The Honeymoon

  

For the honeymoon, we decided to go to a Sandals resort in Jamaica, called the "Whitehouse". It is an all-inclusive resort, so all lodging, food, drinks, land and water sports and tips were included in a flat fee. We were so excited about not having to worry about a thing except making sure we didn't get too sunburned!

The process from touchdown in Jamaica to getting on the shuttle bus was a bit like a cattle drive...baggage claim (moo!)...immigration (mooo!)...customs (mooooo!)...then on to the shuttle waiting room--whew! The resort had a nice waiting room that was beautifully decorated and had snacks and drinks. We were only there for a few minutes before we were called to board the shuttle. What a ride that was! No air conditioning and 2 hours of curvy, mountainous roads. But it was an adventure. Here are some pictures of the ride to the resort--they are not the best quality, as they are taken through the tinted shuttle bus window and my camera hand was all over the place from the bumps:

The smoke is what the locals referred to as a "Bob Marley concert"...or trash burning.

Finally made it!!

When we arrived, these lovely women came out to sing--it was beautiful!

A view of the ocean from our floor--amazing!!

Below are some pics of our room--we were upgraded to a suite with a separate sitting room!

View from our balcony

View from our balcony

There wasn't a time of day that this view was not pretty to look at.  All of the rooms' balconies faced the ocean, so this is a view inland.  The restaurants, clubs and bars were behind the buildings pictured on the right, and each evening, you could hear island music echoing over the trees and buildings.  The air was warm, and really enhanced the perfume of the exotic flowers...the breeze just wafted it all around--it was so lovely.

This was sunrise the next morning

Pool bar!

There were peacocks just wandering around the resort--so weird to see, but really pretty!

One of the restaurants in the resort

One of my favorite pictures--Bill relaxing!!

We had breakfast in this restaurant almost every morning.
Below is a picture of the inside:

I thought this bench was cute

One of the outdoor restaurants

A view of some of the nicer homes on the hillside close to the resort

View of our room from the snorkeling boat--our room was the top balcony in the yellow (right in the middle of the picture)

Self-photo right before we went out for the night

Grasshopper martini at the martini bar!  Yum!

The next morning, breakfast was delivered to our room, as a honeymoon gift from the resort

Pictures of a newly married couple having their wedding lunch/dinner on the beach

Jamaican sunset--beautiful!

One morning, on our way down to the pool, we ran into feathers scattered all over--what Bill called the "Bird Murder".  Not sure why that makes me laugh so much!

Another one of my favorite pics--Bill relaxing!!
At the time, I thought Bill was waving "Hi", but he was actually asking me to get him another drink.

I loved the view out of our window


On the day it rained, I decided to read a book and took about 9 pictures of my ring, haha:

I love this view.  It was a window by the elevators on our floor.  It was amazing to walk out of our room , look through this window as we waited for the elevator, and see this view!

A picture of us on our last day in Jamaica:
our faces were pretty sunburned and it was difficult to form our mouths into smiles

One more look off of the balcony...

The roads in Jamaica are treacherous in places, but this sign made me laugh

Our last glimpse of paradise before we got to the airport (taken through the back of the bus window)

It was definitely tough to leave such a beautiful place!  We really lucked out on the weather--it only rained during one of the days we were there, and other than that it was hot and sunny.  The resort was really secluded and for the first time in a long time, we were able to just lay around the pool and relax.  It was the perfect way to wind down from the wedding.  

I do have some pics from our snorkeling adventure, but they were taken with a disposable underwater camera, so I will have to scan them in.  

But, in all, the resort was clean, our room was perfect and stocked with anything you could want.  Room service any time of the day or night!  The grounds were beautifully kept--everything was so colorful and the flowers and plants were beautiful.  We had nothing to worry about but what to eat for dinner and to make sure not to get too much sun.  Plus, Bill didn't make to many "Jamaica jokes", so it was truly paradise ;)