10/10/07 11:47 PM

Todd finally showed up last night at 5 after several hours of delay. We arrived up here at 7 pm. We were taken to room 303. We ordered a 4 course room service dinner and went to bed. I went to sleep at 8:30, and Todd watched TV till 9:30. We never left the room till 2 today.

The weather is still not good. Not one moment of sun today. It rained for an hour at 5:30 but not hard, and we spent it in the hot tub.

This afternoon, I did the flower arrangement thing at tea. She taught me to make an arrangement, and now I have a lovely arrangement in our room.

We had lunch at the terrace today. The menu has totally changed again, nothing the same except the bruschetta is still there, as is the market salad and also the gazpacho. It is a lot different, but they will still make the old favorites if they have the ingredients.

Tonight we had dinner at Le Papillon with another couple. She was in my group at SRC. We had a lovely dinner. I tried the curried lobster with vermicelli I wanted to try last time. It was spicy and really good. Louie and Alice had seared tuna and loved it, and Todd had surf and turf. In between, we had salads with lobster and then we had pumpkin soup and also, the men had couquille st jacques instead of lobster salads. For dessert, I had apricot sorbet. Todd had vanilla ice cream. Alice had them make her something with ameretto and ice cream. They brought around chocolates. The cherry ones were great.

Tomorrow, I am off to tour more properties. I am touring the Sundown and Lime Acre villas that some of you got the email about that came from Beaches/Royal Plantation. I will be meeting the staff and touring. Also, I am going to Whitehouse. It will be a very long day for me. Todd will get a rest.

No this is not a vacation for me, so don't anyone worry that I am too busy or the weather is too bad.

We had a nice welcome last night, and we got our robes!!

Tomorrow night, they are having the Monday buffet since they did not have it on Monday (I don't know why). I am sorry about that, but I will be in late, so it is probably good for us, anyway.

Sunday, they are having the jazz brunch. That used to be the last Sunday of the month, so I am not sure why, either.

The tea was nice, but no fruit tarts. They had some good chocolate chip cookies, but I like my fruit tarts, especially the strawberry ones.

The power has gone off a few times, but the generators kick in right away. I sure hope the weather improves soon.

10/11/07 01:23 PM

I am in Mandeville on the way, and the rain and flooding are really bad.

I am so impressed with Sundown. That villa has a main house with 5 bedrooms and a cottage with 2 bedrooms. I will talk more about it later.

10/12/07 05:36 AM

I made it back at 10:30. We had to take many detours to get thru. Many areas were closed down after we passed.

10/12/07 10:32 AM

The reason they are having the brunch this weekend is for Heroes' Day.

Today the sun came out for 10 min. I ran down here to the pool and just got on my sunscreen, and I think it will rain any minute.

10/12/07 03:53 PM

One thing I have really been enjoying is the nice tea. They, of course have the afternoon tea, but you can get a pot of tea at breakfast or in your room. Particularly good is the jasmine, and it is so nice with this weather.

Todd and I brought some DVDs to watch on the laptop, but they brought us up a DVD player. That was very nice. We have a hard time having time for movies, so we are watching one with our drapes open looking at the ocean. We did have the French balcony open, but it was starting to rain.

We had steaks for lunch at the main restaurant.

Lots of people have been at the beach and pool. We went to the pool a couple of times. It is a bit cold, and the hot tub is hot. The ocean is perfect temperature, but it is a long way up in the rain.

I went to breakfast this morning. Todd slept in.

My flower arrangement still looks brand new. I am really enjoying that.

They have still been going out for snorkeling and diving from Sandals. I don't know about over here or if anyone has been interested. Over there, a lot of people have kayaked, too.

10/13/07 07:16 AM

Last night, they had the martini moments. Most of the time, we have just seen a few people in there chatting. I wanted to go because last time, they had some wonderful fish finger appetizers. This time they had something spicy in phillo dough and some chicken fingers. There were at least 25 people there. The mento band was there. The managers were making martinis right beside the bartenders, and they were having the best time. Marcia, the front of house manager was mixing the peach things and making quite a professional looking pouring motion. A lot of the guests were in big groups chatting, and the room was the most full I have ever seen it.

We dined outside at La Terraza. I had minestrone, and Todd had broccoli cream soup. These were not our favorite. I then had mussels. For entree, he had the pasta royale, which was similar to fettucini alfredo with chicken. I had a veal dish with lemon sauce that the chef made for me. It was very good, and the veal was so tender. We were too full for dessert.

The entertainment started out with the flutist, and then they sang popular tunes, such as The First Cut is the Deepest to a reggae beat.

The sun only came out for 5 or 10 min yesterday, but it only rained for an hour. Maybe this thing is moving it out.

10/13/07 07:17 AM

Yesterday at breakfast, they had the cocoa on the beach thing where they make the hot chocolate from the cocoa nut.

10/13/07 10:15 AM

The weather has improved for the morning. A couple went out snorkeling and there are a few on the east beach. I have been on the west beach alone. Some people are showing up now. The water has warm and cold spots.

10/13/07 03:55 PM

Has anyone heard of The Perfect Puree? It is a white peach puree and 25 cal an oz.

We went sailing today after hours on the beach. We had lunch there. Loved the chips and salsa like always and had a good soup. Todd had a jerk sausage corn dog that he shared with a duck and then rock shrimp and jerk ribs. I had a great apple and tomato salad that I had them put lobster in. That was wonderful.

10/14/07 08:09 AM

Our room, room 303 is two down from 301 and is around the side facing Jamaica Inn. Jamie Stewart often picks this room for her stays. We like a jet tub, but the views are spectacular. Suzanne picked this location for the spectacular view for us since the other rooms were booked up. We found out we could have got in a luxury with 2 beds but did not know they did not think we would like that. We would have done that for sure.

The weather was spectacular yesterday. I spent 6 hours out, and even Todd spent about 4. The weather was perfect for sailing and other watersports. They have had snorkeling several times and diving, but we were not up to snorkeling and figured the water would be cloudy till yesterday.

Today is the Heroes Day buffet at 11. The occupancy was 41 on Friday and up to 88 just for the weekend with locals and then back to 50 on Monday. The pool has been cold, and the hot tubs are nice for a few moments but too hot to sit in for hours the way I like.

Last night,we dined at Le Papillon again. There were 30 people up there and 10 downstairs. We had the lobster pumpkin soup. I had the lyannaise salad with poached egg again, and Todd had the beef filet mignon appetizer (similar to carapaccio) and also the Coquille St. Jacques again. Then we both had grouper. His was blackened (on the menu), and mine was grilled (not on the menu). He ate his, and I didn't. I think the waiter was upset with me that I didn't complain. They are happy to do things not on the menu, but then you need to explain what you are really expecting for sauce and/or taste. Since the chef has not been coming around like he did in September, we have not had a chance to discuss anything. They are extremely busy this weekend with the celebrations. They are doing special decorations and food prep for today. I am sure it will be beautiful, and we will get some nice treats and photos.

They brought around the nice chocolates since we declined dessert. Those things are so good that they should be outlawed.

10/14/07 01:16 PM

We just came from the brunch. They really made it an art form. Long-timers know that they always had the brunch the last Sunday of every month, but now it is 6 times a year and is tied to holidays. The next one is December 23.

They did centerpieces on the tables that Vivian and others put together. The mento band played.

They served bellinis and kir royales and other welcome drinks. There were two ice sculptures and lots of cook to order stations. They grilled chicken, lobster and steak, cooked shrimp rundown to order, carved lamb, cooked pasta to order, and the glazed cherries with vanilla ice cream.

There was smoked salmon and marlin, crab legs, mussels, shrimp cocktail. There were Italian meats and cheeses. There was ackee and saltfish and other local dishes. They had a wide variety of salads and local fruits and a nice soup. For desserts, they had creme brulee, fruit tarts and so many other things. We are stuffed.

We dined up on the tea terrace since it was set up so nice and had such a good view.

10/14/07 01:32 PM

Some things I really want to mention---first off, RP has been a growing thing for over 6 1/2 years. Some of us discovered it early and just keep coming. We have seen how hard the management works no matter what the conditions. We see them out in the trenches in good weather and good times and hard times and bad weather, always trying to make this the place and trip of a lifetime. Whatever the budget (which is based on number of guests), they scale up and down and never compromise or cut down the amenities and level of quality, and if things didn't go right on a rare occasion, they always fixed things or made it right.

One staple here is Suzanne Millwood, the hotel manager. Not only have we been here for all the General Managers, but so has she. She works day and night. She has run the place all week. She worked hard to create a lovely island tour for me even knowing I should not go in the weather. Created a nice car picnic, found me a driver that specifically knew the areas where I'd be going. I am not sure she knows how much we love her and appreciate her so much, but I know she is reading as I have tears from the little fruit tarts she just sent up in a silver tray.

- 10/15/07 06:47 AM

- Last night, at sunset time, there was an unusual orange/pink sky behind the clouds that turned the water bright pink. I wish I had my camera with me.

We came back to the room and watched the last DVD we brought. I know people will think how did they sit up there and watch movies, but we had a lot of work to do on our pc, and we have the beautiful view, and the rain has been frequent. It was awesome to have the loaned dvd player.

Around 5 p.m., we did our pool and hot tub crawl hour again, and a really sweet guest I told about the mooning from the day before asked if that is why I was back down. Todd got a huge kick out of that and wanted me to include it in the report.

We were slow to get ready for dinner and went down at 8. The other flutist that we are used to played. We dined inside for a change, though outside was available and it was beautiful. We decided to order only two courses and get them at once. We were still full from lunch and so tired. We would have dined in the room but did not want to miss seeing the staff again.

Speaking of the staff, don't miss Gary, Lenmore, and Gladstone at Appleton. Of course, Siboney, but he went on 2 weeks' vacation a couple of days ago. He was going to Negril and going on some type of bus tour. Simone continues to run La Terraza. Our waiter we have been enjoying for the last couple of trips is Orayne. Natalie is still at the beach and everywhere, and there are other great people, too, and they have been listening to us customize our food with a smile and coming back with whatever.

Last night, we both had the Italian lasagne side order. Todd had a strip loin, and I had lemon veal again off the menu. We were so stuffed.

We got back for part of Brothers and Sisters.

We put out our breakfast sheet, and I think I might have forgot to put the time on it. We leave at 10:30, and of course, we haven't packed anything. I don't think it will take us too long. I am not looking forward to another episode with American.

I had a nice chat with Marcia last night before dinner. She is really a delight.