After a wonderful two weeks we are back from our trip to Jamaica; tanned, a bit jet lagged and already back into the swing of things.

On this trip we spent the first week exploring the island with a rental car and then the second week relaxing at two different resorts.

Driving in Jamaica was quite an experience since driving on the left side of the road makes you feel like a brand new driver.  You spend the first few days just trying to stay in the lane while avoiding the drivers passing you in places you might not normally pass.  Sean was the lucky one who got to drive for the week.  Although I did take a turn for an hour I finally let Sean take over, it is much harder than you would think.

During our first week we visiting the beaches of Montego Bay, Negril and Treasure Beach.  The towns of Kingston, Mavis Bank, Port Antonio, Boston Bay and Ocho Rios.  We swam, ate loads of food and explored the many sights; making sure to visit the Bob Marley Museum, a coffee plantation in the blue mountains and tour the Appleton Rum distillery.

We pushed ourselves the first week to see the ‘real’ Jamaica, not just the resorts that most people see.  I believe we accomplished that goal.

The second week of our trip was a much different experience than the first.  We made our way from the airport after dropping off the rental car in a big bus of tourists.  We disembarked at the super all inclusive resort on the northern coast of Jamaica ready for 3 days of relaxing by the pool with a drink.

Since it was slow season the resort was pretty empty but we were later told that it was even slow for slow season.  We didn’t mind and just made our way to the pool for a quick swim and a drink.  We instantly made friends with others staying at the resort and managed to get pulled into a variety of drinking games, all in the name of fun.

We could tell it was going to be a very fun couple of days at the Grand Lido Braco.

One of the perks to a super all inclusive resort was that room service was included which meant that at any time in the day or evening I could call up and get just about anything I wanted.  Since room service is not something I ever do when we are on holiday I was just excited to get started on the menu.  I was loving all the fries and desserts I could get, the first night I had them come back with a second plate of fries and some brownies; because I could.

After a couple of days relaxing, eating and drinking it was time to head to the second resort for the remainder of the week.  Thankfully we had made some friends at the first place who were actually going to the same resort as us so we shared a taxi.

During the 45 minute drive to the second resort we learned that Sean and Fred were basically seperated at birth.  They have the same sense of humour and even have the same wedding ring.  We had a great time with Fred and Lynn through out the time at the second resort sharing many meal together and many more laughs.

Although the point of the resorts was to relax at the end of our holiday it also gave us the opportunity to try some new things.  On the last day I got the chance to do a beginner scuba diving course.  It was basically just a quick overview of how to breathe underwater, clear your mask and regulator and handling moving around in the water.  After getting an overview in the pool it was time for open water.

What I liked about the pool was that if at any time I felt a bit panicked I knew that I could just stand up and everything was okay.  What scared me about the idea of being 40 feet under water was that if something happened how would I react.

As anyone would probably imagine there was a bit of panicking, but funny thing was it was when I was on the top of the water and not when I was 40 feet under it.  After calming down it was time to descend and thankfully after a bit of trouble equalizing my ears I was at the ocean floor seeing things I had never seen before.  The coral and fish were so amazing, truly a great way to experience scuba diving for the first time.

We had such an amazing time on this trip, experiencing new things and looking forward to our next adventure wherever and whenever that may be.