Our honeymoon was quite an adventure. The day we left, our Matron of honor, Camille, tried to get us a Limo, but it was a guy in a sedan. Camille even called me and told me not to freak out or hit the guy. LOL. It was a gentleman who’s neck was fused to his spine. The guy showed up about 2 hours early, it was a little weird.
Here we are excited that we are going to Jamaica on our honeymoon!
When we finally took off, we flew through the night to Charlotte North Carolina.
Here we are super tired.
There wasn’t anytime to take a smoke break so we got off the plane and onto another to head for Montego Bay in Jamaica. As we were flying there, and very close, the Air Traffic Controllers in Jamaica decided to go on strike, so we had to turn around and fly back to Charlotte…
We were given a number to call and call we did. After about an hour on the phone, we were given some shitty news. They could fly us to Jamaica but it would be around Friday. Either that or we could fly back to Phoenix. It was about 11am on Monday. There is no way that we would stay in Charlotte for a week to spend 2 days in Jamaica. We had very limited options.
Jaime suggested that we go out to eat, and think about what we could do.
We took a cab to Chili’s and Jaime kept me from strangling the cab driver as he drove to some closed restaurant that didn’t remotely resemble a Chili’s. I swear, he must of played really stupid. We got in the cab and he handed me a GPS and told me to put in the address. I told him I was not from here and I don’t know of any address of anything around here. So he brought us to some old, closed down, greek food restaurant on the side of a building. I should have choked him. Really. Especially since I was already mad.
After lunch, we tossed around some ideas of going to Florida, California or back to Phoenix. When we got to the airport, we went to the counter and asked this lady to look again for us to see if she could do anything. Though she seemed unmotivated, she did. I bought her coffee from Starbucks and about 3 hours later, she was able to fly us to Baltimore for the night and then direct flight it to Jamaica!
We were so happy we gave her a hug.
Here we are in beautifully cloudy Jamaica (Montego bay).
The airport is really a welcome site for tourists. They lead you to some big waiting rooms that have bars in them and give you beer. Ramen, one of our friends who has been to Jamaica a few times, and his wife Nidhi, highly suggest that you get loaded on beer for the long bus ride from Montego bay to Negril.
When we got to the resort called Couples Swept Away, we asked them that since we got there a day later, if we could stay a day later. The lady’s actual words were “Yeah mon, No problem” in a thick Jamaican accent. It was a nice welcome. They gave us some glasses of Champagne and some cold wash towels.
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We got to our room, which was nice, our bags were already there. Even more nice! We relaxed and took a nap from our long trip. When we got up, we decided to hit up one of the three places to eat for some food. The Patois (which is the Jamaican language and also French for Pas Toi (not you)) is a sit down restaurant where they bring you food from a menu that you pick, but since its all inclusive, you get as much of it as you want.
Jaime and I just off to the side of the Patois.
Enjoying a Pina Colada, hey, free drinks mon!
Towels in the shape of swans with their beaks touching so it looks like a heart!
Chilling in a jacuzzi after eating.
What a great end of the day. We slept very well.
The next morning, we walked to breakfast and since we are so Arizona, it was nice seeing the fauna and flora (plants and flowers, people!)
My new bride with an ocean view behind her.
We took a quick tour and found out there is a lot to do. So we went to our room and sat down and planned all sorts of activities.
Getting ready to book some trips to the Black River and YS Falls (links open in a new window).
I really liked this outside couch thing.
We took Salsa dance lessons from a gay Jamaican with a British accent. We didn’t bring our camera though. It was hilarious listening to this guy. He picked on me a little.
Laying on the beach is an experience. Vendors are not allowed to come up to you, and there is security guards standing around watching and they are very diligent. If you want a drink, you put up a green flag and somebody comes over, takes your order and then gets it for you. They will get you anything too. No tips, no costs, just relax and enjoy.
One of the little snack shacks by our room is 24/7. Those that know me, know I am up really early every day. So I would wake up while it was still dark, grab some coffee and sit outside on our porch and read. I have the Amazon Kindle app on my phone so I read books off my phone.
It rained while we were there, Jaime really liked the rain.
Her thoughts are that if she makes it romantic enough, every time it rains, I will think of our honeymoon.
It finally let up that night, every room has umbrellas and there is a large umbrella holder at every entrance. It’s pretty much just grab an umbrella if you need one. We went to another spot for dinner.
Cheers!
We ended the next day with some Mojitos, relaxing on our patio.
The next morning we took a bus ride to the Black River.
The boat tour guide was very well educated on the plant and animal life of the Black River, young guy too.
These are Egrets.
The guide called this a Ganja bird, because it’s eyes are red.
These trippy looking trees are mangroves. There are white and red mangroves. You can tell by the size of their leaves. The large leaves are red mangroves.
We spotted a crocodile.
Here is another.
The tour guide told us this is a girl crocodile, he gave it a kiss on the lips. He assured us that he was not about to kiss a boy crocodile because he doesn’t kiss boys. He then had us all pet the crocodile, here is a picture of Jaime petting the crocodile. Ask her how it feels when you see her.
We then got all back on the bus and drove to YS Falls.
There are some rules. No smoking ganja!
We walked up into the water and then sat down in the falls.
We even got to swing into the water. That was fun.
When we got back to the resort, we hit up the bar and drank it up. If you are ever in Jamaica, ask for a Bob Marley.
I was schnockered.
Here is a drink menu that you could order off of.
We met this couple who were really cool and fun to hang out with. Nicki and Vick. They do Information Security like us.
Later that evening, we took pictures of us trying to catch the sun. The sunset on the beach is pretty kick ass.
These palm trees are very interesting looking and they are fairly large.
The swim up bar
Some sauces that I didn’t get a chance to try, but they look good.
We were all the way up to our necks in water and this guy on a jet ski drove up and asked us if we wanted to buy some ganja, lol. Who the heck carries cash with them all the way out where we were standing?
We took a Catamaran ride, hung with Rastafarian Ralph and won a bracelet for being awesome singers.
The water was so beautifully blue.
We got to swim in the blue water and checked out a very cool cave.
Later on we went shopping for souvenirs, which were actually crap, then went to Rick’s Cafe (opens in a new window) which is more of a Sports Bar/Grill of overpriced food and drink, but you can cliff dive off the side and buy weed from locals if you so chose to.
It did rain every day while we were there, but it wasn’t too bad. it was usually just the late afternoons. It was plenty hot and as I type this, I’m still peeling.
Tips for first time travelers to Jamaica.
Do not get your money exchanged. We made this mistake and paid for it. They sell you money at a certain rate, then buy it back at a very shitty rate. If you exchange money at the airport, you cannot exchange it back at the resort. We converted about $1000 and got back $800 without spending anything.
Souvenirs are really shitty there.
Eat a lot of fish, they catch it daily so its fresh.
Leaving the beach that is owned by the resort is almost not worth it. The resorts manicure the beach daily with raking it, not giving sand mites a chance to lay nests. We left the beach for a little bit, got eaten up by bugs, and dealt with MANY drug dealers and bums. Some skinny little guy told me he was gonna beat my ass. LOL.
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