Category: turks caicos

Last Day Activities!!

Posted on by vballphil in Friends, Fun, turks caicos, volleyball vacations

So the last day of the turks trip turned out to be a long yet exciting and colorful day! It was finally sunny! WOOHOO! Hahahaha.

The day started off with a snorkling trip to the reef about 1 mile off the beach.














Then from there we grabbed some lunch and headed back to the beach. The winners of the tournaments throughout the week played with the pro’s or against the pro’s. From there we went back to get ready for “white night”. I must say, the whiteness really made everyone look clean and crisp. And it was ironically very tropical as a result!




We ended up having a VBV dinner to thank everyone from the vacationer’s to the pro’s. Pure fun :). After dinner we headed over to the trapeze area to watch their exhibition…pretty cool! After that we headed to Sharkies for the week end beach party…and can we say classic? Wow…getting in bed at 6A should say it all right?! Hahaha!!


And then it was off to our homeland…you ever wish you could stay just one more night?? Well I sure did!! BUT then again…the Cayman trip is right around the corner!! WOOHOO!





And here are a couple scenic pics (hehe) last I got recently!







Mid Week Turks action

Posted on by vballphil in Friends, Fun, halloween, turks caicos, volleyball, volleyball vacations

So when you are at an exotic place for over 7 days, things start to blur together!! So I have decided to do 3 blogs about the turks…Day one you have seen, this one will be next, and My snorkling day/White night will be last…hahaha.

So the Sunday, Oct 28th was the start of the week for everyone. No “official” training started that day, but we were introduced to everyone and had some free play. This was also the day that we realized that a Tropical system (named Noel) could roll through the area. And apparently, the island where we were situated on never had a direct hit from a hurricane. So, needless to say, the weather started turning a tad bit grey. But the ironic thing about it being grey in the sky, is that the water was still absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen anything like that!









After the open play we headed back to get ready for the night’s theme. At club Med they do themed nights…the first being Jersey night. And this night was the ony night that I did not “officially” dress up. But it was awesome to see everyone supporting their fave pro teams!! Also, this was the night that Paige, JB, & Albert did the log pillow challenge, along with Ang, Al-b, Tbone, and Renee doing the singing challenge, AND Angela and Anthony doing the balloon race…the funniest thing I have ever seen in a while!

Monday brought the start of the King/Queen of the beach tournament, the start of our afternoon clinics, and gusty/rainy conditions. I did play in the Queen tourney, but can honestly say not only am I WAY out of shape, but my knee REALLY needs to be scoped. So between the fatique and pain, I was WAY frustrated. The 5 other girls in my pool were a fun group (and ironically, besides the girl who we all felt was the “best” non pro there, we had the strongest pool).








After the day’s play we headed back to get ready for Tropical night. Before we got ready I went to watch Amy do the trapeze…and right when she got up there to start swinging, can we say downpour? At least she tried! Now, I did dress up for this one. And thanks to Amy I had some cute flowers to go with the outfit. This was the night that we did the Roshambo shot game which turned into the finger up or down shot game. AND I WAS VERY HAPPY THAT I ONLY ENDED UP WITH ONE SHOT….unlike poor Katie who mist have had 5-6 shots from that game alone! And the shots, btw, were AWFUL. Hahahaa. Ahhh….the memories! Oh…and can we just talk about the flip cup madness that night! So funny to watch!








Tues brought the end of the tourney action and more afternoon clinics. Even though I made it out of my pool, I opted to not play. My knee was just painful to play on at that time, so I watched :)! I also was able to get the videocamera to start videotaping the clinics…A MAJOR WORK IN PROGRESS. Hahahaha. And after the finish of the afternoon we headed back to get ready for “dress down” night…an easy night to get ready for! Hahaha! But after that we headed back to the courts for some ACE action. I wanted to play but knew I couldn’t….so I settled for camera action!! Hahaha!






Wed was suppose to be a better day, BUT with the stalling of Tropical Storm Noel it turned out to be windy and grey. Very little rain though, so that was good! I also directed the doubles tourney (thanks to Renee and Tbone for the help the night before), which was different. Bascially I had to find a balance of the vacation element AND a true tournament element for this. And yet again I was winging things…hahaha. But for the most part it ran really smooth!!

And of course, after the clinics we headed back to get ready for Halloween! So yes, I was officially trying to be Britney Spears (and should have asked my sis for her cowboy boots but didn’t). Now I know I should have brought attachable babies too. But to be frankly honest, Halloween is not a holiday I usually go overboard on…so I was happy with what I did. And it was way fun to see everyone else in their costumes!! Straight classic!!



Thurs was the last day of the doubles tournament…which turned out to be very interesting. All it took was 2 people to screw the entire experience up. People seriously need to get over themselves when they screwed up and did not follow instruction….enough said. Besides that the day was good. The weather was trying to get better too…we did have a couple peeks of sun!




That night was the conch shack dinner, dress to impress night, and the vb hardcore exhibition…another thing I opted out of due to my knees. The Conch was gorgeous and fun as usual. Can we talk about the rum punch?! Pure Yummo! Hahaha! It was also fun to watch everyone play 6’s again…something beach players rarely do!





And before I forget I need to give props to Ken Delgado for all the photos he took this past week!! Thanks Ken!! And Nina…u rock :)! Let me rephrase that and say thanks Ken & Nina! To view ken’s website go to kendelgado.com!


Turks….Day One

Posted on by vballphil in Da conch shack, Friends, turks caicos, volleyball vacations

So I have officially been to the Caribbean!! I have been blessed in the fact that I have been to most of the US (including Hawaii…Maine and Alaska are two places on my “to visit” list still though), about 6 different Mexican cities, and British Columbia…but have never been anywhere else! And now that I am with VBV, well, I got to hit my first isla in the Caribbean. Next up is the Cayman Islands….so pumped for that one in Jan!

Anyways, we arrived into the Turks & Caicos on Oct 26th at night…so in my opinion, that was not the first day :). When I woke up and walked outside, all I could think about was a line from Meg Ryan’s character in French Kiss… “OHH!! Beautiful! Wish you were here!” And let me tell you…you need to go to see this place…of course with a tropical system near by would be the best time, but that is another blog yet to come! Hahaha!

Ok, so anyways, we (my friend Amy and me) went to eat and then hit the beach so that we could set up the 9 nets for the next week (an let me tell you about those wonderful nets and customs….BLAAAAAAAAA is how I felt about getting them through customs). With the wind and 10 of us trying to get the systems up…can we say a hilarious morning?






From there we headed over to Jon’s house. He is the Minister of Tourism for the country, btw. And can we say AMAZING HOUSE!! I think we all felt like children in a candy store when we got into the house. It was that awesome. The views were amazing, to say the least. All the views that is!






We had a brief meeting before we headed over to Jon’s restaurant, The Conch Shack (da conch shack unofficially). Most people took the cars to the “shack”, but Amy, Aaron (aka Talent), his girlfriend Katie (his new fiance), and me swam most of the way there. Talk about an amazing experience! How many times to you get to swim to your food…in the Turks and Caicos Islands?! And once we got there we got to see how they caught, ‘deshelled’, and pulled the pistol (for the infamous pistol shot) from these beauiful shelled creatures! And yes, for those who know how much I despise seafood…I tried some conch ceviche, fritters, and raw conch. It was “ok”….:)! Also at the conch shack was the infamous Rum punch…can we say YUMMO?! Hahaha!

After that we headed back to Jon’s for some more down time, but this time a bigger group walked the beach back to the house. We got some jacuzzi and naptime for the next few hours and then headed back to Club Med Turkoise (our fabulous host resort for the week).







One we were there we ate and then danced for god knows how many hours! Hahaha! But not only on the floor or stage, but in the pool :). And of course we had to venture into the ocean for a few pics….all and all I can say it was a bunch of good times…





The new job err jobs!

Posted on by vballphil in dig 4 kids, turks caicos, volleyball vacations, volleyball.com

So for those who have not heard, I recently resigned from the AVP and took the position of Foundation Director at Dig 4 Kids. Along with that, I am working for Volleyball Vacations & volleyball.com. WOOHOO! SO BASICALLY….I am working for Eric Fonoimoana at D4K and Al-B at VBV MEANING I am not going very far from the AVP! The big difference is I am going to be able to enjoy the AVP! Concept right?

So for those who don’t know anything about these two programs, let me get you aquainted!! D4K is a non profit program directed at the inner cities. The first program has been in Carson the past 7 years. We have 4 & 5 graders who come from the local elementary schools to Carson HS on Tuesdays. Once they are there they get tutored for 2 hours and then learn how to play volleyball for an hour. And the really cool thing is that the tutors are not only pro athletes but the Carson HS boy’s & girl’s volleyball teams. And we will be expanding VERY SOON! Growth is GOOD!

On to VBV….so VBV takes beach volleyball fans to exotic desinations to learn, play, eat, and drink with Pro Beach volleyball players. The first trip up for me is later this month in the Turks & Caicos Islands!! We will be having 8 of our AVP athletes in attendance too! Trust me…I CAN’T WAIT!! And for those who have never heard of the T&C islands, they are located just south of the Bahamas (and look like they are part of that chain). Oh, the Cayman’s are set for Feb of 08…woohoo! Here are some photos of the T&C islands!