The "Glistening Pools of Water on the Tarmac: Part I" Story

Ferry we traveled on to get to Sandy Ground

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with a young island woman on the bottom floor of our 3rd floor pool/garden view room.  She is the manager of Art Pickering's ProvoTurtle Dive Shop here in Providenciales.  Nice place and loaded with all sorts of diving supplies.  But, I'm not here for the diving.  I'm here to ask her about a recommendation for a day trip that my wife and I as well as our friends, Jerry and Just Sue can take.  She is full of information and tells me of an island where she grew up that is famous for salt ponds covered with pink flamingos.  But, she isn't sure whether the flocks have migrated to a cooler spot for the season.  She makes a call to her brother who still lives on the island and tells me we may be lucky to see a few, but very few.  Next morning we hop in a taxi for a 10 minute drive that drops us off at the ferry dock located at the northeastern end of the island.  Short time and a sizable amount of money later, we are flying through the crystal-clear turquoise waters of the Caribbean on the three-engine, high-speed ferry.  People dressed in work clothes, suits and touristy attire accompany us on the 20 minute ride to the drop-off point called Sandy Ground.  There, waiting for us with a sign held high above his head with "Big Al's Car Rental" plastered across it, was a young man.  I gave him my PA driver's license and credit card and waited for him to complete the contract.  While he was in the process I asked him if he knew where I could acquire a license plate from the islands with the flamingo, flag, and conch on for my collection.  As I was signing the papers he said he thought he knew where he could find one and would have it for me when I returned with the car.  I'm saying this nicely when I call it a car.  Radio doesn't work, too old for a CD player, gas tank cover missing from the side of the car, white paint that has been bleached an ugly shade of off-white by the tropic sun, and the words "Sunny" on the left and "SuperSalo" on the right of the trunk.   We departed the ferry dock with our half-tank of gas and an odometer that read Trip A 187,000  miles on it.  Roads were covered with a shallow layer of tarmac ( I use this term in my story because the road's surface doesn't look anything like asphalt) which was also bleached a light gray from the never-ending glare of the sun.  Getting use to driving on the left took me maybe five minutes and a few screams from the back seat, but we were on our day trip.  At first I decided on a few wrong turns which had to be corrected by friendly islanders who happened to be sitting under trees by the road.  We passed home after home that was only partially finished with re-bar sticking out of the upper level, but did find a fairly nice police station in a small town of three houses called Bottle Creek. A few more miles and we came upon the sign indicating we had arrived at the "Flamingo Pond."  Pulled into the pitted, pocked-hole parking lot as carefully as I could.  Then hustled over to the observation platform.  Disappointment!!  Yeah, there were flamingos, maybe 50 or so,  and you could see the pink color, but they had to be at least a quarter of a mile away.  Guess that was why on the ad we read about visiting the flamingo pond they said they supplied binoculars.  Used my tele on my DSLR and after 15 minutes or so of complaining, we hopped back in the car. Popped the lever in "R" and started to back up.  Stopped quickly and looked puzzled at my passengers.  "What was that?" I said.  The car had a "beepbeepbeepbepeper" on it!  Just like on a trash truck.  Pretty neat.  Be tough for me to back over someone on this trip. Off we went to find our next location, a beautiful beach on an island that we will find when we cross a causeway over the Caribbean Sea.  Then for the next 15-20 minutes we found endless miles of straight two-lane tarmac that seemed to have glistening pools of water in the distance, only to disappear as we got closer.  Imaginary pools created by the the intense heat radiating off the road.  The road started to become wavy and bumpy, and finally we reached an area were the tarmac was pushed to the side of the road and we were driving, rather dodging, huge holes and stones that were at one time under the driving surface.  I started to sweat more and more even though the AC was on high.  I started to think to myself ..... is this really fun?  Answer: Absolutely!  I'm on vacation traveling between West Caicos and Central Caicos.  Some of the most beautiful sights 50 feet to either side of me in a sky that had clouds that looked like big balls of cotton.  My idea of paradise, except for having to maneuver around the sharp pointy protrusions in the roadway.  Lucky we haven't seen another vehicle for the last 10 minutes.  Then up ahead, maybe a half-mile away, I saw a concrete bridge that connected the two parts of Caicos.  Maybe it will get better on the other side of the bridge.  Another 5  minutes and we were stopped at the edge of the bridge.  I wasn't sure I should try to drive across it.  Opened the door, put the car in park, and walked to the end of the road where it touched the bridge.  Except, it didn't touch the bridge!  I stared down at the aqua colored water lapping at the sides of the bridge 10 feet under us.  Wow!  Would the car make it over the three inch gap between the road and the bridge.  Made my decision and walked back to the car.  I've written enough for now.  It's time to get to sleep so I can experience another adventure tomorrow.  I'll let you know tomorrow whether we made it over the hole or I chickened out!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Nissan "car" that we rented for our journey.

Flamingo Pond that we made our trip to see.  You can count the Flamingos on your fingers and toes.

Roadway that we traveled to attempt to get to Middle Caicos.