Our (very) Delayed Honeymoon to Sandals Ochi
After a long awaited delayed honeymoon, (thanks to the vid) we finally were able to take our honeymoon. Brian’s lovely cousin Hollie who owns Memory Making Travel, helped us get everything squared away. We chose the Sandals resort at Ochos Rios (Listed as Sandals Ochi). Hollie took care of all of our flights, lodging and gave us clear directions and lots of planning advice from what to wear and what excursions are best.
The delays we hit were not what we wanted on the way down (being stuck on the runway of the small airport in Montego Bay and the delayed bus leaving) but needless to say, we finally got to the resort and were greeted with a nice iced cocktail until we were taken to our room. We took a shower to wash the travel off of us and we ordered room service. Nachos and Mac and Cheese to end the night before we took a good snooze.
We woke up Sunday morning to rain, and it was a nice rain with it being so warm out. We got some breakfast and soaked in the relaxation. The sun finally came out and we laid by the pool reading our books. We ventured down for dinner at the Manor later in the evening. I had the jerk chicken tenders, filet with coffee rub and mashed potatoes and a cheesecake. Brian had a spicy fish cake, ox tail and black eyed peas and a coconut cake with cinnamon ice cream.
Monday and Tuesday were another couple chill days of laying by the pool and adventuring out a bit more. We were introduced to the glorious frozen drink called the Bob Marley – which is strawberry, lemon and lime slushies with alcohol. We also found the wood fired pizza poolside and let me tell you, I think I could eat one of those every day of my life and never get sick of it. Tuesday afternoon we went snorkeling out a little farther from the resort. Tuesday night we had dinner at Kimonos, the hibachi restaurant (reservations required). We had a wonderful show put on by Demar and had a few couples from other countries joining our table as well. I had a Lychee salad and deep fried pineapple roll and tried all the meats that they grilled up. Brian had the Duck salad for his appetizer. The signature cocktail tasted like the Philadelphia strawberry cheesecake cups. It was heaven.
On Wednesday we ventured off the resort and did a Jamaican safari which included touring the area where they shot the James Bond movie. They had different types of peacocks. But lots of crocodiles - 2 of them were still there who were in the James Bond movie along with the boat and the shack of the house in the movie. Later that night we had dinner at the French restaurant. Their Signature cocktail was like a kiddie cocktail with pineapple. I had chicken cordon bleu and the flourless Chocolate cake.
Thursday was our devoted beach day. We went to the French place for breakfast so bri could have eggs Benedict. We literally floated in the ocean for hours. We had drinks beachside and laid in the floaty things in water for a while – it had a light rain for a while but that didn’t stop us and it left the beach uncrowded. We ordered room service for lunch - chocolate cake and nachos and Bri got a burger. We took a nap and then went to Kelly’s dockside and despite it having rave reviews, we didn’t enjoy it as much as the hype, granted we were rather full by the time we got our food.
On Friday we Got up, went down to the big manor pool and laid around until it was lunch time and we could get our wood fired pizza and our Jerk Chicken. We went down to the beach and did the sunset catamaran. (additional charge but truly worth it) It started to rain while on the boat but it was very nice to sit and watch. We saw Dunns River from the water, and the harbor for cruise ships. We had reservations at the Italian restaurant when we got back. That was by far our favorite restaurant. We even go 2 appetizers there and we left so full and happy.
All in all, for our first resort experience it was great. We didn’t’ quite know what to expect or exactly sure how to navigate things, but we made it through. This resort is split into 2 sides and the hillside is rather hilly – so if you have trouble walking up steep things in heat, maybe stay on the beach side or a flater resort.
