WBC's Dane and Roxana meet swimmer and humanatarian Marcos Diaz

This past weekend, our island of Providenciales was the proud host of the 1^st Eco seaswim- Race for the Conch.

The guest of honor was Marcos Diaz from Dominican Republic, a well known world class long distance swimmer and athlete. Among Marcos’ numerous achievements are: 2005 the World Record for crossing back and forth the Strait of Gibraltar; 2006 1^st place in the longest competition in Bhagirathi River in India (81K); 3 years consecutive champion in the International Crossing of the Toroneos Gulf in Greece; Swimming in the Passage Boca Chica ; Double Swim around the Island of Manhattan NY (97K)

Marcos holds the highest ranking ever by a Dominican swimmer in the world rankings of International Swimming Federation

Marcos achievements do not stop in the water. In 2004 he established the Marcos Diaz Foundation dedicated to help the children with limited economic resources in Dominican Republic and around the world. His goal this year is to ‘connect’ the continents by swimming various straits and passages and use his name and records to attract attention to child mortality and hopefully end poverty by 2015.

Marcos Diaz talks to the crowd at WBC's pre-race reception

West Bay Club was one of the sponsors and the host of the welcome cocktail party for the organizers and participants. After the greetings and a brief introduction by the main organizer, Marco Travel, the microphone was passed to Marcos who thanked everyone for the hospitality and  briefed the audience on his goals and his Foundation work.

The 1-mile sea swim took place the following day and it was great success thanks to the organizers and the participants. Even though it was a much shorter race than Marcos normally participants in, he won.

Marcos and his wife stayed with us at WBC, so we had the opportunity to interact, ask questions and show off the resort not only to them, but also to members of the press from the Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine and other participants.

Future swimming champ!

Marcos hangs out with WBC staff

The annual Fool's Regatta attracts all sorts of boats and characters

One of the great events on the Turks & Caicos calendar is the annual Fools Regatta. It’s part sailing event, part beach party and entirely fun. And it takes place right down the beach from West Bay Club.

Here’s the scoop on the 2010 edition, the 20^th annual:

Saturday, June 19th at the Bight Kids’ Park.  Event kicks off at noon.

The day long event features lot of local food, local boats and local music.

One of the highlights of the day is the Resort Challenge Race, which pits the staffs of many of the beachfront resorts against each other in a Hobie Cat race (yes, WBC is one of the early favorites!)

There’s sailing competition among local sloops in three different classes. These graceful handmade crafts are really fun to watch and the skill of the local sailors is impressive

And then there’s the Great Raft Race run by the Volunteer Fire Service — always an entertaining competition.  Ten rafts are already entered for this event that epitomizes the “Fools Regatta” as teams construct rafts from just about any type of material (beer kegs?)

There are kids games, beach shenanigans and a Tug-O-War competition.  The family friendly event concludes at sunset with an awards ceremony.