Day 3 was the busiest day of the trip. We got up and went snorkeling in the morning, then went zip lining and for a ride on the Jamaican bobsleds in the afternoon. Since I'm finally unpacked and nearly caught up on laundry, I have a bit more time tonight to describe the food on the resort. We are now totally spoiled by the all-inclusive concept! We had some amazing meals, and it was great to be able to walk up to any bar or into any restaurant and order whatever we wanted without worrying about price or carrying any money around with us. We took advantage of the opportunity to try a lot of things we normally wouldn't order if we had to pay for it. We ordered appetizers, salads, entrees, drinks, coffee, and desserts at every meal.
The breakfast was consistently the best meal of the day. I can't even adequately explain the gorgeous fruit buffets - and not just the typical cantaloupe and grapes you see normally. We're talking mango, papaya, fresh pineapple, whole peeled kiwi, peeled oranges, honey dew melon...the works. It was all SUPER fresh and beautiful. I had to learn at the first few meals to pace myself, because I was getting full just eating fruit!
Then as you moved further into the room, there was an omelet bar, pancakes, waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, potatoes (prepared all different ways), a table full of different breads - croissants, sweet rolls, pastries, biscuits, donuts. I am having breakfast withdrawal since returning home. I miss that wonderful buffet! The coffee in Jamaica was really unique, but very good...and strong! It reminded me a little bit of the Kona coffee from Hawaii.
On the first night we ate Caribbean cuisine for dinner, and we had Italian on the 2nd night. On the third night we ate Tex-Mex, and it was probably the most average meal of the trip. We wanted to eat at this particular place, because the restaurant is on a pier over the water, and we were overlooking the sunset during dinner. It was really lovely, even though the food wasn't the best. Also, it was a really casual meal and we were not wanting to get dressed up after such an active day.
Snorkeling was really fun. I had done it once before in Grand Cayman, but the coral and fish were much prettier in Jamaica. I enjoyed it a lot, and of course took pictures! :)
The boat behind us is the one we rode out to snorkel.
Jamie got sunburned the day before, so he kept his shirt on as long as possible. I teased him about wearing his life jacket over his shirt. :)
On the boat
Our group did have one snorkeling mishap - Jeremy lost his wedding ring. :(
After we arrived back on the shore, we all felt nasty and wanted showers immediately. We got cleaned up, ate lunch, and headed over to catch the bus to go zip lining! I was really excited about this part of the trip, because I had been reading about zip lining and really wanted to try it.
What I did NOT realize was how we were going to get to the top of the mountain in order to zip line back down.
We rode guys in one lift and girls in the next...and we were scared out of our minds! Well, I should say some of us were scared. Jeff and Jeremy weren't bothered in the least - but there was no voice of reason in the girls' lift! There were no seat belts of any kind and just a single cable from which we were dangling. And it went MUCH higher than I expected...it just kept climbing and climbing...
The view from the lift was beautiful. I wish I hadn't been too scared to enjoy it! We could see the cruise ships parked in the distance.
Once we got to the top, we rode the Jamaican bobsled. It was like a mini roller coaster and also overlooked the water.
Then it was time to put on our zip lining gear!
For obvious reasons, we couldn't take our cameras on the zip lines, so I'm sad to say I don't have any pictures of us actually zip lining, but it was SO FUN! I loved it and would totally do it again someday.
Some pictures from dinner:
Relaxing on the beach after a nice meal:
And our elephant :)
