A detailed dine guide was provided in our room and also available at the airport from TCI’s WhereWhenHow magazine. Most of the restaurants whether high-end or more casual had a lot of the same things on the menu. We did not see a lot of variety so when we did we either choose a restaurant because of the variety or because of its ambience. Several restaurants I had researched on the Internet prior to arrival quickly fell off of our list because I didn’t like the location of the restaurant or the menu did not offer much of interest to me.

Lots of grilled Grouper, Snapper and Mahi-Mahi. Very few restaurants had other fish dishes, maybe one or two had salmon but none had swordfish and Shrimp wasn’t on the dinner menus very often. Lots and lots of CONCH! Conch fritters, conch stew, Creole conch. If you ever saw Forrest Gump and you recall the way one character went on about different ways to prepare shrimp – get my drift! Neither David nor I are big fans of Conch so a visit to the famous “da conch shack” was not on our “to-do” list. Lobster is out of season during this time of the year and I think unavailable until October. Many restaurants had lobster dishes printed on their menus but they are not available. We understood the restaurant would be fined $50,000 if they served it.

Having said all that there is a big influence of Indian dishes and a smaller Asian influence so each restaurant had a few choices of each on their menus. We enjoyed many tasty meals at our hotel and decided several nights just to dine there. Mango Reef offered a fixed menu Monday thru Thursday, in addition to several daily lunch specials. Prix fixed meals were $35 for three courses which were different each night. During those evenings you could still order off the ala carte menu which was large and diverse. Staff was very friendly, service was good and we liked dining outside the enclosed area of the restaurant around the pool.

One of my more memorable dinners at [color:"blue"]Mango Reef[/color] (I took notes but am having a hard time reading them!) was the night I had the grouper in a coconut broth with kafir lime and other exotic spices served with Jasmine rice – it was outstanding. For appetizer I chose the Caesar salad which was very good and dessert was a strawberry tart with ice cream. David opted for the 8 oz filet mignon with roasted garlic potatoes and steamed veggies which were cooked to perfection. One evening I had pan fried grouper which was lightly sauced and very good and another evening a seafood pasta dish in Alfredo sauce that was outstanding. Someone had recommended a scallop appetizer on tripadvisor.com that was spectacular. David and I split it and it was more than enough for the two of us. We did also order coconut shrimp one day at the bar which were overcooked and had little to no coconut on them. It was our only disappointment. They had a limited breakfast menu served daily. Perhaps 5 dishes to pick from. I had an America breakfast which was two eggs, bacon, toast and a hash brown for either $7.95 or $9.95. I can’t remember but when looking at the menus of other restaurants that served breakfast that was the “going” price for what they called an American breakfast.

We stopped by [color:"blue"]Simba[/color] in the morning and liked the ambience and different menu choices so we made a dinner reservation based on what we had read in the dining magazine about it being air conditioned. Simba's is located at the Turks & Caicos Club -- appetizers, one entree and dessert was very good but I did not like my shrimp tempura. Over-battered and the pineapples had a bitter taste. Restaurant was very quiet, only 4 other tables filled. Service was good and the atmosphere was very nice although we went because they advertised they had indoor a/c but when we arrived the doors to the indoor dining were wide open and there was no a/c on. Luckily that evening there was a cool breeze because David was quiet mad that they advertised a/c and did not use it. I’m sure it was because the restaurant was rather empty and they were conserving.

Our best meal was at [color:"blue"]Magnolia Restaurant & Wine Bar[/color] located at Mirimar resort. What a lovely place set high atop the marina. Great service, larger variety of food choices then a lot of the other restaurants. Reservations are recommended or suggested which is listed in the dining guide next to each restaurant but this was the only place we had called to make reservations and possibly could have been why we had one of the best tables in the place. Don’t really know but it did get busy and we were happy we had a table in the front so we had a great view of the Marina. David had the sweet potato gnocchi’s to start which were delicious. For dinner I had their signature dish, Sesame crusted tuna served rare which was cooked to perfection and served with the tastiest jasmine rice and steamed veggies I’ve ever had. David had the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables in a demi-glace that was superb. We shared a molten chocolate cake. Our meal including tip cost $135.

A couple of restaurants added the gratuity and some didn’t. Magnolia’s and [color:"blue"]Anacaona[/color] located at Grace Bay resort added the gratuity and some restaurants added tax and other’s didn’t?

We intended to eat at [color:"blue"]Bay Bistro[/color] located at Sibonne resort but went by for drinks one day and weren’t impressed with the menu. “Junior’s”[i][/i] cocktails were very good and refreshing. We would have returned to have drinks again as the restaurant is practically on the beach but Junior was leaving for vacation. Also had intended to eat at Coco Bistro but couldn't get past all the concrete and demolition behind it. I know it's blocked and wouldn't have been visible at night but it just didn't appeal to us after seeing that. Also, it wasn't on the beach or overlooking a pool so we opted not to dine there. Caicos Cafe was closed for vacation so we did not dine there.

Had a very casual dinner one night at [color:"blue"]Danny Buoys[/color]Irish pub. Pretty decent food, nice wait staff, a/c.

[color:"blue"]Hemingway’s[/color] at the Sandsresort - lunch one day - great atmosphere but food was just OK. I had the fish tacos and husband had a grilled chicken sandwich – nothing special.

We had drinks on two separate evenings at Anacoana and loved the atmosphere. Both nights the restaurant was very busy as well as Mango Reef which was at capacity each night.

Lunch one day at [color:"blue"]Horse Eye Jack's[/color] was delicious -- we both had the fried grouper. I had the platter served with “chips” and cole slaw; David had the sandwich. His was a Cajun style and mine was just fried but both had great flavors. Two beers and a pina colada and the bill was $46.50.

We also had drinks one evening at Horse Eyed Jacks and were sorry we had left to have dinner at Sharkbite and not stayed there to eat. Dinner at Sharkbite was also just OK. I had grilled snapper which was rather tasteless, just grilled with no seasoning or sauce. Hubbie had mahi mahi with a tropical sauce which he liked. We at outdoors and the view of the marina were very nice. Our two dinner companions seem to like their meals very much. Grilled snapper was $21.95 and tropical mahi was $23.95.

We dined with Gretchen and Ken (aka Greels) who are lovely people and really showed us a good time. Sharkbite was crowded, doing a good business with both locals (they are called Belongers) and tourist. It was lovely to finally meet Gretchen who has been helping me over the last six years whenever I would post questions on TTOL asking about TCI.

We were impressed with each bartender at the restaurants. We were finally able to enjoy our martini’s this trip as all were made very well. On one occasion the martini was too sweet so we returned it but otherwise when we said ‘dry’ they were dry. Great martini glasses and every place served them as requested with olives. Green olives were the jumbo ones that we like and drinks were served chilled. We have been unable to get a good martini on St. Martin – in fact they have been lousy so we stopped ordering them.

Drinks are restaurants were anywhere from $8 to $12.00. Beers were $4 or better at most places and another thing we noted was there was no $8 or $10 lunches unless you picked up a sandwich from a supermarket. No fast food on the island. Rib dinners/lunches, bbq chicken dishes were $14 or $16 and up. Burger with fries was $10.95 at Mango Reef and looked great but we didn’t travel there to eat hamburgers.

We did venture off to Sopadilla, Taylor and Malcolm's beach/bay. Had we not had directions from past visitors from tripadvisor.com we never would have found them. All three beaches were very remote with no shade and no amenities. In hindsight I'm not sure they were worth the trip as Grace Bay where our hotel is was beautiful.

We brought along a collapsible cooler and fit in as much cold water as we could but it wasn't much and even brought along two ice packs from home that we kept frozen in our rooms freezer. The longest we lasted was at Malcom's bay which was 2 1/2 hrs but it was brutually driving there. Uncomfortable laying on beach towels and the water was very rocky so you had a hard time getting out in the water.

I would compare the road to the road that leads you to Club O -- not as bad but pretty bad and it's set in about 3 miles. God forbid you break down with your car there are no houses around, no park rangers, etc. Had you made it to Northwest Point you could walk down to Amanyara which is a very high resort but it would be a hike out in the sun if you were stuck on the road in or out.

Sopadilla and Taylor which is part of Chaulk Sound did have incredible water views. We parked our car at several points of the sound to take photos but once out of the car we couldn't believe the amount of garbage. It was a shame. Beer bottles and soda cans, bottles of clorox, ladies underwear! It was all over the place and it several different spots of the national preserve.

In closing I would highly recommend RWI and would return again if we didn't love St. Martin/St. Maarten so much. We are die-hard SXM fans and it was difficult not to compare. Had we not found St. Martin I'm sure we'd return to TCI but for now our next trip (13th) is off to SXM.

Part I