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| A picture of Montego Bay from the airplane. See how clear the water is! |
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| The resort was right next to the end of
the runway. There was literally a road separating the resort and runway. On the upside – short
trip from the airport to the hotel! I took this picture from the pool. |
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| Entrance to Sandals Montego Bay. |
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| Our room was on the first floor, straight out from the fountain. |
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| A view from the inside and outside of our room. |
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| This was a beautiful resort. Lots to do and see. Here are some pool tables under a shelter. |
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| Here is the Bayside Restaurant,
1 of 5 restaurants on the resort. We ate a breakfast buffet here each morning,
and also stopped in for lunch. In the evening, you had a choice of eating at the Bayside,
an Italian restaurant, an American restaurant (T-bone, Ribs, etc.), a Chinese restaurant
(pick your own stuff for them to grill), or another fancy place. For some, you had to make
reservations and wear appropriate attire. There was also a grill next to the bar on the
beach if you just wanted a burger and fries. |
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| The entertainment staff worked 17-hour days.
During the day, they would get the guests involved in sand volleyball, basketball, pool, and other
beach activities. In the evening, there was an in-house band that would play and host local
entertainment to sing. Some of the other entertainment included coercing guests into coming up
and embarrassing themselves with skits such as Guys vs. Girls Jeopardy, The Newlywed Game, and
Shake your Butt. One night, they had a “Mr. Rasta Man” contest. They needed 4 contestants to
act out silly things and the winner was judged by audience applause. Steffanie kept telling me
that I should do it – so reluctantly, I did. And being the foolish man I am, I won! I got a
liter of Appleton Rum (as did the other contestants) and a ticket for the booze cruise. And
as enticing as it was to go out on a boat and drink in the hot sun all afternoon with a bunch
of strangers while touring the bars, I traded my ticket in for a couple of T-shirts! |
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| There was a swim up/piano bar near
our room. This was nice during the day, but got a little rowdy at night! The bartenders were
very nice. Troy (bartender on the left) became a favorite of ours while we were there. |
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| Lizards-a-plenty! Where's Waldo in the picture on the right? |
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On Fridays and holidays they brought
local vendors into the resort to sell their goods.
This was a nice alternative to going out
into the city, which can be risky. |
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| It really does look as beautiful as it shows in the brochures. |
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| Our daily itinerary didn’t involve much
more than eating breakfast, going to the beach, eating lunch, going to the pool, and then
cleaning up to go out for dinner. Not a bad schedule! |
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| We made some friends while in Jamaica. This is Steve and Erin from New Jersey. |
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| The picture on the left shows a coconut tree. |
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| The picture on the right shows cattle in the field - no fences! |
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One day, we left the resort and took a
bus ride into the mountains. We signed up for the
Canopy Tour.
This tour was the most thrilling thing we could find while taking off a week to do nothing.
And it was! It involved getting yourself into a harness and zip lining through the trees and hills.
There were a total of 6 traverses varying in distance. The longest traverse was over 1,000 feet
long and over 550 feet off the river.
For anyone who knows Steffanie, this would come as a surprise that she would even consider
doing this. She doesn’t even care to take the escalator or stand too close to any railings.
And to prove it, I took several pictures. There is even a video of it at the bottom of this
page if you want to see it for yourself!
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| This was our zip line group with the
guide on the far right - giving us the Jamaican "thumbs-up." The guides really made it fun. If anyone was nervous about it, they
loosened you up and made it even more enjoyable. |
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| We spent New Year's Eve in Jamaica.
Here we are in front of a huge ice sculpture at the dinner. All of the restaurants were
present New Year's Eve for this buffet. It was quite a feast! |
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| New Year's Eve party and entertainment. |
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| Here I am in the airport next to a Jamaican
Bobsled. I had to make a donation to the Jamaican Bobsled Team in order to get a picture next
to the sled. |
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| Delays expected! Actually, we had no
delays either way, and even got all of our luggage. But I just had to take this picture as
they were loading our plane when we were leaving Jamaica. Notice the employee laying down
near the top of the conveyor. Ya Mon! |
