So if you’re tired of reading about how we lie around doing nothing, this post probably isn’t for you. As for us, relaxing and chilling was the whole point 🙂
We slept past nine this morning with not a care about what we would do next. We made our way down to the breakfast buffet and enjoyed the usual great meal and slowly made our way down the beach until we found a couple of nicely shaded sun loungers and set up camp for the morning. I’m all for going off on adventures, but I think it would take me a long while to get bored of this!
While there we read, I wrote yesterday’s blog post, and we watched the pelicans and other birds fish and fly up and down the beach. Various hawkers also strolled up the shoreline offering to sell shells, smoke, music, jewelry and fresh lobster or crab. The beaches are also patrolled by resort staff – I suppose to keep the tourists from being too harassed. Other staff members would also come by and offer drinks or fresh fruit.
We did eventually stir ourselves, however, to see what activities were taking place poolside, and today was tie-and-dye. Sharon and I picked out t-shirts from the selection brought by the gift shop and staff were working with everyone to accordion fold shirts and wrap elastics around them before submerging them in the chemical baths that produce the colours. We were quite pleased with the way ours turned out! We’ve hung them to dry in our room – but this may take days…
We sat and relaxed back in the main resort area for awhile – today’s drink is a Plantation – and watched as the staff put on a bit of a show as lunch hour began to get underway. Eventually, though, we decided on our own lunch from the on-site pizzeria and then headed back to our room as an early afternoon rain began to settle in.
The pizza was quite good and we ate it while watching the next movie that we panned at the theatres: Jason Bourne, which was a fine way to spend a couple of hours.
We decided then to go for a walk along the beach. The seven-mile beach that stretches along the coastline is revered as one of the world’s most beautiful, and it really is a pleasure to walk along (and sit in the sun!). The sand is white and very soft, the water is very calm and clear, and you’re looking westward so sunsets are a daily treat in good weather. We enjoyed a nice stroll down to the end of the extensive resort property, passing people having photos taken and other tourists with the same idea.
Next, we opted for a swim and so headed down to the swim-up bar pool which was almost empty. We noodled around for awhile and just relaxed as the sun started to go down, then just sat in the whirlpool and watched the daytime end.
Dinner was also a buffet affair today, originally planned for the Sundowner beach but relocated to the main resort again, presumably because the weather looked iffy. Again plenty to choose from, and I selected jerk pork and curried goat for mains, with a nice variety of salads, rice and potatoes, and a crab claw.
The evening entertainment was underway when we arrived and continued into the night. What we saw was in two parts: first, various performers did juggling acts (with knives, fire, etc.) and one act had a unicyclist doing elaborate tricks and eventually trick-jumping over volunteers from the audience; then the Sandals Players (various staff members) put on a bit of a show where women volunteered from the audience to play a variation of musical chairs on the stage, with the hook being that they had to retrieve things from the audience while chairs were removed. At one point Sharon’s sandals were at play, at another time several men were made to “bust a move” to get their shirts back. Everyone was clearly having a good time.
We headed back to our room then and finished off the day with another film noir I had brought – this time Laura, which was much easier to follow, but still quite strange (eg. the detective falls in love with the murdered woman).
We seem to have settled in to a comfortable routine – relaxed, chill. Bil bak.
