Boat Life - A Quick Ochi Weekend

FOR A BREAKDOWN OF MY LATEST ADVENTURE PLEASE CONTINUE READING THE BLOG POST BELOW! NUFF MORE IMAGES INCLUDED! 

 I work really hard. I rarely broadcast my professional accomplishments because I believe in actions speaking louder than words. Not because you aren't seeing something means it isn't happening. Always remember that. A bit of context before the adventure. I've never been at the top of my class or a model student, but I realized from early that I was not going to spend 4 &1/2 years in University to graduate and work in a call center. I would much rather continue doing what I studied in school, so after a few rough patches and bouts of unemployment and depression, I'm finally at a good enough place in life, working at a popular hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. I work 6 days per week, 8-10 hours per day and I started at my current place of employment close to the end of 2014. By the time 2015 had ended, I won Team Player of the year for my department. By the time 2016 had ended I won Team Player of the year again for my department, as well as Employee of the Year for the entire hotel. A little after that I was promoted to Supervisor for my department. It's so hard to remain focused in a pressuring customer based environment, but it's such a simple concept. I'm far from finished.I say all of this to drive one point across. Your success is based on no one but yourself. Work hard, stay positive, and try your utmost best to create and shape your own destiny.Anywayssssssss! As Employee of the Year I won a few prizes, and one of them was a complimentary weekend stay at Couples Tower Isle Resort in Ocho Rios. It was due to expire soon so I decided to use it before that could happen.  Couples Tower Isle Resort is a beautiful all-inclusive property on the outskirts of Ocho Rios, and the weekend was lit! As a budding hotelier who has mostly worked in business hotels for most of my career, it's now that I can fully grasp and appreciate the allure that the "all-incluive" concept has for visitors. As an all-inclusive guest you get a little bit of everything that's synonymous with Jamaica, the "sun, sand and sea". You pay your money in advance just so that you don't have to worry about a thing while you're there. You have the hotel employees at your beck and call, you have multiple restaurants you can eat at "for free", a whole bunch of activities and water-sports on property and different excursions off property. So, as a guest, you still don't have to feel confined to the resort for your whole stay.  THE FUNSince this weekend stay wasn't a romantic honeymoon getaway, I made sure to take full advantage of the activities the hotel offered it's guests. I went on a Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruise via the popular Mahogany Beach, which toured a very decent stretch along the coast of Ocho Rios. The tour is very well composed. It's rum punch & mimosa inclusive, and the tour guides do a good job of showing guests the popular hotels, sites and attractions along the Ocho Rios coastline. I also went snorkelling along some of the reefs in the Ocho Rios Bay. Snorkelling is life changing. It's like a whole new world underwater. I'll definitely have a GoPro the next time. I think I probably did every water-sport activity that they had to offer.    THE FOODIt's crazy that every time I go to an all-inclusive I barely have any of the food because I'm always so busy doing activities. There a several restaurant options, but I only dined at the Patio, Bayside and Eight Rivers. Eight Rivers was the best food I had all weekend, but I have to say that Bayside had THE BEST bread pudding I've ever had! ... sorry Shari :( THE FELLOWSHIPIn summary, that weekend was filled with.... you guessed it, "sun, sand and sea." I knew this weekend was gonna be water-filled, so I couldn't roll out with anyone except my own personal mermaid, "the Gaptoothedbandit" [check out her @CaribbeanDiary blog right here]. By the time we left the hotel, I had a tan as well as swollen lips due to spending so much time in the salt water without lip balm. I think by now you all might realize that I don't like limiting one single adventure to a particular day. I spend six days out of my week in a hotel, so I was ready to check out and get on the road into countryside. We only had a few hours to spend before we needed go get back into Kingston & I wanted to check out an endz that I recently heard about, so I decided to drive up into the more rural areas near Ocho Rios and I went in search of this hidden oasis. Usually I would have my handy dandy Google Maps, but today Digicel decided that they were reclaiming their data plan, so I went by faith and a little bit of sight. All it mostly took was asking the locals to point me in the right direction, but we were headed to a place called "Hidden Beauty," which was the only name I knew. ....... to be continued