Luxury Bahia Principe, Runaway Bay, Jamaica

Sister Sarah and I spent the last week at the Luxury Bahia Principe, an adults only all-inclusive resort in Runaway Bay, Jamaica (Saturday until today).

It is about an hour's bus ride from the Montego Bay airport and a half hour drive from Ocho Rios (you can catch a shuttle there and back from the hotel for $15US).  It is attached to the Grand Bahia Principe, which is not adults only.

The reception area

The lobby

It is a huge complex ... the Grand Bahia has 850 rooms and the Luxury Bahia has 525 rooms.  We could use all the facilities at both resorts.  At first it was a bit overwhelming but by the second day it was fine.

The Luxury Bahia is on the right

I was very happy with my room.

As a head's up, there are only five single two prong plugs in the room (one for the TV, lamp by the desk, alarm clock, coffee maker and one in the bathroom for the blow dryer).  My laptop needed a three prong plug and there was only one in the room, which is what the TV was plugged into.  So I had to unplug the kettle, pull the dresser away from the wall to access the three prong plug, move the TV across the dresser and plug it into the kettle plug, and then plug in my laptop.  So bring a power bar as they don't have them or adapters at the hotel (I asked).

There was WIFI throughout the resort and you can connect two of your devices for free.  It was fairly speedy.

The mini fridge was stocked daily with two big bottles of water, two cans of beer, four pop and a bag of chocolate covered peanuts.

The towels were inconsistent.  On my first day, I had three big bath towels, three face cloths, a bath mat and two hand towels.  On the second day, I had three big bath towels and three hand towels.  On the third day ... well, everyday it was a surprise.  I never did get face cloths again.

I asked for a wake-up call three days (as a back-up).  Two days it was five minutes early and the third day it was ten minutes late.

Jamaica - Friday

I woke up this morning to sun and 27C (but felt like 28C).  It was supposed to be 29C (but feel like 34C) this afternoon with an 80% chance of rain and a risk of thunderstorms ... but the rain and thunder never came.  Yay!  Looking at the clouds, though, I was concerned.

The dark clouds disappeared and the sun stayed out.  I managed to find a chaise and umbrella by the pool and that's where I parked myself ... not a bad way to spend the morning.

Jamaica - Thursday

After I got back from Ocho Rios, I hung out with Sister Sarah by the pool.

We headed to our rooms to chill before meeting for supper.  I watched the sunset from my balcony just after 6pm ... it's gorgeous but it happens very quickly.

We went to the large buffet restaurant for supper ... the theme was seafood.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Ocho Rios is about a half hour away from my resort and I caught the shuttle ($15US return) in.  Newton, our driver, would take us back in two hours.

I checked out the large flea market.  It was quite intense with vendors constantly trying to lure me into their narrow dark stalls for teeshirts, wooden ornaments, bags, etc.  Or ladies wanting to braid my hair.  I walked around for a bit, politely declining their invitations.

Jamaica - Wednesday

I slept in this morning and headed to the pool to spend the day (Sister Sarah felt like spending the day at the beach).  It was sunny and 27C (but felt like 29C) when I got up and was supposed to be 29C (but feel like 34C) this afternoon with a 40% chance of rain and a risk of thunderstorms.

My plan for the day was to relax.  Not a bad place to spend the day!

There are lots of Canadians here

I had lunch in the small buffet restaurant by our pool.

The jerk chicken was hot off the BBQ ... yum!

Bob Marley excursion, Nine Mile, St. Ann, Jamaica

Sister Sarah and I did the  Bob Marley excursion to Nine Mile today, which is where he was born and is buried.  Nine Mile is owned and operated by the Marley family. We did it with Island Routes on the Zion bus.

The drive was up into the mountains.  The roads were really narrow and windy.  At one point, a truck came barreling down the road and smashed into the driver's side rear view mirror.  Glass went everywhere.  Barry, our driver, stopped ... the other driver didn't.

We stopped along the way for a snack at Bumpers Lawn Bar & Rest Stop.

Jamaica - Monday

I woke up this morning to sun and 29C (but it felt like 34C). This afternoon it was supposed to be 31C (but feel like 38C) with the risk of a thunderstorm.

Sister Sarah and I started our day at the pool about 10am.  There was water aerobics and Sister Sarah did it.

There's Sister Sarah in the red

We hung out by the pool until lunchtime.  While we were eating lunch, the rain and thunder arrived.  When we went back to the pool, the entertainment crew didn't let it get them down and were dancing in the rain.

As the rain got stronger, they jumped into the pool and started games of volleyball.

Jamaica - Sunday

I woke up to sun and 29C (but felt like 33C). It was supposed to be 31C (but feel like 37C) with the risk of a thunderstorm in the afternoon (thankfully the thunderstorm never came).

I attended the 9:30am orientation meeting and then headed to the beach, where I found Sister Sarah.  This resort has a lot of beach so we walked along it, stopping at the different sections for a swim.

There's Sister Sarah in the water.

A fella named Smokie Joe started talking to her.  He tried to sell her some weed (she said "no") and asked if he could help him find a Canadian wife (she couldn't help him with that either).

We had lunch at a restaurant by the beach.

The food, especially the jerk chicken, was good.

Jamaica - Saturday

Sister Sarah and I are on our annual sisters week away where we go someplace for a week and leave the husbands at home.  This year we are in Jamaica and we arrived today.

We landed about 1pm and by the time we got our luggage, got on the bus to our resort, had lunch and got our room keys, it was about 4:30pm.

Here's the view from my room ...

We headed down to the pool about 5:45pm only to discover that the pool bar had closed at the 5pm and the pool closes at 6pm.  We went into the pool anyway and stayed there 'til 6:45pm.  We had a couple drinks in the lobby bar and then headed to our rooms to get ready for supper.

Here's the view from my room this evening ...

We went to the buffet restaurant where the theme was Italian.  Sister Sarah had spaghetti whereas I focused on mostly meat with different themes (jerk chicken and pork, "Canadian" pork and applesauce, etc.).

We headed to square at 10pm and watched the Jamaican entertainment.