Jamaica Photos

Jamaica Photos

These pictures are from the trip that I took to Jamaica with my wonderful friend Melanie back in early December. We had a great time! (Well, except maybe for the food poisoning or Hepatitis-A or whatever it was.) We stayed at in Runaway Bay.

The weather was terrific (upper 80s with a constant breeze), the water was warm, clear and blue, and the grounds were beautifully landscaped. Here's a few pictures of the grounds within Breezes:

	From the beach, looking east. The water was as warm as bath water.
	The beach. We took out one of those "Sunfish" (sailboats) in the background one afternoon. They're a lot of fun. (Melanie had sailed them in the past, so she was the expert between us.)
	I never saw anyone playing chess, but then when the chessboard is this big, I'm not sure I want to see how big the players are! (Um...What do the rooks look like to you?)
	Just another view from the same spot. The "hut" is the beach grill.
	The beach bar (left side) and dining room (right side) separate the beach from the pool.
	The pool. The main dining area is the building at the back-right. It is open-air and the beach is on the other side of it.
	Just another shot of the pool from a different angle. That's Melanie in the water with the yellow raft.
	Yet another shot of the pool & pool bar.
	Would you believe another one of the pool?
	Yes, one last pool shot, but at least this gets some of the landscaping too.
	Looking north from our balcony.
	The closest of the jacuzzis nearest our room (pretty hidden in this photo). There was a larger one near the lobby and an "au natural" one on the opposite side of the property.
	The "wedding gazebo". There were a LOT of weddings happening while we were there. In fact, Melanie & I even stood up in one! (More about that later...)

We didn't know when we booked the trip that it was the resort's anniversary, but it was (its 13th). There were games with prizes that day that included future free stays (we didn't win). That night they had a big anniversary party. (It was supposed to be mainly outside, but that was the one night it rained):

	The day started off with a marching band that was really pretty bad -- only my high-school band was worse! But nevertheless it got the festivities rolling.
	This is near the lobby. There were tons of yummy hor devours at the evening reception.
	There was a really cool steel drum band there for the celebration (again, in the lobby due to the rain)
	After dinner there was, of course, a reggae band (what hokey costumes, eh?). They were very good.
	One of the other evenings, at the after-dinner show, they had limbo dancers. Can you believe the flexibility, not to mention balance, that this woman has?

The second day we were there, we met a couple that had come there to get married. They were from some little town in Wisconsin. Rather than having the resort supply witnesses, they asked us to be their witnesses, so we ended up in their wedding! The whole thing was video-taped and the people from Breezes didn't realize we had just met them, so of course (on tape) they asked me (the best man - ha!) to make a toast!!! (That was weird.) They were a really nice couple, and they even gave us gifts for being their witnesses! It was just the four of us, and they wanted it to be really casual, as you can see:

	This is Sylvester and Trisha (okay, so she wasn't dressed as casual as he was). This is in the wedding gazebo.
	The four of us after the wedding. (Yes, I came there straight from the beach!)
	They are way at the back of this picture.

Every day there were games going on (they usually involved prizes like t-shirts). In the evenings there were several parties -- a Beach Party, a Pajama Party, and Toga Party:

	Melanie made it all the way to the finals of a beer-chugging contest, but lost due only to spillage. (She only spilled in the final round and it was due to her hair getting in her mouth.) The winner (right-center) from Indiana didn't spill a drop!
	There were some reggae dance lessons one afternoon. It was pretty funny. Unfortunately, the guy that took this picture took it when we weren't really doing anything.
	During a song trivia contest, this one girl kept doing cartwheels -- why, I have no idea. She would also usually run up and grab the mic and scream her answer and get really upset if she was wrong. She was really funny, not to mention very pretty. (Unfortunately, her fiancé didn't seem to see any humor and kept his back to her -- and they were getting married in three days!)
	At the beach party, they pulled people (me) into games, etc. I was supposed to do whatever the leader did. It was a lot of fun, but I won't tell you what the leader had us do next!
	This is just a random shot of people at the toga party.
	This guy won for "Most Creative". I'm surprised he didn't get most revealing too because, in the back, the sheet was like a thong.

One afternoon we tried our luck at wind-surfing. It's a lot harder than it looks, especially when there is about a 10 MPH breeze blowing. Ladies first:

	The instructor is getting things ready while Melanie is waiting in the water.
	Melanie trying to get the sail up.
	Melanie still trying to get the sail up (she barely weighs enough)
	Melanie actually windsurfing . . . okay not very far, but she did it!
	She seems happy with how she did, doesn't she?
	Okay, my turn to try to get the sail up.
	Yeah! I got it up. Here I am, actually wind-surfing.
	Now if I could just figure out how to turn this dang thing around!
	I couldn't get it turned around without dropping the sail completely. Better luck next time, I guess

And of course, we spent a lot of the time just laying around at the beach or in the pool, playing games (there were tennis courts, an 18 hole golf course w/ driving range and putting green, water-skiing, sailing, hobie-cat rides, snorkeling, ocean-kayacks, and I'm sure a bunch more I'm forgetting about) or hanging out at one of the bars:

	Ah yes, floating in the pool. Beats working any day!
	Melanie catching some rays (probably watching me floating).
	Melanie floating while I sit in the lounge chair and watch her.
	Yep, you guessed it . . . another one of Melanie floating.
	Melanie drinking a mudslide - YUM!
	We learned (or we like to think we learned) how to play Skittle. I hope we knew what we were doing because a bunch of people asked us how to play!
	These are two other very nice couples we had met and hung out with some. We ate dinner with them one night in the restaurant (not the main dining room) From L-to-R, Al, Tina, Amy, and Scott.
	This is just us posing for a picture after dinner.

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