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Welcome back to Jamaica! For our 20th anniversary, we brought the boys with us and spent 6 days at the Sandals Beaches Resort
in Ocho Rios. Steffanie had always wanted to come back for our 20th and do a vow renewal.
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Akeen (Fuzzy), was our photographer for the ceremony. What a fun time we had working with him. He took us to some
great locations, took awesome photos and was a pleasure to get to know on a professional and personal level.
I'd run into Akeen many times days after our ceremony and we would always have a laugh about something.
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To our surprise, when we arrived at the resort, we were upgraded to concierge service. Janice was very helpful at
discussing their services and showing us our room. Not to mention, being there for every other question we had about
the resort. Other than having a fully stocked beverage fridge every day, we really didn't take advantage of the services.
It was actually hard to tell what special treatments you had with concierge, as the whole staff was very accommodating.
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The beach area seemed small for the size of the resort. While we were getting our photos taken, Akeen took us to a
separate, yet smaller and less busy beach area. We ended up spending more time there, and finding some great shells, coral
and sea glass.
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A couple of our findings. Colin found the Conch shell on our first day at the beach. He was digging in the sand with
his toes out in the water and discovered it. I told him it was a lucky find as I couldn't find any of those using the mask I bought.
I was able to find a busted up Conch with a live sea urchin taking up residence. I collected a couple of sea
urchin shells and saw a very stout pale-yellow starfish while searching the area.
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The other beach had a little more wildlife, too. We played with the hermit crabs and Colin was able to catch this
baby fiddler crab. We also enjoyed chasing the lizards.
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There were plenty of aquatic activities available at the pool and the beach. The boys rode the banana boat, and we
also enjoyed kayaking.
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On our last full day there, it rained on and off. The weather pattern in the Caribbean comes from the East, which
is confusing as I'm always used to looking to the West for storms. The rain was in patches though and didn't last
too long. Afterwards there was a beautiful full rainbow that arched over the sea. You can lightly see it in the
background in the two pictures below.
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This was the whirlpool next to the pool. Colin and I spent each night here as our hangout going between the whirlpool
and pool.
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Among the many things available for the youngsters on the resort was the DJ Academy. I know Liam was looking forward to
this! They boys got some instruction on how to use an electronic turn table and got to scratch some crazy wack dub beats.
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Overall, I would have to say that just about everyone we ran into at the resort were quite friendly. So many would
offer a smile and greeting, whether it be cleaning staff, grounds crew and maintenance, dining servers or any of a
variety of staff personnel. It was very noteworthy. Thank you, Sandals Beaches Ocho Rios for such a pleasant stay.
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