BEACHES, TURKS & CAICOS POOLS, THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS

When my daughter was 5, she and my husband went on a trip to Beaches Turks & Caicos, without me. The place has a huge pool, PLUS a 45,000 square foot water park that sounds like it just might rival, or at least make an attempt at competing with the granddaddy of all hotel swimming pools (certainly at or near the top of my hotel pool bucket list), Atlantis. But I’m not bitter about not getting to go, I swear.

Beaches Turks & Caicos is an all-inclusive resort with a family focus and tons of kids activities for all ages—Sesame Street characters for toddlers, a teen disco, “12 miles of powdery sand beach.” Really? How powdery can that sand really be? I wouldn’t know. Did I mention that I didn’t get to go?

The water park has a lazy river, seven waterslides tons of cannons and jets and spray features, a gradual entry for the little kids. And if that wasn’t enough, they recently added a wave simulator by Body Glove. Sounds like a pretty place to learn to boogie board.

Photo: Beaches

Since, as I may or may not have mentioned, I’ve never been there, here’s my daughter’s review of the pool:

“That was the awesome-ist pool ever.

There was a smoothie bar, in the pool. You could sit in the pool while drinking a smoothie. Daddy and I just sat there and talked and I got a mango smoothie. It was delicious. When I was done, I sat on the chair for a while to let my food digest. And then we just kept swimming.

It started to rain but we didn’t even get out. It wasn’t a lot of rain so Dad said we could stay in the pool. The dolphin statues would shoot out water and we would swim through it.

When you get in, there is a big flat step that is so big you could just swim on that if you were too little for the main part of the pool. When we first got there and I didn’t have my bathing suit on, I just put my feet in and played there.

We went to the water park but I was scared of those waterslides. I was only 5. I wish I tried them. Dad and I floated in the lazy river though. That was fun.

There is a restaurant at the hotel where you can go barefoot and keep your feet in the sand while you eat. That was cool.”

Think they have a table for me? Bitter, party of one, right this way.

Photo: Shapiro

Smoothie Bar, Beaches