Two weeks ago while heading out to Pomona for the last race of the season Matt decided to tell me that we were going to Sandals resort in St. Lucia. I was ecstatic. I wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny. He teased me many times about going to Alaska. Day 1 of our honeymoon was on Sunday Nov. 23. We left our house around 3 a.m. to get to Charlotte airport on time. We boarded the plane and as we got onto the runway the pilot shut the motors down. Matt and I looked at each other and said, “This isn’t good.” We sat on the runway for two hours because of inclement weather in Atlanta. We knew there was only one flight a day to St. Lucia. Needless to say we missed our flight and had to stay overnight in Atlanta. Delta rebooked us the next day.

On Monday we got up early and made it to the airport. Matt and I had a great flight to St. Lucia. We arrived around 4 p.m. then had to take a one-hour ride to our resort. Our ride was really interesting because they only have a few roads there. The countryside is absolutely beautiful. There were areas where you could see the Atlantic side of the island and then the Caribbean side of the island. We finally arrived to our suite. Our butler was waiting on us to get there and help us with all of our luggage. We had room service for dinner because we were exhausted from traveling. We enjoyed the rest of the evening together and exploring our new home for the next 6 days.

Tuesday we had decided to wake up at 5:40 a.m. to watch the sun rise. It was stunning. Matt and I had breakfast at the buffet and got some chairs by the pool. We researched what we had to do to scuba dive. I got signed up for the class the next day. Matt and I enjoyed our 85-degree weather and our sunshine that day. We stayed by the pool most of the day. Our butler had scheduled us to have dinner at a restaurant at one of the other Sandals resorts. It’s the nicest restaurant out of all the resorts. We both had lobster and it was unbelievable. Matt and I didn’t stay out too late because I had to be in class at 8:15 a.m. for scuba diving.

Breakfast was around 7:30 a.m. so I could make our scuba lessons at 8:15 a.m. I was in a class with six other people. The class had to watch a video and then had to get into the pool to learn the skills. At first I didn’t think I was going to make it. I was having a lot of trouble breathing. I felt like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. I would go down for about 20 seconds and start to panic. Matt was sitting by poolside. He kept encouraging me. The instructor knew I was having problems so he worked with me one on one. He got me to relax and I finally figured the technique out. I was excited. All of us got approval from our instructor that we could go diving in the ocean.

We loaded up on a bus and headed to the marina to get onto a dive boat. On the boat ride over to the dive site I was reviewing my techniques that I had learned. It was time to get into the water. I tensed up when I jumped in. I tried to go down and couldn’t do it. I was getting upset. The instructor came over to me to check on me. I finally relaxed, took a deep breath, and opened my eyes to a whole new world. Words can’t describe how beautiful it is under the water. It’s so peaceful and relaxing. We got to see so many different types of fish. Before I knew it 30 minutes had passed and our dive was already over. I already wanted to go again. On our way back we discussed diving the next day. We had lunch at the buffet and Matt didn’t feel well. Matt and I went back to the room and he was having severe stomach cramps. We got dressed to go to dinner but didn’t make it because he was miserable. He finally got really sick during the night. I felt so bad for him. All I tried to do was take care of him.

On Thursday I rescheduled our scuba diving for Friday. I didn’t want Matt to do too much because he was dehydrated from being sick. We had our own pool in our suite so I lay by the pool on a float while he relaxed. He was tired of staying in the room by the evening so we had dinner at Kimonos, which is the Japanese restaurant. It was awesome. After dinner we visited the Sandals Grande resort to get some souvenirs for our family. When we arrived back to our room we had rose petals in our bed and our names written in flowers. It was so beautiful. It was early to bed because the next day was diving again.

Breakfast buffet again before diving. Matt and I had about an hour to spare before the bus left to go to the marina so we decided to go sailing. It was a blast. Of course Matt tried to make the sailboat go as fast as possible. Time to go diving again. I didn’t have any trouble going down this time. We actually went deeper on this dive. I looked at my gauge and it said 30 feet. My ears were giving me some trouble so I knew we were deeper than on Wednesday. We saw some new fish and we even saw a flounder. Flounders are hard to find at first. They blend into their environment very well. Again it was stunning under the water. Friday evening we just enjoyed our time together and had dinner at the Arizona restaurant. After dinner we laid in the hammock for about an hour. It was so peaceful listening to the crickets and the ocean waves while lying with my hubby.

Saturday was our last full day on our honeymoon. We got up early and decided to go snorkeling on our beach by the resort. Matt snorkeled by himself for about an hour while I was sunbathing. He was scoping out all the cool places to take me snorkeling. He wanted to take a break so we went sailing again. When we got back from sailing I geared up for snorkeling. Our beach cove was pretty wide. We swam from one side to the other looking at all the cool fish under the water. It was amazing to see all the rocks under the water and how the ocean floor drops off. After about an hour I was tired of swimming and we were ready to get some lunch. We participated in a game of Pictionary with the resort. They separated us girls vs. guys. Of course the girls won. Matt and I took the shuttle back to our room and decided to finish our last day on our patio by our pool. While we were outside the butler came to our room and prepared me a bubble bath with rose petals. It was so romantic and soothing. We had dinner at the La Toc. The restaurant had the best filet migon on the island. Matt and I came back to our room and enjoyed our time together.

Sunday we packed up and headed to the airport. We had a safe flight home and I will have to admit I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want our honeymoon to be over. I had an amazing time and I have the best husband in the world. I can’t believe he kept a secret from me for six months. Thank you, Matt, for the best honeymoon ever. I love you.