Family Vacation in Jamaica

The Family
Jennifer and David
Michael and Avery
Corbin and Tanner

Rick and Jenny
Cole Ferrell

                                                     

                                                  Brad and Diana, Richard and Dario

Jon and Beth

                                                   


                                                                        The Villa

                                                                      Bedroom wing

                                               Living room with our van parked in the drive

                                                               The Veranda

                                             View from the ocean of villa and garden

                                                The gazebo overlooking the ocean

                   The little guest house where Brand and Diana and children stayed by ocean

Their balcony

                                           Leaford the butler setting the breakfast table.
                                           He served all the meals and it was a treat to watch
                                           the children learn from meal to meal to sit and wait
                                           while he served them each course.  They left the table
                                           each meal to go to the kitchen and thank chef  Danny.
                                           Great pride on grandparents part.

Most meals we ate with the children

                             Sometimes we fed the children early and had a quiet adult dinner

                                                       The Pool 

Good place to talk serious trash about the upcoming golf game

Lifeguard

Jenny's idea of heaven

Diana's too

The Beach
A private strand of sand and shallow safe water that
was a perfect play ground for the children.
Located at the bottom of the garden it was a short stroll through the hibiscus and palm trees.
Although villas on either side were occupied
we never saw anyone on beach but a few
local fishermen and our gardeners cleaning
and raking.  The children spent hours here
swimming or building sandcastles or running
and rolling in the sand.
The light danced across the ripples to provide
an ever changing show for the adults
to enjoy and photograph.

Our neighborhood fishermen

A safe place for Corbin with his dad

A nearby storm brought no wind or rain but a surge that gave us
a few days of rolling surf.  In the super shallow water it provided wonderful kiddy body surfing. 

Fathers had fun too

Rick and David had been checking on the reef

Jenny and Zeus, one of two or three dogs and a kitten, that could keep the kids occupied if there was nothing else to do.  In the back ground is one of the gardeners, Carlton. He kept a close eye on Zeus and the kids plus keeping the beach spotless.

A beach is great for running.  Cole and Tanner.  In background are the nannies from the villa next door.  Only time we saw them on the beach..

Adult beverage time.  Beverage of choice was Pusser's Pain Killers made with Myers rum instead of Pusser's rum.

Pain Killer and pain killers,  the back feels great.

True Sundowner

A toast to
The Pirate's Treasure
On three different days the staff found treasure maps left by the pirates and the ensuing search yielded gold Spanish doubloons and a lot of jewels.

Picking up treasure bags befoire setting out

Following the map with parents following camera in hand

Success

Dario has the map

Looking

Confused

Doubloons 

Dividing the gold

Searching for the jewels following the clue" it was under a tree"

Found

Henry the raft man

Henry poles the raft over to and up the river where he cuts sugar cane and introduces the kids to a wonderful new sweet.  What kid can resist a sweet treat that needs to be chewed and then spit into the river as far as possible when done?

Trimming the cane

Quiet Time

Noonday sun and evenings when they could run no more

The Childrens dinner was more lively than the adults.

Brad's secret Pain Killer recipe

Special Friends

Leaford and Corbin

Kids and their two favorite people.

Leaford and chef Danny

                      The Dolphin Cove Day

Roy loads up the van

 A quick visit to the birds while waiting our turn.

There they are

This was one magical time for all so there are a lot of pictures and the smiles tell the story.

Superman..well he was losing his swim suit so..not so much!

The Dario Dance on the nose of a dolphin

Standing O from onshore gallery!

That is grandma at the far right with the big grin on her face.

Mom's not be outdone go for multiple parrots

Long day and long ride home

                                    Golf

Tryall kids Club and Beach

Our man Roy

 

              Doctor's Cave Beach

Jenny's a mermaid

Avery and mommy are buddies

Underwater view of jumping off the giant floating trampoline.  This is a real favorite.

Lazy Richard riding on mom's back

Thanksgiving day and the Glistening Waters

The Glistening Waters are almost impossible to photograph but we got one shot from the boat of our group.  This shallow bay in Falmouth is the most brilliant bio-luminescent water in the world.
We had been told you have to do the swim to experience it so we did.  We slipped into the shallow  warm water with the warning not to try to stand as the bottom is 12 inches of silt and mud.  Then as we gaze at the canopy of stars slowly lift each arm.  As your arm sweeps up is it is as if you are wearing a sleeve of glimmering light while your skin glitters with thousands of tiny stars.  Watching Michael climb up the ladder his whole body is covered in the tiny stars.  In the boat the crew has pulled a pail of water where the little ones are splashing flashing blue light with crows of delight.

Before going in first thought is that it is real dark out there.

What has my mother got us into this time?

As soon as he got his pail of water he was a happy camper and his father went overboard into the magic water and grandma will live another day.  It was awesome.  That was the general word for the trip along with thumbs up from the kids.
When we got home and went to shower and rinse out our suits it is apparent that all the glitters is not magic light.  Jenny took three rinses before her suit was sort of clean.  Good thing we couldn't see what we were swimming in in daylight.

The Coral Reef

Rick and Avery are buddies

On way home

first time snorkeling in the ocean for Michael

Avery and Michael are real water babies



The tennis king

After long days in the sun swimming and running it got a bit tired at Tranquility.

Family Time

Trying fresh coconut milk 

Meg the masseuse who came to the little house by the beach for afternoon massages. She's popular.

Beach party and our 50th anniversary celebration

Our Golden Anniversary was celebrated in a golden light.

Chef Danny and half of the main course.  Lobster was also on the menu.

Happy Hour

Last night so run run on the beach with a bonfire and light sticks.

The Adults worked and worked all week on this puzzle so looks like we have to go back to finish it.

Thanks to Sharon at Linda Smith Villas
sharon@jamaicavillas.com