Jan-chan’s Tidbits

Since Al took me on a trip to Jamaica, I decided to surprise him with a sturgeon fishing trip. I booked the trip with BC Sportfishing Group. Their rates are competitive and Ria was really informative and answered all my questions about the trip (ie. How am I going to pee if there’s no washroom on the boat?) There are numerous docks along Fraser River and since it’s a day trip we used the dock in Chilliwack. It was a nice, sunny day with a bit of a breeze so we weren’t baking on the boat in the afternoon. We met Chad, our guide, at 10 and headed out to one of the many known fishing spots to test our luck.

After we anchored down, Chad taugh us some facts about sturgeon fishing, the type of bait they use and why. Apparently sturgeon can’t see very well (they are nearly blind) so they rely on their sense of smell to detect food. We used three different types of bait: salmon roe, eel (cut into smaller pieces) and a small fish (I forgot what they are called but Chad said they are very popular in Spring time which is when they catch them and freeze them to use as bait later). We were quite lucky as we didn’t wait too long before we caught our first sturgeon.

Chad, our guide, putting the bait on the hook.

Al getting a lesson on how to reel in the fish.

Our first sturgeon!

Our first sturgeon was about 30 inches long. Chad went over some of the sturgeon’s characteristics with us, such as it’s mouth which is like a suction cup, it’s hard head and the scales which runs along the side and the top of the body (it’s kind of lizard like). We then drove to other spots trying to catch more sturgeon but was only able to catch one more by the end of the day. I had tried to reel in one but I lost it since I didn’t have enough power to reel it in fast enough and when it jumped, it unhooked itself. I did managed to take a picture with the 2nd sturgeon that we caught. It was about 35 inches long.

Me, Chad and the lucky sturgeon.

During the fishing trip we saw bald eagles as well as other birds in the area. It was a pretty nice day so some people were doing paragliding as well. I didn’t think fishing would be this fun. Despite all the waiting, it’s very rewarding when you got a fish on the line and the fun of reeling it in (or watching someone do it) would have you on the edge of your seat.

Continuing from Part 1 of my Jamaica trip with Al, this post will highlight the two main activities that we’ve done.

Dune Buggy

We decided to do a dune buggy tour because we wanted an adventure that doesn’t require us to get wet. We didn’t get wet but we got dirty! After a short introduction on how the buggy operates we drove out in pairs over muddy terrains. At first I tried to avoid the puddles but even if I did that or went over them very slowly I still got mud all over my arms and legs. So at the end I just went full speed ahead.  There were a few stops where the guide pointed out some local plants and gave us a bit of Montego Bay’s history. It was a very fun trip even thought when we finish we looked like we had just took a mud bath.

Splash!

More splashing!

Snorkeling

When we were at the resort we’d try to snorkel in the morning before the beach gets busy or it’s too hot to stay out in the sun. We went a total of three days and had taken a waterproof point and shoot camera with us. The quality of the photos didn’t turn out too nice since it’s pretty hard to stay still while taking the picture (with the waves pushing you as well as the fish swimming around). It was our first time snorkeling and we had way more fun than expected. There were lots of different fish and we managed to find a couple of starfish, a puffer fish and lots of sea urchins. Too bad we couldn’t scoop them out of the ocean. I don’t think we swam far enough to see any sting rays though. On our last day the wind was good enough for us to use the resort’s sunfish sail boat. A resort staff took us out in the ocean for view of the coastlines.

Can you spot the sunfish sailboat?

Al sitting on the sailboat waiting for our departure.

Sea urchin hidden in the cracks.

Starfish

This puffer fish was hard to spot.

Here's a close up.

Another shoot of the puffer fish.

Close up.

Colourful fish.

I had a lot of fun snorkeling and would love to try diving. Al and I also talked about getting a better camera for under water photos.

I’m back from my trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica with Al. We were there during the first week of July and stayed for 6 days.

The view from our room's balcony.

We stayed at the Sunset Resort & Spa and before we left I was slightly worried after reading some recent negative reviews on Trip Advisor. One of my co-worker went there last year and assured me the place is really nice and she was right. Our room was on the 2nd floor in Tower B. It was a corner room with view to the beach as well as the outdoor entertainment area. Before heading down to dinner every night we can see the sunset from our balcony.

The beach is really nice, but just a little rocky as the waves carry the smaller rocks up to the beach. We noticed that most people like to stay near the main pool area where most of the activities are. We never managed to get a spot by the beach even when we head down at 8:30 am so we always use the chairs by the pool. This is not to say there weren’t enough chairs, there were plenty. We just want spots under the shade cuz it’s super hot when you’re directly under the sun.

View of the beach.

We ate all our meals at the resort. It was alot better than I thought. There were three a-la-carte restaurants (Italian, Caribbean and Asian), one buffet and a beach grill where it serves burgers, jerk chicken and patties. We tried the Italian and Caribbean restaurant but both of us liked eating at the buffet the most. There’s always something new to try and even though I’m not a soup person, the pumpkin soup there is delicious.

A dish from the Carribean restaurant.

There were a lot of activites happening each day, such as beach olympics, volleyball game, tennis clinic as well as music performance, talent shows and disco at  night. It was a lot of fun and dispite staying on the 2nd floor, it wasn’t loud at all on nights where we stayed  in to watch TV.

In Part 2 I’ll write about our snorkling and water sport experience as well as our dune buggy tour! For more photos of our stay at the resort, visit my Picasa Album.