Out of the blue… a last-minute trip to Montego Bay
Stricken rugby star Anthony Watson finds the cure for a broken jaw ...Jamaica
Isuffered a broken jaw at the England rugby team’s training camp last month, which meant I couldn’t play in the autumn round of international matches at Twickenham over the last few weeks.
The only good news was that I was able to get away for a very welcome holiday in the sun with my girlfriend, Alyse. Having enjoyed a previous trip to a Sandals resort in the Bahamas, I decided this time to stay at another of the company’s hotels – Montego Bay in Jamaica.
It was a relatively short break – just five days – but I was surprised how much we were able to see of the Caribbean island.
We travelled to Jamaica via Orlando in Florida, where Alyse’s family lives. When you’re in Orlando it’s difficult not to make a trip to either Disney or Universal. This time we went to the Halloween night at Universal Studios, which was turned into a very scary attraction. I was on edge the whole time!
Then it was on to Jamaica. The Montego Bay resort manager told me how much effort the staff put in to making sure every guest has the best possible time during their stay.
On the rugby pitch, each player knows that the key to success is supporting their team-mates. It seems there is a similar recipe for success in holiday resorts.
The same Sandals ‘can-do’ attitude that we experienced in the Bahamas prevailed here.
One thing you can be pretty certain of is that you will eat very well – food is a key part of this all-inclusive resort, and fortunately, my injury did not stop me enjoying some superb meals.
There are nine gourmet restaurants serving cuisine from around the world. We really liked the traditional Jamaican food, but there are numerous other options.
Stay for a week and you can eat in a different restaurant every night, and all those we tried were amazing – the Japanese Tokyo Jo’s, Stew Fish for the best fish dishes, or Cucina Romana for Italian. There’s also The Cricketers pub if you’re missing a pint of beer!
Another big plus factor is the resort’s location – right on a beautiful beach on
the island’s northern coast. A good sandy beach and glorious, clear blue sea are important ingredients for the perfect holiday as far as I’m concerned. I’m not very good at sitting still: I can lie down with a good book for about an hour but then I have to go off and do something. Alyse is used to me getting a bit fidgety and she doesn’t mind getting up to throw a ball with me.
Having said that, even I found something that helped me totally switch off. I really liked the fantastic floating beds that you can lie on in the sea. You can take your drinks out there – it’s the perfect way to spend a couple of hours chilling.
I felt rather guilty eating so much jerk chicken and plantain that I thought I ought to work out in the gym to make sure I kept in shape, so I did some running on the treadmill. I have to find a balance between enjoying my time off and letting my body have a rest, but also keeping myself in trim so that when I return home and hit the training pitch again, it’s not too much of a shock.
Breaking away from our floating sunbeds, we took two really great excursions. The first was to Dunn River Falls, a famous waterfall near Ocho Rios. This is like a giant rock staircase, and it was incredible fun to walk up and jump into the water.
Nearby is Mystic Mountain, which offers a variety of adventures. We took the bobsleigh ride there – an attraction that was inspired by the famous Jamaica bobsleigh team’s qualification for the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988, and immortalised five years later in the film Cool Runnings.
It was like a rollercoaster ride: you have a brake so you can control how fast you go. It’s awesome.
I travel around the world to play rugby, but as any sportsman will tell you, we don’t always get to properly explore. What I loved about staying at Montego Bay was the chance to see the island and meet the locals, who couldn’t have been friendlier.