We left Verandah this morning and we will certainly miss this lovely resort. Were there things that could have gone better in terms of the service in the restaurants?  Yes, absolutely. But the staff are amazingly friendly and accommodating, the food decent, the resort is immaculate, the pools kept pristine, and the beaches are beautiful, so we definitely could overlook the few problems with the food service. 

I think our favorite place to eat was the Rasta Beach Grill for lunch and the pizzas at Papa Ricco’s were delicious even though waiting for a pizza took forever. I did enjoy the selections each morning at the Sea Breeze for breakfast and having a poached egg on top of corned beef hash was a treat. 

The tropical drinks were usually excellent, particularly the margaritas at the Rasta Grill and the pina coladas at the main pool bar. 

We enjoyed spending time at the Wavy Wicket each night for a pre-dinner cocktail and sometimes for a post-dinner nightcap. The Wavy Wicket is a little place tucked away not far from the Sea Breeze, that I don’t think many folks know about since it was always pretty quiet. 

Walking to breakfast we saw a guy who had shimmied up a coconut palm tree and was cutting the coconuts down. Interestingly, the palms don’t actually produce a nut, but a “drupe” and the palm trees themselves can grow up to 98 feet tall!I Lounging under these trees is lovely, but it’s not the best idea. The drupes can weight about 3 lbs, and if you happen to be sitting under one, you can really get injured. In fact, falling drupes do, on occasion, kill people in the tropics. It was good to see Verandah was taking down the drupes all over the resort.

The drupes are prized for their coconut water which is very healthy to drink. Apparently there is nothing better than to drill a hold in the drupe, stick a straw in, and enjoy the coconut water. The coconut cream is used for tropical drinks.

After breakfast we saw Marco and thanked him for the wine he sent to our table last night. We talked to him about the restaurant inconsistency, and also encouraged him, since we know he has his work cut out for him to make the resort five star. He hugged me and we did the “kiss both cheeks” thing again, and he shook Allan’s hand. 

When our cab came to take us to the airport, Marco was going by in his golf cart. He jumped out and once again, wished us a safe journey. We hugged again and we took a picture with him. I told him that friends of ours were coming in March and I will tell them, when they see him, to say “The Basil Tea lady told us to say hello”. 

I saw he had a hand of bananas in his cart and he gave each one of us one to eat. They were delicious!  

Getting through the airports wasn’t too bad, and we got home safe and sound. It was a wonderful vacay!  Looking forward to doing it again next year, perhaps visiting another beautiful island.