A "Shiny" new Trip Report!

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Jojo.....you rock!
Doc......good timing......

We still had some friends to see at CW so when the Boardie party was ending, we told a bunch of people that we would meet them at Drifters a little later, and on up the beach we went. Well, we ended up visiting at CW a bit longer than we planned and never made it to Drifters. It sounds like we missed a pretty good time there but, as it was our first full day, it was ok that we took it smooth and easy. (we felt a lot better the next morning too)

We made our way back up to the Westend and decided to wander up to Seastar for a bite to eat and a few night caps. There were quite a few boardies there, but it felt like we got to that party a little late as well because a few people were well on there way by that time.

We ordered some beers and a pizza and sat back to eat and watch the free entertainment. We stuffed ourselves to near bursting again and headed to the bar for one last beer for the road. Katho was there snapping photos from behind the bar. We remembered seeing her in Negril several times before so we introduced ourselves and it turns out that Musikdoc Phil was sitting right there too. We all chatted for a bit but it was getting late and we still had to walk back to Mirage so we bid them ado and hit the road.

side note: If you've never walked that area at night and you plan on doing so sometime......make sure you have some kind of flashlight with you. It's DARK up there! (that was some more good advice that we got from this board)

This pic was blatantly stolen from Katho's FB page. You're awesome! Look at those smiles! Phil looks like a giant.




Next installment.......the Car Crash?

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Is it safe to walk the Westend you ask? Well, the day we were down on the beach, some crazy driver who wasn't paying attention smashed his car into the power pole right outside the Mirage. I guess they were without power for a few hours. When the pole was hit, it got pushed over into the pipe wata line and that caused a main leak that still wasn't fixed when we left 10 days later. There was water running over the road in that spot the whole time we were there. I asked our driver if/when they were ever going to fix it and he just laughed and said......"what, do you think it will be fixed this month?


A shot of the damage, complete with broken car parts. The pole was sheared off and it stuck back into the ground.


Then I looked up....
Luckily, there wasn't too much attached to this pole. WOW!!!


We didn't spend a lot of time standing under this one and I remember walking by it pretty fast after I saw this mess. Our driver said that now they are using more concrete power poles so this will stop happening. Can you imagine?

[Melody]

Wow is right!!

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

On day 3 we decided to forget about the amazing beach that we love just a few miles away and spend the entire day on the cliffs. (that's why we stayed up there after all) So we staked out our spot under the pavilion that's right down by the sea. It wasn't too hard to find a spot as we were the only ones down there. We did get our Bear friends to stop by and chat a bit on their way out for a snorkel but that was about it. It truly seemed as though we had the whole place to ourselves the entire day, which was pretty awesome I must admit.

A look towards Tensing Pen


Sweet view


The super model pose?


The princess looking for dolphins


One thing we always try to abide by on our trips is to NOT become one of those people on the show "When Vacations Attack". We generally take it easy and don't do things that might hurt us or otherwise ruin any part of our stay. Well, as most of you know, one of the big draws to the cliffs is the "cliff" diving and there were plenty of spots to jump off at Mirage. Julie didn't like the idea of course, and took NO part in it but, I couldn't stay on the cliffs and not jump off the perfectly good cliffs right?

The seas were angry that day my friends......that's no joke. I'm a decent swimmer but it was still a little freaky. I was a little afraid of jumping in and not being able to get back out. I decided that I would start at the lowest platform, luckily it was the one closest to the ladder. I think there are about 6 or 7 different spots to jump that are each at different heights ranging from about 5' to about 40'. After the first one didn't kill me and I didn't get eaten by sharks, I tried them all. (much to the chagrin of my overprotective wife who did NOT participate) It was fun and I got to feel like a little kid again. Then after I jumped from the highest one, I went back and stood on the railing to jump off of that.....then Julie yelled at me to put a stop to my shenanigans and back to the lounger I went. Unfortunately princess is not too good with the camera so I've no pictures of my daring feats, but........we did get one nice video of her thumb.

One more from the balcony


That night we were both a little fried out so we just made some drinks and hung out on the balcony and enjoyed each other's company watching the sunset. I know some people will think I'm nuts but I think some of the best times I have in Negril are when we are just hanging out together relaxing and not thinking about work or anything else in the real world. Just peace, serenity, and total relaxation. That's what our vacations are all about. We don't feel like we are wasting a night because we decide to do nothing........ we like doing nothing.

Next up......Moving day!
(aka "let's get the heck off these boring a$$ cliffs" day)

[booger]

"That night we were both a little fried out so we just made some drinks and hung out on the balcony and enjoyed each other's company watching the sunset. I know some people will think I'm nuts but I think some of the best times I have in Negril are when we are just hanging out together relaxing and not thinking about work or anything else in the real world. Just peace, serenity, and total relaxation. That's what our vacations are all about. We don't feel like we are wasting a night because we decide to do nothing........ we like doing nothing. "

I think that makes for a PERFECT day....... Nothing like time slowing down chilling on the West End.

[TAH]

Daring feats... lol. You seem like a pretty well centered dude, I like your style. I don't think it's wasting time at all doing nothing while on vacation. The misses and I sometimes spend entire trips essentially doing nothing, it's great.

[MoFromMonroe]

We are all about that too. Some of the best nights are eating take out on our patio. Enjoying the sound of the tree frogs and the wine we brought from home.

[indybob]

Well... I have slipped away from the track again and this is one of the best 1st time trip reports I have ever seen... You have a great way of painting a picture with the words and humor. I can't imagine a dud pub crawl after the blast we had last year....I guess you just need the right people to make it happen. Thanks for sharing your trip...especially for us, since we didn't make it down this year...Great Job !!

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Wow!
Thanks guys!
I guess I have to keep going then?

I want to post the last of our cliff pics before we head to the sand.

When we got to AhhBees the first night I was told that they were out of their delicious brownies. Ok, no problem. We will be around for a few days, plenty of time to stop back. Well, when we got there two days later I was told that they weren't just "out" of them, but that the lady that makes the baked goods is OFF the island! What? No Brownies? I gave everyone involved a bit of a hard time about it, especially the waitress. Aubie assured me that she would be back in a couple of days, even though the waitress (can't remember her name) said more like a month. (Riiiiiiight) Oh well, there's always Jenny's. Mmmmmmm......Jenny's.


This is one Julie actually took of my expression after I found out. (why do I have the same shirt on in every pic?)


See the wire hanging down off of the current lines? A real eye gouger. You don't really see stuff like that at home.



Not sure what this was but it looked cool so I took a picture of it. Insect nest of some sort maybe?


This is that bar jojo was just talking about. It is a cool little place. We must sound like total drunks on here but we really don't go out drinking very much at home at all anymore. That's another thing about Negril that we love. You can bar hop a lot and never have to go to the same place twice. Great bar to person ratio.


Myth of the Cliffs

Okay, you boardies were right about a lot of things, but I would not say everything I've read on this forum is completely accurate. I remember reading a few different accounts that said some people like staying in the Westend better because there were no peddlers. We found that to be untrue.

The cliffs do have peddlers and not just a few either. I would say that pretty much everywhere we went there was someone trying to sell you something. I will admit that they weren't quite as pushy about it and a simple "no thanks" worked every time, but they are out there. It didn't really bother us as we are no strangers to the routine but, I thought I would just mention it so others were aware.

Ok......I think that's it.......off to Crystal Waters!

[justchuck]

Thanks for a great report!