Jamaica

This time last week, I was just rolling through the door after a week in paradise. The arsehole cat was happy to see me and my tan was still fresh. It's been a rough week of cooking my own meals, making and doctoring my own coffee, no jerk chicken, and not a single person has brought my a slushy drink all week. I know, it's sad but true. We had a great trip! I loved being back in Jamaica. It's a beautiful tropical paradise but it's the people that keep me wanting to go back. It's not easy to put into words. Just a fun loving, friendly people. The resort we went to is called Secrets St. James and it was phenomenal. First class luxury all the way. But, to tell the truth, it was too fancy for me. The customer service was so thorough that it actually made me uncomfortable. We wanted for nothing...they waited on us hand and foot. The food was delicious and the beach was phenomenal. Those are my feet enjoying the beach on our first day. There is a 2 hour time difference so we were sitting on the beach shortly after 6 am each day. I love it. I can sleep at home when it's snowing and cold. I wanted to get every minutes of sun, surf and warmth that I could. We stayed on the beach each day until close to 5 pm. Only getting up for food and drinks. Providing no one delivered them for us.

We didn't even crack a book or magazine for the first few days. We just layed in the sun, people watched, chatted, and enjoyed the water.

This is the view of the pool from my patio. Oh, and my feet again. :) Just off to the right is the beach only 30 seconds from my door.

I took this pic standing on the bridge over the pool that you see in the photo above. Notice the beach just past the infinity pool.

We took our own floaties and it was so worth the weight in the suitcase. One morning at 8:30 am we were floating in the Caribbean Sea drinking Blue Mountain coffee from our Bubba Kegs. It doesn't get any better. Until lunch time when the roaming Jerk Chicken cart comes around and you stuff it into your mouth hand over fist while sipping rum from a coconut beside the Caribbean Sea!!!

We also spend half a day on a catamaran cruise where we got to do some snorkeling and see some local sights. For the snorkeling, they took us to a marine preservation area that happens to be right under the flight path for incoming plane at the airport. One landed while we were in the water and it was so close that I could see up inside the doors for the landing gear and smell the jet fuel. A tad unnerving but really neat too. Notice the hair in the above photo. I had just come out of the water and was in the process of pulling it back when J says "I don't like it when you pull your hair back. It makes you look like everyone else. It looks good down." So I left it down and let it air dry. Looking back at the pics I realized he was right. When my hair air dries after being wet from being in salt water, I don't look like everyone else. I look like a freaking lunatic with a giant, wet, used, rusty SOS pad sprouting from my head. This pic was one of the better ones. Stupid boat with no mirror. Note to self - ignore the comment and pull the hair back. Every. Time.

One of the highlights of the trip, for me, was seeing the Silverbirds Steel drum band. I've seen steel drum bands in Jamaica in the past and I was looking forward to the performance. This group was so incredible. Check them out on YouTube. They started out playing the expected steel drum music and all of a sudden broke into Grenade by Bruno Mars. They made my want to jump out of my seat and dance. They played everything from Micheal Jackson to Lady Gaga, BEP, Rihanna and others I can't even remember. They are awesome to hear but you have to see them dance to fully appreciate everything they do. I would happily pay alot of money to see them perform again.

And, finally, this photo. Stop saying "OMG", it's not what you think. J went back to the room one afternoon and was back on the beach 3 minutes later. He asked me our room number and I told him but asked why he was asking. He told me he went back to the room and thought he had confused our room number because the key wouldn't work.........and there was a Honeymoon banner on the door. We went back to the room and sure enough there it was. Clearly, they put it on the wrong door in error but it provided a great laugh for us. We thought it was hilarious and left it for the week. Too funny.

So those are the highlights. Jamaica is still my favourite Caribbean destination but I believe I should keep travelling and trying different places. You know, just to make sure. ;)