Most North Americans or Europeans or Caribbean islanders who come to live on Provo don’t want to go back. Same with many visitors to Provo who want to stay longer and often opt to buy a place. Everyone, it seems, wants their piece of this paradise. With today’s modern infrastructure, paradise can indeed be home, full-time or part-time. In the past, it was usually the adventurous with a high tolerance for lack of amenities. Like pirates and, later, eccentric malcontents with an aversion for social rules in their homeland who made their way to a tropical island. But the islands are no longer for malcontents (though a few of them can be spotted). Settling comfortably in paradise has become a much more viable option. As new people move in, however, new issues arise. Who are these people? 

During the Golden Age of Piracy, legend has it that the notorious female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, hid out in the sheltered coves of the Turks & Caicos Islands after raids on passing merchant vessels. The long protective barrier reef provided a tranquil refuge after a stressful day of sword fights and pistols blazing. And turquoise waters gently lapping the long sandy beaches surely helped them to unwind while dividing up the loot. As night fell, we can imagine Anne and Mary and their fellow pirates drinking, dancing, carousing, and no doubt procreating under a billion stars strewn across a black Caribbean sky. This piece of paradise was their escape and, for a while, their home. 

Let me state upfront: I am new to blogging. In fact, this is the first blog post I have ever written. So why now? Two reasons. First, to explore and comment the changing nature of Caribbean islands and the Turks & Caicos and nearby Haiti in particular. Here you’ll read about tourism, overdevelopment, wealth, inequality, migration, disenfranchisement, and the heroes determined to empower their countries and communities. Second, to tell the world about my upcoming book The Jamaican Bobsled Captain. In many ways, the original Jamaican bobsled team, and particularly its captain, Dudley “Tal” Stokes, reflect the Caribbean grit to keep pushing past failure and doubt to succeed against the odds.