2007

Archive for the year 2007

Trip Recap Continued: Day 7

Posted on August 5, 2007 by Ching under Travel.

Much like the other days, we began this day by having breakfast at the patio. The plan was to spend the entire day at Tower Island. We had to cut that short, however, because we scheduled a one-hour couples massage at Oasis, the resort spa.

Here are some photos we took at TI..

Generally speaking, photography is not permitted at TI. However, as long as you are only taking pictures of each other people don’t usually care. You have to be discreet, though. If it looks like you’re taking pictures of other people then the guests will protest. So Brian and I only took pictures of each other, and only when we were by ourselves.

Although Kent, Dawn, Bob and Mary got some really fun group pictures there one day. You have to do it either really early (before other people show up on the island) or really late (after everyone else has left). You can find some of their pics here.

I didn’t take pictures of the spa because it’s not really anything spectacular. We just got a regular couples massage in one of the treatment rooms. I didn’t realize until the day of our appointment that I could have requested an outdoor massage in the garden. We figured we could add it to our list of things to do on our next visit.

That night we had 8:30 PM dinner reservations at Le Gourmet. However, we really an hour early. We figured we could take this time to bump into some people and visit. We ran into John and Wilma at the internet booth. They were checking out their son’s graduation pictures. He and his girlfriend both graduated at the same time so she was in the photos also. They make a handsome couple.

Anyway, John and Wilma had 7:30 PM dinner reservations and asked us to join them. The maitre d’ was nice enough to accommodate the slight change in their reservations. He found us a table for four so Brian and I were able to get in early. They usually frown upon these last minute changes, but John and Wilma can pretty much get away with anything because they practically live there. They’ve been visiting the resort annually for several years and the last couple of years they’ve stayed for three weeks. They pretty much know everyone.

After the wonderful dinner we had, the four of us headed to the piano bar to meet up with the rest of the TI crew. This was our last hurrah because Brian and I were leaving the next day. Michael and Vicky were leaving the next day also. Their flight leaves an hour ahead of ours. We thought we would be on the same bus to the airport but their pickup is an hour earlier as well.

Here are some pictures we took at the piano bar..

It was on this night when Brian and I realized how old we really were. The last couple of days we spent at Tower Island we noticed another group form consisting of younger people. They all kind of flocked together on the island. You kind of bond with people you hang out with on the island and end up making plans with them at the resort, maybe hanging out after dinner and such. Well, the younger TI group came into the piano bar that night and recognized our group as fellow islanders. One guy screamed, “Tower Island! Woo hoo!” as he walked by. Here is the younger TI set and Brian and I were with the more mature, older TI set. I thought, “Wow. A few years ago we would have probably been with the younger TI group.” How time flies!

Anyway, Brian and I turned in early that night to prepare for our departure the next day. I filled out the room service door tag so we could get our breakfast delivered to our room bright and early. We packed most of our stuff that night. The only things we left out were clothes for the next day and miscellaneous things like toiletries.

The bus ride to the airport was pretty uneventful. Brian and I opted to sleep this time, we’d seen the roadside view on our bus ride to the resort. Between the excursion bus trips and cab rides, there really wasn’t anything new to see. There was a long line at the Delta check-in counter, nothing we didn’t expect though.

After that we went through the security checkpoint. Once again long lines. Although, we were there early enough that we didn’t have worry about it. At this point it was around 1:00 PM. Since we had time to spare, I convinced Brian to grab a bite to eat since we didn’t really know when we would be able to do so from here on out. He is hypoglycemic so he really shouldn’t go without eating for extended periods. Otherwise he gets sick.

I tried to talk him into eating at the Air Margaritaville but he just wanted a pizza. We ended up getting a small, personal pizza for him, a hotdog for me, and a bottle of Pepsi. I have to say, if you can avoid eating at the airport do so. Airport food is not really the best and it is so expensive. Those three things cost us $20. I’m glad we still had plenty of cash to spare, otherwise we couldn’t have eaten.

We ran into Vicky and Michael at the Delta gate. Their flight was delayed. Ours was delayed also, but I was optimistic that this wouldn’t cause us any problems because we had a two and a half hour lay over in Atlanta. Was I wrong.

We get to Atlanta and it took almost an hour to get through immigration and customs. Customs took two seconds but the immigration lines were really long. They had a separate sections for non-US citizens and US citizens. I must say, I’m glad that I am a US citizen now. For one, Brian and I didn’t have to be in separate lines. Secondly, our section was moving much faster. They were paging interpreters every two seconds at the non-US section. Different lines were needing interpreters and the lines were barely moving.

You think you’re home free when you pass customs and immigration, but that wasn’t the case for us. Baggage claim was the worst. Atlanta is an international hub for Delta. Apparently, they had 20 flights arrive at about the same time and they were shorthanded. This caused delays in getting the cargo out. We waited at the carousel over an hour before the first bag from our flight came out. There were roars and cheers when this finally happened.

Brian and I were lucky that we didn’t miss our flight. There were several couples who did and had to be redirected. We barely made it to the gate the designated departure time. Come to find out, our flight was delayed also so we still had to wait at the gate a few minutes. We were thinking that it was delayed because of all the bags they had to sort through (you have to re-check your bags after claiming them; I’m not sure why they don’t just go directly to get loaded on your connecting flight). Come to find out our bags never made it on the plane.

Brian and I went back to the airport the next day, Sunday. We had planned to sleep in that day and recover from the trip, but we couldn’t do that because we wanted to retrieve our bags. One bag was on the 10:20 AM flight and the other was on the 12:45 PM flight. It was pretty bad. Brian wrote about the fiasco here. There isn’t much to say other than we will never fly with Delta again. Although, I’ve heard that most airlines are pretty bad these days.

One of the valuable lessons we learned from the experience is to never check any luggage because you can’t rely on the airlines or the airport to get them anywhere without hassle. We will just do carry-ons from now on. Brian and I joked that if we spend most of our days at Tower Island, we won’t need to pack that many clothes anyway. =P

This is the end of the travelogue. I hope you enjoyed the recap. If you have any questions about the experience or want tips and advice about going to an all-inclusive resort, an au naturel resort, entering another country, or just flying in general please feel free to post your questions in the comments section. We will be happy to answer based on our experience or point to you some valuable resources online that may be of assistance.

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Trip Recap Continued: Day 6

Posted on August 4, 2007 by Ching under Travel.

We started this day with breakfast at the patio. This day was supposed to be the day we would spend all day at Tower Island. However, since Brian got sea sick yesterday and we couldn’t do the snorkelling excursion then, the snorkelling excursion got moved to today. After breakfast we swung by the watersports office to sign up for the 11:00 AM snorkelling excursion. Then we were off to Tower Island. We got a really good spot because we got there early.

Around 10:30 AM we got ready to go back to the resort for our snorkelling trip. We just left our stuff on the island. Brian was really paranoid that someone would move our stuff and take our lounges. I assured him that no one would, though, because everyone knew that we would only be gone for a bit and be back.

After snorkelling we had lunch before going back to the island. We fully intended to spend the rest of the afternoon there except I saw on the activity board that there was a salsa lesson at 3:00 PM so we were going to go back to the resort for that. Besides, that we ended up getting talked into going on the shopping trip to Island Village. Jimmy told Brian about the lady that rolls cigars and Brian was sold. We wouldn’t have gone if it were just the two of us, but we found out the Jimmy and Dorenda were going so we decided to with them. They are repeaters and said that Island Village was actually one of the better shopping centers where you can just browse the shops at your leisure and are not pressured into buying stuff.

We went to the salsa thing in the squash courts. There were only two other couples besides us. Brian and I ended up leaving after 30 minutes because it was too hot in there. We just ended up hanging out at the resort for a while before the 4:30 PM shopping trip. Basically everyone just meets at the lobby. At the designated time the bus comes and takes us to the shopping center and then comes back to pick us up two hours later. There were a lot of people who wanted to go shopping that afternoon. Well, actually some people just wanted to go to Margaritaville. It’s the same bus because Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville is located inside Island Village. There were three bus loads from our resort. We got on the first bus with Jimmy and Dorenda.

Island Village was nice that day. Even with our three bus loads of people, it wasn’t crowded because there were no cruise ships at port. We wandered around for a bit and collected our free stuff (the resort gives you an envelope containing a bunch of store coupons). We actually got a free color change tote from Del Sol just for walking in the store. No purchase necessary.

Jimmy told Brian about the cigar rolling station

Here are some of the pictures we took at Island Village..

We got back to the resort just in time to get cleaned up and make our dinner reservations at The Bayside. The Bayside is most everyone’s favorite resto. I think Brian and I prefer the food at Le Gourmet more. We actually had dinner there on Tuesday night and made reservations again for Friday night because we liked it so much. Anyway, Thursday is the day to go to The Bayside because that’s when they have lobster night. I found out later that the patio had all you can eat lobster on the buffet too. I don’t know how that was, though. Maybe if the buffet just opened it would be okay, but I certainly wouldn’t want to eat lobster that’s been sitting out. I got two lobster tails at The Bayside and that was more than enough for me. They were delicious, by the way.

Here are some pictures..

After dinner Brian and I opted to skip most of “Showtime” and decided to go to the game room. Much to our disappointment, the dartboard was out for repair. We ended up shooting pool. The funny thing is, I won every game of pool and every chess match we played while on vacation. Well, I won the chess matches legitimately (after all, I did teach Brian how to play the game) but the pool I usually won via suck-out (we all know I’m awful at pool; thankfully, Brian is not that great at it, either).

After a couple of games of pool, Brian had had enough so we went to the patio to check out disco night. There was no one there!! Except for two couples maybe, but they were just sitting there. The music wasn’t too bad so I talked Brian into dancing with me. I said, “I’ll be damned if I don’t get to do any dancing on this trip!” Another couple came up and started dancing, too. They sat back down after two or three songs, though. LOL. I guess they didn’t have the endurance and thick skin that Brian and I do. For a while there it was just Brian and I, and also Suzanie and Ricardo, two members of the entertainment staff. We were just goofing around. Darcy and Colin came by. They’d been doing some late night swimming. I could tell because they were in their swimsuits. They ended up dancing around with us for a bit. It was just us, though. No one else. Darcy and Colin left after a few songs. Brian and I called it quits shortly after. I was really proud for Brian for keeping up with me through the hour of non-stop dancing. He did great.

Here are some pictures..

We had a pretty good workout that day between snorkelling (which actually can get tiring after a while because your legs get worn out from swimming) and dancing. We both slept really well but were kind of sad because we knew that the next day would be our last full day at the resort.

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Travelogue Intermission: Tower Island

Posted on August 4, 2007 by Ching under Travel.

This intermission from the daily recaps was prompted by Tin’s inquiry about Tower Island. What is Tower Island exactly? Tower Island is a private au naturel beach at Couples Ocho Rios. Vacationers who want the au naturel experience are ferried by boat from the resort pier to the private island. Here is a picture of Tower Island taken from just outside the lobby..

The nice thing about the private island is that it is completely separate from the main beach so people who are bothered by that sort of thing don’t really have to deal with it. Unlike other resorts areas where there are several resorts on the same beach next to one another. You don’t run into the situation of an au naturel or clothing optional beach next to regular ones or worse, family resorts. In some cases I’ve read the only thing that separates the au naturel or clothing optional section from the regular beach is a sign. That can be really awkward. At Tower Island you only run into similar individuals so there is no awkwardness of running into children or non-nudists.

Au naturel or clothing optional: what’s the difference and which is better? Tower Island is au naturel. What this means is that everything comes off. You can’t keep your bottoms on. You can only do that at the pier which the resort has designated as the topless area. Generally, after hanging out for a few minutes if you’ve found a spot and still haven’t disrobed the bar tender will politely ask you to disrobe or leave. Brian said he saw this happen while we were there. I was too busy sleeping to pay attention. He said it took about 20 minutes before someone said something.

Clothing optional is exactly that. You can keep all or some of your clothes on or you can fully disrobe. Not having been to a clothing optional resort, I can base my opinion the experiences of others. General consensus is that au naturel is better because everyone is on equal footing. There isn’t the awkwardness of I’m clothed and you’re not, and vice versa. Bob and Mary, a couple we met at TI on our first day there, shared an experience they had at a clothing optional beach in St. Martin where clothed people and nudists intermingle. Basically, you can’t really be completely comfortable in a nude state because there are clothed people around you. Besides that, the people who were completely nude were made spectacles of and gawked at by the clothed people. The resort can’t really do much about its patrons’ behavior. People will be immature and childish. That’s just the way some people are. However, they can adopt an au naturel policy to keep the clothed gawkers away.

Why bother with the au naturel thing? Well, if you’ve ever been in any kind of tropical climate, you know that it is hot and humid. You just sweat, sweat, sweat. Clothes are restrictive. It is very liberating to sunbathe al fresco. The breeze from the ocean and the mist of the waves are very refreshing on your skin when you are au naturel.. And no tan lines! People probably won’t understand until they’ve actually experienced it for themselves. It is a wonderful feeling.

Besides, this we’ve read in several places that the Tower Island folks are lot friendlier than the folks on the main beach. Brian and I can vouch for this. We really didn’t think there would be much difference in people’s attitudes, but from our experience it is true. The Tower Island folks were more friendly and more mature than the other folks we met. Well, everyone was pretty friendly and cordial but the Tower Islanders were more so and seemed to be a closed knit group. We had dinners together and did activities together and acted more like friends rather than just strangers bumping into one another at different parts of the resort.

Eric and Amy, another couple we met, commented that maybe the difference in attitudes is because the islanders have no hang ups (or maybe fewer hang ups) than the folks on the main beach. That could be so. You have to have the maturity level to deal with being around other nudists. Immature people can’t deal with that.

Brian and I got our share of ribbing from people because of this misconception about about au naturel and swingers. There are swingers that go au naturel but not all au naturel folks are swingers. There are specific resorts for that, like Hedonism (just by the name, it pretty much indicates to you what their demographic target is) et al. Couples and Tower Island isn’t anything like that. Eric calls the people who frequent these other resorts for other purposes “lifestylers” and the atmosphere at Tower Island isn’t like that at all. While there might have been some (I didn’t exactly do a survey on how many people were swingers and how many weren’t), you couldn’t really tell because if they were they just kept it to themselves. It’s not overt like the Hedonism-type resorts.

If you wanted privacy, people just left you alone. No one forced anyone to talk to them. If you wanted to be social you could hop into the pool and chat and drink with other folks. If you wanted to be by yourself, there’s a more private section. You didn’t really have to be around other people unless you chose to be. While I appreciated all the wonderful people we met and we did our share of conversing, for the most part I just read my book or slept in my chair.

There was actually one afternoon that Brian and I fell asleep in the swing at the private side of the island. Everyone else was at the pool. We didn’t really realize we were all alone until Bob and Mary came back to get some stuff or maybe reapply some sunblock. We had a couple of towels hanging on the side of the swing to keep it from getting blown into the ocean but I guess it concealed us from view because when we awoke to Bob and Mary conversing next to the swing, we actually startled them. I guess everyone just forgot all about us and didn’t even realize we were there.

If you ask Brian, he will probably say that Tower Island was the highlight of our trip. On my list it would be the canopy tour first and then Tower Island a close second. I want to visit the other resorts in the Couples family but it will be really hard to pry Brian away from COR because really enjoyed his island time. He actually begged me for a full day on the island after the first afternoon we spent there.

Here are some of our favorite Tower Island slogans (not in any particular order):
* Tower Island – Where there are no real blondes!
* Tower Island – No Cares, No Worries, No Clothes
* Happiness is no tan lines!
* Butt in the sand, drink in the hand!
* It’s hard to be rude when you’re nude!
* Tower Island – Where the cool people hang out!
* No Shirt, No Shoes, No Pants, No Problems
* Tower Island – When you’re there, you’re bare!
* What goes on in Vegas, comes off on Tower Island!
* Nudists – The Other Red Meat
* Free Willy!

Most of these came from the Tower Island Slogans message board thread on the Couples web site. Brian and I found these amusing and funny so I thought I would share.

P.S. This is unrelated but I thought I would share that the zip-line canopy tour videos are available online. These aren’t actually my footage but these are the videos that the tour people included with our photo CD. Here’s a sample:

Another postscript… I know some of you have already browsed through our vacation photos on Flickr but I have been so impressed with the vacation photos of other guests that I have come across on the Couples message board so I thought I would share them. Enjoy!

Marc and Seija – We met them at Couples Ocho Rios (COR). They did a Couples Swept Away and Couples Ocho Rios (CSA/COR) split so they have many wonderful photos from both resorts.

Kent and Dawn – We met them during our stay at COR also. We left before they did, though. It looks like they got some private time on the island because they were able to take some really fun photos. Generally, taking photos/videos is not permitted for the comfort and privacy of the other guests but when you are there by yourselves and/or the other guests don’t mind then the staff really doesn’t care either. I wish Brian and I could have taken more photos on the island. Maybe next time!

Shari and James – They’ve got a very comprehensive collection of photos from visits to Couples Negril (CN), CSA, and COR.

Michael and Vicky – We met Michael and Vicky during our stay. We actually left the resort on the same day. Theirs was an earlier Delta flight but it was delayed so we ran into them at Sangster International Airport (MBJ) also. They are repeaters and this was their second visit to COR.

Randy – Randy has two sets Couples resort photos on Flickr: this one and this one.

Jim – Jim made a beautiful slideshow of their 2006 trip to CSA in his Kodak Gallery.

Cathy and Larry – They have some great photos from their Jamaica trip also.

Jon and Tara – They got married at CSA. You can check out their photos on their Multiply page.

Lando – An amateur photographer who took some great pictures in Jamaica. You can find him on MySpace also.

Terri and Ty – They got married in Jamaica. Beautiful wedding pictures!

Beth – COR wedding photos. She’s a Photoshop whiz so you’ll see some amazing effects and treatments on the pictures.

Jackie – More wedding photos.

Jackie – This is a different Jackie. A consumate resort traveler, there are photos here from all four Couples resorts, Breezes Bahamas, several resorts in Cancun, Secrets Excellences, Grand Lido Braco, Grand Lido Negril, Grand Lido Sans Souci, Sandals Grande St. Lucia, etc.

Jodi – Vow renewal pictures. I hope one day Brian and I can do this. Jodi said the cost is pretty reasonable and the resort takes care of pretty much everything.

Stacia and Jeremy – They were married in CSA. These photos are so beautiful it makes me want to go there.

Mzambo – I’m not sure what their real name is; they go by Tedzam on Webshots. Great collection of photos from two years of vacationing in Jamaica.

RowdyHarv – Great wedding photos from CSA. Additional photos here and here. Their sunset and beach photos are particularly stunning.

Roselynn – Roselynn has a whole web site devoted to Couples resorts and Jamaica in general. It is a wealth of information and an invaluable resource if you plan on taking a trip. Still want more photos? Roselynn also has an extensive list of links to other people’s vacation photos here. Be sure to check them out!

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Trip Recap Continued: Day 5

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Ching under Travel.

This was supposed to be the day we did the resort excursions: snorkelling, glass-bottom boat tour, catamaran cruise. Two out of three isn’t bad. Who knew that the waves would make him sea sick? He never had any problems before. =P

Anyway, we started our day with breakfast at the patio. I think this was the day they brought the mangos. I know there was one day I just had mangos and bacon for breakfast. It’s a weird combination, I know. I’ve never had mangos as fresh or delicious as these, though. It was all you can eat mangos to boot. I was in heaven!

Our first activity was the glass-bottom boat tour. Brian didn’t really get to enjoy much of the scenery because he started getting sea sick less than five minutes into the tour. No worries though because I took pictures of almost everything so he can always just go back and look at the photos. LOL.

Brian pretty much just ignored me and focused on the horizon. He says this keeps him from being so sick that he has to vomit. I guess it was working because he didn’t have to vomit at all. I struck up a conversation with the couple sitting next to us. They’re honeymooners from Los Angeles. I asked her why she chose COR and she explained that out of all of the different all-inclusive resorts they looked at COR had the most excursions included in the package. I told her she made a good choice. I found out that this was their first trip to Jamaica also so I told her about the $200 passport credit. I figured someone was nice enough to tell us this so we could share the goodwill. They’re actually the second couple we told. We told another young honeymooning couple we went on the Dunns excursion with about it. They used the credit for salon services. She ended up getting her hair braided and he got a haircut, among other things.

Then we were going to do the snorkelling thing at 11:00 AM. They use the same boat, they just put wood planks so that you don’t step on the glass bottom. However, Brian wasn’t feeling well from the glass-bottom boat tour and wanted time to recover. We went back to our room where he rested of a bit before the 12:30 PM lunch buffet. I didn’t have anything to do so I decided to do some exploring. I checked out the hidden jacuzzi tubs, the aviary, the grounds. It’s not as fun exploring on your own because everyone you run into is with their partner. I was lonely for mine. Anyway just to tell you how nice all the resort employees are, one of the workers saw me taking pictures of my favorite garden swing and asked me if I wanted my picture taken in it. I was too embarrassed to say yes so I just smiled and said no. I figured I probably looked pathetic being by myself and all. I had flashbacks of Brian being dehydrated during the night of the fancy, dress up buffet night on our cruise five years ago when I ended up sleeping in my dress. I figured I had enough exploring and went to the computer station to upload some pics to Flickr (that’s why you saw our Dunns pictures halfway through our trip). It was a good way to kill time, being partner-less and all. Then I went back to the room to fetch Brian for the lunch buffet.

After lunch we just hung out at the beach while waiting for the catamaran cruise. I was surprised Brian still wanted to go considering his sea sickness earlier that day. I guess he didn’t end up vomitting so no harm, no foul. Several of the TI folks were in this excursion with us: Vicky and Michael (who we sat next to), Marc and Seija, Darcy and Colin, Kent and Dawn, Bob and Mary.. We joked that no one was going to moon us because we were all on the cat cruise. the islanders did not disappoint, though. Kent even got video footage of it. The cat cruise was fun but quite not as much fun as the cat cruise we did in Cozumel on our honeymoon. That was a half-day excursion, though. It involved some snorkelling, beach party where Brian and I got to kayak and I got to play beach volleyball while he lay in a hammock, and limbo and drunken line dancing on the catamaran. (Sorry I couldn’t help compare.) It was still a lot of fun though.

That night we had dinner with John and Wilma and Vicky and Michael at Verandah. I liked dining in the restaurants rather than doing the dinner buffet. I guess because breakfast and lunch are both buffet style so it’s refreshing to end the day with a nice, sit-down dinner. They are so formal there, too. I noticed they kept calling me “my lady” during our first two days. Then they switched to “madame” for the rest of the trip. Anyway, they would take the food orders of all the women first before taking the men’s orders. I noticed this particularly because we were sitting boy-girl-boy-girl in our table of six. They also set the women’s food down before any of the men’s food at the table. And then they would take unused utensils after each course, until gradually only your dessert fork or spoon (depending on what you ordered for dessert) was left. We were actually the last ones to leave Verandah that night. We finally had to leave because we were keeping them from setting up for casino night.

We sat through Showtime for a bit and then went back into Verandah for casino night. They gave you fake money and you got to choose from three different types of games: horse racing, black jack, and some dice game. Brian and I chose black jack. We didn’t lose all of our money but we didn’t win much either. Louise was the big winner, hitting like four or five black jacks in a row. It was her day. She and Mike were married on the beach that same afternoon. Their wedding took place as we were getting our cat cruise orientation.

So anyway, at the end of the casino thing couples got to pool their money together to bid on blind auction items. Lou and Mike won the first one because she had won so much at black jack. I think the other people cheated and started pooling their fake winnings because some of the bids were just outrageous. There was no way any two people could’ve won that much in the short period that we were playing. Then again, maybe Brian and I were just sore that we didn’t win any of the auctions. LOL. We had fun, though, and we met some more people.

Here are some of the pictures we took during the glass-bottom boat tour and cat cruise..

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Trip Recap Continued: Day 4

Posted on July 31, 2007 by Ching under Travel.

Day four started out pretty roughly. Brian and I had arranged to do the Chukka canopy zip-line tour on Tuesday morning through the resort tour desk. The tour rep told us that our pick up time would be 7:55 AM. The night before Brian and I requested breakfast in our room between 7:00 AM and 7:30 AM. I put a note on the tag to bring it closer to 7:00 AM since we have an early pick up at the lobby.

By 7:30 AM our breakfast still hadn’t arrived so I called the front desk to let them know that it was late. She said that breakfasts are on their way. I told her to cancel ours as we have to be at the lobby in a few minutes. Brian and I waited another 10 minutes before heading out. When we got to the lobby, I told them that our breakfast never did get delivered. Brian went to the patio to pick up some toast. I elected to remain at the lobby to wait for our ride.

A bus came but it was the golfing bus. By 8:00 AM I asked one of the bell hops what was up. We were told that we were on Jamaican time and not to worry that our pick up would arrive soon. I was getting pretty cranky so we asked the front desk to track down our breakfast and deliver it to the lobby so that I could have something to eat while I waited.

By 8:15 AM the horseback riding bus arrived and left. We were still waiting. At this point the bell hop asked me for our tour voucher. He said they should have been here by now. He asked one of the guest services representatives to give them a call. We were told that our pick up was on its way.

My breakfast arrived (delivered by the night manager who offered to check on our tour pick up for us) and not one to miss the most important meal of the day, I set my breakfast tray on the table next to guest services and started munchin. I offered Brian some but he was too upset to eat. Being Mr. Punctual, the late pick up was really ticked him off. Around the time our pick up arrived, the night manager came back and advised there was no answer. I didn’t get to finish my breakfast but we were anxious to get going so I just left the rest of my food there.

It was about almost 9:00 AM by the time our pick up arrived. The passengers in the jeep were on their way to Dunns. The driver explained that he was told to pick us up because our bus broke down. He said that he’d be dropping Brian and I off in town to transfer to a cab. Brian was pretty nervous about the whole deal because we were the only couple picked up at our resort. There is comfort in numbers and right then the odds were against us. We really didn’t want to be stranded anywhere. Next time we do an optional excursion, we’re going to try to talk at least two other couples into going with us.

Anyway, we ride for a little bit and then we stop on the side of the road. A couple gets out of the taxi cab and gets on the jeep we were just in. The cab driver and the jeep driver talk among themselves. I supposed the jeep driver explained to the cab driver what tour we were doing. We take the other couple’s place in the cab. The driver identified himself and told us that we needed to stop at Shaw Park (another resort nearby) to pick up another couple. After picking up the other couple we were on our way.

Our cab driver delivered us to main Chukka Adventures place. It’s like the hub of all of the different tours they offer. Brian gave the cab driver some money. I asked him why he gave him money now when we usually don’t tip our drivers until we are back at the resort. “Are you trying to make sure he comes back for us?” I said half joking and half serious. The cab driver told us that he will be there when our excursion is over. He will take us back to our resort.

There were several busses there going to different tours. Ours tour consisted of two bus loads of people from various resorts. The bus took us up a narrow path on the side of the mountain. The road was wide enough for only one vehicle. We stopped at a point where there was a gap in the trees so you could see straight down. The tour guide invited everyone to take a look and take pictures but joked that not everyone should move to the right side of the bus at the same time otherwise we will topple over the side of the mountain. Ha-ha, very funny.

Anyway, we got to the starting point. There are several guides for this tour and this is where they introduced themselves. Everyone got their helmets and harnesses. Then they do a brief demo before they send you on your way to the first platform. There are several platforms and a couple of “surprises” as they called them. Zipping through the canopy was a lot of fun and definitely the highlight of this trip. Even though it did start out a little roughly with the late pick up and all. Brian and I had a blast.

Once you reach the final platform, there is a longish trek to the bottom. It doesn’t seem as long because of the lush jungle foilage. It is beautiful. Brian and I got a workout without even realizing it. Our legs both ached the next day. It was well worth it, though. We didn’t realize that they were going to give us free water at the bottom, we ended up buying sodas from a tour rep during the midpoint of our hike back down. When you get to the bottom they have a tip box for those who’d like to show their appreciation. This makes the whole tipping thing much simpler since there are several guides on this tour.

The bus took us back to the tour starting point where our cab driver was waiting. After buying a picture CD, we were on our way. We dropped the other couple at Shaw Park first. We got back to the resort before the lunch buffet closed. Grabbed a bite and then spent the rest of the afternoon on Tower Island. Dinner was at Le Gourmet, possibly the best restaurant at COR. Despite the day starting out roughly, we had a wonderful time.