My husband, 3 year-old daughter and I are all having withdrawal symptoms......after a one-week stay at Candy's/Pirate's Hideaway in Salt Cay, we're addicted. The island itself is amazing - one of the last places one can go to escape overdevelopment and see some untouched nature and abundant animal life (both in the water and out). The ocean water is stunning, clear and clean. The island is so safe no one locks their doors, and you can leave the keys in the golf cart and your stuff on the beach without worrying about it. And the residents are so welcoming - warm, kind and family friendly.

Candy bent over backwards to make our stay perfect. We booked the smallest room she had - but she upgraded us to a huge island/sea themed cottage with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen, living room, and outdoor screened-in porch. The decorations really made it special - dark wood doors, shutters and beams; fish/aquatic life tiles, colorful walls & underwater painted scenes, and shell/dolls/sea fans - strategically placed to give the place a unique inn-type feel. We stayed there 5 nights - and when a large diving group came in and needed to use the place - she upgraded us again to the cottage at the Frangipanni ocean-front villa. The big deck overlooking the ocean was amazing for sunsets.

Candy did lots of extras too.....it started by her calling and helping us choose dates when we could best see the whales, asking if we need anything that she could pick up, and helping us get our flights in order with the somewhat unreliable (web site is completely wrong on times and prices - and planes are often late) Air Turks and Caicos. She gave us unlimited bottled water, put some fruit in the refrigerator, and gave us some bread and a box of cookies for our daughter. She even filled the gas tank on the golf cart we rented from her before we looked to see if we were on empty. She hooked us up with her neighbor, Philamine, who babysat for us two days while we went out whale watching and snorkeling. Philamine had a daughter a bit older than ours - and they loved playing together.

We chose Salt Cay because we wanted to see the whales, wanted a safe place to take our daughter, didn’t have to rent a car but could golf-cart it, could dress informally every place we went, and we like hearing roosters crow in the morning and evening (starting at 4:30 am while we were there.....sure beats 4:30 am garbage truck noises). The donkeys were entertaining as well - funny to hear them in the morning. We have a thing for donkeys ever since my husband and I went to Morocco together and took a picture of him in a walled city next to a donkey (two "Jack- ***es" in one photo I always tease).

Things we liked the most on the island: Pat's cracked conk and company at dinner; Porter's (Island Thyme Bistro) "wolf" shots and nightly bar entertainment (Porter's island history stories are a kick and patrons provide much entertainments while doing a series of shots....). His food was excellent - especially the coconut French toast, omelets, and tuna.

Also we loved Debbie's (owner of Salt Cay Divers) frozen key lime pie, cold beers with lime while watching whales from the beach bar, and staff that played with and entertained our daughter; Sue's & Jagan's glow worm party and fried fish & chicken wings at their place, Green Flash; a romantic 5-course dinner, impeccable service and Levi singing opera under the stars at the Windmills; and the huge "North Beach" in front of Windmills with perfect powder white sand and enormous reef full of life that we snorkeled just off the beach. It took us 5 minutes from "center town" to get to the beach in our golf cart - not 40 minutes as mentioned by another writer (the island is only 3 sq miles....)

Things we didn’t like: lots of trash on the east side of all the little islands (including Salt Cay) in the area due to cruise ships illegally dumping.

My husband and I honeymooned in Salt Cay and it was the best trip of our lives. Candy is an extremely accommodating and generous host. She did everything she could to help us during our stay. It was like staying with a friend. Whatever is her's is your's. She'll call and make dinner reservations for you and let you know what's happening on the island. There are plenty of little beaches and coves to explore via golf cart, which is really fun. If we hadn't stayed with Candy, we wouldn't have gotten to know the island as well as we did and really experience everything it has to offer. Salt Cay is a very unique experience...there are no hotels, big chains, etc. It does not disappoint. The food we had was excellent everywhere we ate, the people are extremely friendly and helpful, the snorkeling and diving are amazing. I could go on and on.

We had a wonderful stay, with a terrific host, Candie. Salt Cay is a beautiful, quaint little island, away from the crowds one would find on other islands. Beautiful beaches and sunsets, friendly people. Great food at Pat's Place and Island Tyme, thank you Pat for your wonderful converstaions and stories of the islands history. We enjoyed our morning breakfasts at Deb's and snaks ay the Green Flash. One the best laid back vacations we have ever experienced. Butch and Sandy

Salt Cay is definitely secluded - however we feel that although the island offers very friendly people and a get away from anything touristy - it does not deliver on all of the promises. We stayed at Pirates Hideaway. Candy was there to greet us at the airport and help us get oriented - and also did everything she could to help plan our stay. However, in the end we were not happy with either the accomodations or the island in general. First, the Pirates website says that its "directly across from a sandy beach" and shows a picture of a gorgeous beach. That was a big selling feature for us, but unfortunately its a lie - plain and simple. You must travel via golf cart at least 15 minutes dodging bumps, pot holes and Donky dung (which lingers in the air throughout most of the island) to get to a small rocky beach. The nicer beach is at the other end of the island and takes 40 minutes each way by golf cart down the same road.

Second, in the accomodations itself was mold on the books, mold on the shower & soap, no beach towels (Candy fixed this later), no outside light, and only 1 working lightbulb out of 15 on the enclosed patio. Also, at night the mosquitos get in - as do the cockroaches! Finally expect to be awakened at 2 or 3 in the morning by the several roosters that don't stop crowing until after supper time.

We are "regular" folks who don't need and were not looking for swanky accomodations. Our recommendation is that you save your money and stay at Grace Beach on Provo. If you really want to go to Salt Cay - find alternative accomodation and visit Island Thyme Bistro - Porter is a howl!