We stayed at the Sandals Dunns River. What a beautiful, intimate resort it was! It is such a shame that it will only be a Sandals until July. Marriott bought it out, so we were two of the last guests to experience Sandals Dunns River. Sandals has another larger resort in Ocho Rios, too. We did shuttle over to that one to hang out in their pools and to eat dinner at their Thai restaurant, Orchid. Even though it was pretty, we were so happy that we chose Dunns River instead. The Ocho Rios Grande resort was just too big, loud, busy... you had to shuttle from one side to the other- just kind of a nuisance.
Our room was gorgeous, but we decided that on subsequent trips, we can skimp on the room & just get a basic one. Who goes to a resort to hang out in the room? We were only there to change our clothing during the daytime hours. We did have a nice view, though!
When we got into town on Thursday night, there was a consierge party going on. Most of the restaurants were closed, but there was a huge spread all over the grounds of delicious food.
We met two couples that night at the table that we chose. We quickly realized that there weren't many people at the resort at all & that we could get to know people there. I don't know if it was off season, the economy, or if it was because the resort was closing, but there simply were a few hundred people there & that was it! Here is a picture from dinner that night:
And on our way up to the room, Jon snapped this picture of me by the falls, though it's hard to see because it was dark out:
Early Friday morning, we ate breakfast on the balcony. It was so relaxing! Resort birds are waiting to swoop in and take what they can if you leave it unattended, though, so we had to watch over it.
I had my toes done that morning. It was great to talk with the lady at the spa about Jamaica & the Marriott changeover.
We had drinks by the pool & went in the ocean most of Friday. It was a very low-key day. The extent of our activity was going to Ocho Rios during the day.
Jon by the resort falls
We saw a Jamaican cooking demo at noon. It was very interesting, and we got to sample some Jamaican dishes prepared by the executive sous chef.
We ate dinner at Kimonos, a Hibachi-style Japanese steakhouse. We were sat with two other couples- one from VA and one from FL. We instantly clicked with these other couples b/c it was such a hilarious dinner. Our chef, who referred to himself as the Blackanese Chris Rock (and he did have a similar voice to CR and similar facial features), kept saying, "Sho, Sho!" That apparently meant, "Sure, Sure!", but none of us caught that. So for a good while, we all thought he was saying "Choo Choo!" and we all had a good, crying laugh over that one.
Here is Jon catching the shrimp. He caught it on the first try, the show off!
Here we are at Thai, at the Ocho Rios Grande resort
Later that night, we went & saw a show at the resort. We were two of 8 audience members! We joked that we all felt very committed to it once we were there- we didn't want to hurt the performer's feelings! But she ended up being very entertaining & ended up convincing us all to get out on the dancefloor.
Later that night, we met up with a couple from PA and their friends for a good old fashioned game of CLR.
Saturday, we caught the bus to Ocho Rios to depart on the ferry to the Dunns River Falls. We had to climb up 900 feet to the top. The guides take you, and they take pics for you. We had to use a crappy waterproof camera b/c you get soaked.
Afterward, the ferry took us to a place to snorkel.
After all of the activities were done, the ferry served us appetizers and drinks. They blasted Carribean-style songs the whole ride back- it was a lot of fun.
Sunday, we hung out on the beach & resort some more. We decided against more excursions, as we wanted to really relax & take things at our own pace & not live by a schedule.
That night was the last night our resort friends were there, as they all left Monday morning. So, we had a good last night of drinks and laughs.
Monday night, they had a beach party & all but one restaurant was closed. Thankfully, it was the restaurant that we were really excited to try- the Italian one.
Yummy desserts
We had a great time at dinner
Since the beach party was the event of the night, we got flowers to wear, too!
We did stop by the beach party for a little bit & saw a performance. Jon finally got to see a steel drum band there.
All in all, it was a very relaxing time that was so appreciated. We are so grateful that Jon's mom volunteered to watch the boys while we vacationed. So fun, though I must say that we were also very, very happy to go home.
