It is not 

unusual for the first report coming in about an emergency 

or crisis to contain errors, especially when there 

are several layers of personnel involved. (The second 

report usually contains the corrections.) There was no 

time to dwell on what may have happened. 

Gordon called Kell back with the coordinates that he 

entered into his GPS and turned the boat heading east. 

From Kell’s position, the crash site was a good 25 miles 

away on a course that would take him along the north 

coast of Salt Cay, south of Cotton Cay, and past Pinzon 

(East) Cay further out into the Atlantic. 

These were familiar waters for all the boat captains 

and the crews, most of who hailed from storied families 


of Salt Cay sailors and had carried on the maritime tradition 

of their forebears. But finding anyone in eight to ten 

foot swells and a howling 25 knot wind would be next to 

impossible, even for the most seasoned mariner. 

The flight 

7:30 AM / Basseterre, St. Kitts 

Earlier that morning Cessna pilot Ellington Osborne 

and Ronny Viquez, a friend and flight instructor, went 

through the preflight checklist together at the Robert L. 

Bradshaw International Airport. Ellington lived in Miami 

where he had established a successful electrical contracting 

and security monitoring company. But St. Kitts 

was where he was born, and this trip had been for a 

Christmas visit back to his home island to reunite with 

relatives and friends. The flight plan he filed would take 

him first to Provo to refuel and then on to Miami. An 

experienced pilot with more than 300 hours of flying time 

in his Cessna, Ellington had flown this route several times 

before and knew it well. 

Joining Ellington and Ronny for the trip was Ellington’s 

brother Lesroy Osborne and niece Valecia Osborne. 

Ronny, who already had 1,800 hours of flight time, sat 

in the right front seat next to Ellington to rack up some 

multi-engine aircraft time. The St. Kitts airport did not 

have aviation fuel, but Ellington had fueled up in Anguilla 

on the way down from Miami ten days earlier and had 

more than enough gas to make it to Provo. But on takeoff, 

the St. Kitts ATC instructed Ellington to climb to 

7,000 ft. heading east, the opposite direction, before 

clearing him to turn northwest toward Puerto Rico. That 

unexpected diversion caused Ellington to use more fuel, 

but he still had plenty in reserve. 

The Cessna’s northwest heading took the four past St. 

Croix and over the mountains of Puerto Rico. The plane 

continued to fly on a heading of 308º above the reefs 

of the Navidad Bank and Silver Bank off the north coast 

of the Dominican Republic toward the Turks & Caicos 

Islands. 

11:15 AM / Southeast of Salt Cay 

While cruising at 16,000 feet, Ellington prepared to activate 

the fuel transfer pump to move gas from one tank to 

another. But the switch failed. After trying several times 

to make it work without success, he radioed Miami Center 

to advise his situation. Concerned about the possibility of 

running out of fuel at a high altitude, he made a judgement 

call to descend to a lower altitude and received 

permission from Miami Center. As he cross-fed fuel 

from one wing to another, he could see that the engines 

continued to burn fuel at a high rate and attempted to 

contact Grand Turk ATC to see if aviation fuel was available. 

However, he was still outside the “cone” of Grand 

Turk air traffic communication. A second plane in the 

air and closer to Grand Turk picked up the message and 

relayed it on. 

At 3,000 ft. the right engine began sputtering. 

Ellington shut it down and feathered the prop by turning 

the sharp edge of the blade so that it cut straight into 

the wind to reduce drag. Flying on just the left engine, 

he hoped to reach Grand Turk. But doubts quickly set in 

when the left engine began running rough before resuming 

power. 

11:30 AM 

At 2,000 feet Ellington realized there was no chance of 

making it to Grand Turk and prepared to ditch in the 

ocean. As he was descending, he finally came within range 

of the Grand Turk ATC and, in a barely audible transmission, 

told Danial they were going down. The pilot in 

the second plane in the air could still hear Ellington over 

the 121.5 emergency frequency and anxiously relayed 

Ellington’s transmission before she too lost contact. 

At 800 feet the left engine sputtered and at 300 feet 

it shut down. Now the plane could only glide. At 200 feet 

Ellington could clearly see the whitecaps below and felt 

the strong wind bulleting the plane. He knew from his 

training that he would have to try to line up the plane 

parallel to the swells to minimize the impact when hitting 

the water. But it was hard to make out the swell direction 

through the sloshing waves. 

Ellington kept the airspeed at 100 MPH before moving 

the wing flaps down to slow the aircraft a further 20 

MPH, close to the stall speed, the point at which the air 

separates from the wing and can no longer fly. At the 

same time, he pressed hard on the right rudder pedal to 

“crab” the plane into the strong crosswind and keep it 

stable while slowing the airspeed a little more. When the 

Cessna was just 20 feet above the water, Ellington pulled 

the yoke back just a bit in an attempt to land with the tail 

first. Strangely, the fear left Ellington as he was literally 

on autopilot and focused on the ditching seconds away. 

Then he shouted, “Brace!” 

The crash 

11:39 AM 

The plane slammed into the ocean and flipped on its side 

with the left wing digging into the water and right wing 

48 www.timespub.tc

sticking up into the air. From his left seat, Ellington saw 

nothing but water pushing against the side window. He 

quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way back 

to the cabin where Valecia and Lesroy were sitting and 

pushed open the door that was still just above the water 

line. As soon as he did, the water began rushing in. Still, 

everyone managed to scrambled out. 

In the chaos, Lesroy’s life jacket did not inflate. So 

while in the water, Ellington and Ronny filled it up by 

blowing air through the extended tubes. Luckily, the 

jacket started inflating automatically. At that point 

Ellington realized that his own life jacket had become 

stuck around his neck and one shoulder. He also saw that 

the raft he had taken out of the plane and inflated had 

somehow blown loose just as the plane was disappearing 

below the surface, all in a matter of minutes. 

Unable to reach the raft floating away, Ellington and 

Ronny tried to hook everyone’s life vests together, a near 

impossible task as one wave after another battered the 

four survivors bobbing helplessly in the water. Lesroy 

began drifting from the group. Ellington tried swimming 

after him, but could not catch up. He swam back to the 

others, his heart filled with agony. All they could do now 

was wait and hope as the chilly water began sapping heat 

from their bodies. 

Ellington apologized for what had happened even 

though he successfully ditched the plane using incredible 

piloting skills that few other pilots would have been 

able to do. That finesse under extreme pressure allowed 

everyone to get out alive and barely scathed. No pilot can 

properly train for that event. Ronny, keeping his cool, 

said to Ellington as the sea tossed them about, “Listen, 

let’s worry about staying alive. We’ll get out of this.” 

Ellington had cheated death in the crash, but the 

prospect of dying continued to stalk the four survivors 

pummeled by waves in a vast ocean. He began talking 

aloud to his mother who had passed away 20 years 

earlier, wondering if he would see her soon. He always 

remembered how she had looked after him as a child and 

asked over and over, “Mom, if you can hear me, can you 

help?” 

12:45 PM 

After drifting for almost an hour in the water, the four 

saw a twin-engine aircraft from the US Coast Guard circling 

high above them that boosted their spirits. After a 

few minutes, it circled back, and they waved frantically, 

but it was too high to see them. 


ANTHONY FORBES—TRIPLE A EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY 

Experienced boatmen (from left) Anthony Forbes, Kell Talbot, and Jervis Simmons return to Grand Turk in Kell’s boat I Comin’ Now following 

the heroic and miraculous rescue. 

1:24 PM 

Almost 45 minutes later a black US Customs and Border 

Patrol helicopter came into view and flew a big circle. 

Once again, they waved their arms in hopes the crew 

would see them, but they didn’t and flew off. 

2:30 PM 

After more than three hours in the water, a US Coast 

Guard helicopter appeared. By now they had swallowed 

so much seawater and sensed their arms and legs going 

numb. Still, they were hopeful, especially as the helicopter 

passed near them. This time they were too exhausted 

to wave. After 45 minutes, the US Coast Guard chopper 

flew away too and despair returned. Life was closing out. 

Suddenly, Ellington told Ronny and Valecia that he 

heard an engine noise, but they didn’t believe him. 

The rescue 

1:30 PM / Southeast of Grand Turk 

It took Kell more than an hour to reach the location based 

on the coordinates provided by Captain Irvin and Gordon. 

Motoring against the current in rough seas forced Kell to 

reduce speed, so the trip took longer than it might have 

on a calm day. When his aptly named vessel, I Comin’ 

Now, finally arrived, the US Coast Guard fixed-wing plane 

and the first helicopter were still in the air circling over 

the area and communicating off and on with Danial at 

the Grand Turk Tower. Tim arrived on the scene a few 

minutes later and spotted Kell’s boat a couple of miles 

off as well as the two aircraft. But shortly after the boats 

arrived, both aircraft left the scene. 

Captains Kell and Tim decided to let the boats drift 

with the current, as it might take them to where any survivors 

might be since they had also likely drifted from 

where the plane had ditched —that is if anyone had survived 

the crash. Ranfury and Walrico also approached the 

scene but conducted their search a couple of miles south. 

All three boats spent two long hours meticulously looking 

for survivors while holding on tight as the swells washed 

over the bows. But they saw no sign of the people or the 

plane. 

50 www.timespub.tc

2:30 PM 

Out of the blue, a US Coast 

Guard helicopter showed 

up and circled around. At 

one point, it appeared to 

drop low and hover just 

a couple of hundred feet 

above the waves. Kell and 

Tim thought for a moment 

that the chopper may 

have spotted someone. 

Tim radioed the helicopter 

several times to find out 

but received no response. 

After about 45 minutes, 

it too departed, unable 

to find anyone, even 

with sophisticated sensor 

equipment onboard. 

3:15 PM 

As daylight was running 

out, Kell noticed mist 

spraying into the air just 

ahead. At first he thought 

it might be a humpback 

whale that had arrived 

early in the season. But the spray turned out to be from 

a dolphin. Soon, two other dolphins appeared off the 

starboard side of the boat moving in the same northerly 

direction. On a whim and out of curiosity, Kell decided to 

follow them and gently nudged the throttle forward out of 

neutral. After a couple of minutes, the dolphins suddenly 

veered right and that’s when Kell, Anthony, and Jervis 

heard a woman scream, “Help, help!” 

In the water just in front of them, they saw Valecia 

and then Ellington and Ronny huddled together. Anthony 

and Jervis threw out a life ring attached to a rope, pulled 

them toward the boat and helped them all onboard. Kell 

hit his GPS to mark the location at N 21°13.644 / W071° 

15.509. That put them 17.5 miles southeast of Grand 

Turk which showed they had drifted about a mile and a 

half northwest from their crash site. 

After the rescue pilot Ellington Osborne and Valecia Osborne were shivering with cold but only suffered 

minor cuts from the crash. 

The three survivors on board were shivering and had 

suffered some cuts from the crash. Jervis brought them 

towels and blankets while Anthony opened a medical kit 

to treat them for cuts. But Ellington waived them off and 

said, “My brother Lesroy is missing. He got loose from us 

and drifted off. We have to find him.” Kell looked around 

from the flybridge and again saw dolphins just ahead. 

This time he knew they were telling him something, and 

he steered the boat in their direction. After following the 

dolphins for a quarter of a mile, Kell spotted Lesroy in his 

life jacket, right where the animals had taken him. 

Anthony and Jervis pulled Lesroy on board too where 

he received big hugs from Ellington, Valecia, and Ronny. 

Suffering from hypothermia after nearly four hours in the 

water, all four survivors were in a daze and needed to 

warm up. For Kell, Anthony, and Jervis, the miraculous 

moment began to sink in. They knew that no one should 

have survived the crash and nor should any of them have 

been found in the rough, chilly sea. Yet here they were, 

face to face with four souls who had somehow defied the 

long odds. They felt a deep sense of satisfaction and were 

keenly aware of the role played by friendly dolphins. 

Indeed, according to the Whale and Dolphin 

Conservation Society, recorded stories of dolphins protecting 

humans date back to ancient Greece. In recent 

decades, there have been several accounts of dolphins 

protecting swimmers and surfers from sharks as well as 

nudging a drowning child back to the safety of a boat. 

ANTHONY FORBES—TRIPLE A EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY 


The return 

3:45 PM 

Kell called his partner Katherine Hart to tell her that he 

and the crew had found all four from the plane alive and 

that they were heading back to Grand Turk. She notified 

the authorities and let the ambulance know the boat 

with survivors was on its way. A few people following the 

unceasing flow of text messages on their phones could 

not believe that all aboard the plane had been rescued. 

It just did not seem possible in the heavy seas and gusty 

winds. 

MORGAN LUKER 

Later in January, Kell Talbot found the Cessna engine cover on Great 

Sand Cay. 

Why they do this remains a bit of a mystery, but researchers 

at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland have 

come up with a theory. Dolphins, it seems, recognize 

themselves in a mirror and this capability, the researchers 

say, “is thought to correlate with higher forms of empathy 

and altruistic behavior.” 

The Turks & Caicos dolphins certainly exhibited that 

wonderful attribute by looking out for humans in distress. 

But they were not yet done. As Kell readied the boat to 

head back, a couple of dozen dolphins swam all around 

the boat. Soon more came into view, undulating through 

the choppy seas in a wondrous display of wild nature. 

No one doubted what they were saying: “Hey, we’re glad 

that you are back with your people.” And then still more 

showed up. Kell estimated that a pod of as many as 100 

dolphins had gathered about. He had only seen that many 

dolphins together twice in all his decades of being on the 

sea off Grand Turk and Salt Cay. And those were just 

pods moving together in search of food. This time, however, 

the dolphins weren’t looking for food. They were 

there to relish the moment too. 

4:15 pm / Grand Turk 

That belief was soon dashed when Kell arrived at the 

dock with four happy but still stunned survivors. People 

stopped whatever they were doing to come and witness 

the extraordinary and unexpected rescue by their island 

boys. One of those on the dock was Dalton Daniel who 

was attached to the Governor’s Office and a marine with 

the TCI Regiment. Dalton took it upon himself to escort 

the ambulance taking the four survivors to the hospital 

to make sure they had whatever they needed. After they 

were treated for minor injuries and released, Dalton took 

them to the Osprey Hotel where the Tourist Board had 

booked them rooms and gave them his own shoes and 

clothes to wear. He also lent them his cell phone so they 

could call their families and let them know they were 

alive. Then-Governor Nigel Dakin called Ellington to see 

how he and the others were doing. 

While finally settling into the hotel room and letting 

the full experience of the ditching pour over him, 

Ellington checked his pockets and was surprised to see 

that he still had his wallet and AMEX card. Although the 

governor and TCI Government had guaranteed hotel 

room costs, Ellington insisted on paying with his credit 

card so as not to be a burden. The heartfelt TCI generosity 

continued the next morning when a local man saw the 

survivors inside the Osprey Hotel café eating breakfast. 

Figuring they had lost everything, the man, whose name 

is not known, pulled $100 from his pocket and pushed it 

into Ellington’s hand so they would have some spending 

money for food and other necessities. 

One thing all the survivors did lose in the plane crash 

was their passports. Ellington’s wife in Miami quickly 

stepped in and located the eAPIS (Electronic Advance 

Passenger Information System) email that Ellington had 

filed before taking off from St. Kitts. The eAPIS listed 

the US citizenship of Ellington, Valecia, and Lesroy and 

noted that Ronny was a Costa Rican citizen on a US stu- 

52 www.timespub.tc

dent visa. She contacted US Immigration authorities who 

quickly accepted the eAPIS as sufficient proof of status 

and authorized entry for all of them into the US without 

documents. The lucky four flew to Provo where they 

caught a plane home to Miami. 

The aftermath 

Later in January, while dropping off Katherine and Morgan 

Luker on Great Sand Cay for a hawksbill turtle nesting 

survey, Kell, accompanied by Anthony and Jervis, noticed 

a hunk of white metal on the beach. On closer inspection, 

he saw that it looked like an engine cover from a plane 

and wondered if it might be from Ellington’s Cessna. He 

lugged the engine cover over the beach and put it on his 

boat. Back in Grand Turk, he called Ellington who asked 

if he could see an “R” on the cowling. Kell did, which confirmed 

that it was in fact from the ditched plane that had 

washed up on the beach. 

That summer, Ellington traveled to Grand Turk with his 

wife and three children so they could meet the Islanders 

who had saved his life and the lives of Ronny, Valecia, 

and Lesroy. The quick actions by those in the tower at 

the airport, the selfless courage and fortitude of those 

who went out on the boats, and unhesitating kindness 

of people on Grand Turk from high level officials to ordinary 

folk touched Ellington deeply. He stated, “No words 

can describe the love and affection I have for the people 

of Grand Turk and Salt Cay who had risked and done so 

much for us.” He had formed an unshakable bond with 

the Islands, and his life would never be the same. 

Wanting to give back, Ellington asked Captain Irvin 

what they needed and was told more cameras and monitors 

for the airport security. Knowing these products well 

from his security and surveillance business, he ordered 16 

of each and shipped them to Grand Turk. He also learned 

that Grand Turk’s H.J. Robinson High School could use 

computers. So he dug into his pocket and raised money 

from his friends in Florida to buy 100 Microsoft Surfaces 

and external keyboards for the school. 

In November 2023, Lesroy received a surprising call 

from the Cayman Islands at his Orlando home. It turns 

out that the briefcase he had left behind in the plane had 

been found on a beach in Grand Cayman. Inside were his 

wallet with ID along with his passport that enabled offcials 

to locate Lesroy in the U.S. and confirm his ownership. 

Astoundingly, the briefcase had floated more than 500 

miles southwest from the crash site, past Great Inagua 

Island, through the Windward Passage between Cuba and 

Haiti, and along the north coast of Jamaica before finally 

washing up on a beach in Cayman. 

The fast and decisive actions and steady demeanor 

of all those involved in the response, as well as the care 

afterwards, cannot be understated. On that day Kell, 

Anthony, and Jervis, along with Tim, DJ, Zeus, Ranfurly, 

and Walrico had done what they and other Turks Islander 

mariners were born to do when the call came—save people 

in trouble on the ocean. Finding Ellington, Valecia, 

Ronny, and Lesroy—barely hanging on that chaotic 

January afternoon—was no fluke. 

Extraordinary seamanship, intuition, and courage 

made it happen—along with uncanny help from a pod of 

caring dolphins who have always had a kindred spirit with 

the sailors of these magical Turks & Caicos Islands. a 

Ben Stubenberg is a regular contributor to Times of 

the Islands and has recently published a book entitled 

The Jamaican Bobsled Captain: Dudley “Tal” Stokes and 

the untold story of suffering, struggle and redemption 

behind Cool Runnings. 

Ben’s articles and commentary on TCI and Caribbean 

history and current events can be found on his website 

BenStubenberg.com. 


DR. DONALD H. KEITH 

54 www.timespub.tc

feature 

Opposite page: This is the inscription “[S]HIP ST. LOUIS BURNT AT SEA 1842” as it appears on West Harbour Bluff in Providenciales. 

Above: The inscription appears on the rocks to the right of the boat. 

CHARLIE TODD 

“Burnt at Sea” 

The story behind the inscription on West Harbour Bluff. 

By Jeff Dodge 

Not long ago, Dr. Donald Keith, a marine archaeologist and Turks & Caicos National Museum board 

member, asked if I might be interested in a research project. The topic was an 1842 inscription on a rock 

outcropping on West Harbour Bluff at the southwest end of Providenciales. As a retired U.S. Navy analyst, 

having worked on Grand Turk in the 1960s, and after reading the inscription, I agreed to undertake the 

project. 


The mysterious inscription 

The inscription in question is: “[S]HIP ST. LOUIS BURNT 

AT SEA 1842.” My objective was to find out more about 

the event recorded on this rock outcropping as well as 

who might have left it there. The chart below depicts the 

location of West Harbour Bluff as well as the dangerous 

waters off the west end of Providenciales and between 

Providenciales and West Caicos. 

The beginning 

On August 17, 1842, the packet ship St. Louis left Boston 

Harbor on a routine voyage to New Orleans. She carried 

a complement of 24 passengers and crew as well as mail 

and a cargo insured for $44,500, including $10,000 in 

gold. 

This chart depicts the location of West Harbour Bluff as well as the dangerous waters off the west end of Providenciales and between 

Providenciales and West Caicos. (Note: water depths are in feet.) 

56 www.timespub.tc

The St. Louis was a packet ship of 426 tons owned by 

John Fairfield, William Lincoln, and Isaac Stevens, et. al. of 

Boston. The St. Louis was built in Medford, Massachusetts 

in 1838 and was one of the Messers. Fairfield & Lincoln’s 

line of New Orleans packet ships. 

In the 18th century, packet ships were typically 

medium sized vessels under contract by the British government 

to carry mail on a regular schedule between 

fixed ports, such as Ireland and her colonies. By the 19th 

century, American packets were carrying passengers and 

cargo in addition to the mail. 

The longest established legal practice 

in the Turks & Caicos Islands 

Real Estate Investments 

& Property Development 

Immigration, Residency 

& Business Licensing 

Company & Commercial Law 

Trusts & Estate Planning 

Banking & Insurance 

This advertisement appeared frequently in the Boston Courier newspaper. 

Orice King was listed as Captain of the St. Louis, however by 

August 1842, if not before, Reuben Eldridge was her Master. 

1 Caribbean Place, P.O. Box 97 

Leeward Highway, Providenciales 

Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI 

Ph: 649 946 4344 • Fax: 649 946 4564 

E-Mail: dempsey@tciway.tc 

Cockburn House, P.O. Box 70 

Market Street, Grand Turk 

Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI 

Ph: 649 946 2245 • Fax: 649 946 2758 

E-Mail: ffdlawco@tciway.tc 

A July 16, 1842 advertisement in a Boston newspaper announced that 

the packet ship St. Louis was loading at Lewis Wharf. Notice the promotion 

for elegantly furnished accommodations. 

Disaster strikes 

Ferdinando de Castillo, a steward from the ship St. Louis, 

reported (after the fact) that on the night of August 29, 

1842 at about 7 PM after passengers and crew had eaten 

dinner and were all on deck, a passenger, aft of the main 

hatch, saw a column of smoke rising from what she 

thought was the ladies’ cabin below. The steward said 

the fire was actually not in the ladies’ cabin, but in the 

hold below it. 

The smoke was so dense in the companionway that 

the crew could not descend below to extinguish the fire. 

That being the case, the crew closed all hatches and covered 

them and the deck with wet sails to try to smother 

the fire below. 

john redmond associates ltd. 

architects & designers 

construction consultants 

project management 

p.o.box 21, providenciales, turks & caicos is. 

tel.: 9464440 cell: 2314569 email: redmond@tciway.tc 


GIDEON JACQUES DENNY 

This oil painting depicts the packet ship St. Louis on fire on August 30, 1842, with the soon-to-be-doomed brig Impulse in the background. 

In the meantime, Captain Reuben Eldridge, master of 

the St. Louis, raised a lantern at half mast to signal distress. 

As the fire intensified, the decks became so hot 

that crew and passengers were forced to abandon the St. 

Louis on her long boat and stern boat. A brig they had 

sighted earlier in the day bore down on the St. Louis and 

took her crew and passengers aboard. 

The ill-fated rescue 

The brig Impulse—Captain William Wallace master—left 

Baltimore on August 13, 1842 heading for Kingston, 

Jamaica. She picked up the crew and passengers from 

the St. Louis early on the morning of the 30th. Both vessels 

were located in the Atlantic between Bermuda and 

the South Carolina coast. At about 5 AM, the masts of the 

burning ship were seen falling—Impulse lost sight of the 

St. Louis a few hours later. By then she had burned to the 

water line. 

At about 9 PM on September 3, four days after rescuing 

passengers and crew from the St. Louis, the Impulse 

wrecked on the Caycas (sic) Reef near the island of 

Providence Caicos (Providenciales). It was reported that 

a hurricane played a part in the incident—perhaps it was 

the storm known as Antje’s Hurricane. It’s not clear if 

Impulse was navigating the Caicos Passage off northwest 

Providenciales or was on a different course when it 

wrecked on a reef. 

A brig wrecked on a reef 

It wasn’t long before a wrecker appeared on the scene 

to salvage the cargo and anything else of value from the 

foundering vessel. This is described in a letter Captain 

Eldridge wrote from Cienfuegos, Cuba to Messrs. Harrod 

& Darling—the New Orleans agents for the St. Louis. 

Cienfuegos, Sept. 20 [1842] 

Messrs. Harrod & Darling: 

I am sorry to say that the good ship St. Louis is no more. We left Boston on 

the 17th Aug., and on the 30th after sundown we found the ship was on fire below. 

We made an effort to put it out, but of no avail; it made such progress that we did 

not save all our things, and some of the passengers only saved what they had on at 

the time. Fortunately for us there was a brig in sight who came to our rescue.— 

She was the brig Impulse, Capt. Wallace [master], from Baltimore bound for 

Jamaica. On Sept. 4th about 9 P.M. she run ashore trying to get through the 

Caycas (sic) passage in the night, and was lost. We then got on board of a wrecker 

belonging to Turks’ Island, and on the 7th started for that place. On the 9th fell 

58 www.timespub.tc

in with the brig Sarah Williams, who took me, my mate, cook and two passengers 

to this place [Cienfuegos, Cuba].— The passengers expect to start to 

Havana tomorrow, on their way to your city [New Orleans]. I did not save 

the ship’s papers nor the letter bag. 

Note: Times and dates reported in newspapers and written 

reports on these events did not always agree. One 

reason was because the chronometer aboard a ship was 

usually set for Greenwich Mean Time, or because the 

author just got his facts wrong. 

Some go to Cuba 

On Sept. 7 a wrecker left Providenciales for Grand Turk 

with the crews and passengers from the Impulse and St. 

Louis. Two days later, the brig Sarah Williams of Boston, 

on her way to Cienfuegos, Cuba, “spoke” (sic) [met] with 

the wrecker and took Captain Eldridge; Felix Whitney, his 

1st officer; Joseph Wells, the cook and two passengers 

aboard. They arrived at Cienfuegos on Sept. 20. 

As Captain Eldridge’s letter states, the two passengers 

that traveled with him to Cuba planned to leave 

Cienfuegos for Havana on Sept. 21. Once in Havana, they 

secured passage on the Schooner Belle for New Orleans— 

they arrived on October 1. 

Captain Eldridge, his 1st officer, and cook left Cuba on 

September 26 aboard the Sarah Williams on her return 

trip to Boston. They arrived in Boston on October 16—21 

days after leaving Cuba. In the meantime, the crew and 

passengers that remained aboard the wrecker reached 

Grand Turk on September 11. The following day, John 

Arthur, the U.S. Consul on Grand Turk, wrote the following 

in his log. 

United States Consulate 

Turks Islands 

William Wallace, Master of the Brig Impulse, noted protest inconsequence of the 

shipwreck and loss of said Brig on a Reef off Providence Caicos on the night of the 

3rd instant [September] in her passage from Baltimore to Jamaica. 

Before me this 12 day of September 1842— 

John Arthur 

U.S. Consul 

Wm Wallace 

[master, brig Impulse] 

That same day John Arthur wrote the following letter 

to the U.S. Secretary of State regarding the brig Impulse 

and the ship St. Louis. 

United States Consulate 

Turks Islands 12th Sept. 1842 

Honorable Daniel Webster 

Sect. Of State of the United States 

Sir, 

I beg leave to inform your Excellency that on the 30th ultimo [August], the 

Brig Impulse of and from Baltimore, Wallace Master, laden with flour, corn etc, 

in her passage to Jamaica spoke [to] the ship St. Louis, Eldridge late Master, 

of and from Boston, laden with an assorted cargo and bound to New Orleans, on 

fire; and the flames increased so rapidly, that the passengers, crew and Master could 

save nothing except what happened to be about their persons and I regret to say, that 

on the night of the third instant [September], the aforesaid Brig Impulse was 

totally lost on a Reef off the Providence Caicos [Providenciales], the Master 

and crew of the Brig together with the crew of the Ship and part of the materials 

saved from the Brig, were brought here on the eleventh and present instant; the 

crew of the ship St. Louis being perfectly destitute: Capt. Eldridge and Mate took 

passage on the Brig Sarah Williams to St. Jago [Santiago] de Cuba. 

I have also to advise your Excellency of the loss of the hurricane Brig Mary 

Silsbee, Soullard (sic) late Master in her passage from Norfolk to Jamaica laden 

with staves, and corn: On the night of the second instant Capt. Soullard (sic) was 

compelled to run her on shore on the N.E. Caicos, in consequence of her leaking 

badly. The Captain, Crew, and a small portion of the materials, have also arrived 

here. 

I have the honor to remain with all due respect Your Excellency’s 

Mo-.obdt-.Servt. [Most obedient servant] 

John Arthur 

On September 15, 1842, five St. Louis crew members 

and three passengers left Grand Turk aboard the 

brig Mary Emily. Sixteen days later they arrived at the 

port of New York. It was standard practice for the U.S. 

Consulate on Grand Turk to assist those persons wrecked 

or stranded on the Turks & Caicos Islands to secure transportation 

back to the U.S. It’s not known when or how 

the captain of the Impulse and the remaining crew and 

passengers returned to America. 

Wrecking 

It is said that 650 to 1,000 vessels have wrecked on the 

reefs around the Turks & Caicos Islands. In 1842, for 

example, at least 16 vessels are known to have wrecked 

there. Hence, salvaging shipwrecked vessels became an 

important enterprise—especially on the Caicos Islands. 

This activity was known as wrecking or wracking and 

those who participated in it were wreckers. 

High elevations such as Blue Hills on the north side of 

Providenciales and Birch’s Lookout were used by wreckers 

as lookout stations where they would watch for ships 

foundering on nearby reefs. Blue Hills became known as 

the wrecking capital of the Caicos Islands. 


Who inscribed the epitaph? 

On September 3 or 4, crew and passengers from the 

Impulse went or were taken to Providenciales by a small 

boat from the Impulse or by a wrecker. It is unclear where 

they were put ashore. The location of the wreck had 

been vaguely described as “Caycas Reef” (sic) by Captain 

Eldridge and as “a reef off Providence Caicos” by the 

U.S. Consul John Arthur. The location of the inscription 

suggests the Impulse wrecked near West Harbour Bluff. 

Another theory suggests someone from the St. Louis went 

to West Harbour Bluff and chiseled the inscription because 

he could see the wreck of the Impulse from there. 

Since wreckers typically operated from small sloops, 

it is unlikely that one would conduct salvage operations 

with the addition of 28 or more people from the Impulse 

on board. The crew and passengers from the St. Louis and 

Impulse would have remained on Providenciales until they 

left for Grand Turk aboard a wrecker on September 7, 

giving someone from the St. Louis plenty of time to chisel 

“SHIP ST. LOUIS BURNT AT SEA IN 1842” on a rock on West 

Harbour Bluff. Of course, it’s possible that someone from 

the wrecker or a local resident carved the inscription. In 

spite of all that has been uncovered while researching 

this story, the answer to who authored the inscription 

remains a mystery. 

Protecting the historic site 

The entirety of West Harbour Bluff is within the 

Frenchman’s Creek and Pigeon Pond Nature Reserve 

Sloops such as this were used by wreckers to salvage vessels wrecked 

on the reefs around the Turks & Caicos Islands. Note that they were 

too small to take aboard an additional 28+ people from the St. Louis 

and Impulse. 

established by the Turks & Caicos National Trust. The 

Trust was established in 1992 to protect and safeguard 

the cultural, natural, and historical sites on the Turks & 

Caicos Islands. 

In addition to Frenchman’s Creek and Pigeon Pond 

Nature Reserve, other protected areas include several 

18th century Loyalist plantations, the caves on Middle 

Caicos, Bird Rock Point, Heaving Down Rock, Little Water 

Cay, and others. Damaging or removing natural and historical 

features or objects from these sites is prohibited. 

Deterioration and damage observed 

Unfortunately, over the years the inscriptions on West 

Harbour Bluff have shown signs of deterioration and dam- 

CHARLIE TODD 

The is a view of the West Harbour Bluff area looking to the east. The “St. Louis” inscription can be found to the left of the cove. The area is 

protected within the Frenchman’s Creek and Pigeon Pond Nature Reserve. 

60 www.timespub.tc

TMW2022.qxp_Layout 1 3/2/22 3:41 PM Page 1 

TRUST INTEGRITY 

EXPERIENCE 

Serving international & domestic clients 

in real estate, property development, mortgages, 

corporate matters, commercial matters, 

immigration, and more. 

TWA MARCELIN WOLF 

ATTORNEYS AT LAW SINCE 1982 

TELEPHONE 649.946.4261 | TMW@TMWLAW.TC 

WWW.TWAMARCELINWOLF.COM 

CHARLIE TODD 

This aerial shot looks down on the popular “Split Rock” formation that 

is part of West Harbour Bluff, which itself is part of the Frenchman’s 

Creek Nature Reserve. The area is frequented by pelicans, osprey, 

and herons. 

age—the missing letter “S” in “SHIP” and the presence of 

graffiti are examples. Since these rock formations are 

composed of calcium carbonate or limestone, depending 

on their age, they are soft and the inscriptions on them 

are susceptible to damage by both weather and sightseers. 

It is hoped this story will serve to inform sightseers 

and tour operators of the importance of the historic 

inscriptions on West Harbour Bluff and that visitors will 

endeavor to protect them from further damage and deterioration. 

a 

The author thanks Dr. Donald Keith of Ships of Discovery 

for the idea for this story as well as a copy of the consulate’s 

letter and log; Agile LeVin of VisitTCI.com; and 

Deborah Dodge for editing suggestions. 


esort report 

Opposite page: The 20 hotel rooms and 6 suites of Ocean Breeze Resort line each side of a center pool courtyard. All rooms overlook the 

pool area. 

Above: Like North Caicos itself, Ocean Breeze Resort is a hidden gem, just right for a quiet get-away vacation. 

Designed to Be Different 

Ocean Breeze Resort, North Caicos 

By Jody Rathgeb ~ Photos By Tom Rathgeb 

If resorts could talk, most of them would say many of the same things, touting their international flair, 

luxury settings and “perfection in paradise.” Ocean Breeze Resort speaks of something different. This new 

boutique resort in the Turks & Caicos would say, simply, “This is North Caicos. Discover the difference.” 


The discovery will reveal a resort rooted in what is 

local: Built and owned by a North Caicos couple, its 26 

rooms and suites blend with the landscape. There’s an 

atmosphere as quiet and calm as the island itself, and a 

commitment to local hiring and support of other island 

businesses. 

The local commitment does not skimp on amenities. 

Ocean Breeze includes a full-service restaurant, inner 

courtyard pool, spa services, conference room, and fitness 

center. The place is a seven-to-eight-minute walk 

from the beach and the resort will provide beach chairs 

and umbrellas. Car rental is easily available, along with 

concierge support in exploring all that North and Middle 

Caicos have to offer. 

Grown on North Caicos 

The seed sprouted from local soil. Darville Handfield is 

a son of the island and his wife, Kadra Been-Handfield, 

comes from Salt Cay. Together, the entrepreneurial couple 

own and run several businesses on North Caicos, 

including a water plant, auto parts store, liquor store, 

car rental, and small grocery. Kadra, who acts as their 

spokesperson, says the concept for the resort was 

“Darville’s idea. Seeing the growth of North Caicos, he 

thought having a property where people who need a little 

rest and getaway would be a good idea. He asked what 

I thought we should do.” She continues, “I didn’t answer 

right away,” noting that she already had a lot on her plate 

running three of their existing businesses. “But then I 

said, ‘If it’s your vision, I will support it.’” 

They began building in 2019 with architect Rico Smith 

and Darville leading a small construction crew. Instead 

of a sprawling, Provo-style resort, the plan was a place 

that would fit into the scale and natural beauty of North 

Caicos. Construction was to go building by building, in 

phases. Then came the pandemic. After a near full stop, 

they continued slowly and the resort opened in December 

2023. 

The back-and-forth rhythm was reinforced by their 

individual strengths. Darville, acting as contractor, knew 

about fixtures and fittings; Kadra was very specific about 

style and design, choosing furniture, décor, and colors. 

(“Green for North Caicos, blue for our waters, gray as a 

soothing, calm base,” she says.) 

The hardest thing? “Finding locals as manpower, plus 

the cost of everything tripled during the pandemic,” 

Kadra replies. Their efforts were successful, however. 

When Ocean Breeze and its restaurant, Cilantros, opened, 

local people were very much a part of the team, with 

Kendra Parker as manager and Deshonya Forbes at the 

Visitors to Ocean Breeze Resort are greeted by a pleasant reception area and friendly staff, including (from left) Deshonya Forbes and Kendra 

Parker. 

64 www.timespub.tc

front desk; Aiesha Sealy and Romane 

Dwyer in the kitchen; Roshano Cox 

and Garnet Smith as bartenders; and 

local workers in security and managing 

housekeeping. “It’s a balance,” 

Kadra comments, adding that she 

prefers to hire locally in part because 

she dislikes the work permit process. 

She is looking to the future, too. 

In the spring, she hosted a field trip 

for local students interested in the 

hospitality industry, giving them a 

“backstage” look at operations. Some 

might use employment at their “backyard” 

resort to launch their careers. 

Getting it out there 

Ocean Breeze has teamed up with 

a marketing company in the United 

States for visibility, but Kadra is also 

heavily involved in its promotion 

though its website oceanbreezeresorttci.com 

and social media. “We will 

venture out as it grows,” she says, but 

adds proudly, “The day we opened 

we had 75 percent occupancy.” She 

is emphasizing the getaway aspect 

of the place, suggesting that people 

new to the Islands book about half 

their vacation at Ocean Breeze, enjoying 

quiet relaxation, and the other 

half on busy, go-go Provo. For local 

residents, there are events such as a 

From top left: These images from Ocean Breeze hotel rooms and suites show the calming, 

graceful decor. The bathroom, living area, and well-equipped kitchen shown are typical of the 

one- and two-bedroom suites, while the bedroom is typical of a hotel room. 


ladies’ movie night and special holiday 

dinners. In addition, corporate 

getaways are taking advantage of the 

combination of an all-business conference 

room with do-your-own-thing 

social activities. 

Unlike some resorts that try 

to keep visitors within their compounds, 

Ocean Breeze encourages 

island exploration, which on North 

and Middle is rich in experiences. 

“They [guests] don’t need to have 

every meal here, when there are other 

places to explore,” Kadra says. She 

even invites “competition,” hoping 

to see a revival of nearby St. Charles 

(which closed after hurricane damage) 

and renewed interest in Sandy 

Point in a more modest iteration than 

the erstwhile Royal Reef. 

The lowdown 

Single hotel rooms at Ocean Breeze 

(low to high season) cost $235 to 

$375 per night (two person occupancy), 

with double rooms $250 to 

$385. A one-bedroom suite runs 

$320 to $470 and a two-bedroom 

suite (with 1.5 bath) $470 to $630. 

There are also “Festive Season” rates 

(over Christmas and New Year) that 

are higher. All rates do not include a 

12 percent government tax, 10 percent 

service charge, and 5 percent 

resort fee, which will be added. a 

For more information and reservations, 

visit oceanbreezeresorttci. 

com or call (649) 946-7716. 

From top: Cilantros, the restaurant at Ocean 

Breeze Resort, offers breakfast, lunch, and 

dinner, with fine dining options that feature 

local foods. Additional outside seating is 

adjacent to the pool courtyard. 

A dedicated conference room offers video 

facilities and a whiteboard for brainstorming. 

66 www.timespub.tc

Grown on North Caicos 

Ocean Breeze Resort speaks of all things local, right down 

to its logo, which came from some home-grown talent. 

Co-owner Kadra Been-Handfield says that when it came 

to designing the logo that would be used as a lighted 

sign for the resort’s main building, she and her husband, 

Darville Handfield, kept to their pledge to keep things as 

local as possible. 

Instead of looking at design studios elsewhere, she 

went to the art class at Raymond Gardiner High School 

in Bottle Creek. “We asked the students for their designs 

and the teacher sent over the top four,” she says. The 

Handfields then chose a winning design: that of student 

Divine Dorestin. “It was really no contest. We all picked 

the same one,” Kadra notes. Divine’s design now sits 

proudly on the building and in all marketing materials 

for the North Caicos resort. 

Photo artwork in the rooms was provided by Dedrick 

Handfield, brother of co-owner Darville Handfield. Dedrick 

operates the One-Stop Sports Shop on North Caicos providing 

fishing and snorkeling tours. He shot the photos 

on North Caicos waters and Kadra Been-Handfield had the 

photos printed on canvas. 

~ Jody Rathgeb 


astrolabe 

newsletter of the Turks & Caicos National Museum 

Front Street, PO Box 188, Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI TKCA 1ZZ 

tel 649 247 2160/US incoming 786 220 1159 • email info@tcmuseum.org • web www.tcmuseum.org 

As in other countries around the world, donkeys played an important role in the economy of the Turks & Caicos Islands. When their usefullness 

ended, donkeys were turned loose to fend for themselves. 

Caring for Beasts of Burden 

Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue films donkeys in TCI. 

Story & Photos By Mark S. and Amy Meyers 

Donkeys never asked to be brought to the Caribbean, the Far East, Europe, or even Australia. They were 

quite content living in Africa. Domesticated around 5000 BCE by the Egyptians and Mesopotamians, donkeys 

were quickly traded throughout the civilized world, extending as far east as Japan and as far north 

as Scandinavia. 

Donkeys first appeared in the Caribbean in 1493 on Christopher Columbus’ second voyage. They were 

originally brought to the island of Hispaniola—modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic—but were 

quickly taken to other islands. Donkeys were eventually sent over to Central and South America. In 1598 

they crossed the Rio Grandé into what is today Texas with the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate. 

68 www.timespub.tc

Donkeys possess several traits that made them 

ideal for colonization. They could be transported long 

distances by ship with little to no visible hardship. They 

could (and still can) adapt to virtually any environment. 

Extreme heat has very little effect on them as they 

evolved in the deserts of Africa. They can also adapt to 

colder climates and higher elevations. Because their eyes 

are placed further back on the sides of their heads than 

horses, they are more surefooted, especially on mountainous 

terrain. Donkeys can survive five days without 

water, lose considerable body weight due to dehydration, 

and then gain it back at the next water source. Donkeys 

are highly intelligent, can learn multiple tasks, and served 

well in agriculture, mining, transportation, and the salt 

industry. 

Donkeys were also used during war times. They 

served virtually every human conflict across the globe. 

They were used in the transportation of wounded, resupplying 

of troops, and later in the support of the signal 

corp. Donkeys’ ability to pull carts and wagons made 

them extremely useful and if the route was redundant, 

the donkeys would often follow it repeatedly without 

needing to be led. Donkeys lost their usefulness after 

World War II when surplus army jeeps became cheap 

replacements. Donkeys were simply turned loose to fend 

for themselves. The jeeps increased productivity, which 

in turn, increased wealth. Eventually this led to even better 

equipment prosperity. In the lower 48 United States, 

Hawaii, Australia, and throughout the Caribbean, donkeys 

were left to their own devices and in many cases 

they thrived and became overpopulated. 

Donkeys were a common part of cultures in all parts 

of the world. At one point, China and Mexico had donkey 

populations that numbered millions. These populations 

became decimated with the growing popularity of a 

Chinese herbal remedy called Ejiao (pronounced eh-geeyow). 

Ejiao is derived from collagen found in donkey 

hides. It is estimated that 4.8 million donkeys are killed 

each year to support this industry. This number is unsustainable. 

On February 18, 2024, the African Union voted 

to ban the export of all donkeys for slaughter. 

Many African countries had seen their donkey populations 

devastated by the hide trade. Countries like 

Botswana had their donkey population decreased by 70% 

from 2011–2021. Women and children were disproportionally 

affected as they were the most dependent on 

In Grand Turk, donkeys pulled water delivery carts and were able to 

follow a daily route without being led. 

the donkeys to assist their daily work activities. Donkeys 

are a crucial part of Third World countries, especially in 

poverty-stricken areas where mechanized means of transportation 

and farming equipment are nonexistent. 

For the countries that do export donkey hides, they 

are slaughtered and sold in lots of 1,700–2,000 hides per 

cargo container. The Chinese buyers have strict requirements 

on the abattoirs (slaughterhouses) that must be 

used. As a result, small populations of donkeys, like 

those found on the Islands, are not worth the attention 

of the hide buyers. In Australia, millions of donkeys were 

shot from helicopters. The Australian government could 

find no practical way to gather the donkeys, keep them 

penned, process the hides, and ship them at a profit. 

The Australian government also killed millions of horses, 

camels, and water buffalo. Before the pandemic, the big 

news was the devastating wildfires ravaging Australia due 

in part to the lack of herbivores keeping the vegetation in 


astrolabe newsletter of the Turks & Caicos National Museum 

A favorite place for donkeys to congregate is at the lighthouse tourist centre on Grand Turk. 

check. (You can learn more by viewing my film at withoutavoice.movie.) 

My wife Amy and I founded the Peaceful Valley 

Donkey Rescue (PVDR) in 2000. Amy had purchased a 

donkey, Izzy, as a companion to an old horse that we 

owned. Izzy was like nothing we had ever encountered. 

She was loving and funny and more like a big dog. Having 

Izzy made us more aware of other donkeys in our community—donkeys 

that weren’t as loving and sweet as our 

Izzy. Many of which had untreated medical issues. 

My wife, being the compassionate soul that she is, 

started purchasing these donkeys and had them delivered 

to our little farm. The vet would be called, and I 

would spend my evenings sitting and talking with the 

donkeys. This continued until we had around 25 donkeys 

on our farm. That’s when I realized we needed a way to 

place the donkeys in homes but with rules to protect the 

donkeys from falling into the wrong hands. That is how 

Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue came into being. 

Peaceful Valley has grown from a backyard hobby 

into the largest equine rescue in the world, with opera- 

70 www.timespub.tc


Award-winning filmmaker Mark S. Meyers visited Grand Turk and Salt Cay in January 2024 to shoot the film “Donkeys of the Caribbean.” 

tions in the lower 48 states, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. 

We operate three fully staffed Rescue/Rehabilitation facilities 

in Arizona, Virginia, and our Corporate Headquarters 

in Texas. Our Sanctuary Program houses between 1,500– 

2,000 donkeys on sanctuaries in Texas and Oklahoma. 

Our Adoption Program spans the entire country with volunteer-operated 

facilities in almost every state. 

PVDR works with federal, state, and county agencies 

to control donkey populations where they are prohibited 

or have become a nuisance to the public. This includes 

national parks, military bases, nature preserves, and 

NASA installations. We have 60 employees based in five 

states and can respond to emergency calls anywhere in 

the United States within 24 hours. Peaceful Valley typically 

manages 3,000 donkeys at any given time. 

Peaceful Valley has worked with the donkeys on several 

islands. We’ve assisted with vaccine clinics, birth 

control, population assessments, and training of volunteers. 

We work with all of the top veterinary universities 

in the United States and have tremendous knowledge, 

experience, and resources that we can use to make the 

lives of donkeys better. 

My film partner, Mike Brown, and I are currently working 

on a project entitled “Donkeys of the Caribbean.” It 

was shot in January of 2024 and features several islands 

including Grand Turk and Salt Cay. We hope to have the 

film ready for release by the summer of 2024. You can 

follow the progress of the film at caribbean.movie. The 

goal of the film is to highlight the different challenges 

that donkeys face on the various islands throughout the 

Caribbean. We hope to draw attention to these challenges 

so that more resources can be brought in to improve their 

plight. At Peaceful Valley we have a saying, “Either all donkeys 

matter, or none of them do.” a 

Mark S. Meyers is the co-founder and executive director of 

the Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue. Mark is a professional 

photographer with dozens of his photographs published 

in national magazines, an award-winning filmmaker, and 

an author with six books to his credit. He has been featured 

both nationally and internationally in print news, 

television, radio, podcasts, and appeared in National 

Geographic. Mark was honored to be a 2019 CNN Top 

Ten Hero. 



SHUTTERSTOCK 

Built in 1852, the lighthouse is Grand Turk’s most famous landmark. After many ships wrecked off the northern coast of Grand Turk, the 

lighthouse was built to aid in navigation. 

Run Aground 

Shipwrecks of the Turks & Caicos Islands–The Turks Islands (1500 – 1800) 

By James Jenney, The Bahamas Lost Ship Project 

Over the years the Turks & Caicos Islands have been written about in many ways, most associated with 

tourism and the pristine beauty of the tropical islands which Northerners would rightly call a paradise. 

But what of the Islands and their unique history? 

In terms of a European presence, the Islands were initially populated only on a seasonal basis and for 

the specific purpose of gathering salt, a commodity that built a solid foundation for what would become a 

permanent colony and later a country. This is the first of a series of articles which will look at the history 

of the Turks & Caicos with a singular focus on its maritime history. 

72 www.timespub.tc


As more vessels came from all parts of the world for 

salt and for other reasons, more shipwrecks occurred. 

Given that the Turks & Caicos Islands are remote and 

that it was nearly two centuries before the first regular 

newspaper was introduced here, it is understandable that 

information about maritime disasters was hard to come 

by and often incomplete or even missing. 

It is principally for these reasons that, particularly in 

the earlier years, many of the lost vessels were reported 

without even a record of the vessel’s name, let alone 

details of the disaster. Although it would be most desirable 

to be able to identify by name each lost ship, that is 

not possible, even though all sources of information have 

been pursued. 

The short abstracts of each loss (sometimes multiple 

losses) are detailed using the reports of the time when 

these have been discovered. Italics indicate the original 

news reports and will include misspellings and sometimes 

even errors in details of the loss. Where a date is shown in 

italics, the actual date is not known. What appears is the 

date of the reporting of the wreck. 

The data is by no means a complete listing of all of 

the wrecks in the Turks & Caicos Islands. That is an ongoing 

study. What is presented is the only listing of wrecks 

in the Islands that has been researched and published. 

The series will be presented in two main parts, with 

the first documenting the wrecks in the Turks Islands 

followed by those in the waters of the Caicos Islands. 

With these words of explanation, let us start the story of 

the maritime history of the Turks & Caicos Islands at the 

beginning. 

August, 1500 — UNIDENTIFIED x 2 

A fleet of explorers destined for the northern coast of 

South America was made up of four caravels under the 

command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon. In the summer of 

1500, two of the vessels were caught in a hurricane and 

lost. Although there are different opinions about where 

these wrecks occurred, one possible location of the loss 

was on a shoal called Abrajos (actually Abre los ojos which 

translates in English to “Open Your Eyes”—undoubtedly 

to advise mariners of its dangerous location). The shoal 

is also known as Mouchoir Carre Bank (which translates 

to “Square Handkerchief,” another name often associated 

with shipwrecks). The shoal lies 45 miles southeast from 

Grand Turk Island. 

July 10, 1715 — UNIDENTIFIED x 6 

Twenty-one days before the loss of the Spanish treasure 

fleet off the coast of Florida, another fleet—this one from 

Bermuda—met with a similar fate on Turks Island due 

to a storm. According to a news report in the Boston 

News-Letter of August 29, “ . . . we are informed that in 

the great storm about the 10th of July last, there were 

six Bermuda sloops cast away on Turks Island. The men 

were all saved except one little boy . . . a seventh sloop 

got away from amongst the rocks with great difficulty by 

cutting her cable and came safe to Bermuda and gave 

account of the rest that was lost.” It is probable that the 

sloops traveled from Bermuda to Turks Island for a cargo 

of salt but they were also known to travel here for “wrecking.” 

March 15, 1735 — UNIDENTIFIED 

The loss of a brigantine near Turks Island made it into a 

Boston newspaper only because one captain Dyer mentioned 

it in a letter to a friend. In part, his letter read, “a 

wreck had been discovered near Turks Island about the 

middle of March last, where there was drove on shore a 

large quantity of boards, the mainmast of a brigantine, 

and two hen-coops newly painted.” The letter was sent 

while the captain was in Jamaica in early June. 

September 13, 1747 — UNIDENTIFIED 

A merchant brig under the command of Capt. Elberson 

was lost on this date in a hurricane that struck Turks 

Island. Most likely she was headed there to procure a 

cargo of salt when lost. The exact location of this wreck 

is unknown. 

July 4, 1764 — LA-BOINARD 

On June 1, 1764 French forces attacked the Turks Islands 

and made prisoners of the British subjects living there. 

According to Lloyd’s List, a few weeks later on July 4, this 

French ship was lost on Turks Island. The two incidents 

could be connected but there is no evidence of that. 

August, 1765 — UNIDENTIFIED 

One Captain Yorke, enroute from Jamaica, passed the brig 

Francis. Captain Brownlaw, travelling from Turks Island to 

Philadelphia advised, “that a sloop, Captain Russ, from 

North Carolina, was lost at Turks Island, the latter end of 

August; her rigging and cargo were saved.” 



May 29, 1785 — DELIGHT 

On June 17, 1785 the following appeared in Thomas 

Allen’s Marine List, “Arrived at this port, brig Three 

Brothers, Briggs, from Cape Francois and Turks Island 

. . . who advises that the 29th May he took on board 

the captain and crew of the sloop Delight, Mills, master, 

belonging to New Haven, who was stranded on the reef 

off Turks Island.” 

March 6, 1786 — PORGEY 

An extract from a letter from Charleston, SC written to 

a friend of or to the editor of the Pennsylvania Packet 

newspaper in Philadelphia reads, “March 6. The brig 

Porgey, Captain Dickenson, which sailed from New York 

for Jamaica, is lost on Turks Island. The crew were saved, 

and are arrived at Bermuda.” 

June 10, 1786 — EAGLE 

The following is an extract of a letter dated June 14, 1786 

from a passenger aboard the brig Eagle, when she was 

lost, “On the 10th instant, going through the passage of 

Turks Island with everything we could wish favorable for 

that event, at about seven o’clock in the evening, without 

any of the least appearance of ground, struck and the 

vessel was dashed to pieces next morning.” 

November 16, 1786 — SWALLOW 

Two months after her loss, the following report appeared 

in a Philadelphia newspaper early in 1787: “ . . . the ship 

Swallow, Capt. Stephen Flandrin, from this port, bound 

to [Cape Francois], was totally lost on the Boralla Banks, 

a reef of rocks called the Square Handkerchief, about 15 

leagues to the eastward of Turks Island, and 40 from the 

Cape.” 

January 23, 1787 — SALLY 

A search of records has determined that the ship Sally 

arrived in Kingston, Jamaica on or before September 26, 

1786. She cleared from that port bound for Baltimore, MD 

sometime between November 3 and 10 and was lost on 

Turks Island soon after that. 

November 23, 1789 — UNION 

Captain Christopher Prince left New York in the brigantine 

Union and turned southward for Port-au-Prince, 

Haiti. Less than two weeks later, on November 23, she 

ran aground at Turks Island while sailing at night. Exactly 

where the vessel came ashore is not stated but it is possible 

that she struck on the extensive reef off the northeast 

end of Grand Turk. 

January 30, 1790 — UNIDENTIFIED 

A letter from Grand Caicos was sent to a gentleman in New 

Providence [Nassau] dated January 30 which mentioned 

the following information relative to an UNIDENTIFIED 

wreck near Turks Island, “A sloop with lumber was lately 

wrecked near Turks Island. The cargo was saved by people 

from Turks Island . . . the crew must have perished.” 

August 28, 1790 — HMS ENDYMION 

The 5th rate ship HMS Endymion enroute from Jamaica 

to Turks Island with cannon and other stores had bad 

luck and good luck on her voyage. Passing through the 

Windward Passage, north bound, she was travelling in 

fair weather though the seas were reported high with a 

moderate wind. Without warning she struck a rocky shoal 

where the charts indicated there would be no problem. 

This became a serious situation since the stranded ship 

was seven miles from shore. But good fortune shined on 

the crew as the schooner New Hope from Philadelphia 

spotted her distress and in short order rescued all aboard 

and brought them to Turks Island. The master stayed on 

the island with a portion of the crew and attempted salvage 

of the ship but to no avail. 

September 27, 1790 — FAME 

Sometime prior to September 27, 1790 a southbound 

brig carrying cargo from St. John, New Brunswick to 

Jamaica ran into trouble in the vicinity of the Turks & 

Caicos Islands. A single news report reads as follows, 

“The brig Fame, Bowden is totally lost on Turks Island on 

her passage to Jamaica, from St. John’s, New Brunswick.” 

October 25, 1791 — DARTMOUTH 

On October 1, 1791, Captain Abraham Kimm advertised 

in the New York Daily Gazette that his brig Darmouth 

would sail on or before the 20th for Kingston, Jamaica. He 

apparently already had his cargo planned and was looking 

to attract some passengers. Whether or not any made 

the trip is not known. His ship ran hard aground on the 

northeast reef of Turks Island. It was reported that the 

crew and at least part of the cargo was saved. 

74 www.timespub.tc


ISTOCK 

June 28, 1796 — 

UNIDENTIFIED 

A French squadron arriving 

at Brest, France related that 

during a cruise they had 

captured three British transports 

and a Portuguese 

vessel, all of which they 

destroyed. They also captured 

an UNIDENTIFIED 

Bermudian sloop carrying 

dispatches to Barbados. 

Since these sloops had a 

reputation as being very fast 

sailing vessels the French 

manned and planned to 

send her to Cape Francois. 

She ran on the Abrolha 

Bank and was lost. 

October 25, 1791 — MARY 

Word of the loss of the brig Mary came from news 

reported at her port of destination. The report read, 

“Montego Bay, Nov. 26. The Mary, Telford, from New York 

to this port, on the 25th ult. at 5 o’clock A.M. struck on 

the northeast reef of Turk Island, and beat to pieces; the 

cargo is entirely lost.” 

October 19, 1792 — FELICITY 

A shortcoming to the reports from Lloyds List is that 

they don’t provide much, if any, detail. Their report with 

regard to the Felicity is no more than, “The Felicity, Doty, 

from New Brunswick, is lost near Turks Island.” Given the 

time for communication across the Atlantic during this 

period, it could be assumed that the actual disaster took 

place two months or more before the release of this edition. 

August 15, 1793 — UNIDENTIFIED 

In an extract from a letter from the Caicos dated August 

26, “An American vessel which arrived a few days since at 

Turk’s Island [had met up with] the French ship America 

of 74 guns, bound from the Cape [Cape Francois, Santo 

Domingo] to France [who advised that] a Spanish vessel 

UNIDENTIFIED was wrecked on Turks Islands during the 

gale, and the captain with two of the crew drowned.” 

December 24, 1797 — ALICE 

Six weeks after her loss, the following news report 

appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper, “Captain Allen of 

the ship Flora, brought in the captain and crew of the 

schooner Alice, of Richmond (Virg.) Daniel Bale, master, 

which was wrecked on a reef off Turks Island, on the 

24th December, on her passage from Martinique to Turks 

Island – vessel entirely lost, crew saved.” 

September 3, 1800 — NEUTRALITY 

The schooner Two Friends, Capt. Williams, set sail from 

Jamaica on September 5 headed northward for New 

York City. A person who arrived at Jamaica before Capt. 

Williams left brought news that the brig Neutrality was 

cast away on Turks Island on her outward-bound passage. 

a 

James Jenney is the director of research for the Bahamas 

Lost Ships Project, which is working in collaboration with 

the Bahamas Maritime Museum and Carl Allen of Allen 

Explorations. For more information, visit https://www. 

bahamasmaritimemuseum.com. 



Museum Matters 

Grub, Grill, & Good Times Event 2024 

The museum’s Grand Turk location will again be hosting 

our Grub, Grill, and Good Times event on Saturday, 

July 13, 2024. This event highlights local cuisine and 

music, featuring a live band and local vendors. This 

is our main fundraiser for the year and has been very 

successful. 

As part of the event we also offer a raffle. Tickets 

are $5 each and we have some fantastic prizes that 

are donated from local businesses and individuals. 

Prizes include restaurant gift certificates, boat charters, 

CASH, and more. Check our Facebook page for 

an updated list of prizes. a 

Culture & Heritage Quiz 2024 

Prior to COVID-19, the museum always held an annual 

history and cultural quiz. This year the quiz returned 

and was sponsored by the TCI Ministry of Education, 

Department of Culture and Heritage, and the National 

Museum. We were delighted to work with the governmental 

departments to bring this event back. 

Schools from across the Islands competed to showcase 

their knowledge of local history and heritage. 

Congratulations to all 19 schools that participated. a 

Children’s Club 

We have held several “Learn to Paint” classes this year. 

These have become very popular with the children 

and we plan to continue hosting them as part of our 

Children’s Club. The Turks Head Cactus and a Map of 

Grand Turk were some of the recent projects with artist 

Aysha Stephen teaching them the strokes. 

The Children’s Club is fully funded by sales of the 

Where is Simon, Sandy? and Satchi and Little Star 

books authored by Donna Seim. The museum is thankful 

for Ms. Seim’s donation from the sales so that we 

can offer these fun and educational projects to the 

children. a 

Current days & hours of operation: 

Grand Turk (Front Street): Hours vary daily, but in general 

open on all cruise ship days 9 AM to 1 PM. When 

a ship arrives on or after 9 AM, we will open one hour 

after arrival for three hours. 

Providenciales (The Village at Grace Bay): Open 

Tuesday and Thursday, 10 AM to 2 PM. 

Both locations include interesting exhibits and artifacts 

related to the history and culture of the Islands. 

Visit our gift shops for souvenirs, history books, and 

locally made products such as baskets, jewelry, salt 

products, and more. 

Days and times of operation are subject to change, 

so please check our website or email us for updated 

information: 

www.tcmuseum.org 

info@tcmuseum.org 

76 www.timespub.tc

about the Islands 

Map provided courtesy Wavey Line Publishing. Their navigation charts and decorative and historic maps of the Turks & Caicos Islands, The 

Bahamas and Hispaniola are available in shops throughout the Islands. Visit www.amnautical.com. 

Where we are 

The Turks & Caicos Islands lie some 575 miles southeast 

of Miami — approximately 1 1/2 hours flying time — 

with The Bahamas about 30 miles to the northwest and 

the Dominican Republic some 100 miles to the southeast. 

The country consists of two island groups separated 

by the 22-mile wide Columbus Passage. To the west are 

the Caicos Islands: West Caicos, Providenciales, North 

Caicos, Middle Caicos, East Caicos and South Caicos. To 

the east are the Turks Islands: Grand Turk and Salt Cay. 

The Turks & Caicos total 166 square miles of land 

area on eight islands and 40 small cays. The country’s 

population is approximately 43,000. 

Getting here 

There are international airports on Grand Turk, 

Providenciales, and South Caicos, with domestic airports 

on all of the islands except East Caicos. 

As of April 1, 2023, all COVID-19 related travel 

restrictions have been removed for travel to the Turks & 

Caicos Islands. There is no vaccine, testing, or insurance 

requirement. On August 12, 2022, the last day of statistics, 

32,338 people were vaccinated in the Turks & Caicos 

against COVID-19 (at least one dose). This was approximately 

73% of the total population. For more information 

and details, visit www.visittci.com. 

Language 

English. 


Time zone 

Eastern Standard Time (EST)/Daylight Savings Time 

observed. 

Currency 

The United States dollar. The Treasury also issues a Turks 

& Caicos crown and quarter. Travellers cheques in U.S. 

dollars are widely accepted and other currency can be 

changed at local banks. American Express, VISA and 

MasterCard are welcomed at many locations. 

Climate 

The average year-round temperature is 83ºF (28ºC). The 

hottest months are September and October, when the 

temperature can reach 90 to 95ºF (33 to 35ºC). However, 

the consistent easterly trade winds temper the heat and 

keep life comfortable. 

Casual resort and leisure wear is accepted attire for 

daytime; light sweaters or jackets may be necessary on 

some breezy evenings. It’s wise to wear protective clothing 

and a sunhat and use waterproof sunscreen when out 

in the tropical sun. 

Entry requirements 

Passport. A valid onward or return ticket is also required. 

Customs formalities 

Visitors may bring in duty free for their own use one carton 

of cigarettes or cigars, one bottle of liquor or wine, 

and some perfume. The importation of all firearms including 

those charged with compressed air without prior 

approval in writing from the Commissioner of Police is 

strictly forbidden. Spear guns, Hawaiian slings, controlled 

drugs and pornography are also illegal. 

Returning residents may bring in $400 worth of 

merchandise per person duty free. A duty of 10% to 

60% is charged on most imported goods along with a 

7% customs processing fee and forms a major source of 

government revenue. 

Transportation 

A valid driver’s license from home is suitable when renting 

vehicles. A government tax of 12% is levied on all rental 

contracts. (Insurance is extra.) Driving is on the left-hand 

side of the road, with traffic flow controlled by roundabouts 

at major junctions. Taxis and community cabs are 

abundant throughout the Islands and many resorts offer 

shuttle service between popular visitor areas. Scooter, 

motorcycle and bicycle rentals are also available. 

Telecommunications 

FLOW Ltd. provides land lines and superfast broadband 

Internet service. Mobile service is on a LTE 4G network, 

including pre- and post-paid cellular phones. Most resorts 

and some stores and restaurants offer wireless Internet 

connections. Digicel operates mobile networks, with 

a full suite of LTE 4G service. FLOW is the local carrier 

for CDMA roaming on US networks such as Verizon and 

Sprint. North American visitors with GSM cellular handsets 

and wireless accounts with AT&T or Cingular can 

arrange international roaming. 

Electricity 

FortisTCI supplies electricity at a frequency of 60HZ, 

78 www.timespub.tc

and either single phase or three phase at one of three 

standard voltages for residential or commercial service. 

FortisTCI continues to invest in a robust and resilient grid 

to ensure the highest level of reliability to customers. The 

company is integrating renewable energy into its grid and 

provides options for customers to participate in two solar 

energy programs. 

Departure tax 

US $35. It is typically included in your airline ticket cost. 

Courier service 

Delivery service is provided by FedEx, with offices on 

Providenciales and Grand Turk, and DHL. UPS service is 

limited to incoming delivery. 

Postal service 

The Post Office and Philatelic Bureau in Providenciales are 

located downtown on Airport Road. In Grand Turk, the 

Post Office and Philatelic Bureau are on Church Folly. The 

Islands are known for their colorful stamp issues. 

Media 

Multi-channel satellite television is received from the U.S. 

and Canada and transmitted via cable or Internet. Local 

station WIV-TV broadcasts on Channel 4 and Island EyeTV 

on Channel 5. There are a number of local radio stations, 

magazines and newspapers. 

Medical services 

There are no endemic tropical diseases in TCI. There are 

large, modern hospitals on Grand Turk and Providenciales. 

Both hospitals offer a full range of services including: 

24/7 emergency room, operating theaters, diagnostic 

imaging, maternity suites, dialysis suites, blood bank, 

physiotherapy and dentistry. 

In addition, several general practitioners operate in 

the country, and there is a recompression chamber, along 

with a number of private pharmacies. 

Immigration 

A resident’s permit is required to live in the Islands. A 

work permit and business license are also required to 

work and/or establish a business. These are generally 

granted to those offering skills, experience and qualifications 

not widely available on the Islands. Priority is given 

to enterprises that will provide employment and training 

for Turks & Caicos Islanders. 

SEE 

THE 

DIFFERENCE 

OPHTHALMOLOGY CLINIC 

Ophthalmologist Dr. Sebastian Guzman is now available 

for consultation in the Turks & Caicos Islands. 

Dr. Guzman and his team are a group of doctors 

representing three generations of ophthalmologists. 

They specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of eye 

diseases and those linked to the throat, nose, and 

ears. At MD OJOS, we have our own equipment, 

with all the advantages of a private clinic. We offer 

a fast, complete, and comprehensive response to our 

patients. We are trained in the application of the 

latest technological advances for the correction of 

different visual dysfunctions. 

NOW OPEN IN REGENT VILLAGE 

CALL 809 880 2020 

WWW.OJOS.COM.DO 


Government/Legal system 

TCI is a British Crown colony. There is a Queen-appointed 

governor HE Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam. She presides 

over an executive council formed by the elected local government. 

Hon. Charles Washington Misick is the country’s 

premier, leading a majority Progressive National Party 

(PNP) House of Assembly. 

The legal system is based on English Common Law 

and administered by a resident Chief Justice, Chief 

Magistrate, and Deputy Magistrates. Judges of the Court 

of Appeal visit the Islands twice a year and there is a final 

Right of Appeal to Her Majesty’s Privy Council in London. 

Taxes 

There are currently no direct taxes on either income 

or capital for individuals or companies. There are no 

exchange controls. Indirect taxation comprises customs 

duties and fees, stamp duty, taxes on accommodations, 

restaurants, vehicle rentals, other services and gasoline, 

as well as business license fees and departure taxes. 

Economy 

Historically, TCI’s economy relied on the export of salt. 

Currently, tourism, the offshore finance industry and fishing 

generate the most private sector income. The Islands’ 

main exports are lobster and conch. Practically all consumer 

goods and foodstuffs are imported. 

The Turks & Caicos Islands are recognised as an 

important offshore financial centre, offering services 

such as company formation, offshore insurance, banking, 

trusts, limited partnerships and limited life companies. 

The Financial Services Commission regulates the industry 

and spearheads the development of offshore legislation. 

People 

Citizens of the Turks & Caicos Islands are termed 

“Belongers” and are primarily descendants of African 

slaves who were brought to the Islands to work in the 

salt ponds and cotton plantations. The country’s large 

expatriate population includes Canadians, Americans, 

Brits and Europeans, along with Haitians, Jamaicans, 

Dominicans, Bahamians, Indians and Filipinos. 

Churches 

Churches are the center of community life and there 

are many faiths represented in the Islands including: 

Adventist, Anglican, Assembly of God, Baha’i, Baptist, 

Catholic, Church of God, Episcopal, Jehovah’s Witnesses, 

Methodist and Pentecostal. Visitors are always welcome. 

Pets 

Incoming pets must have an import permit, veterinary 

health certificate, vaccination certificate and lab test 

results submitted at port of entry to obtain clearance 

from the TCI Department of Agriculture. 

National symbols 

The National Bird is the Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis). 

The National Plant is Island heather (Limonium 

bahamense) found nowhere else in the world. The 

National Tree is the Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea var. 

bahamensis). The National Costume consists of white cotton 

dresses tied at the waist for women and simple shirts 

and loose pants for men, with straw hats. Colors representing 

the various islands are displayed on the sleeves, 

sashes and hat bands. The National Song is “This Land 

of Ours” by the late Rev. E.C. Howell. Peas and Hominy 

80 www.timespub.tc

(Grits) with Dry Conch is revered as symbolic island fare. 

Going green 

TCI Waste Disposal Services currently offers recycling 

services through weekly collection of recyclable aluminum, 

glass and plastic. Single-use plastic bags have been 

banned country-wide as of May 1, 2019. There is also a 

ban on importation of plastic straws and some polystyrene 

products, including cups and plates. 

Recreation 

Sporting activities are centered around the water. Visitors 

can choose from deep-sea, reef or bonefishing, sailing, 

glass-bottom boat and semi-sub excursions, windsurfing, 

waterskiing, parasailing, sea kayaking, snorkelling, scuba 

diving, snuba, kiteboarding, stand up paddleboarding, 

mermaid encounters and beachcombing. Pristine reefs, 

abundant marine life and excellent visibility make TCI 

a world-class diving destination. Whale and dolphin 

encounters are possible, especially during the winter/ 

spring months. 

Tennis and golf—there is an 18 hole championship 

course on Providenciales—are also popular. 

The Islands are an ecotourist’s paradise. Visitors can 

enjoy unspoilt wilderness and native flora and fauna in 

subscription form 

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ISLANDS 

SAMPLING THE SOUL OF THE TURKS & CAICOS ISLANDS 

One year subscription 

$28 U.S. addresses/$32 non-U.S. addresses 

33 national parks, nature reserves, sanctuaries and areas 

of historical interest. The National Trust provides trail 

guides to several hiking trails, as well as guided tours of 

major historical sites. Birdwatching is superb, and there 

is a guided trail on Grand Turk. 

There is an excellent national museum on Grand 

Turk, with an auxillary branch on Providenciales that 

includes the Caicos Heritage House. A scheduled ferry 

and a selection of tour operators make it easy to take day 

trips to the outer islands. 

Other land-based activities include bicycling, horseback 

riding and football (soccer). Personal trainers are 

available to motivate you, working out of several fitness 

centres. You will also find a variety of spa and body treatment 

services. 

Nightlife includes local bands playing island music 

at bars and restaurants and some nightclubs. There are 

two casinos on Providenciales, along with many electronic 

gaming parlours. Stargazing is extraordinary! 

Shoppers will find paintings, T-shirts, sports and 

beachwear and locally made handicrafts, including straw 

work, conch crafts and beach jewellery. Duty free outlets 

sell liquor, jewellery, watches, perfume, leather goods, 

crystal, china, cameras, electronics, brand-name clothing 

and accessories, along with Cuban cigars. a 

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