The Reynolds' Sabbatical 2001 - Jamaica

[ Picture Archive | Yard Work | RV Trip ]

On October 14th at 12:30am we departed Sky Harbor Airport for Jamaica. Due to the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, Jamaica Air canceled all of the direct flights from Phoenix, so we had to fly through Atlanta which was a bummer. After an excruciating all-night-no-sleep flight we arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica. From there we stood in the long lines for immigration and customs and finally made our way to the land travel portion of the journey. Little did we know what we were in for! We boarded this small bus/van and headed out for Ocho Rios. As the crow flies it is only 45 miles away. However, it took well over 2 hours for us to reach the destination because the roads were so poor and windy, that the driver barely made 30 miles per hour!

All the while we were zooming in and out of traffic, going through "scary" places, and generally being car sick. We finally made it to our resort, the Sandals in Ocho Rios.

Once we got into our room and got cleaned up and rested a bit, we headed out to explore the property and to catch a bite to eat. Everything for dinner was wonderful! After we strolled on the beach and watched a local band that was playing in the cantina we headed off to bed. But before we passed out from sheer exhaustion we were annoyed by these very loud "chirping" bugs that come out after dark. We guess that they are Jamaica's equivalent of a cricket. The next morning we found out why they were so loud. The maids had left our windows open and we hadn't known it since they were hidden by the curtains. On the following nights the "chirping crickets" were much more tolerable.

On Monday we ate a nice buffet breakfast and then tried our luck at a sea kayak. Forget those! All it did was get us sea sick. So, we recovered by eating some salty nachos by the ocean and reading some books. Aaah, the life! That evening we went to the "beach party" that they have each Monday. There was a fabulous buffet of Jamaican foods and lots of fun.

Tuesday brought another breakfast buffet followed by some pool hopping. We hadn't learned our lesson yet and decided to try a paddle boat. Sandals' paddle boat was this large tricycle-looking thing. We got out there and could hardly get back because the wind was blowing so hard. Our legs were pure rubber after we finally got back to the shore. This was supposed to be vacation! So, we drowned our troubles in more nachos! In the afternoon we tried our luck at snorkeling which was a lot of fun.

Wednesday was probably the funnest day of the whole trip because we ventured out from the resort to Dunn's River Falls. Dunn's River is a natural spring water river which flows from the mountains to the ocean. Right before it hits the ocean there is about a thousand feet of rocky water falls. We dawned the required aqua socks and climbed up the falls with the rest of our party. The hotel provided local "tour guides" to take us up the falls and to video tape, take pictures, etc. It was a lot of fun and I would certainly do it again!

After we got dried off and headed towards the bus we got spammed by a billion vendors wanting to sell us everything under the sun. Both Jennifer and I got "I survived Dunn's River Falls" T-shirts and she also bought a nice shell.

On Thursday we parted ways for some of the day. John went snorkeling again in the morning while Jennifer got her hair braided in the traditional Jamaican way at the resort's beauty shop. She didn't get her whole head done, just 10 or 12 braids, but it looked cool nonetheless. The weather started to turn bad after lunch so we spent a lot of time in the hot tub or down by the ocean sleeping and reading.

On Friday the weather was not very good the entire day. We did a lot of indoor activities like playing pool, darts, and having our fill of fruit-juice cocktails. Our favorite was the "Boo Boo Special." Don't ask us what was in it, but it sure was good! Saturday was spent doing last minute shopping and pre-checking our baggage. Then we caught our bus to the airport at noon for another 2+ hour right back to Montego Bay. Of course once we got there the plane was late by almost 2 full hours which left us a grand total of 10 minutes to make our plane switch in Atlanta. But we made it and got in to Phoenix around 11pm exhausted once more.

It was a very relaxing week that we very much enjoyed. John's mom came to baby sit the kids and she had a wonderful time (of course they were good for her ). We will definitely be going back to Jamaica at some point, but we learned a few things--no bus rides to/from the airport and no hair braiding (it was murder to undo when we got back!).

[ Picture Archive | Yard Work | RV Trip ]