Bill’s Arrival Post

Good morning everyone!! 
We made it to Jamaica yesterday afternoon. We ended up having a little extra time in the shuttle because our driver didn’t have to load our bags and he forgot to ask everyone where they were going like he said he normally does. It wasn’t very long getting back to our resort. We are at the smaller of the two resorts, the other has double the rooms per our driver. 

Even though our Hynes Eagle bag gave us a extra bit of ride time it is an awesome bag. We we’re lining up to get on the shuttle and a woman from the Carolinas ask if we really only had our backpacks and the bag Emily carries when the porter asked for out suitcases. She is a travel agent and has traveled the world but still needed two suitcases for 4 days of travel to an all inclusive resort. Each one would have held all our luggage. They were staying at the bigger resort, it was too bad as they were probably the most interesting people we will meet here. In addition to traveling, the husband also mentioned he rode motorcycles and I could have chatted with him about that as well. Maybe once we start doing some of the excursions we will get a chance to meet more people. 

The resort is nice, does show a little age to it. It’s a harsh environment though as well being right on the ocean. It has an island feel to it, not blatantly Jamaica though. I would like more vibrant colors. There is a gym that we will use while here, seems well equipped so that’s nice. A couple pools and bars. I’m hoping to get some use out of the dive shop and water sports area. They teach sailing catamarans, sailboarding and a few other things. I’m debating doing my scuba certification here since there’s not many people here as Emily mentioned. 
There is a nude beach here that I’m not sure where it is and didn’t ask, I did see and woman and a man walking along the beach yesterday afternoon, both were topless. 

So far Jamaica is beautiful for the most part. There was some sketchy areas along the highway to our resort. I was noticing that some of the concrete/block construction reminded me of places in South America with the re-rod sticking out on top. There is also a lot of the very colorful shanties that are stereotypical for Jamaica. 

We made a stop on the way to the resort yesterday and one of the people in our group must’ve made a purchase of marijuana, I’ve been around it enough over the years that I recognized the smell. Emily mentioned we also were informed of “Farmer Bill” who I think is just off property. Ganja/ marijuana is pretty much a part of the culture here. Could be why everyone is so laidback 😎 I’m interested to see how aggressive they are in trying to sell it to tourists. It will be hard to make any solid conclusions about how many tourists participate based on how hard they push it but, I will still think the more aggressive the more tourists who do. 

So far the food here hasn’t wowed me. There is some potential at each of the four restaurants based on the menus. We tried the hotel’s jerked chicken last night and it was a little dry and not as flavorful as I would expect. Grilling skinless chicken breast can be tricky anyway but, even harder if they pre-cooked it. 
Breakfast is buffet with a omelette and pancake/waffle station. This seems to be a universal mask wearing event. Everything else seems to be if you have space around you then nobody cares. Occasionally you will see some people wearing masks walking around, not often though. 

There is a range of people (sizes, colors, shapes and ages) here, mostly I’m guessing, Americans. I think that things are geared towards American tourists more so than other places we’ve been. The more we travel I will have to take note of how American the breakfast is. The continental section was very limited and I find that while I like American type breakfast I was disappointed.

Hopefully everyone is doing well, we are rested and ready for some adventure to share!!