I’m back, but wishing desperately that I was still in Runaway Bay; the beach at Breezes is beautiful, the people are wonderful, and the pace is so relaxed. I LOVE the feel of hot sun and humidity on my skin, and I always look my best in tropical climates. There is something about the air that does wonders for my skin, and my normally fine, limp hair always has oomph from the salt water.
We had a fabulous holiday! We were able to get in a lot of relaxing in the sun, but we also enjoyed a few tours and some fun activities at the resort. We spent the better part of one day with a local Jamaican named Alvan Gardner, who drove us up into the hills to Nine Mile to see Bob Marley’s house and mausoleum. For the entire drive up and back, we asked a lot of questions, and Alvan gave us some great information about real life in Jamaica, while pointing out interesting sights in the hill communities we passed through. After visiting Nine Mile, Alvan took us to a local Jerk Chicken place (so delicious – much better than the bland stuff they give you at the resort!) and we bought him lunch. For the last part of our afternoon, he took us to the nearby Green Grotto caves for a historical tour. We also took a tour to the Captain Hook Pirate Ship in Falmouth for an evening of entertainment and a steak and lobster dinner. It was a fun night, if a little bit cheesy, and we certainly enjoyed ourselves.
Except for the day we spent with Alvan and the evening we went to the Pirate Ship, we spent the rest of our time at the resort. We had two spectacular spa treatments: a lovely and relaxing couple’s massage, and a second treatment where Rob had a scrub with accupressure massage and I had a scrub with a milk and honey body wrap and an a-ma-zing foot massage.
We did lounge around by the beach and pool for a good chunk of our time, but Rob and I also spent a lot of time playing beach volleyball with other guests and some of the entertainment staff at the resort. Rob played volleyball in high school, and still has a pretty mean spike, but I have never really played at all and don’t have much of a skill set, so the others were probably a lot less thrilled to have me on their team. I don’t completely suck, though, and I’m not afraid to dive into the sand for the ball, so I was able to make at least a tiny contribution on the court!
What I imagined myself looking like while diving for the volleyball
Probably a lot closer to what I REALLY looked like out there!
We also participated in a few of the beach race type fun games, including a Goat race that I’ve been looking forward to since we missed it last year! I also ran through the resort and on the beach most mornings before taking a quick dip in the ocean to cool off, and I completed a short yoga practice on our balcony almost every morning – the beach running and yoga were lovely, as I knew they would be!
My favourite activity of the whole week came on our second last day: we did a SCUBA lesson in the pool, and then went for a beautiful dive just a few minutes away from our resort. It was the coolest experience of my entire life and I can’t wait to do it again! We found out after our dive that we could have done the lesson on our first day, and then dove for free in different locations all week long. Sigh. I guess we will know that for next time, and take fuller advantage of that aspect of our resort. Neither of us had ever been diving anywhere other than a swimming pool, so it was a brand new experience for both of us, and we are looking forward to a lot more SCUBA diving in the future. I have some great pics, but we used my parents’ underwater camera and I don’t have the cable that will allow me to transfer the photos to my computer. As soon as I get that from my mom, I will upload some photos.
While I ate fairly sensibly for an all-inclusive resort, and stayed active all week, I did indulge in a lot of alcohol…plus I ate dessert every night. Not exactly conducive to making my ass smaller. Oh well. C’est la vie! Tomorrow is a new day, and (at least once I kick this sinus infection that reappeared about 15 minutes after I boarded the plane to come home), I will get right back on the skinny train.
eat.laugh.love.sweat 