Phil - May, 2007 Wet, Wild, and Wicked
Waiting for this heavenly vacation, anticipation: (5/15/07 to 5/23/07) The
worst! Ok I was very busy at work so that helped, but still.
Getting there:
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The 5:40am flight was a bit rough, but I just didn’t go to sleep that night,
used the time to pack instead. Departure from home at 2am… Needless to say I
fell asleep in the plane shortly after we started to taxi to the runway.
Short flight Boston-Miami, bit of a walk changing planes and last minute
changes in gate for the connecting flight… No problem mon! Can you tell I’m
already in a good mood? ;) Didn’t have to wait very long before boarding
again, sleeping again, and next thing you know we’re landing in MoBay.
Passport check, customs were a breeze. I didn’t recognize the airport after 2
years, apparently even for those who go twice a year there have been some
serious updates and upgrades, new construction. Only problem: my checked in
bag (couldn’t avoid it with new restrictions on liquids, like sun tan lotion)
took forever to come out because the brand new luggage belt had a technical
problem before it came out… But I finally got it and got out. This where
I saw the first real vacation worry: rain. It actually delayed getting a bus
to the resort. A few of us waited for the bus for maybe 30 minutes or so, all
in all not too bad despite hopes for a much faster transfer – past experience.
Oh yeah, believe it or not I did not fall asleep in the bus – I usually do.
Guess I managed to get enough sleep on the planes, sort of. Once there, I
have to thank Cheryl for arranging for an awesome room: ground floor ocean
view with back door looking out to the big chess board and hammocks and the
sea…
On the resort:
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I tend to do a lot at the resort, stay pretty active. I had caught a cold
just days before the trip and my ears were still bugging me when I arrived so
did not register for the next day’s dives (scuba). Started early with water
volleyball upon arrival, immediately started meeting people from WWW including
Denny (of course), and many others not part of the WWW group. For those not
familiar with the resort, don’t be afraid it’s normal to meet new people upon
arrival – really it’s ok. ;) The first full day was filled with sailing,
windsurfing, much water volleyball, and I even played tennis with Jason (the
resort pro) for 30 minutes from 4 to 4:30. He could have easily kept going
but I figured I should stop before collapsing and ruining the rest of my stay.
This was Wednesday 5/16 and it barely rained which is why I could play tennis.
The following 3-4 days were mostly rain/cloudy so no tennis. But, since my
ears had cleared up I did two dives a day after that, for a total of 12 dives.
That pretty much took care of my mornings. I enjoy taking pictures
underwater, and posted over 200 pictures from the trip on my yahoo web space:
http://photos.yahoo.com/pduvelle.
Afternoons varied a little between sailing, windsurfing, water skiing and knee
boarding, but all days included a lot of water volleyball. A few trips to the
quad, water slide… For once I had very few lunches (maybe 1-2) at the main
buffet: I tended to have late breakfast after diving, then more food from the
reggae restaurant (aka scotch bonnet), pool grill. Almost dinners were at
either the Japanese restaurant (Munasan) or the Italian restaurant
(Pastafari).
I didn’t make it to the disco much because I would crash early, but always
made it to the piano bar. And I did make it to the disco on toga night.
Various events and shows around dinner time at the main buffet, games
organized by the staff (EC’s) throughout the day…
Friends: old and new, they were everywhere I turned.
Towels: there were plenty (I don’t bring my own) In-room safes: brand new
digital keypad safes (no more keys). They’re actually easy to use, though
require you to remember your code (that you pick thank God). They are pretty
roomy and could accommodate a small laptop. I was going to get measurements
and post on here, but forgot. Maybe someone can get those from the resort…
inside measurements as well as opening measurements (size of opening into the
safe)
Departures: I only was able to do one send-off, sorry guys. Not enough people
understand the tradition of send-offs yet, maybe the fact that departures were
so spread out didn’t help either. Oh well. So while people were leaving and
I kept saying “oh I still have plenty of time here thank you very much”, next
thing I know it’s time for me to go! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Actually I was almost
ready to go by then – I could have used another 2-4 days though.
Off the resort:
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You mean people actually go off the resort!?!? :D
Getting home:
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The bus leaves typically 4 hours before your departure time – that’s how the
resort schedules you, that’s what your eviction notice will tell you. MoBay
security is similar to that in the US, though they didn’t search my checked-in
bag this time – used to be automatic for all bags, not even random. Go ahead
and buy at the duty free, always cheaper (for almost everything) than
elsewhere, especially booze and spices, hot sauces… BUT, if you have a
connecting flight you’ll have to pick up your bags upon first entering the US
and re-check-in those bags. As a result, you’ll have to go through security
again, which means despite having purchased bottles (even jerk sauce) at the
duty free you need to re-pack them into your checked-in bag before giving it
back to your airline. Keep that in mind when you pack at the resort, when you
buy at the duty free, make your life easier when making that connection.
Somehow I transferred my bottles of rum cream but completely forgot
about my jerk sauce and hot sauce: $13 confiscated at security. I’m almost
crying again that I lost my jerk sauce… :(
Miami is kind of a pain for that, at least for the return trip, but then again
I can’t compare to other airports so maybe it’s not so bad.
Good thing I bought a book in Miami because the Miami-Boston flight didn’t
have a movie… (on AA) Also the checked in bag seemed a little damaged in
Miami. When I arrived in Boston I saw it was even more damaged than I’d
realized… Never had a problem before, not sure what/who was responsible and
no way to check. At least it was a cheap suitcase so not a big deal. The rum
cream made it – that’s what matters most.
Before the day was truly over I had a flat tire which didn’t help the fact
that I wasn’t at the resort anymore… and the lost jerk sauce… and not being
at the resort anymore!