Welcome to Villa Jewel
Welcome to Villa Jewel on the Rocks 💎
Villa Jewel on the Rocks, or Villa Jewel Resort, is an all-inclusive boutique resort on the rocky shores of Brighton, Westmoreland, Jamaica. We specialize in providing our vacation guests with an authentic Jamaican experience. I’d like to share with you how this all happened for us, 2 Canadians embarking on a new preretirement adventure, and actually closer to retirement then I care to admit.
A brief history about us, I am Darlene, but a lot of people call me Baba Poo or Baba. My main man is Gary or Papa Poo and we’ve been married for – wait for it – 35 years. We have two sons, Big Poo and Little Poo and one grandson Baby Poo. Little Poo is married to a beautiful women, Erin Poo, and Big Poo has a beautiful girlfriend, Meg. (Notice, not official a Poo yet – hint hint Big Poo). That’s us in a nutshell. I’m passionate about my family and always look forward to Baba-sitting Baby Poo.
The burning question, of course, is how did we start a resort business in Jamaica when we live in Alberta, Canada? That’s a loaded question and depending on who you ask, the answer does vary a bit. The entire process started 4 years ago and it had its ups and downs, challenges and successes. All of which meld into an experience that I would never of imagined could be so frustrating, challenging and rewarding all at the same time. Some days it’s just an overwhelming feeling of wonder and accomplishment. Other days, it’s banging your head on the barn door.
Have you ever thought about leaving it all behind and setting off into the sunset to a warmer climate and slower pace? Well, we didn’t do that. No, we are still living and working in rural Alberta. Papa Poo works full time in the oil & gas industry and is very fortunate in the current economic crisis in Alberta to actually have a full-time job in the industry. I, on the other hand, handle the home front and work at making Villa Jewel Resort a success.
I will try to answer all the obvious questions of how we started out. From how we found and bought the property, why we started a boutique resort in Jamaica, the building process and how we did it when we were not physically there all the time. I’ll introduce you to the community, the people involved, our goals to provide an authentic Jamaican experience, Jamaican recipes, drink recipes, garden to plate and sea to plate menus, amenities and some very interesting stories. Stick around and you will find out about living in Jamaica, about the Jamaican people, their way of life, boutique resorts in a fishing village and vacation life.
It’s been quite the process to get to where we are now, almost the finish line. You will get stories from the past and what we are doing now. I just hope you enjoy reading about our experience as much as I enjoy writing about it.
Ask yourself – would you buy property in a different country and start a boutique resort?.
A dream written down with a date becomes a goal. A goal broken down into steps becomes a plan. A plan backed by action becomes reality.
Reality is where we are now. Until next time 🙂