Other than the usual shenanigans of air travel, the trip was uneventful. I think it was the first time we've ever been in a plane that did a U-turn, though; there's only one runway, and no adjacent taxiways.
We landed in Providenciales around 1:15 PM (one hour ahead of home). By the time we deplaned, dealt with customs and immigration, and collected our sleek rental car, it was already 3 PM. (Everything here operates on Island Time.)
The vehicles on the road here are a mix of left- and right-hand-drive, depending where they were imported from. Our Nissan March is right-hand-drive, which is probably for the best... I'm not sure if I could handle driving on the left side of the road while sitting on the left.
I'd almost forgotten the joys of navigating roundabouts that go clockwise. Creative driving seems to be the norm here, and there appear to be two different speed limits that cover all situations: "20" and "40". We're fairly confident those represent mph, which is slightly confusing since the speedometer in the Nissan is only in kph.
But the car is perfectly adequate for our needs, especially since gas here goes for $5/gallon. The navigation system appears to be stuck in Japanese, however.
We eventually managed to find our lodging, only a few miles from the airport. Having barely eaten all day, our next course of action was to find a snack, and then explore the island a bit during the few remaining hours of daylight.
Without having much of a plan, we drove out to the east end of the island, sort of aiming towards the Conch Farm on the map that Alamo gave us. It wasn't immediately obvious how to actually get to it, upon in-person inspection, so we tabled that idea and instead headed to the beach.
After picking a random beach access road, I was delighted to find a Mini Moke in the small parking lot. Had I known that was a rental option, I might have insisted on getting one. There is a spot of rain in the forecast, however.
We walked along Leeward Beach, towards Grace Bay Beach, for about half a mile. The ocean here is a perfect temperature, in my humble opinion. The "current surf conditions" website tells me that it's currently around 78F, which, while certainly not "warm" water, will do just fine for January.
I can see why this stretch of beach is rated #1 or #2 in the world on some travel sites.
Around 5:30, the sun was starting to set, so we headed back to the car.
Halfway back to the apartment (condo?) where we're staying, we stopped for a light dinner at Hemmingway's (resort restaurant, right on the beach).
There were no dolphin sightings, sadly.
By the time we left Hemmingway's, it was encroaching on 8 PM. We squeezed in a pit stop at the grocery store on the way back to the apartment.
There's no firm plan for tomorrow (as far as I'm aware). Other than the Conch Farm and more time at the beach, this weekend's itinerary potentially includes kayaking, snorkeling, and many more roundabouts.
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