Travel with Hunter and Sarah – Jamaica 2017
June 24, 2019
Hey everyone! Today, Sarah and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary! Exactly two years ago, we stood before all our closest friends and family and God Himself and made a covenant: that we were all-in for each other. For the rest of our days here on earth, we would be devoted to one another before any other person. No matter the circumstances or how we feel about each other at any given moment, we were forsaking all others and declaring that this was it. We were married!
Then, exactly two years ago tomorrow, we left for our honeymoon! So in honor of our wedding weekend (and because our travel blog could use some love), we’re bringing you the second installation in our blog series, “Travel with Hunter and Sarah”. Enjoy!
(Full disclaimer, in an effort to truly relax during our honeymoon, we decided to leave our professional cameras at home. All the photos in this blog are from an iPhone or my old GoPro! So don’t expect our usual level of images ????)
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A Rookie Mistake
Our honeymoon started out with a massive rookie mistake. In a desire to maximize our time in the tropics, we scheduled our flight first thing in the morning the day after our wedding. “We’ll be at the resort by lunchtime on Sunday! It’s perfect!” At least, that’s what we thought as we booked our honeymoon six months before the wedding.
The only problem: this meant that our flight left Richmond at 5:30 am the morning after our wedding. And we live in Charlottesville. So despite going to bed a little after 1:30 am the night of our wedding, we had to be walking out our front door by 3:15 am. Like we said, rookie mistake.
However, as we arrived at Sandals Ochi, an all-inclusive resort in the city of Ocho Rios on the northern coast of Jamaica, we began to forget our tiredness. We dropped our stuff in our room and looked out of our window at the resort’s lagoon and were too excited about the sun and sand to remember how tired we were! Of course, that soon wore off and we were asleep by 9:30 that night.
The Resort
The reasons we picked Sandals Ochi were pretty simple: we knew we wanted to spend our honeymoon on a tropical beach somewhere, and we knew we wanted an all-inclusive resort. We spend enough time in our personal and professional life budgeting our money, and we wanted to be able to let loose during our honeymoon without worrying about running out of money or overspending. Then, we looked for the most inexpensive all-inclusive tropical resort we could find ???? We were fresh out of college, after all!
Even though we had opted for a more affordable option – we were still spending a week in the tropics and certainly couldn’t complain! On top of a myriad of pools with swim-up bars, the resort had tons of fun activities for us to do, including windsurfing and paddle boards that we could check out for free at any time. Several times a day, a boat would take a small group of guests out to a nearby reef to snorkel! There were several afternoons where I made some new friends on the beach volleyball court while Sarah took a nap on the beach.
We also, of course, spent a ton of time just lounging by the water. The lagoon that served as the resort’s main beach had a series of floats anchored to the sand, so we’d swim out with a drink in-hand and relax and talk for hours while soaking up the sun.
In fact, this was probably one of our favorite parts of the week: we used all this time to talk and dream about our future for the first time as a married couple. We talked about everything: about having kids one day, about our business, and what it would look like to pursue some sort of work-life balance. We chatted about what our life would be like now that we were living together, and what our expectations were for each other when it came to simple things like cleaning and cooking, and the big things like the kind of life we expected to live as a couple.
On our last day, we discovered a sort of hidden-gem: a gazebo several stories above the beach that overlooked miles of crystal clear blue ocean. As expected, Sarah promptly fell asleep (you might be noticing a trend here) in the shade as we welcomed a break from the sun.
In the evenings, we did our favorite thing in the whole world: we ate. With 11 bars and 16 restaurants at the resort (and everything included), we made it our goal to sample every single one! A few highlights were the many meals we ate overlooking the ocean, and the sushi restaurant that we ended up at almost every single night right as they opened. Some nights, we would have a drink at one spot, an appetizer at another, and dinner at a third!
Another highlight was the resort’s speakeasy, complete with a password-taking-bouncer and a 1920s-style jazz band! The roof of the bar was a large circular dancefloor lit with bistro lights. Apparently they held parties up there sometimes, but that evening we had a party of two as we danced and swayed in the Jamaican breeze. Other nights we would lounge by the firepits or watch the sun set over the ocean.
The Excursions
Two days that week we were up and out of the resort first thing in the morning to see a bit more of the surrounding country. One morning, we went on a “whitewater rafting adventure”. I use quotations because these would have been roughly class 0.5 (if there is such a thing), and may have been better classified as a lazy river. However, we enjoyed getting to see more of the natural landscape of the Jamaican jungle!
The river we were “rafting” on opened up right into a large bay, and we were beyond dismayed when our guide told us that our ride was waiting for us at the other end, and we had better start paddling! He laughed as, a couple minutes later, another raft with an outboard motor came and towed us into the opposite shore.
Our favorite excursion, however, was to Blue Hole. We spent almost an hour exploring up and down the river, jumping off rocks and climbing up small waterfalls. Then, the excursion concluded with the final lagoon, complete with 25-foot drop and a platform to jump off of. It was a blast, and we each jumped several times into the crystal clear water!
Back to Reality
Before we knew it, our week in paradise had come to a close. Although we were sad to be leaving the beach and all the free food and drinks we could handle, there was still some excitement about returning home. For starters, we had rented the room directly above the bar for the entire week (the only reason we could afford a room with a balcony, another rookie mistake), which meant we were excited to sleep in a nice quiet bed again!
But more than that, we were excited for the life that lay before us. Not only did we have several dozen wedding presents waiting to be opened, but we had a life to begin together. After half of a decade of dating and almost a year of engagement, we would finally be living together under one roof and making decisions as a married couple. We were so excited for the adventure ahead of us!
Thanks for reading! Until next time,
Hunter and Sarah
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Well, that’s it! Thanks for following along, and check out the links below if you want more adventures with Hunter and Sarah!