August 20th, 2012 was our 2 year wedding anniversary, and we went back to Jamaica to celebrate! It was a much needed and very relaxing trip, but also full of great adventures. We went back to Couples Resorts, but this time headed to a new location on the north side of the island in Ocho Rios called Tour Isle. We started off on a great note with a free upgrade to first class on two legs of our red-eye flight, which was fantastic. Then we were greeted in the airport with cold Red Stripe Beers by the friendly staff of Couples Resorts. And after a quick hour and a half bus ride, we finally arrived in paradise! The next seven days were filled with waterfalls, scuba diving, snorkeling, tennis, golf, massages, reading, floating, arts and crafts, new friends, free drinks, and of course, tons of fabulous food! We had a great time and can't wait to go back again. Happy Anniversary Josh, I love you!
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| First time ever flying in first class...the leg room was amazing, and so were the free drinks in the Admiral's Club at LAX while we waited 5 hours for our flight! |
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| Champagne and soft fluffy pillows...we are never flying on an airplane again until we can afford first class every time! |
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| Yay, we finally arrived at Couples Tour Isle, just in time for lunch at the Patio Restaurant. Cheers! |
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| Cool towel art in our ocean front room. |
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| After signing up for scuba, we went straight to the pool with the swim up bar. Everything is Irie now! |
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| View from our balcony of the resort by night. |
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| Celebrating our anniversary night at the Beach Buffet. Most memorable: The delicious Goat Stew and the look on Josh's face when I gave him his new wedding ring! (This wasn't the look, just a funny pose!) |
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| Local Jamaican dancers. |
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| Dining on the beach and watching the crazy guy to limbo under a flaming pole. |
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| Day 2: Awesome trip to Dunn's River Falls (no waterproof camera=no photos) and weaving hats with palm fronds. |
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| A little lunch stop at the beach-front veggie bar...yummy felafels! |
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| Heading out for an afternoon float in the ocean with my new palm tree hat! (This was when we forgot to reapply sunscreen and poor Josh got fried!) |
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| Looking out from the veggie bar. |
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| We didn't get to Scuba today, but we headed out snorkeling instead...still lots of cool fish and reef plants to see. |
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| And, not that we didn't already do a lot today, but it just wouldn't right without a little round of tennis before dinner...playing on grass courts was the best! |
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| A romantic dinner for two at the Eight Rivers Restaurant...so many good things to eat, we had to share one of everything (good thing the portions were small enough to allow us to be such pigs)! |
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| Our new friend was a closet paparazzi photographer! |
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| Day 3: Started off with a scuba dive down to Wayne's Reef, followed by a lesson in basket weaving. |
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| Josh and I both helped make a really cool little basket that now holds all our keys. Next step, a large basket to hold ski hats and gloves! |
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| Josh back in his happy place...hot, humid, sunny days call for a pool and a cold beverage! |
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| One of the highlights was this Steel Drum Band, who played all the current Top 10 Hits of 2012. |
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| Day 4: Another no scuba day because of the pending hurricane, but as you can see, the weather was actually gorgeous, so after a quick lunch at the veggie bar, Josh and I headed to the links for a round of golf. |
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| Today's veggie bar special was a delicious Jamaican take on Khibeh. |
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| We had an awesome round of golf at the Sandal's Golf Resort thanks to our very knowledgeable caddy! |
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| Tonight was another romantic dinner for two, this time during sunset at the Bayside Restaurant. As you can see, the restaurant is build completely over the water...so cool! |
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| Walking along the cliff face over to the restaurant. |
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| Talk about a fabulous table, and while they were all good, these were definitely the best seats in the house! |
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| Josh's sexy wife with a view of the Tower Isle in the background. |
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| My handsome husband with the wave crashing in the background. |
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| We really were eating right over the water...don't drop your camera! |
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| Looking out at the pretty sunset over the resort. |
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| A little after-dinner game of Cribbage at the Piano Bar. |
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| Day 5: We got to sneak in a quick Scuba session before they hauled the boat off to safety in case the hurricane came. |
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| Katharine heading down to today's scuba destination: a sunken boat called Shipwreck Katharine. |
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| All the fish loved to swarm around and nip at Josh. |
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| We didn't actually have a camera, but our guide did, and he took all these really cool underwater shots. |
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| Swimming inside the boat cabin...so cool! |
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| Josh and I definitely gave this dive two thumbs up! |
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| This afternoon we learned how to make a Jamaican Seafood Curry out in the garden with one of the resident Chefs. |
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| And of course, another little game of tennis to complete the day. And after dinner we had the treat of playing cards with our new friends Sandy and Jacob, while watching one of the most amazing lightning storms ever! |
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| Day 6 was a mellow day. The hurricane brought us a little rain all morning, so we napped, relaxed, and read books most of the day. Then we came here to the spa for our complimentary Couple Massage...ahhhh. |
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| Thunderstorms sure make for amazing evening colors! |
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| A little post-massage hot tub time. |
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| More cool sunsets and clouds. |
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| Day 7: Our last full day. Looking out from our balcony we saw the activity flag was a green for "go", so we headed down for our last scuba dive of the trip. It was probably the best dive ever...we went super deep down to Devil's Reef and got to pet a Sea Turtle!! |
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| Post-dive chill session back in Josh's happy place. |
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| Looking left out from our balcony again...open ocean. |
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| Looking right...the pool, the dock, and the bay. |
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| Since it was our last day, we finally braved a trip out to the Tower Isle, a very cool place made not as cool by the nudity requirement! |
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| We climbed up to the top of the tower for some 360 degree views of the resort. |
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| Luckily all the crazy nude people liked to hang out together in the pool on the other side of the island, so we had this cabana, as well as the whole side of the island, to ourselves. |
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| Talk about the most amazing place to relax and read a book! |
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| For our last night we had dinner with our friends Sandy and Jacob back at the Bayside Restaurant. |
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| More cool sunset clouds. |
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| And finally, the event Josh had been waiting for all week, Karaoke Night! It almost got ruined when the IT guy went home without fixing the screen with the lyrics, but thanks to all our iPhones we persevered! |
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| My horrible rendition of "I Will Survive"...it's much harder when Gloria Gaynor isn't there to be your backup singer! |
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| Jacob did a fantastic job of singing "Burning Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. |
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| Josh and I hanging with our friendly Activities Coordinator, KD. |
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| So sad, time to go home. Josh was really annoyed to have to wear the Palm Tree hat through all the airports, but thanks to his valiant efforts, it got home completely intact! |
