Ching’s 40th Birthday Adventure
Posted on December 7, 2017 by Ching under Travel.
Brian, Jay, Becca and I went on an ocean safari adventure with Island Routes on the day of my actual 40th birthday. The excursion left from the Emerald Bay Marina, about five minutes from our resort, which was super convenient. It meant more time adventuring on the boat and less time on the bus.
Our adventure included swimming with pigs and feeding iguanas. We also got to see several beautiful islands, some privately owned and some uninhabited. We got to see a huge osprey nest that has survived multiple hurricanes and hike up one of the islands and enjoy magnificent 360 views of the Exuma cays. We got to see the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other. It was breathtaking. The only thing we didn’t get to do was snorkeling because a recent storm came through and kicked up the bottom of the ocean making it murky and hard to see.
Here are some pictures from our amazing adventure but, before that, here’s a selfie.
Check out this breathtaking view!
Jay and Becca opted to skip the hiking portion of our the adventure and stayed by the boat. I think they missed out.
I think this was either before or after our hike.
We also went to an island inhabited by iguanas.
Brian got out his mini Cayde for some fun photos.
And then there were the swimming pigs.
They were quite aggressive about getting fed chicken hotdogs.
One almost hopped aboard the boat!
Here’s some more information about the famous swimming pigs.
And a few more pictures from our excursion.
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Dinner at La Parisienne
Posted on December 4, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
Our dinner that evening was at La Parisienne, the French restaurant at the resort. It is one of Jay and Becca’s favorites there.
Here are some pictures of our food.
You can probably tell which food belongs to whom.
Jay ordered the escargot. Not really my cup of tea.
Here’s a picture of Becca (above) and Brian (below).
The food was fabulous and the company was even more so. We had a wonderful dinner that night.
Jay and I played some ping pong in the games room after dinner. I thwarted all of his attempts to beat me.
Brian and I ended the evening with a selfie.
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Sunday Funday at Sandals Emerald Bay
Posted on November 30, 2017 by Ching under Travel.
This is Brian and Jay scheming on how they can watch the Pats game at the resort.
As for me, I didn’t care either way. I was just there to hang out and enjoy some frozen cocktails. You end up double fisting it when they bring you drinks faster than you can consume them.
We figured out that we could get the game on the TV in the games room.
We also met a bunch of other Pats fans.
Here’s a quick selfie outside in front of the Drunken Duck water feature which is right by the games room.
Later that afternoon, we got on the “Butler Convoy” which is a great way for non-golfers to tour the golf course.
Here’s a partial video of the convoy.
Quick video of Jay and Becca at one of the stops.
There were many opportunities for photos.
Here are a few of the fun selfies we took at one of the stops.
We just couldn’t resist snapping pics of the breathtaking view.
Here’s a great panoramic photo.
Here’s a photo of me and Brian that Jay took.
Here’s a continuation of the convoy/golf course tour.
Here’s a video of us arriving at the cocktail party site.
Here’s a picture of some of the golf carts lined up when we got to the cocktail party.
Once we got there, we ended up playing a few games organized by our butlers. This one is a short clip of the musical golf carts game.
Just a few pictures of the cocktail party at the end of the convoy…
Since there was three-way tie for musical golf carts, they had to settle it via a dance off. It was hilarious!
Jay, participating in a dance off. The man next to him is named Brian. We met him and his wife on the flight to Great Exuma and had fun hanging out with them throughout the trip.
The golf course tour was super fun. I’m glad we had the opportunity to do it.
When we got back to our villa after a full day of play, we were greeted with this wonderful towel art. What a marvelous pre-birthday!
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Dinner at Barefoot by the Sea
Posted on November 27, 2017 by Ching under Food and Drink, Travel.
We were feeling pretty casual that night and so dinner was at Barefoot by the Sea. Unlike the Drunken Duck, where Jay was kicked out for not having shoes on, shoes are completely optional at Barefoot.
This selfie was actually taken at the Kimonos/Soy/Bombay shared entrance. We couldn’t get into Kimonos until Wednesday evening but we stopped in hoping that they would be able to accommodate a walk-in. No such luck.
And so we ended up at Barefoot.
The dinner menu is quite different than their lunch menu.
Here are some pictures of food.
This is the roasted pumpkin and spinach filo, which is not quite what I expected. I thought the pumpkin and spinach would be fillings wrapped in the filo. Instead the filo was the bowl. Interesting concept. Reminded me of a taco salad.
This is the golden fried calamari.
This is my snapper entrée, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It might have been grouper. I can’t remember. LOL. I just know that it was good and I really liked it.
You can probably guess who ordered the chicken breast.
I can’t remember what this is. 🙁
After dinner we stopped by to see the show at the bandstand on our way to the games room for ping pong. Despite Jay’s best effort, he did not beat me at ping pong that night. Actually, he didn’t beat me at ping pong at all this trip.
He did buy himself a ping pong table for his basement though, but I’m not sure how much he has been able to practice because he and Becca keep leaving town. LOL. They’re enjoying themselves on a Disney cruise right now. What a life, right?
Our friend Roy (also known as Uncle Roy) is hosting a ping pong tournament in a couple of weeks. Jay and I plan to play in the tournament. I haven’t been able to play any ping pong so he might just get his revenge.
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Surprise Bath
Posted on November 25, 2017 by Ching under Travel, Wishlist.
One of the best things about having butler service and having great butlers is that they know what you want even before you do. Our butlers were phenomenal at anticipating our needs.
On our first full day at the resort, we came back to our room after playing in the pool all the day and found the tub ready for a bath. They decorated it too. The bath was so pretty that I had to take some photos.
Brian and I were both bewildered. We were like, “Did you ask for this?” “No. Did you?” Neither of us asked for the bath to be run yet there it was — warm and inviting. Not ones to let things go to waste, we promptly got naked and hopped in.
The warm bath felt so good. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We made a mental note to ask for it again because it was so awesome. Of course, we forgot. We did have a bath made for us a couple of times without asking. That was nice. We enjoyed it every time. We had the best butlers ever.
They were attentive and helpful and knew exactly what we needed before we could think it. The entire time that we were at the resort, we kept forgetting to grab lunch because either we were too busy playing in the pool or we fell asleep in the cabana and every single time they were there to bring us lunch either from the Jerk Shack or Barefoot by the Sea.
This was easily one of the best vacations we’ve ever had. I hope we can make our budget work so we can start going there every year.
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