Jamaica pics
First sight of Jamaica from the plane
After an hour and a half bus ride from the airport, we were greeted with a glass of champagne to drink during check-in at the resort. This is the view from the deck of our room.
our room
Once we checked in and changed clothes, we walked around the resort, ate some dinner, and crashed early (waking up at 3am to be at the airport took its toll).
The next day set the tone for the rest of our trip: wake up, slather on sunblock (50 for me, 30 for dave), eat breakfast from the buffet, lay on the beach and read, play in the water when we get hot, get some lunch (either the pizza brick oven place or the grillor the lunch buffet), swim in the pool with the swim-up bar, drink, go up to the room, shower and change for dinner, sit on the beach or our deck and drink and smoke cigars.
turn down service that included a bottle of champagne
breakfast in bed (that didn't include any trays, so we ate it on the deck)
We arrived on Wednesday and we just ate and slept that night. Thursday we laid around a lot, but we went on the orientation tour and met Machel, one of the entertainment people. The resort sets up entertainment each night. Thursday was an international buffet on the piazza, followed by a fashion show of attire available in the gift shop (the models were the entertainment staff, so it was very entertaining!), followed by a steel drum band. It was too dark to take pictures of the fashion show (and I now realize that I don't think we got any pictures of the chick named Shana on the entertainment staff. She seriously had the biggest boobs I have ever seen in real life. And they moved like they were real.), but we got some of the steel drum band and dancers.
This is one of the dancers spinning two other dancers from his shoulders.
Friday was "Jamaica day." We took a "learn to speak Jamaican" class where we learned some basic rules for the patois spoken there (like "th" is replaced with "t" or "d"). That was followed by a "Jamaican history" class. After both of these was a trivia contest answering questions from each class. Whoever got their hand in the air first got to answer, and if they got it right, they got a poker chip. At the end, we had 21, second place couple only had 13. So you could say that we kicked all their asses, and our reward was a bottle of Appleton rum!
us with our teachers (on the left is Cassie, she taught us about the patois; and on the right is Machel, our orientation tour guide and our Jamaican history teacher; we didn't get the name of the other girl, but she was also on the entertainment staff)
and us and our rum (notice that Dave's shirt is speaking the Jamaican patois: "tank you very much"
Friday night we ate dinner at the place that requires more formal attire. Dave ate duck, and I had rack of lamb.
After dinner, we had a drink at the Tree bar.
Saturday we were going to ride the AquaTrike, but we got there too late. So we laid around some more, and then ate dinner at the Tepanyaki place.
Dave caught his shrimp on the first try. I suck at doing that, so I didn't attempt it.
Later we smoked cigars and drank Jamaican rum cream. Yum.
Sunday, we were very active. We went snorkeling, and we rode the glass bottom boat. We were going to also ride the AquaTrike, but it was too windy. We saw a few stingray, and some pretty fish. This is the boat.
For Sunday night, we had booked a romantic dinner for two on the beach (personalized menu and champagne). It was supposed to be here, complete with candles and tiki torches.
But the day of our dinner, some turtle decided to build her nest under our hut.
So our dinner was moved to the gazebo at the top of the pool waterfall (which is turned on periodically throughout the day).
our view from the top
the candlelit stairs and our waiter, Ricardo
us
our dinner:
appetizer of prosciutto ham and melon pearls (i ate a piece of melon before remembering to take the picture)
salad
main course of lobster
dessert of banana foster (we actually chose peach foster, but it was definitely bananas we ate)
Monday was our last full day, so we made sure to ride the AquaTrike, went on the nature walk and then laid around a lot. Monday night's entertainment was an international buffet on the beach, followed by a limbo dancer, a balancing act, and a fire dancer, followed by beach games (we were too busy running around during this part to take pictures: the hula hoop game where the team is holding hands and they have to move the hula hoop along the line with letting go of each other, a relay where you run and bounce a tennis ball on a racket at the same time, and the relay where you run, spin around several times, and then run back).
flowers from the nature walk
watermelon carving at the buffet
limbo guy
limbo guy limboing under boards lit on fire
balancing act guy balancing two different types of chairs on his forehead
and the fire dancer
Tuesday, we had to get on the bus at 9:30am to get to the airport, so we only had time to eat some breakfast and go on a little walk on the resort. We had such a good time!
After an hour and a half bus ride from the airport, we were greeted with a glass of champagne to drink during check-in at the resort. This is the view from the deck of our room.
our room
Once we checked in and changed clothes, we walked around the resort, ate some dinner, and crashed early (waking up at 3am to be at the airport took its toll).
The next day set the tone for the rest of our trip: wake up, slather on sunblock (50 for me, 30 for dave), eat breakfast from the buffet, lay on the beach and read, play in the water when we get hot, get some lunch (either the pizza brick oven place or the grillor the lunch buffet), swim in the pool with the swim-up bar, drink, go up to the room, shower and change for dinner, sit on the beach or our deck and drink and smoke cigars.
turn down service that included a bottle of champagne
breakfast in bed (that didn't include any trays, so we ate it on the deck)
We arrived on Wednesday and we just ate and slept that night. Thursday we laid around a lot, but we went on the orientation tour and met Machel, one of the entertainment people. The resort sets up entertainment each night. Thursday was an international buffet on the piazza, followed by a fashion show of attire available in the gift shop (the models were the entertainment staff, so it was very entertaining!), followed by a steel drum band. It was too dark to take pictures of the fashion show (and I now realize that I don't think we got any pictures of the chick named Shana on the entertainment staff. She seriously had the biggest boobs I have ever seen in real life. And they moved like they were real.), but we got some of the steel drum band and dancers.
This is one of the dancers spinning two other dancers from his shoulders.
Friday was "Jamaica day." We took a "learn to speak Jamaican" class where we learned some basic rules for the patois spoken there (like "th" is replaced with "t" or "d"). That was followed by a "Jamaican history" class. After both of these was a trivia contest answering questions from each class. Whoever got their hand in the air first got to answer, and if they got it right, they got a poker chip. At the end, we had 21, second place couple only had 13. So you could say that we kicked all their asses, and our reward was a bottle of Appleton rum!
us with our teachers (on the left is Cassie, she taught us about the patois; and on the right is Machel, our orientation tour guide and our Jamaican history teacher; we didn't get the name of the other girl, but she was also on the entertainment staff)
and us and our rum (notice that Dave's shirt is speaking the Jamaican patois: "tank you very much"
Friday night we ate dinner at the place that requires more formal attire. Dave ate duck, and I had rack of lamb.
After dinner, we had a drink at the Tree bar.
Saturday we were going to ride the AquaTrike, but we got there too late. So we laid around some more, and then ate dinner at the Tepanyaki place.
Dave caught his shrimp on the first try. I suck at doing that, so I didn't attempt it.
Later we smoked cigars and drank Jamaican rum cream. Yum.
Sunday, we were very active. We went snorkeling, and we rode the glass bottom boat. We were going to also ride the AquaTrike, but it was too windy. We saw a few stingray, and some pretty fish. This is the boat.
For Sunday night, we had booked a romantic dinner for two on the beach (personalized menu and champagne). It was supposed to be here, complete with candles and tiki torches.
But the day of our dinner, some turtle decided to build her nest under our hut.
So our dinner was moved to the gazebo at the top of the pool waterfall (which is turned on periodically throughout the day).
our view from the top
the candlelit stairs and our waiter, Ricardo
us
our dinner:
appetizer of prosciutto ham and melon pearls (i ate a piece of melon before remembering to take the picture)
salad
main course of lobster
dessert of banana foster (we actually chose peach foster, but it was definitely bananas we ate)
Monday was our last full day, so we made sure to ride the AquaTrike, went on the nature walk and then laid around a lot. Monday night's entertainment was an international buffet on the beach, followed by a limbo dancer, a balancing act, and a fire dancer, followed by beach games (we were too busy running around during this part to take pictures: the hula hoop game where the team is holding hands and they have to move the hula hoop along the line with letting go of each other, a relay where you run and bounce a tennis ball on a racket at the same time, and the relay where you run, spin around several times, and then run back).
flowers from the nature walk
watermelon carving at the buffet
limbo guy
limbo guy limboing under boards lit on fire
balancing act guy balancing two different types of chairs on his forehead
and the fire dancer
Tuesday, we had to get on the bus at 9:30am to get to the airport, so we only had time to eat some breakfast and go on a little walk on the resort. We had such a good time!