Quest for the Conch in Provo

Providenciales (a.k.a Provo) is blessed with 350 days of warm sunshine each year...unfortunately for us, we happened to be there for 5 of the yearly 15 rainy days. We stayed in a hotel across the street from the famous 5 mile long Grace Bay beach. Grace Bay is lined with large resorts and private condominium communities that are required to offer public access to the beach. However, they are not required to provide beach chair rentals... so unless you are staying at one of these places you are stuck with your bum in the sand for the duration of your trip. We quickly learned that doesn't have to be the case if you can turn on your charm and agree to purchase a $20 frozen margarita (which of course we purchased to enjoy the 1/2 day of sunshine that Mother Nature blessed us with).

Since there isn't much to do in Provo besides lay on the beach, we had to find other sources of entertainment that did not require sunshine. Although it wasn't in our original plans, we decided to spend money on a rental car (instead of an umbrella). In fact, driving all over the island through flooded roads turned out to be the best part of our trip. We explored the entire island and soon learned about the Conch that Turks and Caicos is famous for. For those of you who do not know what a Conch shell is, it's the large beautiful shell that you can place next to your ear to hear the ocean.

We gave up on trying to stay dry and embarked on a mission to bring Conch shells home to our family & friends. Our first attempt on Grace Bay beach turned out to be a bust and after making some friends with some locals at a nearby watering hole we soon learned that the Conch no longer drift ashore on Grace Bay. We had to broaden our search to places that the tourists don't track.

We drove to the opposite side of the island which turned into a dirt (and very bumpy) road and our 1992 Nissan Sunny rental car took quite the beating. The car was fun, it even included those nifty automatic seat belt thingies! This side of the island was much different than where we were staying (where it seemed a lot of the guests at Grace Bay had a name like Muffy or Duffy). This opposite side was home to the natives and a handful of ex-pat hippy types. Soon enough we spotted a few sun bleached shells off one of the rustic shores and felt like we hit the jackpot! All of the shells were slightly broken and had the trademark slit near the top where locals forked out the Conch to have for breakfast. We picked our favorites and wrapped them in beach towels and put them in the trunk of the Sunny. We later weren't able to use our beach towels as they inherited the most foul fish smell.

Over the next few days we continued driving around the island in the rain in search for more Conch shells. On the northern part of the island I had the hubby pull over since I spotted a trail with a sign that read "beach access." We trekked down the trail and found another, but much larger, rustic shoreline. This shore was different though, as it had million dollar plus homes monopolizing it. I wish I took a picture of the old man sitting on his chair under his beach umbrella (in the rain) being served frozen drinks by a wet local in an all white uniform (I couldn't help but giggle as we passed). After the distraction of  Mr. Muffy wore off we soon realized that this stretch of shoreline was littered with Conch shells.

We grabbed as many conch shells as we could and experienced an arm workout of a lifetime. On our way back to the car (with Conch shells in hand) we passed another couple with the same mission. They gave us the Conch shell lesson 101 and pointed out that one of the shells I was carrying did not have the trademark slit. After the woman explained that the Conch creatures look like small aliens I made by husband carry that shell the remainder of the hike. When we got back to our hotel room I made sure to put that particular shell in the sink and waited for the alien to crawl out. Luckily that shell was empty.

On our last night in Provo we went to a restaurant on a marina and ordered Conch fritters. It would have seemed wrong to not taste this delicacy that was the theme of our trip. The fritters were yummy and had pieces of Conch that had a consistency and similar taste to Calamari.

When it was time to say goodbye we wrapped our shells in clothing (which I washed with extra detergent when we returned home) and carefully packed in our suitcases. All  of the shells made it home unharmed and ended up being the best souvenirs out of all of our travels. 

Looking back the rain turned out to be Mother Nature's blessing. Who wants to sit on a boring old beach all week anyway?