Singing Pig

Turks & Caicos looks more and more interesting.

Posting copied here - courtesy of Apple

Turks and Caicos Has Spirit! Spirit Airlines Announces Service to Turks and Caicos Islands with Fares Starting at $99(A)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2005--Spirit Airlines announces new non-stop, daily service starting February 16, 2006 from Fort Lauderdale to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as twice weekly service to Grand Turk also in the Turks and Caicos Islands, starting February 19, 2006. Spirit will offer connecting service to both destinations from Atlanta, Atlantic City, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago/O'Hare, Detroit, NY/LaGuardia, Orlando, Providence/Boston Area, Tampa, and Washington, D.C./Reagan National.

This new service will support Spirit's Caribbean expansion as well as its position as the leading low cost carrier to the Caribbean. By the end of 2005, 24% of Spirit's service will be in the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

"We are delighted to add the Turks and Caicos Islands to our fast-growing route map," said Barry Biffle, Chief Marketing Officer of Spirit Airlines. "These flights guarantee visitors and locals alike can take advantage of our low fares and quality service through our Fort Lauderdale hub. The Turks and Caicos Islands have the 3rd largest coral reef system and among the best tropical beaches in the world. We look forward to bringing our customers to this beautiful island paradise to further enhance tourism in the region."

"We are thrilled to welcome Spirit Airlines to the Turks and Caicos Islands," said Michael Misick, Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Planning and Development, of the Turks and Caicos Islands. "We know that Spirit's low fares and excellent reputation will grow our economy and invite more tourists to visit our beautiful beaches as well as allow our local community to travel even more."

Post Edited (yellow_bird) : 9/7/2005 11:06:02 PM GMT

Have done some research into Turks and Caicos Beach Resort and Marina http://www.caicosbeach.com/
which is on the relatively undeveloped South Caicos island (Only 8 sqaure miles)

Turks & Caicos has been voted to be as one of the top destinations in the world for scuba diving.
It has the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world.
South Caicos is known to have the very best scuba diving in the whole of the Turks & Caicos Islands.

Saw this thread about the Caicos Beach resort

I bought an apartment on at this resort  about one year ago from DestinationSunHomes www.destinationsunhomes.com. You've got the same information as on the developer website, but Destination Sun Homes is in the UK.

 

Latest news is that the resort is opening in October 2006, but they've added on a couple more buildings since I bought mine, so a new phase is under way.

Yellow Bird, what do you know about the marina opening dates?

 

Have also looked into this development in T&C. Looks very interesting and ticks a lot of the right boxes. A few things on the negative side:

As I understand it, building has actually started many years ago, possibly 10! Don't yet know why it has taken this long to get to this stage.

The design is quite basic, compared to the other resorts on Provo (main island) - possibly reflects the age of the development.

Trying to get to South Caicos is a bit of a nightmare, booking flights from Provo takes a bit of determination. I guess this should change with improvements to the South Caicos airport.

Energy - what stage were things at when you purchased? What have you reserved? Did you pay the price advertised on the destinationsunhomes website or have they increased in price since then?

Has anybody been there to see it? I plan to visit some time soon to check it out.

Prices have gone up by about $20.000 since we bought ours last year from $225.000 to $245.000. New phases are different design, so its hard to compare.
I didn't know about the 10 years. I was told that building started about 2 years ago but opening is for next autumn according to Destination Sun Homes.
The design is basic, but the idea is to fill the apartments with holidaymakers and get us rental income. They seem to have that side of things well worked out. I don't plan on staying there for months at a time, just the odd holiday. We've been to the islands and they are fantastic.

One thing we have been told is that the airport on South Caicos is being revamped to fit in with the resort opening and there will be direct flights there from the USA, after all they've got to charter in the holidaymakers, so that avoids going through Provo.

There is no debt on the entire development, so the developer has used his own funds without any loans to get to this stage.
Don't know about the 10 years, bit it could be that they were building the roads and clearing the land etc. over some time beforehand at at leisurely pace to fit in with their long term plans and available finance etc.

Phase 1a is now 90% sold out - so I think it will be ready by Oct 06 for the first tourists. I am guessing that the small marina should also be complete by then.