Sister Jamaica Trip 2015

By Lee Funke

Published 9/8/2015 • Updated 12/30/2021

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I was lucky to spend some high quality time with my sister this past week in JAMAICA. We travel together often as a family, but never just the two of us!

My sister and I get called twins about twice a year, but over the past 5 days it’s happened at least 10 times. We’re not twins, but definitely sisters! Shell and I are 12 and a half months apart and I’m almost ALWAYS called the older sister because I’ve got 2 inches on her. Try again.

Didn’t Shell just get married?

Why yes she did! Shell got married 3 weeks ago (you can read more about that HERE), but is currently in between jobs so she was able to tag along with me on this trip, which we are referring to as our Sister Moon. Shell and Ben did go on a “mini moon” shortly after getting hitched to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota. They will be heading on their real honeymoon to Southeast Asia over the winter holidays.

Why I Went

This Jamaica trip was technically a work trip. I partnered with Funjet Vacations, who was shooting a documentary-style video series in Jamaica and asked me to come along as an influencer. ME ME ME! The best part is, Funjet only needed me for the Friday video shoot so the rest of the time we were free to relax and enjoy our stay at Sandals Ochi Beach Resort. Yah, mon.

Funjet Vacations is actually based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (woot) and I was already very familiar with the services they provide. They book all-inclusive vacation packages all over the world including the Caribbean! The best part about the service Funjet offers is their Charter flights flying directly out of major cities in the US (including Minneapolis!). Nothing like a direct flight to paradise.

I want to make a note that I want to be friends with each and every person that was part of the Funjet film crew. Wisconsinites make the world go round and they were no exception!

Where I Stayed

As I mentioned earlier, we stayed at the SANDALS Ochi Beach Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This is an adults only, all-inclusive resort. I’ve been to an all-inclusive before, but never an adults only. Actually, it was a couples only resort and I’m pretty sure sis and I were the only non-couple there #SisterMoon 🙂 By the end everyone for sure knew we were “the sisters.”

The resort was gorgeous. We stayed in a beautiful villa fully equipped with a private pool and our very own butler. Yup, butler.

The resort is HUGE housing over 16 restaurants, a golf course, beach front access, and tons of pools. We spent most of our time lounging on the beach with a book in hand. You read that correctly, I said book (I don’t read). Oh, and we did lots of water sports (read on below!).

What I Did

EAT

I don’t think I’ve stopped eating for the past 14 days straight. Thank you Davida and Jamaica. There were a few buffet-style restaurants on the property, but we only did that for breakfast. Speaking of breakfast. I kept things to the reg and ate oatmeal, banana, and peanut butter with a shiznat ton of coffee. Can’t go wrong.

We wanted to make sure we took full advantage of the amazing cuisine inside the 16 restaurants.  My two favorite restaurants were The Manor House and Soy. The Manor House featured Caribbean/local cuisine. YES PLEASE. I love love love seafood and Jamaican flavors. My favorite dish from this restaurant was definitely the Curried Goat. Soy was a sushi house. Since the resort is all-inclusive, it was technically all you can eat sushi. Um, can I have this every day of my life? Again, the fresh fish was on point, as was the fried ice cream.

During the Friday video shoot, I was able to take a cooking class from one of the Resort’s chefs. It was very cool to learn two Jamaican dishes – Ackee and Codfish and Vegetable Rundown. I love being able to bring new recipes home after I travel.

On top of eating a lottttt of food, sis and I stuck mostly to vino when it came to drinking. I tried to stay red, pretty much the whole time, but that failed. You can never go wrong with a crisp charddonay when it’s so dang hot out! We did try a few of the resort’s signature cocktail drinks, though, in THE COOLEST bar on the property called The Rabbit Hole.

Oh, and how can I forget to mention the soft serve ice cream. Can you say two-a-day?

FITNESS

The resort had a really nice fitness facility. Sis and I worked out 3 of the 5 days. I say that’s pretty dang good for vacation. Thank goodness for The Summer SWEAT Series. We plucked two workouts out of that program and did them, beginning each one with a 1 mile jog/sprint.

A lot of people ask why I workout when I’m on vacation and my response to them is- because I’m on vacation. Working out is part of my lifestyle. I feel best when I do it daily, so why not do it when I have all the time in the world?

ROCK CLIMBING

I don’t think I’ve rock climbed since I was 10 years old. Rock climbing was part of the video shoot, so I was crossing my fingers that I’d be okay! Turns out I’m not too shabby at rock climbing and I actually really enjoy it! The first time I went up, I tried using more upper body strength than lower body. Bad idea. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th time were all much better because my form was improving! I’m pleasantly surprised that I didn’t wake up with sore forearms or wrists because they were a-shakin’ after doing the rock wall 4 times in 30 minutes!

SUP

I wanna live my life on a paddle board. Seriously, I love it so much! It’s so peaceful and a great way to get a full-body tan 🙂 The resort had some awesome water sports included, so we definitely took them up on the unlimited SUP usage. We went two different times. The second time it was SOOOOO windy, which made going any distance pretty impossible! Either way, it was really fun….AND, I only fell in once 🙂

READING

I READ A BOOK. Can someone please give m a sticker?! I always joke with my sis that I can’t read because honestly, I don’t enjoy it that much. However, I want to change that. I feel like I get so caught up with technology that I can’t be away from my phone to just disconnect and get lost in a story. Sister reads at least a book a week. I’m going to stay small and challenge myself to a book a month. I think I can do it.

I read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, which was a fabulous easy read. I even finished it in 3 days.

Oh, young love. I am a sucker for love stories and even get butterflies reading about how the first part of a relationship can feel between two people. Shell read Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which is a story about a Nigerian couple as they move away from Nigeria and back to Nigeria over the course of two decades. This book explores the complexities of young love, immigration, and race. She gives the book two thumbs up. Sis is now reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and has recommended I next read Me Before You by (Author). Has anyone read either of these two books yet?

Sis said she’s going to keep the book recommendations coming. Thanks for doing the dirty work!

SNORKELING

Snorkeling was also part of the video shoot.This was really cool because they had 3 underwater video cameras going the whole time. I legit can’t wait to see the footage.

We hopped on a boat and drove about 5 minutes down the coast to a reef. We threw on some flippers, goggles, and a breathing tubes and we were off. I can’t remember the last time I just floated in the water like that just observing. So many creatures under the surface. I was hoping to see a sea turtle or sting ray but that didn’t happen. I was also hoping to avoid sharks, which did happen. Whew.

Anyone else get sea sick when on boats? Man. Every time I tell myself to just suck it up and that it’s not going to happen this time. MERRRRR. Once I got in the water I was fine, but I’m such a baby when it comes to boats! Actually, both my sister and I get motion sickness pretty easily, especially on buses or in the backseat of a car.

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Overall we had a really great trip! I’m not going to lie, it was a little bit interesting being the only non-couple at an all couples resort, but we enjoyed our stay nonetheless! The staff was absolutely amazing (especially our butlers and the general manager O’Brian!!). The vibe of the resort was very friendly and romantic. So much to do, see and eat!

This post is sponsored by Funjet Vacations. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Fit Foodie Finds!