Caicos Dream Tours

    Ever since we first stepped foot on the beautiful sand of the Turks and Caicos two years ago, I have dreamt of taking the kids out to Half Moon Bay to see the famous iguanas that inhibit the island. The issue has always been whether or not they were too young for the tourist cruises that will take you there. When I found Caicos Dream Tours I was quite hesitant to take a 3 and 5 year old on a 4 hour cruise alone. Still, the company reassured me that we would have a great time and I figured we would all at least survive it. We ended up doing much more than that.

Will climbs aboard for a day of adventure

     In true island fashion, we were told to just wait on the beach between 1:00 and 1:15 pm and to look for a yellow boat. I arrived on time expecting to wait quite a while but as I looked at the horizon I quickly saw a yellow boat approaching with two waving and smiling crew members aboard. We were taken from our hotel to Alexandra Beach to meet with the rest of the cruise.

John and the crew working away in the shack

     As we disembarked from the first boat, we were directed to a little shack on the beach to sign in for the cruise. There we met John Esper, the owner of the company. John and his wife Kim are fellow Canadians who moved to the Island from currently chilly Toronto and I must admit I thought about asking for room and board for the next few months. John immediately put my worries at ease and told me the kids would have a wonderful time. The most striking thing about watching John work was the amount of people coming off the earlier tour telling him how great his crew was and what a wonderful time they had.

Will, me and Charlie waiting to depart

    Before I knew it we were boarding the company's newest boat, complete with water slide, and off on our ocean adventure. We pulled out to sea with Captain Kwee and his crew mate Leecky telling us about our day. In short, we were going to snorkel at two locations, one of which was shallow to find conchs, and then head to Half Moon Bay for ceviche conch salad and iguana exploration. I looked at my kids and thought this would be a long day.

Charlie and Leecky picking out snacks

    As the boat began to speed up, Leecky came over and explained to me that they often had kids on the boat and he would show me what to do. At our first stop, the rest of the cruise was let off in deep waters to drift to where the boat would go next with Leecky as their guide. Kwee asked me to stay on the boat and explained he would bring us to an easier spot for the kids. Will and Charlie were given life jackets and Kwee dropped us in appropriately shallow water near the boat with a rope and life preserver so we could easily float along the water and get back on the boat. The three of us searched for conchs and were able to see quite a few fish. I'm pretty sure we saw a few conchs but must admit I was a little too scared of what might be living inside to pick them up.

Leecky leading the conch search

    Once all of the snorklers (except us) had found a conch, we were back on board and found that Leecky had picked up a conch for each of us. Will and Charlie were slightly excited and partly mortified by the fact the shells had been taken from the ocean and after making sure every party on board had a shell, Kwee let Will and Charlie return the rest to the water. The three of us, knowing we wouldn't eat our conchs, decided to also throw ours back in the water letting them live another day.

Leecky and Will with our conchs

    A short time later, we arrived at a deeper location to partake in some snorkelling. The crew helped with the kids while I entered the water to see the fish. After that, the kids and most of the adults made use of the fun water slide on board the boat.

A snorkeler entering the water via the water slide

     Next, we were off to see the iguanas at Half Moon Bay. The tour stops on the prestine beach here for two reasons. The first is to see the iguanas and the second is to make conch salad. Each party is taught how to remove the conch from the shell and a ceviche is made from the conchs. I quickly let the crew know that we would prefer to skip this demonstration and they went to great efforts to let us get off the boat and onto our search for iguanas before doing the demonstration. When we returned everyone on board was very kind to leave the shells with their belonging and to not tell the kids what they were eating. I tried the salad and must admit that although it didn't taste exactly like coconut, the way Kwee promised it would, it was in fact quite good.
  

Fresh conch salad aboard the boat

    While the conch demonstration was happening, we took the extra time to explore the island and the beach. Almost immediately we spotted a giant iguana and I knew we were in for some fun. Will decided to start a travel log in which he counted every creature we saw. By the time we boarded the boat, we had a count of 15 iguanas, 7 butterflies and 1 mysterious bug that landed on my leg and scared me half to death. The iguanas were incredible to see and we were able to get quite close to them. One came out while we were playing in some hammocks and was as curious about us and we were about him. Altogether, we spent close to an hour creating our exploration log and roaming the small island. As Kwee had told the boat to do, we finished our exploration by heading to the beach which was breathtaking.

Our first iguana sighting.

Hanging out by the hammock with a friendly iguana.

Exploring Half Moon Bay

    Once back on board, everyone compared notes on what a great day we all shared. As we headed back toward the hotel, the sun was setting and Kwee and Leecky told stories of things they had seen out on the water and answered questions about the island itself. The kids sat contently listening in and laughing when others laughed and then both thanked me for the fun we had.

Kwee, Charlie, Leecky and Will

     I must admit I was far too worried about this excursion before getting on the boat and I would do it again without question. The crew aboard the boat and the owners of the company were incredibly kind to us and were truly professional. There wasn't a point on the tour where more than 10 minutes passed without Leecky checking in on all the passengers and making sure we were having fun. If you are going to do a tour here on the island, I highly recommend giving Caicos Dream Tours a call.

The Caicos Dream Tours boats at Half Moon Bay

Kwee, Leecky and Me

    The tours run twice a day, seven days a week and are $89 per adult and $44.50 per child. This includes unlimited beverages as well as all snorkelling equipment, conch salad and light snacks. Private charters are also available. All the information you need as well as contact information to book your tour is available at caicosdreamtours.com.