Jamaica Day 1 should have started out by flying from Boston to Newark and then onto Montego Bay, but unfortunately on Jamaica Day 0 (the night before), we heard from United that our plane from Boston to Newark was delayed by two hours (for no apparent reason other than that they didn't have a plane). Normally I'd relish being able to sleep in more, but this delay meant that we would miss our connection in Newark by about 20 minutes. There were no other flights flying to Montego Bay that day and the next time they could get us there was on a flight via Air Canada on Saturday. Well, this was the weekend with the huge snowstorm coming to the Mid-Atlantic region and we were very nervous that the flights wouldn't even leave. Plus, we didn't want to waste one of our days/nights at the resort. So after much deliberation, we decided to rent a car and drive the slightly less than 4 hours down to Newark at 1:30 in the morning. VERY tiring, and thanks to Julie for doing the driving! We made it to Newark with plenty of time and luckily left on our flight to Jamaica only a little bit late!
Day 1:
Our real day one started with us arriving in Montego Bay around 3pm and once we found our transport bus to the resort, we also grabbed our first (but definitely definitely not our last) Red Stripe of the trip. Hey! It had been a long day(s) and it was very much needed. The weather was beautiful and we were so happy that we actually made it! Once we go to our resort, Sunscape, we found out that we got an upgrade randomly. At first, we were like "they say that to everyone", but it turned out that we actually did get an upgrade to the "cove" side of the resort where we were able to go to two more of the restaurants (and the best ones)! We changed quickly into our swimsuits and went down to the beach to enjoy the last bits of the sun before it set. Then we headed to the restaurant called "The Terrace" that was just for our side of the resort and the food was pretty good. A theme we found is that the appetizers were always the best! We were clearly very exhausted and so we went to bed at 9pm and slept for 11 1/2 hours. I don't remember the last time I allowed myself to do that and it felt amazing. That's the whole reason for the "relaxing" vacation anyways, right?
Day 2:
We got a late start today because we had slept in some and then went to breakfast at the Terrace, so finding a spot by the pool that wasn't already staked was hard. We ended up on a the little strip of beach, one of us in a beach chair and the other on the sand. We were able to get an hour and a half in before the weather started to change and it became VERY windy. Too windy to stay out there, so we grabbed lunch at the buffet and then headed back to the room and just chilled in there for much of the afternoon while it was windy and rainy. It quieted down a bit, so we went to an early dinner at this other restaurant that was just for "The Cove" people and it was the best meal that we had. Again, the appetizer of a "bammy" with other toppings was really yummy and we each ordered more than one. And I'm not normally a steak person, but I got the steak and shrimp meal expecting the steak to be mediocre and the shrimp to be good, but it was the opposite! The steak was really juicy and flavorful and the shrimp wasn't great. Dessert was also pretty good, just a chocolate cake. The nice thing about all-inclusive is that you can order a 3-course (sometimes 4 or 5) meal and not feel about it at all. Well, not feel bad about the money part of it, but still the calories...I guess. After dinner, we walked down to the beach where it was quite calm and very nice. Then we walked to this adorable little gazebo that you can tell is where any weddings that happen here take place. At night it was all lit up with pretty colors and I was a little obsessed with taking pictures of it...please see below for how obsessed. Then we retired early again, praying for better weather for tomorrow!
Not better weather today either :( So, we decided to make the most of it and try our luck at the nice beach in downtown Mo'Bay, called the Hip Strip. We had breakfast at the buffet at the resort, which we've decided was not very good. Really glad we were upgraded to the other side with The Terrace restaurant which is much better than the buffet. We grabbed a taxi into town, walked along the "hip strip" which isn't much at all besides a few more hotels and lots of souvenir shops. I was definitely expecting a little more, but that was okay. It was just nice to get out of the resort for a bit. We ended up at Doctor's Cave Beach which is the nice beach in town. We payed an entrance fee of about $5, but I really do think that the wind was a bit less there. It was still cloudy no matter what, but we were able to lay out for a couple of hours and read our books. Then the wind changed a bit and it was too cold, plus we were hungry! I had read up online or possible in the Lonely Planet travel guide book about a good jerk place in the area, called The Pork Pit, so we finally ended up finding our way there and it was super yummy! They had a huge pit out in the open where they had chicken, pork, and other meats there that they cooked in the dry-rub jerk (I think). We both got more bammy, and Julie got plantains (grilled) which were very good. I got the pork and it was AWESOME. And a small size was plenty of food, almost too much for one person actually. If you end up in Mo'Bay at a resort, I would say come into the hip district for some of the local food. We haggled our way into a taxi for a bit cheaper and went back to the resort.
This was the Sunday that the semi-playoffs were being played and so we first watched the New England vs. Broncos game and then watched the Carolina vs. Arizona game, the latter while attempting to play King's Cup with only two people with an app on an phone and Red Stripe. #Vacation. We also went to one of the other restaurants at the resort, which was an Asian restaurant, which was pretty good. Yet again, the appetizers were probably the best - very good spring rolls. After dinner, it was decently late for vacation standards and so we hit the sack, really praying that our last day would be perfect!
And it was :) This was definitely the best day!! The weather was gorgeous and exactly like you would expect it to be when vacationing in the Caribbean. We put our stuff out early to save a spot by the swim-up pool bar! We had breakfast and then I went to go to the tour desk to book a trip for later in the day to the Luminous Lagoon. You have to have a sunny- enough day to go this thing otherwise it's not worth it, and so luckily on our last day it was sunny enough to finally sign up! Then we laid out for hours!! It was so awesome and needed. We got a bit sunburned but I didn't even care one iota! In one section of the resort there is a lazy river (didn't flow very well) and a few slides for the kids which we also had to check out of course :) The swim-up pool bar was excellent and I figured out that the tastiest drink there was probably a mud-slide or something similar that's name is escaping me right now. While at the pool, I overheard someone next to me saying "Iowa" and "Mason City" and so I of course had to ask them if they were from there. They said yes. I went to the high school with the girl - nuts!! There were also SO many Iowans at this resort, as in a group of about 75 from Iowa City. Imagine: I have to go to another country to see more Iowans than in the city that I live in. Go figure.
We grabbed a quick lunch of jerk sausage (spicy, but good) and cheese friends and then packed for our little evening excursion! Our driver for the tour picked up a few other people at other resorts and then we drove to Falmouth which was a very busy and "lived in" old town. We were a bit earlier than another tour bus we were meeting, so our driver took us to Juici Patties, which is a popular chain in Jamaica for meat patties. I got a beef one and it was delicious! It was also only about $2! Next, we had a walking tour of Falmouth and learned a bit about the history of the town as well as some Jamaican history as well. It was a good tour, and the tour guide was great - she knew EVERYONE as we were walking around and this was when we really got to hear the Jamaician's speaking Jamaican to each other - it's almost indiscernible even though it's English. Very fascinating. Finally it was time to go to the Luminous Lagoon!
Before we departed, we were given a rum punch if we wanted it and boy was it strong! But it was leaps and bounds better than the nasty orange rum they use at the resort. Now that we had some Jamaican rum in our bellies it was time to get into the rather warm, shallow water. The bottom of the water was this very soft/silty/muddy stuff that was honestly kind-of creepy so I just tread water most of the time. But soon enough I was completely distracted from it by HOW FREAKING COOL it was that I was glowing. I was swimming and moving all around and having a blast! Until a baby jellyfish stung me on my lower back and then I started thinking about what other things were in there (remember it's pitch black and you can't see anything), so I got out but I still stuck my feet in a bit. It was so cool that even when you got out if you still had some water on you that happened to have some of the organisms in it, your skin glowed! Such a great experience that I would highly recommend! We got back kind-of late to the resort, so only the buffet was open for dinner, so we grabbed some food, washed off the gross mud, then went to bed. A successful day :)
Day 5:
Our last day we had a few hours left in the morning to lay out again because the weather was pretty nice! Then we packed everything up and headed back home. We had no problems this time with our trek back to Boston (thankfully) and made it home safely. Overall, it was a nice, relaxing (well-rested), and fun trip!