Back from Jamaica!!!

We have been back from Jamaica for about a week now, and I am finally getting the chance to write about our trip.  It was absolutely wonderful!  I was a little worried about the weather before we got there because there was a tropical storm brewing off of South America, but it didn't turn into anything bad...just some rain on Monday.

We got there on Saturday and took the 2 hour drive from the airport to the resort. We stayed on the Southwest side of the island in a town called Whitehouse. It was very remote, but we were actually really happy about that, it was wonderful!  The drive there from the airport was something else!  There were stray dogs running along the road, along with people and even goats!  The roads were very curvy, and the sights along the way were like nothing we had ever seen before!


A shopping "plaza"



Love the palm trees!



Yikes!



This is a very high-end neighborhood on the coast

 Jamaica is an extremely poor country, but we were so surprised at how genuine and happy many of the people there seemed to be.  They all have a definite "glass half-full" mentality, which is extremely refreshing, especially considering they don't have near what we do in the states.

When we got to the resort, we were blown away.  What a departure from the poverty we had just drove through.  This place was absolutely beautiful! 

The fountain in the center of the resort

Our Room

The view off our balcony

What we saw when stepping out of our room!

 

The Cabaret - nightclub

The Riviera (main) pool.  We spent most of our time here - at the bar :)

To the left is Bayside's - where we ate breakfast each morning

The Dutch pool.  Very quiet and serene

Gotta have another picture of the fountain!

Can't forget the beach!  I love the clear water of the Caribbean!

This is the first time we have ever done an all-inclusive, and after doing one, I would highly recommend it.  It was so nice to go somewhere, eat dinner, and just get up when we were done and not have to worry about the bill.  We really enjoyed it!  Also, getting whatever kind of drinks we wanted at any time was great.  Needless to say, we always went back to the room in the afternoon to take a nap! :)

We did do two excursions while we were there.  The first one was a trip to the Appleton Rum Distillery, which was about an hour and fifteen minutes from the resort.  What a great time!  We got to start off the trip with some really good (and really strong) rum punch!  Then we toured the distillery.  After the tour, we ended the trip with a rum tasting.  It was great!  We ended up coming home with three bottles of rum from Appleton, and one bottle of rum from the resort. :)

Appleton!

Here's the old fashioned way of doing things - the donkey is crushing the sugar cane!

It was actually very pretty there!

Lots of molasses!

Lots of rum (aging in barrells!)

We got to taste the molasses / brown sugar combo.  It was....interesting :)

Here's Kevin acting like a donkey!

Us :)

Here's Norman our guide setting up the tasting - he looks like he's having a great time!

 

Yum!

Crazy amounts of rum :)

After we left the distillery, our group asked the driver if we could stop by a true Jamaican Jerk place.  He took us to this little shack about halfway back to the resort.  It was actually really good stuff!  The owner was so excited when we walked in and served us up right away.  It was probably among the best chicken I've ever had!  There were 7 of us there, and we all got huge plates of jerk chicken, red beans and rice, and 5 of us had beers, all for $30!  It was amazing!



Here's the shack!



The owner

 

Yes, and even a kitty haging out on the roof!




Here's Kevin and I with the owner!



The next excursion we took was to the Y.S. Falls to go ziplining and go into the falls.  It was a beautiful place and a lot of fun.   It was the first time we had ever been ziplining, and we thought it was so cool!  Our guides got us all suited up shoved us down the lines!  It really made you feel like Tarzan (or Jane in my case :)).

Kevin and I waiting to zip down the next line!

Kevin in action!

Me in action!

Yeah!



Woo!

After ziplining, we had a guide take us through the falls and take a bunch of pictures of us.  It was a lot of fun...but very cold!  Kevin even did a rope swing where he swung off a platform and dropped into the water from about 30 feet!

The falls

About to drop!

There he goes!

I was swinging!



Some pics of us!!



Cannonball!!


The vacation was such a blast and we got so many pictures!  Take a look below for some more of my favs :)

Running through the waves!

Yes, that's a Coke Light!

Peacocks are everywhere!

Coconut water and coconut rum!  Yum :)

Tasty!

Kevin and I at the Beach Party

Beach Party

White Night Party

Smile!

The flowers are gorgeous there!

Neptunes, our favorite dinner spot

Getting some sun!

Yes...spent a LOT of time here :)

Bluefield's on the beach - nice little lunch spot :)

Making illegal chess moves :)

:)

Beach

Spirit of Jamaica show

Asauney and I, our favorite bartender

Kevin and Asauney

More beach!

Hobie cats :)

Kevin reading about Walt Disney World!

YAY!

KK in the water



Avril, another of our favorite bartenders, making us shots





Bob Marley shots



Our group about to partake in the Bob Marley's!



Shoot it!

Our last night in Jamaica was actually our 5th anniversary.  We decided to end our vacation with a sunset photo shoot and a private candlelit dinner for two on the beach.  We couldn't have picked a more perfect ending for a wonderful week!  I put the pictures from the sunset photo shoot below.  They turned out great.


We also had some pictures taken at our dinner (which was a wonderful 5 course meal).  We truly couldn't have picked a better ending for our wonderful week.  It was a great anniversary!!