St. Lucia - Day 4

We had another beach day full of drinks, sun, sand and pool and beach bars. We did work for it a little bit taking some time to kayak out into the bay... Almost to the other side! Jack was a reluctant co-captain but I coerced him into it and dragged him across the bay. He did get a kick out of the jet skis and we both had some jealously towards the sail boats that flew buy us in the water leaving us in their wake, literally. We soon found out that the sail boats are a hot commodity and that we were really going to have to work at getting a ride on one. Later that night we attended the concierge cocktail party and again met up with some of our excursion friends. This led to one of our latest nights out, shots at the English pub, and a dance party with a newly wed Canadian couple just married on the beach, good times :)

St. Lucia - Day 3

We got up nice and early for the excursion and went to meet the group in the lobby. When we got there we recognized a couple that had arrived around the same time we did and started chatting with them. The tour got started and we were led down to the pier and on to a speed boat. The boat took us down the west coast of the island and the tour guide described the various parts of the island along the way. Rodney Bay, Maringo Bay, the oil drums, Castries, lots of tiny villages and coves, etc. On our way down the coast we made a pit stop in front of the Pitons, a duo of peaks that are famous on the island and even have a beer named after them! we were able to get a photo op in front of the mountains but also opted out of the two hour hike to the top ;) In one such cove we parked and did some snorkeling. We donned our snorkel gear, posed for a picture as we jumped off the dock and got to exploring. We saw lots of fish, dove down and got a close up view of the reef and even discovered a spotted lobster!! We were the last people out of the water and were promptly greeted with some rum punch back at the boat. The next stop was the volcano. It was steaming and smelled of sulfur. The locals told us that people used to be able to walk over the volcano until a man named Gabriel fell into a thin spot. Now people stick to the volcanic clay/soap and hot springs, which is exactly where we were headed. We made it through the stinky sulfur steam and down to the springs and painted ourselves in mud. The hot spring was much much hotter than we both anticipated and we foolishly agreed to dip in and walk through to the other side risking what felt like second degree burns! We did make it through only mildly scathed and with super soft volcanic mud exfoliated skin :) the next stop was to a waterfall just to make sure we got all the mud off. It was both beautiful and effective :) we finished the trip with some authentic island food: jerk chicken, banana ketchup, rice and beans - delicious! We had a great time on the excursion and made some fun friends while we were at it.

Happy Hanukkah!!!

We'll take a quick break from the honeymoon updates to say Happy Hanukkah!!! Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah and we're celebrating the opportunity to use and display two beautiful gifts that we received as wedding presents! We are so thankful to have friends and family that fill our lives with so much love and joy! Unfortunately we don't get the opportunity to celebrate with everyone so we wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holiday season, near and far :)

St. Lucia - Day 2

Tuesday: we slept in Tuesday morning recovering from the previous days travel and evening of drinking and then got up and headed to the concierge orientation. We figured that whatever tips they had to offer might be helpful in the long run. During the orientation, we got recommendations about the excursions and the restaurants, and got a tour of the property. We also found out about a special hike that was only offered to concierge guests, which later turned out to be a really good thing, look forward to the Friday post! After the orientation, we headed out to explore :)

We found the restaurant on the beach, Mariners, and refueled with some beachy food. One of the harder things to adjust to, even more so than the time change is Island Pace. 45 min after ordering, we were almost certain that our meal order had never been put into the kitchen and that our waitress had gone snorkeling. It turns out that it was just a "little" busy that day. It didn't take us long after that to discover that there is one towel hut and when they run out it means today, you air dry. Even though on our orientation tour they told us the that we could also ask the front desk for towels, the front desk staff just laugh and say, we don't know why they tell you that. Once we got to the beach we found a beach tent and posted up. There were also some ocean floats that were anchored to the sand so that they don't drift off into the ocean, these were much coveted seats. We kept a watchful eye on said floats until one opened up. a quick run and swim later we were relaxing in a floaty circle in the ocean with delicious drinks in hand. Throughout the day we made some friends, watched the water sports, and basically did nothing!! :) there were some very entertaining 20 somethings flashing a guy in a motorless rowboat in exchange for some straw hats and coconuts, lol. once we tired of the beach, we scheduled the highly recommended "Simon Says" tour and then headed down to dinner at the baysiders restaurant. The Baysider is the main restaurant at the resort and doesn't require reservations. It's buffet style for breakfast and lunch but sit-down for dinner and is described as "International". The menu was broad and we both found some good options that we enjoyed. We made it an early night to prepare for excursion the next day.

St. Lucia -Day 1

We arrived just before the Monday evening Caribbean beach BBQ party. Since the resort took our luggage to put into our room, wedding have our clothes yet so we could change. So we walked around and checked out the property and sat in the chairs by the beach while we waited for the party to get started. The beach BBQ began and we got some plates of food to sample. The pier was set up with tables which were prime real estate so we nabbed some seats there. We unfortunately were seated with a less than talkative couple so we quickly ate and moved on to some lounge chairs around a fire located further down on the pier. A little later the entertainment started on the patio and we met a nice couple on the tail end of their vacation. They gave us some recommendations on excursions and some parting words of wisdom. They said don't worry about making friends, just do what you want... just don't leave anyone sitting by themselves or make any awkward situations, b/c you'll end up seeing them over and over and over again. Karma will get us with this advice later, but first we'll talk about the entertainment. First there was Caribbean dancers, then there were fire dancers and finally they started in on the "couple games". Fortunately for us, we had awesome first row seats. Also fortunately for us each time they were picking people out of the crowd for the games one of us was up grabbing a drink so we got skipped over :)

Once that was done we headed to check out our room. Once there, our luggage awaited and we discovered the swim up lagoon out back. We suited up and went out back to take a dip. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the pool and chatting with our neighbors.

Newly Wed!

Thank you everyone for your love and support during our wedding weekend and always!!

We had an absolutely wonderful time celebrating with everyone who was able to make it to Arizona for the weekend and miss everyone who wasn't. The wedding was a good reminder that perhaps we don't always keep in as good of touch with our loved ones as we should. We hope that this blog will help us keep better communication with those that mean the most to us. Though miles may separate us we will try to make them feel less distant :)

Here's a little preview of some wedding photos.  Honeymoon fun to come!

Love,
Mollie and Jack