# Negril.com Message Board Forums > Negril Message Board >  If you love Jamaica let me see your hand - A Trip Report

## CherryNorth49

“You will receive most when you will expect least.” 
― Santosh Kalwar
  
Hello, my name is Cherry and I am a Negril addict.  When I first introduced myself last year, I wasn't sure about that statement.  There remains no doubt now that I am really and truly hooked.

If you want to start this story from the very beginning, you can read my first trip report here.  It is a newbie's recounting of our first visit to Negril.

I've got to find my way back, back to Summer Paradise

Be forewarned, if you prefer the condensed version of a story this (and our last) trip report might not be for you.  I rarely run out of words when I am talking about things I am passionate about and I am passionate about Negril.

I say our report because I do not travel alone.  I am blessed to share my adventures with my best friend and husband of 11+ years.  I call him Sunshine and so can you.

When I wrote our first trip report last year, Sunshine and I were preparing to head back to Negril for the second time.  I had a big case of the pre-trip fidgets and I used writing our trip report as a productive channel for my nervous energy.

I have to admit I didn't expect to enjoy writing and sharing the report as much as I did.  I think the mental exercise of putting our story in print contributed more to our trip than I could have imagined.  It was as though it freshened up the memories and got me into a Negril frame of mind before our plane had even left the ground.  I also got to meet great folks along the way that I never would have had it not been for the report.  I hope that is a trend that continues.

So I am back again for another round.  This report is from our trip at the end of November 2012.  There is a pattern forming here as this year finds us getting ready to head back for a third time almost exactly a year later.

How do I now know for sure I'm a Negril addict?  The first year our trip was 7 days.  Last year, we were blessed with 10 days.  For this year? We are eagerly anticipating 14 days in paradise.

Here is a little tune to set the mood.  I think it's reggae's answer to a rock anthem.   If I'm having a down day, this song somehow helps to make it all okay.  I can't help but want to sing along.  There's something about just knowing my sweet Jamaica is there waiting for my return.

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 1

  Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life. Work's important, family's important, but without excitement, you have nothing. You're cheating yourself if you refuse to enjoy what's coming.
- Nicholas Sparks


Getting home from our first trip to Negril at the end of 2011 was a bit of a shock to the system.  We woke up that Sunday with snow outside and the dawning realization that there was in fact only one full weekend left until Christmas, which we were hosting.  There was not a single decoration hung and not a meal planned.  So we got up, put on our winter gear and made our annual Christmas tree pilgrimage.

It was February before I recovered from the season.  I had one big thing on my mind and that was getting back to Negril.  The boards at this point where starting to light up with talk of April gatherings.  There was bash, a magic bus and a flop off.  I really wanted to join in the festivities, so I set to planning our return.  It wouldn't be April, but it could be November.

I was excited to discover that Westjet had their early winter schedule out and they appeared to be adding a second direct flight on Wednesdays.  That opened up the possibility of a 10 or 11 day trip.  My father had requested our presence at a family reunion in Northern Saskatchewan that was going to eat up two vacation days in the fall.  That left three days that could be added on to our week in Negril.

The stars were all aligning.

I started in on Sunshine to get his vacation approved early, because when I saw a fare in our price window, I wanted to jump on it.  Basically at the same time as he got his vacation approved, Westjet revamped their schedule - no more Wednesday direct flight.  We talked about it and decided that Negril was more than worth a connecting flight.  We would travel down through Toronto but we could still take advantage of the direct flight home.

If you are really paying attention to flights for a particular set of days, it is amazing how much the fares can fluctuate.  It is crazy even how much two flights from the same airline on the same day can have differences in the hundreds of dollars. Westjet seemed to be using fares to push people onto a flight that didn't get into MoBay until 7pm.  I wanted to be there for sunset, but I wasn't willing to pay an extra $500 to do it.

At least 2 people suggested on the board watching one way flights on multiple airlines.  They were so right.

One Friday afternoon mid-August I was at my desk trying to kill time for before the weekend.  My work neighbor started talking about booking flights for her vacation and I popped onto Air Canada's site.  Their roundtrip was no deal, but the trip down was cheaper than any I had seen and it was scheduled to arrive with plenty of time to sunset.  Westjet actually had a seat sale on, which put the whole trip into our fare window.

So I pushed the button and it was good.

A week before departure my cell phone rings and who is on the other end?  Air Canada customer service, informing me that their schedule has changed and they have rebooked us on the Winnipeg-Toronto flight the night before and they will be putting us up in a hotel overnight in Toronto.

I know for some people this could be a real issue with shuffling kids and jobs and pets.  For Sunshine and I this was big woo-hoo moment.  I don`t get to Negril any sooner, but my vacation starts when I get to the airport, so I just got an extra day of vacation on someone else's dime.  We hatched a new plan.  We'd get the airport in Winnipeg in plenty of time and have a nice dinner.  With a small bottle of rum tucked in our suitcase, we could suitably toast the start of our vacation in Toronto and arrive not too worse for wear midday in MoBay.  

It all sounded like a rather dignified way to travel.

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## JitterBug

more please . . .

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## jimnkim

Great

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## IRIEchic

Uh Oh Cherry is back!!! Yippee I read your newbie report and absolutely loved it and I stayed at Coco there after and love it too...so this is just what I need 8 days away from Paradise!

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## Seveen

Yes!

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## Jim-Donna

Whoot....Whoot....... another cherry report!...........Cherrylisous.LOL

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## Ladynegril

Do you see my hand? Whootie whoot let's keep it going :Embarrassment:

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## DConkle

Chapter 2 please!

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## iowagirl

YAY!!!!  SO excited to read this report, Cherry - especially the cliffs part!  Thank you!!!!

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## nutz4travel

Bring it on girl!

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## CherryNorth49

You guys are awesome!  There is a moment of trepidation pressing that post new thread button.  I can feel the love.  I've got 17 days to get baby done before we head back and I am determined.  I'll get to Chapter 2 tomorrow, but first, the rest of Chapter 1  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

Long before we purchased our flights, I was making plans for where we were going to stay.  I really had two criteria, Sunshine needed AC and I needed at least a queen size bed. Of course, it also needed to be awesome, but there seems to be a lot of that in Negril.  :Cool: 

I am a big believer that moving around a little bit during a vacation makes the whole thing seem much longer.  If you change the view every couple of days, home seems both longer and further away each time.  I had originally though a straight cliff/beach split would be the plan, but I was having a hard time narrowing to just one of each.  I have no idea how many times I said to myself, 'That is it, this is the final plan,' but it seemed I was changing my mind every week.   With each positive trip report, the possibilities got more endless.

As last winter's trip reports unfolded, it was hard not to notice that there was a lot of love on this board for Catcha Falling Star.  I was trying to stretch my dollars to 10 days though, so most of the rooms at Catcha were just a bit out of reach.  Pisces looked great (it is my sign) and I loved the patio, but I just couldn't talk myself into the double bed.  Little Capricorn didn't have a patio and I wanted our own outside space.  Gatehouse had the bigger bed, but I was worried about being near the road.

Lucky for me at the end of April boardie Sweetness was staying in the Gatehouse and she was reporting live.  She answered a number of questions for me and urged me to get on booking.  Though we didn't actually have the vacation approved and hadn't settled for sure on the length of our stay, before the boardie bash was done, we had booked 3 nights in the Gatehouse.  It would be stop #2 on this year's adventure.

So where to start things off?  Right where we found our groove last time at Blue Cave Castle.  Sunshine was excited enough about returning, that he actually sat down with me and we went through all the air conditioned rooms on the BCC website to pick the one we wanted.  Our first choice wasn't available, but there was a close second.  Before I pushed the button, I thought I would show him the Penthouse.  It took him about 12 seconds to decide that AC was actually not that important to him.  It was available, so we'd get to play King and Queen of the Castle for our first 3 nights in Negril.

Our last 4 nights, we are headed down to the beach.  I had narrowed our choices down to Nirvana on the Beach and Idle Awhile.  It was a really tough choice.  Having had fun picking the penthouse, Sunshine was keen to weigh in on this choice, so we looked at pictures and videos from all over the place.  Ultimately, Idle Awhile was the winner.  Of course after all that, they didn't have any room at the inn.

I think it was fate though, as Idle Awhile was stretching the budget.  For some reason I hadn't thought to check on what was on sale at Negril One Stop.  They had their winter sale for CocoLaPalm, which had always been a real contender.  It was going to cost of half of what Idle Awhile would have and their beach is beautiful.  I have certainly viewed their webcams enough times.  I would have liked a junior suite for the extra $7 a night, but they didn't have any available for our dates.  I was sure the superior room would do the trick.  Besides, we were going to be on the beach most of the time anyway.

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## billndonna

Awesome report Cherry,hope to meet you this trip,we will be at Seastar on the 30th,hope you are as well.Thanks for the report it makes these next 15 days go by a little easier!!

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## Seveen

i'm here cherry! waiting . . . lol

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## kaycee

Pure niceness! Cont pls!

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## Tanfastic

Love it so far, keep it rolling!

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## Onceyougo

So happy that you're back posting again -I LOVED your first report. But alas - I just realized that you're doing the day by day approach again which makes perfect sense...and I was so spoiled by being able to binge-read the last one! OK, I know, I have to relax and practice my soon-comes!  Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful writing.

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## CherryNorth49

> Awesome report Cherry,hope to meet you this trip,we will be at Seastar on the 30th,hope you are as well.Thanks for the report it makes these next 15 days go by a little easier!!


I can say for sure that we will be there on 30th, as we are actually staying at Seastar at that point in our trip.  Look forward to seeing you there  :Smile:

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## rocknrollfarmer

Cherry & Sunshine!  This is incredible! I'd like to share this with you quickly. {As I need to get to outside and finish up about 100 "things to do" here on the farm. Winter is coming. Probably with a vengeance! But anyhoo, I couldn't sleep, and got up and went to the computer for my daily Negril.com addiction. I clicked on your "newbie" report ,and wow, the details, details.... It sucked me right in. Loved it. As the further I went , then you put pictures of yourself and Sunshine, then it dawned on me ."hey, I know you from the One Love bus trip last December! We stayed at Coco. We shared some Red Stripes & conversation at Seastar Inn!  What a fun time!  It truly is a small world. We have been to Negril 9 times, and our 10th trip is coming up in December. We are trying something new this trip. A split trip 7 nites at Seastar and 4 at Treehouse.  Can't wait. Negril is truly our 2nd home. We have so many Jamaican friends now ,from over the years. I consider those folks dear friends now.  Thanks for your trip reports, and maybe we'll hang out again some time! One love. Todd + Deb from Minnesota a.k.a Rock'n'Roll Farmer"

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## murph

great start! Penthouse... o sweet sweet penthouse...

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## CherryNorth49

> Cherry & Sunshine!  This is incredible! I'd like to share this with you quickly. {As I need to get to outside and finish up about 100 "things to do" here on the farm. Winter is coming. Probably with a vengeance! But anyhoo, I couldn't sleep, and got up and went to the computer for my daily Negril.com addiction. I clicked on your "newbie" report ,and wow, the details, details.... It sucked me right in. Loved it. As the further I went , then you put pictures of yourself and Sunshine, then it dawned on me ."hey, I know you from the One Love bus trip last December! We stayed at Coco. We shared some Red Stripes & conversation at Seastar Inn!  What a fun time!  It truly is a small world. We have been to Negril 9 times, and our 10th trip is coming up in December. We are trying something new this trip. A split trip 7 nites at Seastar and 4 at Treehouse.  Can't wait. Negril is truly our 2nd home. We have so many Jamaican friends now ,from over the years. I consider those folks dear friends now.  Thanks for your trip reports, and maybe we'll hang out again some time! One love. Todd + Deb from Minnesota a.k.a Rock'n'Roll Farmer"


OMG, that is awesome!  Its connections like these that are such a unexpected benefit of sharing our story.  You've got me searching my memory banks trying to connect you to the right face.  Did we see you at the Luciano show on Saturday as well?

Our paths may very well cross again this year, as we will be in Negril until December 7.

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## jojo p

I read your last trip report, what grabbed me right away was the quote you posted "Never forget anticipation
is an important part of life."   I say that to everyone when people ask me why I love travel so much. Especially to Jamaica.   Really enjoy your writing.!!!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 2

 The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. That's the essence of it. 
― Vince Lombardi

As we got ready to leave for our trip I was quietly hopeful that my recollections of the magic of Negril hadn't been overstated. When we returned from our first trip, I was back on Negril.com almost right away.  There was no doubt in my mind that we were heading back.  We had seen just enough to know we hadn't even scratched the surface and we were ready for more.

The better part of year immersed in the enthusiasm of the board actually had me second guessing the trip a bit too.  I could have called this trip report "Brought to you by Negril.com" because the influence of the board was evident in pretty much all our plans.  Maybe Negril wouldn't be as good as we remembered?  Perhaps we had woven a fantasy of memories that couldn't manage to live up to expectations?

So our departure date finally arrives.  I had been counting down for some 230 days and I couldn't believe that tomorrow we would be back in Negril.  I had a bit of pre-trip anxiousness.  I had packed and repacked, second and third guessing most every choice.  I don't know why I bothered.  Judging by the pictures I appear to have only worn two things the entire time.

Work day done we both rush home for a few last minute details and then the cab arrives to take us to the airport.  Check in and security was no problem.

We head over to the restaurant to see about a table.  If this story is going to have a villain, we are about to meet up with it here.  I don't have its permission to be in the trip report so let's just say I have never Thanked God For Thursdays.  I've always wondered at naming a restaurant after a particularly beloved day of the week.  Is it not kind of mocking you the other six days?  

They are all full but our name went on the list.  We were plenty early and in no particular rush. Not 10 minutes later a table for two opened up.  We settled in to talk excitedly about all the fun we were going to have over the next 10 days.  The tables on either side of us seemed to be occupied by tired and worn business travelers.  It felt so good not to be one of them.

We both ordered warm sandwiches.  I know Sunshine had a cheese steak.  I think mine had chicken.  They could have served us MREs and I'd not have complained.  As it was, neither meal was actually much better than that. In fact, we joked the food was pretty terrible.  It didn't bother either of us one bit; tomorrow we would be in Negril and nothing else mattered.  The view departing Winnipeg.

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## NikkiB

Eagerly anticipating the next installment... And loving your writing style!

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## rocknrollfarmer

Cherry, Hey Hey My My Rock n roll can never die. To quote another famous Canuck! Neil Young.  {you being the other famous one!}  Yes, we were at the Luciano show. What a night! Us and another couple called from Coco for the Seastar free ride, and then we get there.. Not knowing what to expect, and to our surprise they had a reserved table for us right in front of the stage! What an unexpected surprise!  Deb and I can't recall seeing you at the show, but for sure the One love bus! This Dec. we'll be at the Seastar til the 9th. So, yeah it would be cool to run into you two again.  Respect . evryting Irie!  Todd + Deb

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## CherryNorth49

Landing in Toronto I was feeling a bit worse for wear.  Dinner hadn't settle all that well and I was looking forward to getting my bag and my Rolaids.  I said as much to Sunshine and he heartily agreed.  It seemed the airport was either too hot or too cold and everything was taking just a bit too long.  Of course, our bags took something near forever.  A further 20 minute wait and the shuttle arrived to whisk us away to our mediocre hotel.

We've changed time zones, it's now after 10.  Check in was at least quick and once up to the room I broke out those Rolaids.  With relief hopefully on the way, Sunshine got the ice bucket and headed for the ice machine, which is of course at the opposite end of the building one floor up.

WARNING  This party goes downhill quick.

A few minutes later the hotel room door flew open with a bang as Sunshine charged into the bathroom where I heard the unmistakable sound of his dinner greeting the porcelain thrown.  As I round the corner all I see is vomit on the wall, vomit on the floor and when I opened it, vomit all over the outside of our room door.

Well this isn't good I think to myself.  I try to make soothing sounds and offers of help to Sunshine.  Then, as I always travel with a pack of wipes for whatever contingency, I get to cleaning up the mess.

Fifteen minutes or so later, Sunshine emerges, shaky and pale.  We start looking for a root cause of his malaise and all signs are pointing to our last airport meal.  It isn't the first time we haven't been thrilled with the food from that chain, but it will be the last. 

If you've ever visited the Canadian prairies, you know is that it is easy to find yourself a long way from anywhere, especially if you find yourself unexpectedly under the weather. By a long way, I mean it could be at least an hour drive to a gas station that serves as grocery, liquor store, movie rental and pharmacy and that's only if you are lucky.  This is a lesson I have learned the hard way and I always travel with what we call my portable pharmacy.  It isn't magic.  It covers the basic remedies for cold, flu and first aid, with enough of everything to get you through the first symptoms until you can find more.

I give Sunshine some Pepto and some Gravol.  It is the best of what I have.  I'm optimistic, but then I always am.  Not half an hour later when Sunshine makes the dash again, I am a little more concerned.  I note the time.  He emerges some time later looking even worse for wear.  More Pepto, hopefully this will be the last.  It wasn't.

It was the strangest thing.  It was almost like clockwork.  Every 42-44 minutes he made the dash, emerging after too long a bit worse off than the time before.

He is being a real trooper.  He's literally drinking a liter of water after each 'round'.  It's not staying down, but at least he's still got something to bring up.  I tell myself it is helping to rinse his system.  This is the body's natural defense against unwelcome guests, right?

As we are nearing 2 am, I am getting more concerned.  I keep saying soothing things, but I'm eyeballing my pharmaceutical supplies and he is going through them at a rate I can't sustain.  I'm in a strange city, in a strange hotel not of my choosing.  I am just not quite sure what to do.  I'm counting the hours left in my head and I am grasping for anything that I could call a positive sign.

All the while, this little voice in the back of mind is whispering, 'We have to get on that plane in the morning. We've been waiting a year, we are half way there, and we have to get on the plane in the morning.'  As the night continues, a second little voice starts asking, 'What if we can't get on the plane in the morning?'  I felt like a monster for even thinking it.  Sunshine is in living hell and I am selfishly worried about my travel plans.

Somewhere in the 3 a.m. hour I get my first good sign.  Sunshine makes the dash, but the problem has migrated to his lower half.  Using my extensive medical knowledge, primarily gleaned from Grey's Anatomy, I decide this is just the sign we were looking for.  Whatever big bad is in his gut, at least it is transiting quickly.  We've only got 5 or so more hours until our shuttle back to the airport, but there is a glimmer of hope.

Poor soul, I had to ration the Pepto. With less than 2 hours left until we were hopefully going catch the shuttle back to the airport, I resume dosing him.  I'm hopeful we can find more at the airport.  We've been up all night, but I sure don't have anything to complain about.

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## CherryNorth49

> Cherry, Hey Hey My My Rock n roll can never die. To quote another famous Canuck! Neil Young.  {you being the other famous one!}  Yes, we were at the Luciano show. What a night! Us and another couple called from Coco for the Seastar free ride, and then we get there.. Not knowing what to expect, and to our surprise they had a reserved table for us right in front of the stage! What an unexpected surprise!  Deb and I can't recall seeing you at the show, but for sure the One love bus! This Dec. we'll be at the Seastar til the 9th. So, yeah it would be cool to run into you two again.  Respect . evryting Irie!  Todd + Deb


Ha, that (actually) famous Canuck and I are actually from the same town.  He grew up somewhere in the range of 10 blocks from my parent's house. We must have been practically beside each other at the show, as we were in one of those front tables too.  I was so impressed with Seastar's hospitality that night, it is a big part of why we are staying there this year. We'll make sure to not drink all the cold Red Stripe on you, we are staying there until the 4th.  :Cool:

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## CherryNorth49

> So happy that you're back posting again -I LOVED your first report. But alas - I just realized that you're doing the day by day approach again which makes perfect sense...and I was so spoiled by being able to binge-read the last one! OK, I know, I have to relax and practice my soon-comes!  Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful writing.


Glad you enjoyed the first one - just think of it as a little mini Jamaican getaway each day.  I may not manage to get it all done in 10 days this year, but you'll see the end before we fly back again - which is only 16 days away.




> great start! Penthouse... o sweet sweet penthouse...


Ha, Ha, love it!  I'm humming right along.  And great avatar - if I am guessing the location right, this report is going to take you back there too.




> I read your last trip report, what grabbed me right away was the quote you posted "Never forget anticipation
> is an important part of life."   I say that to everyone when people ask me why I love travel so much. Especially to Jamaica.   Really enjoy your writing.!!!


Thanks jojo.  I really do think at least half of the fun is traveling is the excitement of knowing it's coming.  At the risk of sounding terribly spoiled, I HATE not having some sort of travel plans to count down to.

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## IRIEchic

Oh gosh I hope this is not the end of the report and even worse you come back to say yall headed back to Winnipeg!! :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  lol 

Cherry you was a trooper for Sunshine! and I'm sure Sunshine heard the lil voice too 'We have to get on that plane in the morning. We've been waiting a year, we are half way there, and we have to get on the plane in the morning. haha!

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## CherryNorth49

> Oh gosh I hope this is not the end of the report and even worse you come back to say yall headed back to Winnipeg!! lol 
> 
> Cherry you was a trooper for Sunshine! and I'm sure Sunshine heard the lil voice too 'We have to get on that plane in the morning. We've been waiting a year, we are half way there, and we have to get on the plane in the morning. haha!


I'll get us at least back to the airport today.  I don't think I am giving away anything when I say this was most definitely the low point of the whole trip.  At least we got it out of the way early!

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## iowagirl

Oh No!  Poor Sunshine - nothing worse than feeling crappy on vacation.  Especially THAT crappy.  Glad to know that was the worst it was!

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## CherryNorth49

I get our bags put back together and down to the lobby.  I liberate the plastic laundry bag from the room, just in case Sunshine doesn't make it through the shuttle ride.  I find him a seat while we wait.  A few minutes pass and he makes the dash to the bathroom in the lobby.

We load into the shuttle with two other couples and I think to myself that they may be in for far more than they bargained for on this ride.  I've got the laundry bag out and I have every digit crossed.  It may have been the longest ride 15 minute ride ever, but we made it without incident.

You want to see a sympathetic face?  Ask an airport kiosk worker if they have any Imodium when they are all sold out.  Three strikes and we are out - of luck that is.  I do get more Pepto.

Security is of course backed up for miles and it feels like the heat is stuck on roast.  I eye the family line, and pulling the 'he isn't feeling well' card, but I don't want to do anything that might have our boarding denied.  So we get in the regular line and do the shuffle for more than an hour.  We finally get through security and as I am getting my bag back together and walking away, I realize I just cleared through with a 32oz jug full of water. Oops.  I'm not sure how I feel about the quality of that screening process, but since it really is just water I am happy to be headed to the gate.

We are in the front row of the economy section again.  I wanted to be at the front of the line at customs.  When I booked the seats I didn't realize that they also use those rows for people with mobility issues. Sunshine is feeling like death warmed over in the middle seat, with this lovely 90+ year old granny on the aisle.  I don't mean this disrespectfully, as I only hope to live long enough to have this problem, but have you ever noticed that really old people often have a distinctive and not entirely pleasant smell?  I didn't notice and he never said a word but to add insult to injury, poor Sunshine spent 4.5 hours in the middle seat trying not to breathe in old lady smell.  

When I look back, I don't know why it didn't occur to me to change seats with him.  It's just habit; I always have the window.  On a clear day, I will spend the entire flight with my nose pressed to the glass watching the world drift by below us.  Sunshine loves me enough not to complain about the fact that this means that he generally always gets stuck with the middle seat.  This flight should have been the exception though. Sorry Sunshine!

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## IRIEchic

Sheesh Cherry.., Sunshine needs a vacation!

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## irie always

Ahhh Luciano - Seastar - holding a table for Cherry and Sunshine - enjoying a wonderful dinner and then I abandoned you all, to spend the next 3 hours dancing in front of the stage! OH it was grand and then I came back to the table totally exhausted and trotted off to bed. 
Love your writing Cherry can't wait to read it all. Sure wish Charlie and I were going to be with you at Seastar but alas we won't get there until February.

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## CherryNorth49

> Ahhh Luciano - Seastar - holding a table for Cherry and Sunshine - enjoying a wonderful dinner and then I abandoned you all, to spend the next 3 hours dancing in front of the stage! OH it was grand and then I came back to the table totally exhausted and trotted off to bed. 
> Love your writing Cherry can't wait to read it all. Sure wish Charlie and I were going to be with you at Seastar but alas we won't get there until February.


Irie Always, yeah!  Great to hear from you, but I am sorry our trips won't overlap this year  :Frown:   You and Charlie were such wonderful hosts - it was so nice to have such welcoming smiles there to great us.  My recollection of the night is that you were totally in your element and it was great to see!

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## rocknrollfarmer

Hey Cherry! I had to go look at the video I took in Dec. '12, and yes you and Sunshine are in the video. {Should of I asked your permission?}  Maybe , now you'll recall us from the One love bus, I was the annoying guy with the video camera. And yes, I'm starting to recall you guys from the Luciano show. Most times on our trips to Negril I try to cram as much as possible into everything I do. My wife gets annoyed from this, as she does get the concept of vacation and what we should be doing......nothing! Relaxing! etc. etc. We arrive at Seastar on Dec. 2nd. So, we'll be seeing you there for a day & a half.   Remember the one love bus stop at Bella Donna's? She sang for us a lovely little ditty ?!*@! It's fun to watch the videos, gotta document some of this stuff, to remember better, as the older I get {today's my birthday by the way} 53. I must be getting the early start of dementia or something as these trips are running into each other, and getting harder to remember. OMG!   From a Tubes song..."Talk to ya' later"   Todd + Deb

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 3

And suddenly you know: It's time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings. 
― Meister Eckhart

I don't think I will ever tire of that first sighting of Jamaica


Or the final approach into MoBay.  Now any landing that gets the plane and passengers to the gate intact is successful.  I certainly wouldn't call this one graceful.  I know I'm not wrong on this, because when my father, who retired after 35 years in aviation, saw the video his face got this rather disapproving look on it.  I'd certainly started to hold my breath.




There will be more pictures are this report carries on, but I am sure you can appreciate taking pictures had kind of fallen off my priority list at this point.

At least our front seats got us to immigration ahead of most everyone on the flight.  In what seemed like only a couple of minutes, we were through to the baggage claim. And then we waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Bags from our flight came along and then nothing.  There was a group of us still waiting with no luggage when the luggage carousel stopped.  I'm trying to keep my cool, but it has been a long day/night and I just really wanted my bags.  There is of course no one at the baggage counter to answer any questions.  Thankfully, after a few more minutes, the carousel started back up and not long after our bags arrived.

Last stop at customs and we were through the doors and out to the taxi entrance.   Half a dozen pairs of inquiring eyes turned our way.  I said Kingsley James and three hands pointed his way while the others turned to the next person coming through the doors.

I can still perfectly remember that first woosh of air as we walked out the airport doors.  We were under a protective cover, but I can see the bright sun reflecting on the pavement in the parking lot in front of me.  It looks right, it sounds right and it smells right.  There are so many infinite possibilities in that first moment.  Though the journey had already begun, our adventure was only just getting under way.

Kingsley went to get the van. I left Sunshine with the bags and went to the bank machine for some JA$.  There was another passenger from our flight whose ride hadn't worked out as expected, so he was joining our ride.  I would have been happier if it been just the two of us, but I'd rather Kingsley make the extra fare.  I will say for someone who was essentially a hitchhiker, the extra fare sure wasn't very gracious.  He took shotgun without even asking and seemed rather put out when we wanted to stop.

Kingsley of course had a pair of cold Red Stripe waiting for us. We took this picture and had our first sips.  Then Sunshine pretty much held onto his beer until I traded him for my empty.  I couldn't just let it go to waste.  :Big Grin: 


I had originally thought we would stop at Green Island for some jerk pork, but I was pretty darn sure that wasn't what Sunshine wanted to do at this point.  I was starving though and wanted to get something before we got to Negril.  After a bit of back and forth with Kingsley, we settled on a stop at Juici Patti in Lucea. 

Despite the fact that I had hardly slept in the last 24 hours, I was riding high. Not even a full year before I had arrived in Jamaica somewhat terrified; optimistic, but still terrified.  I didn't know what I would find and how I would cope.  Now here I was pulling into a crowded parking lot in 'real' Jamaican town and I was almost bursting with excitement.

Into the Juici Pattie we charged.  I knew I wanted a cheese pattie.  Sunshine was really just there for moral support.  So I ordered up 2 cheese patties, 2 banana breads and 2 juices.  I'm guessing it was just after school time, as the road was crowded with children in their uniforms amongst the people coming to and from work or the shops.  Our food was up in a matter of moments.  I was disappointed; I could have happily sat a while and observed the ebb and flow of the community.

Back in van, I take my first bite of pattie.  I don't know what I was expecting, but the cheesy, beefy, spicy goodness far exceeded my expectations.  It was so flaky it was all I could do not to cover Kingsley's clean interior with my crumbs.  It was piping hot and I savored every bite as the not yet familiar sites of the road to Negril flew by.  My poor broken Sunshine opted for a juice.

It wasn't long before we made the last curve and the resorts of Bloody Bay began to appear.  Our hitchhiker got dropped off not too far into Long Bay and the vibe in the van lightened right up.

We had two stops to make, the first of which was Shamrocks.  We had been dreaming of our next taste of that famous orange juice for 354 days and we weren't going to have to wait any longer.  Juice and few other provisions acquired and we were back under way.  One more stop and we were onto the West  End Road.

My memory of the drive seems to be a series of snap shots in my head.  I can see Mi-Yard and Canoe.  As Jenny's appeared on our left, I knew we had only a few curves to go.  Then just like that we pull up the castle gates and with a beep, beep and they open and we are home.  The king and queen have arrived.

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## billndonna

Keep up the awesome job on this report Cherry,we are truly loving it and our ride with you into Negril has been great so far!!This has to tide us over for 13 more days!!

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## CherryNorth49

> Hey Cherry! I had to go look at the video I took in Dec. '12, and yes you and Sunshine are in the video. {Should of I asked your permission?}  Maybe , now you'll recall us from the One love bus, I was the annoying guy with the video camera. And yes, I'm starting to recall you guys from the Luciano show. Most times on our trips to Negril I try to cram as much as possible into everything I do. My wife gets annoyed from this, as she does get the concept of vacation and what we should be doing......nothing! Relaxing! etc. etc. We arrive at Seastar on Dec. 2nd. So, we'll be seeing you there for a day & a half.   Remember the one love bus stop at Bella Donna's? She sang for us a lovely little ditty ?!*@! It's fun to watch the videos, gotta document some of this stuff, to remember better, as the older I get {today's my birthday by the way} 53. I must be getting the early start of dementia or something as these trips are running into each other, and getting harder to remember. OMG!   From a Tubes song..."Talk to ya' later"   Todd + Deb


Hey Farmer and Happy Birthday!  We'll have to have a belated celebration at Seastar.  I relayed the connection to Sunshine last night and he knew instantly who you were, remembering you from both the crawl and the Luciano show.  Sunshine was like, "Yeah, the farmer, I remember them for sure!  They were sitting a couple of tables over from and had come to the show from the beach with another couple.  He and I hung out a bit by the bar at one point, but it was getting later in the night so it is a bit fuzzy."  I have to admit there were a couple of folks on the crawl with which I hadn't precisely clicked; I was relieved to know for sure that you and your lovely wife weren't from that group!  :Big Grin: 

Oh Bella Donnas - I think I had tried to block that song from my memory!  Do you have video of that it?  The crawl is coming up in the report the day after tomorrow, Jamaican time.  Feel free to share.  I'm curious to see if our impressions of that crawl match up.

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## murph

this is exactly what I needed this morning- thanks for the report! 

Cant wait to hear about all of your castle adventures!

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## JitterBug

just what the doctor ordered . . . thank you and more please!!

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## BIG SHINY n Rootsy

Great report Cherry! How can we NOT follow along after you quote the great Vince Lombardi? (I'm also glad you choose not to waste the beer......that's a sacrilege here in Wisconsin)  :Wink:

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## Seveen

hanging on every word Cherry!

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## bjritz

Just wonderful. Sorry Sunshine on your Toronto munch mess, yuck. But the cure was waiting in Negril, I just bet!
Cherry, you are making my day, loved the landing, made me want one.

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## 68Stang

Great report!

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## CherryNorth49

As we pull the through the gates I don't quite know where to look first.  Our bags are unloaded and arrangements for our next ride made with Kingsley.   The gardener seemed to be doing double duty as porter.  He hefted both our bags with so little effort it was like they were empty, rather than the 40 pounds each actually was.  Up and up we went to the doors to our private paradise.  Up once more and we were home.

We got the basic tour of the space, passed on our appreciation and in moments we were on our own. The windows in the Penthouse were all open, the breeze was blowing through.  We could hear the sound of the surf all around us.  We both kind of stood in the center of the room in a bit of a daze, just taking it all in.

I suggested that a sub might go along quite nicely with a bottle of Shamrock's liquid gold and we set about making that happen.  We headed to the deck on the tower to sit back, relax and just take it all in.

Still riding high, we went exploring all the views from our 3 levels of decking.  As magical as it was, the exhaustion of the past 24 hours was starting to set in.  As sunset approached, we talked about how surreal if felt to be back in Negril.  Our first sunset wasn't much to write about.  Given the night/day we'd had, it somehow just fit.


Sunshine didn't make it that much past sunset, truth be told.  I talked him into eating one of the banana breads from Juici Pattie. He'd had a whole bottle of Shamrock's juice at this point and I was hoping it would be just the restorative he needed.  This was one of these nights were I am glad I insist on at least a queen size bed in our room (the penthouse is actually a king).  Snuggling together is lovely 90% of the time.  On the day after a nasty round of food poisoning, you kind of just want your own space.

Though it had been a long day and night and I was rather exhausted, I just wasn't ready settle down. The full moon had risen over the hills behind the castle not long after sunset and as the clouds cleared out it was like a giant night light in the sky.  


Saturn (or maybe Jupiter?) was chasing the moon across the sky.  I tried to capture the scene, but I was working from a point and shoot.


At one point I saw the wishing lanterns floating up from boardie Rinakim's wedding at CocoLaPalm.


It wasn't how we had planned our first night back in Negril, but I wasn't put out.  Sunshine was a little worse for wear, but I was pretty confident it was a temporary setback.  I was where I wanted to be and so was he and that was all that really mattered.

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## CherryNorth49

> Great report Cherry! How can we NOT follow along after you quote the great Vince Lombardi? (I'm also glad you choose not to waste the beer......that's a sacrilege here in Wisconsin)


To be fair I am only an occasional football watcher, but when I do, I'm a cheese head through and through.  :Cool:

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## Seveen

so sorry for Sunshine --- a good cup of chicken foot soup works wonders --- you don't have to eat the feet lol

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## CherryNorth49

> Just wonderful. Sorry Sunshine on your Toronto munch mess, yuck. But the cure was waiting in Negril, I just bet!
> Cherry, you are making my day, loved the landing, made me want one.


You can have the next landing like that!  We'd used up so much runway before the wheels hit the ground, I was starting to think we were going to have to head back up and come around for a second go, which of course would have been better than driving off the end into the bush.

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## CherryNorth49

> so sorry for Sunshine --- a good cup of chicken foot soup works wonders --- you don't have to eat the feet lol


I'm hoping there is no next time, but I'm going to keep that mind.  Thanks for following along  :Smile:

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## JitterBug

cherry, you are a wonderful writer, feels like i was there alongside with you guys . . . the pics are stunning . . .

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## DConkle

Love the pics! Glad you made it there!

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## mavmaiden

I thoroughly enjoyed your last trip report and am now hanging on your every word on this one. You have a magnificent talent for story-telling. I have just over a month before I'll be on a plane headed to Negril and this report is helping the days go by. As each day passes, getting me one day closer to that big airplane ride in the sky, they get slower...and slower...and slower... :Smile:

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## BIG SHINY n Rootsy

Wow! Your night time pictures are awesome! What an interesting perspective. And you were kinda participating in another boardies wedding too? Thats pretty cool. I bet they would love to see those pics.

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## Marijane

Love it .. just what I need to help get me through the next 80 days!

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## SazO

I'm showing my hand!  :Wink: 
Great report, thank you

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 4

  Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter. 
― Ansel Adams

It was our first full day in Negril and I had set an alarm clock for 6:10 in the morning. No joke. 

Am I only one who checks the moon tables before heading on vacation? 

Well, I do and I had discovered that we were arriving just in time for the full moon and that it was due to set into the ocean pretty much right in front of the castle not long after sunrise. This is my inner geek showing, but I am sucker for astronomical events. I had on opportunity once (with a 3 hour drive) to witness a total solar eclipse. It is one of my Top 10 Most Magical Experiences ever. This wasn't quite that, but I fell in love with the idea of seeing the full moon come up in the evening and then witnessing it set into the sea with the sun rising behind us. 

I had originally thought we might still be up to see this happen, but obviously our plans had changed. From the beginning, I was a bit doubtful as to whether or not I'd be able to get Sunshine out of bed, but I decided in advance not to be a pain about it if he opted to just sleep through. 

Well as it turns out, there was a plus side to food poisoning. Having had a pretty early night, by the time the alarm went off, we were both actually already awake. We had only to step out our front door.


 Each armed with camera we had a magical start to the day. 


We headed up to the upper deck to see the sun crest over the top of the hills.

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## CherryNorth49

I spotted the Blue Mountain coffee being set out and Sunshine offered to bring us up mugs. He takes such good care of me. 

To date, this is remains the only Jamaican sunrise I have witnessed. It was so very quiet. There weren't really any vehicles on the road and we couldn't really hear any sounds of the castle waking up, at least not over the sounds of the surf. It was bliss. 




I managed to capture a panorama with both the sun and the moon. If you look closely on the far left, there is a rather phallic cloud pointing directly at the moon. It isn't much more that a spec, but it is there. 


There is something really magical about the Penthouse. You just have so much space and it is all just for you. If you like to be alone, you can really do that here. 

We eventually headed down to the courtyard for breakfast from Teddy's. We place and order for shrimp and eggs with peppers and banana rum pancakes, which we shared. Then we poured a bit more coffee and headed back up to the penthouse for a little reading and reflection.

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## rocknrollfarmer

Cherry, I just thought I'd let you know about a book, that I've read about five times {Good to take on the airplane} It's called "Walk Good, Travels to Negril Jamaica" by Roland Reimer. Go to Amazon, used or kindle etc.  The writing I would say is similar to yours....details! details!   Keep up the posts. It's turning into a highlight of my days!   Farmer

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## Big_frank

Thank you for lovely reporting. Big up to the Castle as well for being so cool.

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## Angel Babee

As I am now just less than 40 hours from boarding my plane your stories brought tears to me eyes!  My husband is coming with me this year for his first trip, it's my 2nd trip...I haven't stopped telling him how glorious it is since I landed home last year.  Negril really is the closest think I can compare heaven to.  I already know I'll be up all night for the next day and a 1/2 and I'm OK with that!  

Gracious!   My bags are packed and darn near at the door! I cannot wait to wake up in paradise....

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## kaycee

Breathtaking pictures!

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## Lorax2

Seems like the herbal meds and some love and attention fixed sunshine right up  :Smile: 
Write on Cherry !   :Smile: 
~D~

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## booger

> Seems like the herbal meds and some love and attention fixed sunshine right up 
> Write on Cherry !  
> ~D~


No need for Imodium!

Great report lady! The penthouse is a really nice room, outside of July that is with the lack of AC.... Really cool outdoor shower too......

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## nutz4travel

Waiting patiently for more (fingers drumming...)

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## CherryNorth49

Around 2 o'clock, we decided we had been sufficiently lazy and that perhaps we might leave the castle grounds. I suggested we head over to PeeWee's to see if we might get some lunch. We were venturing out but we certainly weren't going far.

Walking up to the bar at PeeWee's it was completed deserted. There were sounds coming from the kitchen though, so we poked our heads in a said hello. I think it was Danny in the kitchen. He came out introduced himself and got us a pair of Stripes. 

One of the things I told myself before we arrived in Negril was that I needed to be better at telling people what it was I wanted. Everything in Jamaica is no problem, as long as you know what it is you want. My impression from our first visit was that I was just confusing people when I was being vague. The 'What to do want?'/'Well what do have' dance just wasn't working. 

We were hungry, so I asked if he were serving food. He paused briefly in contemplation. 'What do you want?' he asked.

 "Something for lunch," I replied. 

"Chicken?" 

"Sure, with some rice and some veg maybe?" 

"Okay, I can't cook for you right now, but I can get it no problem. I have a friend nearby who has a shop, he will bring it here"

I'll admit that wasn't how I'd expected this to go down, but I'd said what I wanted and he was sorting it out for me. I had a momentary concern about what this solution might cost. "Sounds, good but I don't want it to be too expensive." 

"Is $10 each good?" Danny responded. 

"Perfect." 

So Danny pointed to the cooler with the Red Stripe and told us to help ourselves and just let him know how many we'd had. I can't even imagine what our local liquor inspector's reaction to that might be. Danny got on his phone and wandered back into the kitchen. So we sat back and just let it all soak in. 


About 20 minutes later he walked back out and let us know our food was here and he needed that $20. No problem. 

Our food delivered he ran back into the kitchen to get us real forks and knives. We got fried chicken with pineapple sauce, rice and peas and some cabbage and carrots. It was delicious. The portions were huge however and we came nowhere near finishing. We had no real use for the leftovers, so Danny asked if we might leave it with him for the local dogs. I am so glad he suggested it, because where I come from, you don't feed animals in the street. I just wouldn't have thought of it. 

He asked if we smoked and we allowed as we did. He offered us up a lovely big sub and we just couldn't say no. 

At some point it became clear why he couldn't cook us lunch. He was too busy cooking a meal for what I assumed was his family. We sat at the bar and watched 8 or 10 folks arrive and gather around one of the tables in the back. Danny served up the meal and joined in the festivities. We enjoyed our private bar and kept up a count of our Red Stripe consumption, but no one seemed very worried. 

I am amazed by how well behaved the street dogs in Negril are. We'd gained a companion who seemed content to just have someone nearby while he had his afternoon nap. 


Have I mentioned Sunshine works in lighting? He is pretty into it. I have become accustomed to the fact that everywhere we go, the first thing he notices is the lighting and if it is visible, the electrical setup. Negril is a gold-mine of not precisely to code and yet perfectly effective solutions. If you catch him staring up at the ceiling, he is probably checking out the lights. When Sandy was delivering a glancing blow to Negril last year, I showed him a few pictures from the board. The first thing he says? "Wow, they have striped the wires right out of that building; that is amazing!" He says nothing about the evidence of the wind, the menacing skies or the lack of people and furniture. He is far more curious about how to make the lighting hurricane ready. 

So what was our first big winner in the cheap and cheerful lighting solutions category? The ubiquitous black bag used as a lamp shade. We decided it was probably practical and effective, if not precisely to code. It was nice to see a vintage Manitoba license plate on display as well. 


As we were starting to feel the urge for an afternoon nap, Elvis arrived to mind the bar. We settled up our tab and wandered on back to the castle, with a stop at L&M Grocery first. I'd heard so much about this Sangsters Rum Cream that when I spotted a small bottle I just had to give it a try. A few supplies laid in we wandered back to our Penthouse.

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## CherryNorth49

> No need for Imodium!
> 
> Great report lady! The penthouse is a really nice room, outside of July that is with the lack of AC.... Really cool outdoor shower too......


Skipping AC in December was worth the risk, but it in the calm of July I can imagine you'd just bake.  That shower is now the standard by which all showers are measured.  I will have pictures...

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## CherryNorth49

> As I am now just less than 40 hours from boarding my plane your stories brought tears to me eyes!  My husband is coming with me this year for his first trip, it's my 2nd trip...I haven't stopped telling him how glorious it is since I landed home last year.  Negril really is the closest think I can compare heaven to.  I already know I'll be up all night for the next day and a 1/2 and I'm OK with that!  
> 
> Gracious!   My bags are packed and darn near at the door! I cannot wait to wake up in paradise....


Have a great trip! I have no doubt your husband will fall in love pretty instantly too  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

> Cherry, I just thought I'd let you know about a book, that I've read about five times {Good to take on the airplane} It's called "Walk Good, Travels to Negril Jamaica" by Roland Reimer. Go to Amazon, used or kindle etc.  The writing I would say is similar to yours....details! details!   Keep up the posts. It's turning into a highlight of my days!   Farmer


You are too kind.  Walk good is on my reading list.  Having read some of his trip reports, I am flattered to be compared in any way to his writing.   :Embarrassment:

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## CherryNorth49

It was Thursday, so we had plans to head to Canoe for the band and some dinner. The sunset was just too beautiful to leave though, so we got a bit of a late start. I just couldn't be torn away.

 



We got a ride from one of the castle handy, who was also driving one of the maids somewhere. She seemed pissed he was giving us a ride, but got a lot more cheerful when I gave him a $5 for his trouble. Not a red plate I know, but I figured he was a known commodity and it would be okay for such a short ride. 

The webcast was hopping when we arrived. I admit that I was feeling a great deal of apprehension; Lisa was there with a big smile and hello and that certainly helped. 

Sunshine still wasn't in top form, so we headed for table to get some food. We'd been talking (okay, mostly me taking and Sunshine listening) for months about having lion fish and onion rings at Canoe and there was no holding back. Having had a huge lunch, we decided just to share.


We needed some of that rum punch too. In hindsight, we perhaps might have started with something a bit kinder to Sunshine's insides, but that is why they call it hindsight. The punch went down a treat, so we had to have another. Once happy hour was done, I asked Sunshine to surprise me and he came back with something blue? I don't drink a lot of mixed drinks a home and this stuff was going straight to my head. 

Another boardie who lives not 20 minutes away from us at home came up to say how much she had enjoyed my first trip report. The feedback was so kind. We chatted a bit about our plans and common ground back home. It was great to make the connection. 

We enjoyed the band, our meal and just the overall vibe of Canoe. I love the sound of the west end road mixed with the surf on the beach, all not 50 feet apart. The moon was up and bright again as we headed out onto the road. There were no obvious taxis around, so we started wandering up the road. 

It wasn't long before I hear a beep beep behind us. Up my arm goes and the car comes to a stop in front of us. I notice right away the white plate. Deep breath and remember, tell people what you want. 

I wave him on and say "Sorry man, you aren't a red plate and I want a red plate." It was a decent looking vehicle, nice and clean inside, but that doesn't matter. I'll walk all the way home if a red plate doesn't come along. 

Being the good entrepreneur, the driver replied back, "It's no problem, I'll give you a ride. It's all good." 

I haven't stopped so he is idling along to keep up. I look in and smile, "When you get your red plate, you can give me a ride." He gives me a long stare and an accepting shrug, steps on the accelerator and he is gone up the road and around the bend. 

Sunshine turns to me with a big grin, "That was awesome; you handled him like a pro!" I felt about 10 feet tall. I suspect for the more experienced among you that it might seem a bit silly. But I was out walking on the west end road after dark and we were getting it right. 

We continue along. One of the bars along the is set up with big speakers and the whole block was vibrating with the sounds. It wasn't all that long and there is another beep beep behind us. The red plate comes to a stop. As I open the door I ask the driver, "Five dollars to Blue Cave Castle?" "Yamon." 

All is quiet at the castle when we return. Sunshine was looking a bit pale. We'd not been back long when we determined that lion fish, onion rings and rum punch were not the ideal post food poisoning meal. After some quality time with this porcelain throne, he was pretty done for the night. We had picked up a couple of bulla at L&M. He ate half and headed for bed. 

So again I found myself on my own with my thoughts and the sounds of the sea. I felt really bad that Sunshine was missing this time, but at the same time I didn't think it meant I couldn't have a good evening. I made myself a drink and a sub, found my book and settled with my thoughts into my chair perched high above the sea.

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## thebeacher

I'm a Negril addict also. It's the only place I've been to since I discovered it 3 years ago! Leaving tomorrow for 9 days!!!! Can't wait!!!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 5

 Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. 
― Bernard M. Baruch

We woke up to another beautiful Negril morning.  Sunshine fetched up some coffee and I broke out the rum cream, curious as to what all the fuss was about.  I should say I really dislike Baileys and think it is one of the quickest ways to ruin a good cup of coffee.  I was not optimistic.  I do like flavor in my coffee, but never cream.  First sip: hmmm, not bad.  Second sip: OMG, where have you been all of my life?!  I was hooked.


We had spoken with Teddy the day before and planned to have his special mushroom omelets for breakfast.  On the lowest level of the Penthouse, there is a lovely section of the patio that is covered and shady.  It is still nice and open so the breeze blows through and keeps it cool.  We decided to have breakfast delivered.  We wandered down to order everything up.

I find that I am struggling in my descriptions to do Blue Cave Castle justice.  It is not a fancy place, but it is a really special place.  You would never mistake it for the Hyatt or the Ritz.  That day though, I felt as though all the money in the world couldn't have bought us a better morning.  


We talked about what we might do for the day and decided we were kind of already there.  We were booked on the pub crawl that afternoon, so we wanted to save our strength.

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## CherryNorth49

I know there are some special showers in Negril, but I want to add the shower on the lower level of the Penthouse to that list of awesome places.  It isn't fancy at all, but it is also totally private, well except to anybody else staying with you in the penthouse.  If you skip the shower curtain, you have a view across the patio to the crenellated walls and the sea beyond.  I honestly don't remember the practical details.  If the water pressure was bad, I don't recall and whatever temperature the water was it worked for me.  It is all about that view.


It was rather windy the whole time we reigned in the castle.  As I was getting ready to board the bus, I discovered that the wind was funneling just right through the windows on one side.  Mother Nature's blow drier:

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## CherryNorth49

Sorry if some of these pictures are giant today.  Photobucket is giving me real attitude today  :Mad:

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## CherryNorth49

This was our first Pub Crawl and I would suggest that our experience was not exactly the norm.  As I recount our experience, keep in mind we are booked back the bus this year, so I am still a big fan.

Our pick up for the pub crawl was somewhere between 2:30 and 3:00.  We were waiting at the gate when the bus arrived.  There is no one on board.  'Great', I thought to myself, 'we are the first pick up, so I'll get to meet folks as they board.'  I'm shy, so starting smaller and building up is kind of nice.  We trundle on down the road and the bus stops in front of a small bar.  Lenbert explains he dropped the rest of the crawl off already before picking us up and we should head in.

Oh crap.  There goes the starting small plan.  Instead I figure I'm going to be that weird person lurking on the fringes getting the strange 'why are you here' looks.

The first stop was Natural Mystic.  I spotted another great Jamaican light fixture.  


We ordered a round.  They were out of cold Red Stripe, so I tried my first Red Stripe light.  It offends my prairie sensibilities that I would pay more for something with less alcohol.  It tasted fine but went down like water.  I prefer a bit more bite to my brew.  Then I indeed stood around rather awkwardly out behind the bar, which appeared to be where most of the crawl participants were gathered.  You could certainly still see evidence of Sandy's recent enough passing in the detritus along the shore.  At least I think that was the cause, I'm actually just guessing.


The call to load up the bus came and we got several strange looks when we boarded too.  I was hoping the interloper feeling would fade at the next stop, which was I think Swordfish (nice bar upstairs, ice cream on the main floor?).  It seemed we were earlier than expected as the bar was without bartender and bottle opener.  We found the Stripe ourselves and luckily, one of the crawlers had a flip flop with integrated bottle opener.  When the staff caught up we settled our tab.

There were stragglers loading up after at this stop.  While we waited on the bus for everyone to get on board, one of the other crawlers remarked on the photo strewn poster board one group was carrying along, photographing it at each venue along the way.  I didn't catch the whole story, but it seemed a great deal sadder than just a shout out to friend who couldn't make the trip.

Next up was No Limit.  This was great for us because it was right in our neighborhood.  At this point, there seemed to be only one other person on the crawl staying on the West End, so on that score we were a bit of a novelty.  It was good to be able to point and say, "See, right there; that is where we are staying."  For most that proved enlightening.  I found myself at one point a little amazed when I was asked if there was much to do on the West End and where did we eat.  I saved the snarky response for my inside voice, but seriously, where had she been for the last hour?

Three stops in and most everyone on the bus still seemed pretty sober and to my surprise there was not a single sub in sight. At one point Lenbert came in with a big green parrot.  Don't get me wrong, I love birds.  My grandfather's version of easy listening was sitting in his rocking chair relaxing to recordings of bird calls.  Some families have bibles; mine has a birding reference book with three generations of 'Spotted On' notes.  I just don't love birds in enclosed spaces and I most certainly don't want them using me for a perch.  The bird made no menacing moves in my direction and all was well.

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## CherryNorth49

Back on the bus and down the road to Xtabi.  I was really excited for this stop as it was on my must check out list for the trip.


Some of you may recall a certain 'gurly girl' and 'real men' photo contest on the board.  It involved replicating one of the boardies avatar shots.  Sunshine had no knowledge of any of this tomfoolery.  I rather innocently asked him to head into the opening so I could get a picture.  His wardrobe is a little off, but otherwise I think he nailed it. 


I will say proceed with caution, it slippery down there.  Really cool spot.  We will be back.

Back on the bus, we head to Bella Donna.  Lenbert jumps out and after a bit of back and forth, the big gates open and the bus pulls right into the yard.  It seemed to me the original architect of the space was going for a real Mediterranean feel with a big courtyard and open archways to the covered spaces along its perimeter.  There was a restaurant on one side and bar along the next.

The pizza was in the oven, so we were certainly expected.  There weren't really any cold beverages, which was a bit of a shame.  There was the most adorable little puppy dashing around in the yard, which immediately captured almost everyone's attention.  You know how puppies can be; they will bound around frenetically to everyone who will give them attention. 


After a few minutes an older women comes hurrying out. "Don't touch that dog, he has mange!" she practically shouts.  A little late, given at least half the bus has already shown the little guy some love.  I have to admit, I didn't really know what mange was, but I am pretty darn sure I didn't want it.

She explained he was being treated for it, but that we now all needed to wash.  So in she goes for soap and we all form a line at the cold water spigot coming out of the wall.  As we each got to the front of the line we were issued a squirt of dish soap and a chance to wash up.  The poor puppy couldn't quite understand why all the love had turned into a whole lot of 'Shoo, go away.'

Now that we are hopefully disinfected, out comes the pizza.  Despite having washed up, I wasn't really that hungry anymore.  We still each got a slice to spread our (relative) wealth around.  Lenbert hurried us back on the bus to head for our next spot, where we would see the sunset.  He needed to hurry us along or there wouldn't be a sunset to see.

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## CherryNorth49

Sir D's Lookout/Love Nest was up next.  Now if you are counting, we are at stop number six and the party bus hasn't really been that much of a party, at least from our perspective.  We have certainly had some nice conversations but I wouldn't have really called it a party bus. Now it is sunset, I am weary and want a sub.  Sunshine and I had come prepared with our own subs to share, not really expecting we'd be the only ones.  We headed out to the farthest end of the deck so as not to be in anyone's face about it and sparked one up.

Talk about a polarizing maneuver.  As the sun slowly sank into the sea and the gentle scent of sub caught the air I hear a rather loud voice proclaim, "Well it's just never the ones you expect, is it."

I did not turn around, so I don't know who said it.  I don't actually care.  What I do know is that without missing a beat, I loudly exclaimed, "Welcome to Jamaica!"

Turns out the group had a number of hungry members and we proceeded to make a few more new friends at what had instantly become the smoking end of the deck.  I was disappointed that there were a couple of people we'd had some good conversation with earlier who were no longer interested in relating with us at all.  I really felt like we were getting the cold shoulder and I found it almost hurtful.  Even almost a year later, I still fundamentally don't understand how such a small thing would warrant such a strong reaction.  

One love, people, one love.

It was a beautiful sunset and nothing could spoil that.  


As the color began to deepen in the sky, we loaded back on the bus and headed for a quick drive around the lighthouse.  Nothing was open so we continued on our way.  I wish we had stopped to take a few photos, as the color in the sky was the most vibrant we saw all trip.

Our final stop was the Seastar Inn.  I was excited to meet Chris at Seastar, as we are from the same town.  I'm always happier going to a new place for the second time and we were looking forward to being back the next night for the Luciano show.  This visit would make it familiar territory for the much larger gathering the next night.  That is one less thing for me to worry about.

Not long after we arrived a sub the size of a baby's arm appeared and started making the rounds.  Just like that everything was all irie.

We were talking up the show the next night like crazy to the other crawlers.  There was a solo traveler on our trip that Sunshine and I dubbed Random Bob.  It was his first visit to Negril, he'd been encouraged to go by a friend and when Idle Awhile was booked up he had booked Hide Awhile.  Though he did say it was a beautiful property, I think he was finding it a bit more remote than he had bargained for.  Though I am certainly not an expert, Negril.com makes me sound like one sometimes, so we were helping his itinerary out as best as we could.

The pub crawl was finally at an end and we loaded back up on the bus for one last ride.  I asked Lenbert to drop us off at Ciao! on the way down the road, as we were both pretty ready for some food.

Despite the fact that it had been a pretty tame crawl, we were neither of us what you would call sober.  We found our way into Ciao and it was pretty much deserted.  We were shown upstairs to a table on the balcony and there is literally only one other couple in the place and the way we were seated, we couldn't really see each other.  It was probably all for the best, as we had a bit of a case of the sillies.  I know we both had pizza and that it was really good.  


The setting was pretty awesome; I'd go back for sure.  I don't know what the inside would be like if it was busy, but the balcony along the street would be great even if it was packed.  


When we arrived back at the castle, a party was in full swing.  It was not a surprise, as Teddy had invited us earlier to the party as it was his birthday.  On another day I might have joined in, but I'd had enough making new friends for one day.  It was also our last night in the castle and really Sunshine's first, as he'd been in recovery mode to this point.  I'll say the fierce sound system going downstairs was a great addition to the party upstairs.  We didn't last as long as they did.  When we finally called it a night, I drifted off to sleep to thumping of the base rather than the crashing of the waves and it too was good.

Tomorrow would be moving day #1.

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## rocknrollfarmer

I remember the puppy! We used to raise pigs here on the farm, so we remember what mange was! The song Bella Donna sang was her "special" version of "Just a Gigolo" ??? I've got it on video. Your picture of you at Natural Mystic with the Red Stripe light ....that's me in the background with the Jamaican flag tank top!  Thank God, I wasn't doing something stupid!  Go to your profile section for a message.  Can't wait for the next installment!   Farmer

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## CherryNorth49

> I remember the puppy! We used to raise pigs here on the farm, so we remember what mange was! The song Bella Donna sang was her "special" version of "Just a Gigolo" ??? I've got it on video. Your picture of you at Natural Mystic with the Red Stripe light ....that's me in the background with the Jamaican flag tank top!  Thank God, I wasn't doing something stupid!  Go to your profile section for a message.  Can't wait for the next installment!   Farmer


Ha, I was 90% sure that was you. Great shirt by the way!  I just sent you a reply  :Smile:

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## JitterBug

the pub crawl . . . . not my cup of tea . . . glad you enjoyed teddy's party . . . looking forward to more . . .

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## Sam I Am

Keep up the good work Cherry!  I am heading to Negril around the same time as you are and this report is a great way to count down the days.

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## bjritz

"I hear a rather loud voice proclaim, "Well it's just never the ones you expect, is it."

I laughed out loud, how funny! You are just priceless, thanks for taking me along.

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## Seveen

i'm savoring this . . .

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 6

  How far we travel in life matters far less than those we meet along the way.
- Anonymous

We awoke well after dawn in our castle by the sea.  We were sorry to be saying goodbye to our private piece of paradise, but at the same time we were pretty darn excited to be heading to Catcha Falling Star.

We had enough scraps of food around to qualify as breakfast, so we opted to dine in.  We goofed around a bit taking pictures of the penthouse.  The place is hard to describe even with pictures, so we wanted to make sure we had some good material to work with.

It is such a special place.


We hadn't yet made it down to see Connie in her new space at Jenny's and we planned to correct that this morning.  We got our bags packed up and moved to our lower level and then wandered down to the front gate. We both agreed we'd likely kill ourselves trying to get our bags down the stairs, so we asked if someone might bring them down for us.

We had been staying at the castle for three days now and technically we had never actually checked in.  I actually didn't even know where the office was.  The security guard found Petrona for us and we settled our bill.  We made arrangements for a ride to Catcha in about an hour and headed out onto the road.  I know the road can get busy, but it sure wasn't this morning.  The sky was a perfect blue above us with hardly a cloud in sight.  The sun reflecting off the stone wall along the road was bright and made a sharp contrast to the shade cast by the various trees and bushes along the way.  We encountered a couple of people and simple 'Good Morning' and a smile seemed to elicit a welcoming response.


I say seemed because I was still struggling to understand much of what was being said to me.  I'd been listening to reggae music all year in part with the hope that it might help out a little with my ear for the language.  I was mostly still just hearing 'Wah woh wah wah.'  I was claiming a small victory because I seemed to understand at least a few words when folks repeated themselves the first time.  Sunshine remained at a total loss.

We arrive a Jenny's and are greeted with a warm smile from Connie.  Her niece was also working that day.  We each ordered a juice.  Sorrel was on the menu and I just had to have a glass.  I absolutely love this stuff and there is nothing like it at home.  I know of an ethnic grocery store in town that sells bags of the dried sorrel, but I think if you aren't making the juice with Jamaican water, it just isn't the same.

Sunshine was also keen to acquire some of Connie's special brownies.  He is a big fan.  I'm pretty sure he all but cleaned her out.  He also acquired some fancy fungi. I was horrified by the bill, not because it was unreasonable for what he had bought, but because it wiped out the better part of days budget.  On the way back up the road to the castle I was pretty clear that he'd best be pacing himself with this stuff.


Back at the castle our bags are down and the driver is waiting.  We say our goodbyes, load up and are off down the road.

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## CherryNorth49

> Keep up the good work Cherry!  I am heading to Negril around the same time as you are and this report is a great way to count down the days.


It sure is speeding my countdown along!  I hope our paths will cross somewhere along the way.  




> "I hear a rather loud voice proclaim, "Well it's just never the ones you expect, is it."
> 
> I laughed out loud, how funny! You are just priceless, thanks for taking me along.


I mean really, who says that out loud to a group of strangers!?!?! Thanks for coming along.




> i'm savoring this . . .


Awww, you are too kind  :Embarrassment:

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## JitterBug

i love your writing style . . . your trip report is the highlight of my day . . .

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## CherryNorth49

I think this is one of these once you go you know kind of things, but I have a hard time making people back home understand the purpose of moving 3km up the road from one cliff side hotel to another.

In my mind, Negril not only has distinct neighborhoods but distinct micro climates as well, all in a stretch of less than 20km.  The beach is one.  The near west end road from the roundabout to 3-Dives is another.  This stretch is more sun baked and windswept. The vegetation looks more like the type that survives in spite of the conditions.  As you make the corner at 3-Dives you can see the subtle changes almost instantly.  The vegetation is bigger, thicker and lusher.  Plants aren't simply surviving, they are thriving.  This lushness continues to at least the lighthouse.

To our cab driver I must have looked like a bobble head doll in the back as I tried to see it all I was drove down the road to Catcha.  Thanks to all the twists and turns, the drive at least felt a bit longer than it actually is.

As Mauvette checked us in, she quite endearingly issued forth a series of orders to our taxi driver, which included taking our bags to the Gatehouse.  He was clearly a known commodity.  She gave us a quick tour of the property past Ivan's and back to the Gatehouse.  The details of the room covered we found ourselves again standing a little dazed in our room, not quite sure what to do first.   

Our first impressions of the Gatehouse were that it was bigger on the inside than I thought from the pictures.  The patio was totally private and the canopy of trees over it made is seem more tucked in the jungle than hanging out into the road.  We had been joking that moving from the Penthouse to the Gatehouse was a bit of a hero to zero move.  When faced with the reality, I had no doubt we were going to be happy there. 

We had decided before we left home that we would treat our 3 days at Catcha as though we were in an all inclusive.  We wouldn't be ridiculous about it, but we would eat and drink as we wanted and not worry about the tab.  The visa bill would find us eventually, but we didn't need to fuss about it yet.

It was lunchtime, so we decided our first stop would be Ivan's. I already knew it would be the Calypso Trio for me.  Sunshine had a blackberry milkshake (and a sandwich, but he doesn't actually remember it).  Though he wasn't letting it slow him down, he was still not entirely himself.  He claims that milkshake was what finally got his digestive system back to 100%.  After my first few bites I was pretty sure I was going to be very happy here.  Having heard such good things about the food, I was wondering if it would live up to the hype and it absolutely did.


After lunch we claimed a pair of lounge chairs and settle in to do absolutely nothing.  Catcha is such a perfectly calm and peaceful place.  Everyone who was around, which wasn't really very many, seemed to be in a pretty mellow place.  There was absolutely no hustle and bustle.  For the beach die-hards I suspect that is what is missing from Catcha.  For us, that's the reason I'll be back this year.

It was Saturday and Luciano was performing at Seastar.  Before sunset we headed back to the room to clean-up and bit and get changed.  From the deck at Pisces I hear a voice exclaim, "Is that a Cherry North I see?"

There was boardie Mamade11 .  We'd been chatting on the board and knew we would likely be seeing each other around and she and her partner Frank were moving down to CocoLaPalm the day before we were.  It was great to put a face to the name.  Another boardie, Irie Always had very kindly offered to book a table for us all at the show, as they were checking into Seastar that day.  We made plans to meet up at Ivan's bar a little while later to walk up the lane together.
Our first sunset at Catcha did not disappoint.


It was nice to see the activity at Rick's, but it was also nice not to be a part of it.

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## murph

Loving the report! I agree... its making my day as well!!!

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## JitterBug

i loved my stay at catcha also . . .

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## iowagirl

Oooooh, CherryNorth - I'm so excited for this part of your trip and to hear about Catcha generally and the Gatehouse specifically.  I'll be spending my first night ever there in less than a month!!  Can't wait to hear more - thank you!!!

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## Misti1

This:

. I had packed and repacked, second and third guessing most every choice. I don't know why I bothered. Judging by the pictures I appear to have only worn two things the entire time.

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## Jim-Donna

LOL Cherry, Jim and I also LOVE the Penthouse... <3 . Keep it coming. TY

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## Pisces

Great and easy vibe to your writing style...you tell a fantastic story, I can picture it all.

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## bjritz

Just great! Love the pictures and the great writing. It is fun to look through another's eyes at these Negril resorts, roads and restaurants. You have a great eye!

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## CherryNorth49

Walking up the lane to Seastar was a really nice experience.  There was a group of young teenage boys coming up the lane at the same time.  They'd been on the cliffs diving.  They had that universal swagger that only boys who aren't quite men can achieve.   They were a pretty jovial bunch.  At one point one of them said to me "You know you never need to be afraid walking on this lane.  Everyone here will take care of you."  In that moment I felt the impact of Seastar's commitment to be part of the community.  We weren't going to some gated resort trying to keep the locals at bay.  As a result, I felt as a guest I was welcome in the community as well.

We arrived and met Irie Always and her husband Charlie.  They are regulars at Seastar and our table couldn't have been more front and centre.  They were the warmest and kindest hosts.  One of my few regrets from this trip was that our paths didn't cross more often.

Having never been to a regular show, I don't know how big the crowds get, but it seemed very available inch of the place was jammed with tables.


The food on the buffet was good and despite the huge crowd, the bar was managing to keep up.   Stephen West and the Seastar Drummers were all on their A game.  




The stress of the travel day had pretty much wiped out Mamade11's other half.  Not long after dinner, she took him back to Catcha, returning in record time.  It was very nice, the Seastar driver had insisted on giving them a ride.  We spotted a few people from the pub crawl and headed over to say hello (one of which I just discovered was boardie Rocknrollfarmer).  Random Bob had indeed made it to the show.  He was traveling solo, so we invited him to join our little party.

Irie Always and Mamade11 were dancing machines.  They sure seemed to be having a really great time.  On another day I might have been right up there with them, but that just wasn't my mood that day. Isn't that one of the nicest things about Negril?  Within reason, you can pretty much do things in your own way and time; everything is all IRIE.


When Luciano took the stage the crowd went wild.  It was a heck of a show and I feel really lucky to have seen him so up close and personal.  The man just would not cooperate and stand still so I could take his picture!  Every shot is really just a blurry mess.

After the show and as the party wound down we said our goodbyes and wandered down the lane.  We were still pretty stoked and feeling no pain, so made the likely unwise decision to pour another round and head to the cliffs.  I think I gave the poor security guard heart failure when I did my level best to take a header down the stairs.  Sunshine is more used to it as even sober as a church mouse I am rather clumsy.  If I tell you walked into a door, it isn't a line. I actually walked into a door.  No harm was really done, other than to my drink.  With my solemn promise not to move from my lounger, Sunshine went back to the room to refill it.  We hung out for a while under the stars just marveling at the day and trip so far.  Eventually we climbed carefully back up the stairs and called it a day.

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## CherryNorth49

> i love your writing style . . . your trip report is the highlight of my day . . .





> Loving the report! I agree... its making my day as well!!!





> Great and easy vibe to your writing style...you tell a fantastic story, I can picture it all.





> Just great! Love the pictures and the great writing. It is fun to look through another's eyes at these Negril resorts, roads and restaurants. You have a great eye!


That is very kind of all of you to say.  Knowing that you are enjoying following along totally makes my day  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

> Oooooh, CherryNorth - I'm so excited for this part of your trip and to hear about Catcha generally and the Gatehouse specifically.  I'll be spending my first night ever there in less than a month!!  Can't wait to hear more - thank you!!!


I went back through my photos to see what photos I might have of the room, but neither of us seemed to really take any.  I have three pictures of a toilet paper roll from the Penthouse and not a single interior shot of the Gatehouse.  That just doesn't seem right.  I will try and do better when we arrive in 11 days.  No promises, but maybe I'll even manage to share while we are there.

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## CherryNorth49

> LOL Cherry, Jim and I also LOVE the Penthouse... <3 . Keep it coming. TY


It is magic.  It's the kind of space where I might actually pick my dates around its availability!

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## CherryNorth49

> This:
> 
> . I had packed and repacked, second and third guessing most every choice. I don't know why I bothered. Judging by the pictures I appear to have only worn two things the entire time.


And here I am a year later, kind of doing the same thing.  Well at least writing this report is taking up a good amount of repacking time!

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## nutz4travel

Loving your TR CherryNorth!  Looking forward to more  :Smile:

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## billndonna

Your still doing a great job of keeping our attention Cherry but you have to make this last 10 more days before we head out to make our next report!!

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## mamade11

OMG  I wondered on here and a trip report from CherryNorth - SOO excited.  Even when I realized you had that picture of us dancing and
me dying of humiliation up there not knowing how to quite shake my butt like she wanted me to!!!!
Oh how I wish we were coming back this year!  I'm going to have to relive last year through your report and hopefully it can hold me over until we can get back.  Damn.... why did we have to try Mexico this year!! It was nice, but just not quite the same.
I hope you enjoy your trip this year - but I know you and Sunshine will  :Smile:    And as I have told you before, you writing is sooo awesome!!!!  And IrieAlways did snag us some great seats for the show!!

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## Smokin Kevan

Awesome report! I love seeing the view thru eyes that are reasonably new to the experience,
as compared to some of us... These reports replenish my love of Jamaica, in a different way...
It reminds me of the initial fire to return back to Negril and Jamaica... P.s... As a writer, I can totally dig 
your style... Just really getting started (page 4) and looking forward to the vibes

Thank you so much.

Happy Travels

Skb

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## irie always

Oh Dear Lord - I had completely forgotten about the attempt at jiggling our butts like those dancer gals do !  Oh that was too funny, obviously I was well past the "I'm too shy" phase  :Smile:  
mamade11 not to late to plan a February trip  :Smile:  
CherryNorth - thanks for the memories ........

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## CherryNorth49

> OMG  I wondered on here and a trip report from CherryNorth - SOO excited.  Even when I realized you had that picture of us dancing and
> me dying of humiliation up there not knowing how to quite shake my butt like she wanted me to!!!!
> Oh how I wish we were coming back this year!  I'm going to have to relive last year through your report and hopefully it can hold me over until we can get back.  Damn.... why did we have to try Mexico this year!! It was nice, but just not quite the same.
> I hope you enjoy your trip this year - but I know you and Sunshine will    And as I have told you before, you writing is sooo awesome!!!!  And IrieAlways did snag us some great seats for the show!!


So good to see you back on the boards!  I am sorry that you won't be getting back this year.  Just think of how much more you will appreciate Negril having just contrasted it against Mexico.  I'm not done with you in this report yet - you haven't introduced me to the overproof rum yet!  Sunshine sends a big hi hello your way.  Pass on our best to Frank too  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

> Oh Dear Lord - I had completely forgotten about the attempt at jiggling our butts like those dancer gals do !  Oh that was too funny, obviously I was well past the "I'm too shy" phase  
> mamade11 not to late to plan a February trip  
> CherryNorth - thanks for the memories ........


If you have a "I'm to shy" phase, I did not witness it.  I think you both were showing the dancers how it was meant to be done  :Cool: 

Mamade, you should listen to Irie Always.  February is already next year...

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 7

 "I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string. 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

I'll start this day by saying we had a perfect day.  Not a really good day, an actual perfect day.  As with beauty, perfection is in the eye of the beholder but to us, this was one of those days where everything that happened did so in just the right way and at just the right time.  Every little detail of the day was just exactly right.  I figure if we are lucky, we all might get ten perfect days in a lifetime.  Sunshine and I both agree this was one of ours.

We awoke that morning in the cool darkness of the Gatehouse well rested and rather amazingly, not hung over.   With no plans to move beyond the walls of Catcha that day, we got into our swim/lounge wear and headed to the cliffs.  Our same loungers from the day before were still open, so we staked our claim and then wandered into Ivan's for breakfast.

This was the view from our table.  I look at this picture and I know I was there because I took the darn thing.  Somehow though, it still doesn't seem like a place that beautiful and serene could actually exist on this earth.  It seems even more amazing that they'd let me in.


I did not understand the brilliance of having no outside guests until 5pm until I experienced it.  It creates a very relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.  So many of the cottages and rooms have such lovely porches and balconies that I think a lot of people actually spend most of their time in their private space.  This leaves a lot more lounging spots on cliffs than people who want them.  This picture was taken at 10:30 in the morning; no need to get up early to reserve a good spot here.

So getting back to Ivan's, did somebody say stuffed johnnie cake?  Well we will be having a couple of orders of those please and a fruit platter to share.  We are totally worth the extra couple of bucks for the freshly squeezed juice.  I think it is food like this that had me waking up fresh as a daisy each morning, despite my indulgent behaviour the day before.


It was so nice to just sign everything back to the room.  We never tipped that way though. I had gone to our bank before leaving home and got a wad of $1 and $5 bills.  We made sure to always have small bills on hand so we could tip the staff throughout the day.  It seemed the surest way to make sure that the money got into the right hands the moment is was earned.

Happy and full we settle into our loungers.  It isn't long before the heat of the sun had me seeking a bit of relief.  I love that little pool.  They must be chilling the water, because it is just so refreshing.  My comfort completely restored it was back to the loungers, our books and the view.


Breakfast was pretty satisfying, so we opted for a blended lunch.  I don't know what Sunshine picked, but it was yummy.  It might not have been the only one.

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## gibby701

Great report and pix...quite the adventure so far...many similarities to our two previous trips...looking forward to more...please!!!

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## Seveen

i don't see a picture --- and i'm craving that view lol

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## CherryNorth49

The whole vibe at Catcha changes at 5pm.  There is a different energy in the air as business in the restaurant and the bar picks up.  I think after the calm of the day it is a welcome change.  It is fun watching the first time visitors walk out to the cliffs with wonder in their eyes.  I recognized the look from such moments as the two of us the day before.

Sunshine was eager to sample some of the funky fungi he had picked up from Connie.  We agreed that they were unlikely to hurt the sunset any, so when we went to back to the room to clean up a bit, we munched on a few. 

One of the nooks a bit lower down on the cliff had been vacated and we made ourselves at home.  Sunshine had the sudden need to take my picture from just about every angle imaginable.  He did get some good ones.


I know they aren't even remotely Jamaican, but I do love me a good frozen margarita.  I had promised myself at least one on the trip and tonight was going to be the night.  Sunshine left me with the setting sun and headed up to the bar. 


He returned with this glorious mountain of margarita in a beautiful hand blown glass.  It was perfect.  I was terrified I was going to break the glass, but it was so worth it.  A swear the lovely presentation made the drink taste that much better.  It was so good I had another.


We could hear the buzz of the dinner rush up above us.  I know from a few back-and-forths to the bathroom that is was really pretty busy.  It was like we were in our own little universe.  There were all these diners above us staring out at the sea with no idea we were lurking one level down on the cliff face, totally obscured from sight.   We'd found our groove and were having a ball.  At one point I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face.  I had resorted to using the hem of my dress to mop the tears away, which seemed to only make me laugh harder.  Laughing until it hurts is good for the soul.

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## CherryNorth49

> i don't see a picture --- and i'm craving that view lol


How's that for quick service?  :Wink:

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## CherryNorth49

I think it was about 8:30 when we finally wandered up to get some dinner.  The bar was still busy but things had slowed in the restaurant.  When we walked up the stairs together, one of the waitresses simply asked "Are you ready?"

With a nod, she led us over to the high table by the pool which was all beautifully decorated.  It sure felt like the best seat in the house.  It also totally suited the 'lost in our own little world' day we'd been having.  It felt like we'd gotten the elements of the Night of a 100 Candles we'd appreciate most without have asked for a thing.


Sunshine had the pineapple chicken.  I had the seafood linguine.  He let me have a bite of his.  Yummy, but nothing could have possibly been better than that bowl of linguine.  The pasta was perfectly cooked and though the sauce was rich, it wasn't overwhelming.  I loved that there was fish in it too, not just seafood.  He thought his was the best, so I guess we each chose really well.


Though we absolutely didn't have room for it, when our waitress came to ask if we wanted to desert we couldn't say no.  She was about to turn to get us menus when instead I asked, "If you could only have one, what would you chose?"

Without pause, she replied, "Peanut butter swirl cheesecake."

"Sounds perfect; one slice and two forks, please!"

As we waited for her return we looked around.  We were the only people in that half of the restaurant.  So we pulled out a sub and lit it up.  When our waitress returned with our cake, we clearly caught her off guard.  For a moment that perfectly composed wait staff veneer dropped and a genuine laugh bubble out.  She caught herself quickly and with an "It's all irie," she placed the cheesecake slice between us and left us to our dessert.  She'd made a good choice, it was so good we almost licked the plate.

When we finally returned to the Gatehouse, we sat out for a bit on our patio.  The street was hopping and we really enjoyed listening to the locals coming and going.  There seemed to be a bit of a gathering at the base of Seastar lane, at least that is what is sounded like from our vantage point.  It was nice to hear but not be seen.  When we eventually called it a night, it was the happy sounds of the neighborhood that lulled us both to sleep.

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## gerryg123

I can relate to all of this. Great report so far!

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## Seveen

you definitely GET IT! and you all have so much more to do --- lol --- gotta get your own driver for the day

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## Kiknback

Great report!  Thanks!  Riding me over until our trip perfectly!

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## murph

Ditto that Kikn!!

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## mamade11

> So good to see you back on the boards!  I am sorry that you won't be getting back this year.  Just think of how much more you will appreciate Negril having just contrasted it against Mexico.  I'm not done with you in this report yet - you haven't introduced me to the overproof rum yet!  Sunshine sends a big hi hello your way.  Pass on our best to Frank too


LOL the overproof rum!!!   Please send my hello to Sunshine  :Smile:  

Between you and Irie Always I was actually checking airfare for February!!  Oh how I wish - Once Bri is out of college I'm hoping not to have to think so hard on planning a trip!!!    I am going to play the lottery each day and cross my fingers.

I agree so much about Catcha with you.  It is such a special place.

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## IRIEchic

Cherry really nice pics Sunshine took of you...
Thanks so much for your report now I'm considering staying at the cliffs some day  :Embarrassment:

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## justchuck

Fantastic report!  Keep it coming!

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## booger

"The whole vibe at Catcha changes at 5pm. There is a different energy in the air as business in the restaurant and the bar picks up. I think after the calm of the day it is a welcome change."

That sums it up so well. Catcha is just an awesome place with a wonderful vibe. As you continue to return you will really get to appreciate the staff.........

thanks for sharing

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## Crusher

Beauty of a report so far. You like to post like I do with some words and a picture to capture and relate what you are talking about. Look forward to continuing to follow. Hope my report in January does us Canadians justice!  :Smile:

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## bjritz

Your pictures are marvelous!

Not often someone shares their perfect day with perfect strangers, thanks. You relay the vibe, the stream of consciousness of your day as it flows from dawn through the ebbs and flows of drink, food, smoke and smiles, in a provocative way winding down to rolling into blissful sleep. This report is provoking me to book, damn it!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 8

 I've got nothing to do today but smile. 
― Paul Simon

Well, what do you do after having had an absolutely perfect day?  Of course, there is the see if you can make it two in row approach.  Instead we decided to just be thankful it happened at all while quietly hoping that there was not some karmic force at work waiting to deliver a giant wallop when we least expected it.

This day at Catcha started out very much as it had the day before.  I love how dark the Gatehouse is.  Personally, I find light far more of an enemy to sleep than noise.  Not that there was that much of it, but scooters zooming, dogs barking or stereos blaring aren't likely to bother me at all.  I can sleep right through.   The gatehouse was cool and dark, so it was not an early start to the day.

Ivan's for breakfast and then to my lounger.  As its the third day my butt has been on the same chair, it has officially become my lounger.  You all can use it when I'm not around, but I'm retaining my claim.

The sea seemed relatively calm, so I decided it was time we went for a swim.  Good friends of ours had loaned us snorkel gear, which was at risk of starting to collect dust.  I don't know when I became a total fraidy cat about swimming in deep water, but it appeared as though I had.  Though a bit of a distant memory, I was a competitive swimmer all through high school.  I spent almost as many hours each week in the pool as I did in school. I may not be as fit as I once was, but I'm not at immediate risk of drowning. 

I go to one of the lowest platforms at Catcha.  Sunshine goes for the giant leap into the sea and comes up all smiles.  I tense up and instead end up backing down the ladder.  Just like removing a band-aid, entering the water is best done quickly.  Instead, I'm drawing out the misery.  At the bottom of the ladder and in water already up to my knees I 'jump' in.  Sunshine had a pool noodle ready for me.  Good thing, because the stress of that stupid ladder has my heart going a treat.  I don't know how long we were actually in the water, but a part of me spent the whole time dreading the fact I was going to have to go back up the ladder.  I roll my eyes at myself sometimes.

All that said it was still fun splashing about. 


It was great to see Catcha from the water.  It gave me a different perspective on how perfectly tucked into the cove the resort really is.


We hadn't brought fins, just the masks and snorkels.  Next time I will get fins from the office, so moving about is a bit easier.  I didn't realize they had snorkel equipment available for guests to use.  I might not have dragged my own down if I had known.

Later, when I really examined the water issue, I came to the conclusion that it isn't really the water that is the challenge.  The waves pushing me into the rocks freak me out.  I am not a big fan of heights and I don't like ladders.  So the water itself is good, it's getting in and out that is the problem.  

Was it wrong of me to email this picture to my colleagues at about 3pm that Monday afternoon?


We pretty much spent the afternoon in la la land and it was good.  I had grand designs on seeing the neighborhood around Catcha, but it was not meant to be.  We talk about sand gravity, but what do you call it on the cliffs?  Whatever it is, we had a serious case of it.

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## CherryNorth49

> As you continue to return you will really get to appreciate the staff.........


I am very much looking forward to that being the case.  I have heard such great stories on the board of other's interactions (yours included  :Smile: ) with resort staff and the locals in general and I want those experiences for us too.  It is something I thought we might get a bit more of on this last trip, but moving to the West End was like being a newbie all over again.  I was just so sucked into the physical beauty, atmosphere and Sunshine's company.

I really believe Negril is worth making the effort to get to know.  We are in it for the long haul.  Part of why we chose Seastar for our upcoming trip is it seems like it will lend itself really well to getting out and exploring a bit more. We've got a few days at Catcha first to unwind.  Then it will be time for us to get out onto the road!

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## CherryNorth49

> Beauty of a report so far. You like to post like I do with some words and a picture to capture and relate what you are talking about. Look forward to continuing to follow. Hope my report in January does us Canadians justice!


Thank you.  I look forward to reading/seeing your report.  We'll be in withdrawal and needing our fix!

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## CherryNorth49

> Your pictures are marvelous!
> 
> Not often someone shares their perfect day with perfect strangers, thanks. You relay the vibe, the stream of consciousness of your day as it flows from dawn through the ebbs and flows of drink, food, smoke and smiles, in a provocative way winding down to rolling into blissful sleep. This report is provoking me to book, damn it!


Book it!  Then come back and tell us all about it  :Smile:

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## nutz4travel

> [/SIZE]


LOL - I don't think so, but they might disagree  :Smile: 

I call it Cliff Gravity (I know, not very original) and I find it much stronger than sand gravity, especially when at Catcha.  I love that place, hopefully I can talk Mr. Nutz into a return visit sometime soon, but he really loves the beach...

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## JitterBug

what a wonderful way to start my day, reading your report. . . . thank you. i feel like i'm right along with you . . .

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## rocknrollfarmer

Here's some of our friends, who we regularly keep in contact with. First of all Garnett, who we met at Couples Negril about 6 years ago. Now we go to their home on top road in Little London. Wife Camesha, daughters Colleen & Carla {who we met when she was just 2 months old} plus we also know some of Garnett's neighbors. Like Clifton, miss Cherry, Rasta Donnie.  Paul Sundal, the amazing singing bartender from Club Riu.  Carron, at the guard shack at Coco, and of course Lenbert!   Lenbert for president!  I'm thinking I'm missing somebody..   But , yeah the friends made and to be made are to be treasured and fun!  Like Jimmy Cliff said "We all are one"  or Bob "One love".. Let's see, as I'm looking at the Calendar.... we are at 17 days. soon come.  Oh, I forgot Clive & Judith & children Stacy, mickey, collette & prince. You'll see Clive & Judith's    "Cold Beer joint" on the left side of the road, before the bridge on the road to Sav.    Stop in, they'd love to see ya.  Respect mon'

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## Misti1

Catcha is my magic place and the final knock out punch I take newbies to to  completely spring them on Jamaica

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## CherryNorth49

What separates a perfect day from a just really fantastic day?  In this case, the differences were pretty minor.  I spent half an hour figuring out what to do when Sunshine's Kobo completely froze up  thank goodness for the guest computer at Catcha.  A little later I was walking out to the cliffs with my bag when I suddenly felt a cool trickle down my leg.  My chug jug has opened in my bag and soaked everything.  Thankfully there wasn't much in it and it was only water, but perfect days don't include pulling your smart phone out of a puddle in the bottom of your bag.

When Ivan's opened to the world at 5pm, it filled up pretty quickly.  There was a group of a dozen or so who had come from Hedo and they were a lively bunch.  One couple pulled away from the group and as he led his girlfriend to the loungers across from us, the fellow kind of blurted out to me, "Beautiful place isn't it?"

Next thing we know he is down on one knee, with a ring box in hand.  We had front row seats.  She seemed genuinely surprised and totally thrilled.  It caused a great deal of celebration amongst the group and that kind of energy is infectious.  Apparently commitment was in the air, as the Night of a 100 Candles also included a proposal that evening, though we only heard about it after the fact.  If popping the question is on your to do list, do consider Catcha as the venue.

Sunset was another absolute winner.  We were on a real streak.


Dinner was Ivan's again, but that was certainly no hardship.  For a change we were on the opposite side of the restaurant that night, seated right along the cliffs.  We were in fact perched right above where we had been giggling like fools the night before.  That linguine was so good I was really tempted to have it again, but opted for the pineapple snapper instead.  I like that the pineapple sauce has a bit more heat than I'd expect so it isn't too sweet. It was a good choice.  Sunshine had the pineapple chicken again; he'd found something that tasted good and agreed with his system and he wasn't deviating.


As we wandered into Ivan's to settle our bar tab and get some ice, we ran into Rob and Lisa having a later dinner in the bar, along with another boardie from Thunder Bay, which is kind of in our neck of the woods.  We stood around and chatted for about 15 minutes until their meal arrived.  We settled up and headed back for a little private time.

Sunshine has a travel cribbage board he has been carting around on trips since somewhere near age seven.  We ended the night on our patio playing cards and enjoying the sounds of the comings and goings on the road.  If you play cribbage, his hand should tell you everything you need to know about how my game was going.  I will be demanding a rematch this time around.


Tomorrow we'd be moving down to the beach, but we had miles to cover before we'd start our adventures there.

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 9

 Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. 
― John Muir

Sunshine had been pretty adamant on our first trip that we stick to doing not much of anything at all.  Having extended this trip to ten days, he agreed that I could claim one of those extra days for an excursion.

Since there is technically a three hour span of homelessness when you are changing hotels, I thought moving day would be the right day for us to explore a little further afield.  Besides, since our move was only really 8km, I thought would could trick ourselves into feeling like we had actually moved some distance by taking a very indirect route.

Having heard about a lot of great excursions on the board, it wasn't easy to decide what we wanted to do.  I wanted to get back into hills and Sunshine didn't want the drive to be too long.  It would just be the two of us, so we also wanted to choose something suited to that.  Pelican Bar looks great, but it seems like the kind of place best enjoyed with a bit bigger group.  We settled on the Mayfield Falls river walk and had made arrangements with Kingsley for the trip.

Breakfast at Catcha did not disappoint.  Really, nothing at Catcha had been disappointing.  The only let down was leaving.  With checking out came the moment of truth; it was finally time to add up all those tabs at the bar and restaurant we'd been so carefully ignoring.  I have to admit that I was pretty pleasantly surprised.  I believe by West End standards, Catcha is in the more expense half, but I think it provides tremendous value. 

Kinsgley's timing was perfect as he was pulling in just as we were finishing up.  He explained that his other driver Robert would actually be taking us to Mayfield Falls as he also had a number of airport runs booked that day.  He was going to take us down to Xtabi to connect with Robert.  I was a bit surprised, but given Kingsley's reputation, I didn't think he would pass us off to some fool.

In hindsight, I think I threw Kingsley's plans off a bit as I hadn't mentioned in our emails that we'd have our luggage with us.  I don't know what vehicle we were supposed to be in, but I don't think it was supposed to be Kingsley's van.  I am deducing this mostly by body language and actions at the hand off at Xtabi, because I sure didn't understand what either of them was saying to the other.  I have no idea what Kingsley would be driving that day, but as we set off into the hills, Robert was driving us in Kingsley's van.

I was riding shotgun.  Robert proved to be an able driver.  Though I am not the best judge as I am not easily frightened by aggressive driving, I only had one holy crap moment, which I think for a couple hours on the Jamaican roads is pretty good.

I was again doing my best bobble head imitation.  Robert explained the cane fields and wagons as we passed them by.  I was fascinated by the moss that grows on everything, including the power and phone lines.  Kingsley called Robert often to see how we were making out.  I think on one or two calls, he might have also been giving directions.  At one point is seemed like an "Are you sure you want me to take your van down a road with this many potholes?" conversation took place.  

Lest you think we spend all of our Jamaican time in a sandwich haze, it too has its time and place.  We both really wanted to remember the details of this experience and that is more easily achieved with a clear head.  Other than a Red Stripe when we arrived at Mayfield falls, we were teetotallers that afternoon. 

As we traveled along the narrow ridge of a mountain top on a road that was not more than two paved tire tracks half of which were washed out I wondered what mystic forces had conspired to bring me here.  The mountains were forests of palms, flowering trees and bamboo.  Simple homes on sturdy bamboo slits clung to hill sides pitched so steep I didn't know how I'd even stand on them.   This was everything I had hoped to see and somehow more.  I couldn't quite believe that this road was taking me to a spring fed, tropical mountain stream that I was going to get to walk up.  I have no pictures of the drive.  We were too busy just taking it all in.

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## CherryNorth49

When we arrived at Mayfield Falls, Robert parked in the upper lot and walked down the hill with us. 


We paid our entrance fee and bought a round of beer for Robert and ourselves and then we were introduced to our guide Dennis.  He showed us to the lockers and change facilities.  I had water shoes, but Sunshine needed to rent a pair.  I believe they were $6 to rent.  I only had a $10 bill and shop keeper didn't have change.  "I'll have change when you come back," she says.  Hmmm, I wonder how many people actually collect on that.

It was low season and as we were the only ones there, we were getting a private tour.  Once we were ready we met the last member of our little party.  Andy we would be our photographer.  Knowing they did the photos along the walk was part of why I choose Mayfield Falls.  We got home from Negril last year with exactly one picture of the two of us, which was a selfie of us bobbing in the sea.  I figured even on an off day we were likely to do better than that here.  

It is a bit of walk from the start of the trail to the actual river, but it is not very taxing.  It gives you a chance to look across the valley.  


Dennis pointed out various interesting plants along the way.  Coming from a place that becomes a frozen wasteland each winter, I am fascinated by things that grow in places where they thrive all year round.  At one point, he pulled out a cocoa bean pod and gave us each a couple of the nibs.  The white flesh around the nib was sweet and almost gelatinous.  The nib was bitter: very, very bitter.  It was so cool to be able to try it.

We reached where we would enter the river and headed down the hill.  


The river is spring fed and cool but not at all cold.  You can feel the mineral content, it is almost like softened water.  The river walk takes you up a series of small waterfalls.  Each has its own character. There are opportunities for massage.

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## CherryNorth49

The swimmers answer to a tread mill.  Dennis dared us to swim all the way to the far side of the pool, but the current is actually too strong that close to the falls.  Its force ebbs away pretty quickly, so you aren't really in any danger of being swept away.


I could have laid here all day.  It felt like the river was playing with my hair and the sound of it just below my ears was magic.  All under the canopy of giant bamboo stands and trees I couldn't hope to name. 


There were hidden nooks behind the falls.




I have to say that Dennis was awesome at guiding me through the whole experience.  I am not the most coordinate person and can be a bit unsteady on my feet in the best circumstances.  His descriptions of what was happening under the water gave me the confidence to keep stepping boldly.  When I missed he had a firm grip and pulled me along in spite of myself. 


He and Andy made a great team.  It was like a well rehearsed dance.  Dennis would be directing us this way at that and then all of a sudden he'd be pointing a direction and there would be Andy up a hill side or on a rock or in a tree ready to take our picture.  Getting us to smile was not a challenge.

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## JitterBug

that's a very smart move cherry, using the time between hotels for a trip . . .enjoying it all . . .

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## Oncedeported

Thanks for this report Cherry.  Would Mayfield be appropriate with six and nine year old daughters?

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## Kiknback

Loved Mayfield!  The guides there are wonderful!  Keeping everyone upright and safe, your camera dry, and taking pics the whole way!  Thanks for sharing this!




> Thanks for this report Cherry.  Would Mayfield be appropriate with six and nine year old daughters?


Cherry and others can weigh in, but I would probably say no, at least to walk the whole falls area.  It's a bit of a workout climbing some of the falls, at least for a six year old.  Although I am proud to say my 70 year old Mom made it!  The kids will certainly enjoy playing in some of the falls, though, even if they don't walk the whole way.  And it is gorgeous, as well as a pretty drive through the country.  So I will change my answer to a solid maybe.

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## Seveen

look at that GRIN on Sunshine! glad to know you got out and about --- now i know why you didn't answer me before --- you DID get a private driver and hang out! Woot woot!

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## Seveen

> Thanks for this report Cherry.  Would Mayfield be appropriate with six and nine year old daughters?


my son climbed Dunn's at 6 alone - well he climbed with another group while i took pics from the side (bad mommy lol) --- kids are more nimble and have less distance to fall down --- sounds like it could be just the exhausting day every kid needs --- don't forget there's YSL Falls too

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## CherryNorth49

At one point, you can actually swim between the levels of the falls in a series of tunnels.  Sunshine was totally game.


It looked like a really cool experience.  I was caught up in the moment and just like that I was announcing that I wanted to do it too.  I should know better.  I didn't have any swim goggles with me and I don't love having my eyes open under water.  Dennis explains what is going on down there and with a deep breath I go down.  I push forward and as soon as I encounter the darkness of the tunnel I panic.  The smart answer would have been to keep moving forward, but panic and smart aren't often used in the same sentence.  Instead I try to back out the way I came all while trying to surface.  Rather predictably, this resulted in my head meeting the rock with a rather alarming amount of force.

Dennis had at one point explained that all the guides were trained lifeguards.  When I emerged sputtering from the water I felt like I was in good hands.  He wasn't happy jovial Dennis, he was lifeguard Dennis and until he was satisfied that I hadn't hurt my head or neck, he was in charge.  It was all pretty reassuring.  Being mostly embarrassed at having done it, I was eager to just move on.  He offered to go through the tunnel with me, but I'd had all of that kind of fun I was going to have that day.

Not to about to let minor head trauma interfere, when we got to the next pool I was eager to jump right in.


There was more adventurous perch, but based on my love of ladders and heights, I sure as heck wouldn't be headed up.  Sunshine was in his element. Someone said cannonball and that was all the urging he needed.

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## CherryNorth49

Another group had caught up with us at this point.  We'd kind of been dallying along.  At the top of the falls is the washing machine, the largest falls on this stretch and the top of the river walk.  The water is just pounding down.  It is pretty awesome.


We posed for the penultimate photo op and then had a few minutes on our own.


I did not want to get out of the water, but our time was done.  I certainly never felt rushed in the tour, but I figure we had dragged the experience out as long as humanly possible.  Andy disappeared to get on making photo magic and we took the slow jaunt back to the start.


It was along this walk that I have my only complaint about the whole experience.  Our guide started up with the subtle sob story.  I know he works for tips and I had factored that into my costs for the excursion.  We planned to treat him very fairly for his time.  What I didn't need at that was a lesson in how expensive things were for Jamaicans and how they were barely surviving.  These are things I do want to here, but educating me wasn't his purpose.   This was a poorly veiled attempt to guilt me out of my money.  It made me want to give less, not more.  But we didn't.  Those five minutes of conversation did not undo the magic spell cast by the river.

We arrived and after changing walked back to the shop where we had rented Sunshine's shoes.  Turns out it was the photo shop as well.  We went back into Andy's office.  I did a bit of a double take as I just didn't expect to encounter the widescreen Dell setup in the tin roofed cottage in the jungle.

I'd planned to buy the pictures all along and I was really happy with what I saw.  Now we just had to negotiate the price.  Andy directed us back to the lady out front.  She started at $35.  I my mind I had planned to pay $30, but I wanted to give $10 of it to Andy directly, as he was the guy who'd spent the time doing the work.  So we start our little back and forth.

"$35!  No, no, no, I'm not paying $35."

"Okay, for you a special deal, $30."

Well that was too easy.  She clearly still sees me as an easy mark.

"You know all I have is a $20 bill. I will give you $20 right now and we have a deal."

"No, no, no, I can't do it for $20."

"Well a $20 is all I have, as I don't seem to have any change. That is the best I can do."

Her eyes squinted at me a bit at that point.  We both know I'm talking about the change she didn't have for me when we rented to shoes.  In a rather resigned tone, she agreed to the $20 and sent Andy back to burn the CD.

I followed along for one more look, as we wouldn't see the pictures again until we got home to a computer.  He handed me the CD and I handed him a $10, "Thanks for taking such great pictures."  His face split into the biggest, sincerest grin.  He'd done his job well and not asked for thing; he'd earned it.  After all the wonder of the day, that might be the moment I cherish most.

We got a curt goodbye from the women on the way out of the shop.  We passed by one last time on our way out about 10 minutes later.  She was sitting on the porch with Andy and we got a big wave and warm smile, with a shouted, "Hope to see you again!"

The walk back up the hill to the van almost killed me.  We found Robert sitting under a tree, playing dominos with a couple of other taxi drivers.  We told him to finish his game as we admired the country side.

We didn't drive out the way we drove in.  I was starting to wonder if I had lost my mind when nothing seemed familiar.  This route took us through Sav-le-Mar.  I hadn't been joking about not having any change.  I needed a bank machine and was planning on going to the RBC ATM near the roundabout in Negril.  Robert knew where the RBC branch was in Sav and as it has a machine as well, he took us there instead.

I wish I had taken a picture of the sign posted on the locked door to the bank machine.  "Closed Tuesdays from 3:00-3:30."  It is of course Tuesday and it is 3:02.  We went back to the van and said as much to Robert.  He couldn't believe it so got out to check on it himself.  He rattled door enough to have the security guard wander around the corner and confirm that yes indeed, the bank machine was closed.  What are the chances?

We'd both expressed on a couple of occasions how much we enjoyed visiting his country.  As we were passing through a more residential district, Robert asked me if I would want to live in Jamaica.  I had to pause.  I went with an honest response. "I don't actually know if I would.  I don't think I know Jamaica well enough to answer that yet.  Living someplace is very different that being a visitor."  

He seemed to take my answer in stride.  Kingsley called again to see how our return journey had been.  We were happy with our trip with Robert and I told him so.

Before I knew it we were back in Negril.  With a stop at the ATM and another at Shamrock's our excursion for the day was done.  We'd move to a hotel only 8km away from where we started and had taken more than five hours to do it.  We headed into CocoLaPalm to get checked in and hopefully down to the beach in time for the sunset.

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## CherryNorth49

> look at that GRIN on Sunshine! glad to know you got out and about --- now i know why you didn't answer me before --- you DID get a private driver and hang out! Woot woot!


That is exactly it.  I didn't want to give it away  :Smile: 

I am looking forward to doing a more of it this trip.

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## CherryNorth49

> Thanks for this report Cherry.  Would Mayfield be appropriate with six and nine year old daughters?


I want to say yes, because it would be a magic experience at those ages. I would say you were good for sure with the 9 year.   For a 6 year old, I think it very much depends on the kid.  Some kids seem to be part monkey - that type of child would be in their element.  I think it would be important that she be confident in the water and a decent swimmer.  You could join my swim team in the development program starting at age 5.  There were certainly 5 year olds in that group that I would have no qualms about taking on the walk.  There were a couple of times where Dennis was practically lifting me up the falls.  His task would have been much simpler with a child.  He actually could just lift them over the more challenging parts.

I hope that helps!

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## CherryNorth49

> Here's some of our friends, who we regularly keep in contact with. First of all Garnett, who we met at Couples Negril about 6 years ago. Now we go to their home on top road in Little London. Wife Camesha, daughters Colleen & Carla {who we met when she was just 2 months old} plus we also know some of Garnett's neighbors. Like Clifton, miss Cherry, Rasta Donnie.  Paul Sundal, the amazing singing bartender from Club Riu.  Carron, at the guard shack at Coco, and of course Lenbert!   Lenbert for president!  I'm thinking I'm missing somebody..   But , yeah the friends made and to be made are to be treasured and fun!  Like Jimmy Cliff said "We all are one"  or Bob "One love".. Let's see, as I'm looking at the Calendar.... we are at 17 days. soon come.  Oh, I forgot Clive & Judith & children Stacy, mickey, collette & prince. You'll see Clive & Judith's    "Cold Beer joint" on the left side of the road, before the bridge on the road to Sav.    Stop in, they'd love to see ya.  Respect mon'


Hey Farmer, that is a perfect example of the difference between 10 trips and 2.  I hope 8 more visits from now, we'll have our own list!

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## Jim-Donna

Yea CocoLa Palm. SWEET! Your river walk pictures are So Nice!

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## Seveen

love your negotiation skills --- I've learned to use them every where --- Sears, Home Depot, supermarket ---- one of the best things Jamaica has taught me --- HIGGLE!

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## justchuck

> This report is provoking me to book, damn it!


Your report certainly inspired me to book.  I have been travelling to Negril for years but have always travelled during the off season. I have been increasingly curious about a trip at either Christmas or New Years.  Well, this week I booked us a trip over New Years.  Let the countdown begin!

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## shell

Loving your report! So much so that I"m starting to regret going go Barbados this December instead of our usual Negril trip. I knew I would miss going to Negril but its starting to be painful! May just have to find a way to get back sooner! Keep posting.. I"ll suffer through it.  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 10

 Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. 
― Benjamin Franklin

 We arrived at CocoLaPalm and they were expecting us.  For the first time in the trip, someone wanted to see some ID and get my credit card information.  I needed to put $100 deposit down for 'incidentals' which would be refunded at the end of the trip if we hadn't used it.  I have a foot note on that detail.  Other than at Catcha, we were paying in cash everywhere, including Coco; it keeps spending under control.  When we checked out, they refunded the deposit.  However, exchange rates weren't going our way and by the time my credit card had its fees, we were out $19.  So minor really, but if I had known that was going to happen, I would have spent $100 at the bar rather than paying cash for our Red Stripe.

Check in was a breeze and the porter showed us to our room.  I had been disappointed I wasn't able to book a junior suite but as it turns out I needn't have been, because we ended up in one anyway.  Yippee!  Seriously, this room is huge.  It is a big octagon, with a beautiful double vaulted wooden ceiling.  The two queen beds couldn't have taken up 20% of the floor space.  There was table for four, a couch and a big wet bar.  The bathroom had a big open closet, double sinks with something like five feet of counter between them and a double shower.  You could practically park a car in the bathroom and still get ready in the morning.  The balcony was huge, with a table and four chairs and two loungers.  We were towards the street side of the property, overlooking the Coco fountain.  The fountain made great white noise, so we didn't really hear the street.  The greenery in the centre of that section of the property is so lush.  I was totally in love.

We did make it down to the beach in time for sunset.


It was another winner, at least from the beach.


Given these clouds, I don't know how the view would have been on the West End.  Looks like we moved just in time!


If you are ever looking for me in Negril, if it is around sunset I can reliably be found facing west just taking it all in.  Which was exactly were Mamade11 found us.  We swapped stories of the day and she suggested perhaps later we might share a few beverages around the hot tub a little later.  We agreed to the concept.  We each went our own way for dinner.  We'd been in Negril for six days and hadn't had any barrel jerk yet, so our plan was to head across the street to Best in the West.

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## CherryNorth49

Walking back to the room, I discover that the bushes are filled with Christmas lights.  It isn't fully dark yet, so we aren't getting the total effect.   You should know that I have a real soft spot for Christmas lights.  When I say Christmas lights, I mean real lights, not those crap LED things the stores are full of these days.  I kind of feel like I've found a kindred spirit when I see someone else still doing it old school by using the real lights. 

I walk out on to the balcony and it looks like we are perched above a twinkling carpet of Christmas.  


I might have actually squealed.  There might have been clapping too.  So not only am I in this amazing room overlooking a jungle, they've covered it in bright, multicolored Christmas lights.  I don't think anyone on earth could have appreciated that particular room any more than I did. Everything is coming up Cherry.  :Cool: 

Sunshine eventually dragged me back off the balcony, but only for as long as it took to walk across the street, order chicken and bring it back to my twinkly balcony. The chicken was good.  Though we were relying on a year old memory, I still think Step-a-side is better.


Now that we are down on the beach, we can get back to one of our favorite night time activities, standing with our feet in the sea, drink in hand enjoying the night air.  On our way back we reconnect with Mamade11 and decide it's time to take action on that hot tub plan.

We had a great evening with her and Frank.  Mamade arrived with a bottle of over-proof rum and a jug of juice.  Though I know I've had rum punch that included a little over-proof, I'd never mixed it on my own.  Yikes, that stuff is not for the faint of heart.  We hung out for a long time in that hot tub, solving all the world's problems while simultaneously solving none.  What a great spot!  The tub is huge and totally tucked into the trees.  I hate pool setups that make it feel like the whole resort is staring at you from the rooms.   That kind of greenery takes time to grow, even in the tropics.  I wonder if the person who first had the vision is still around to see the plan so beautifully realized.

Eventually the fun of the day had caught up with me and I was ready to call it a night.  We say our goodnights and head for the room.  I'm not handling the transition very well.  It is all getting a little spiny.

So we have three potential explanations for why it is now my turn to be worshiping the porcelain gods.  I may or may not have sustained a minor head injury at Mayfield Falls.  I did just spend 2-3 hours hanging out in a hot tub.  While I was doing that, I was drinking over-proof rum punch, essentially for the first time.  It's my story, so I'm going with head injury.  It was clearly time for bed. Stick a fork in me, I am done.

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## CherryNorth49

> Yea CocoLa Palm. SWEET! Your river walk pictures are So Nice!


Isn't Coco great!  Andy gets most of the photo credits on this one, but we got a few  :Embarrassment: 




> love your negotiation skills --- I've learned to use them every where --- Sears, Home Depot, supermarket ---- one of the best things Jamaica has taught me --- HIGGLE!


I am still such a novice!  I've got to give myself a pep talk every time.  A few more trips and maybe I'll manage to bring the skill home too...it would help save to get back sooner.  :Big Grin:

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## nutz4travel

LOL - clearly a head injury  :Smile:   Can't wait to see Coco all lit up for Christmas and get me some more of that chicken...

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## CherryNorth49

> Your report certainly inspired me to book.  I have been travelling to Negril for years but have always travelled during the off season. I have been increasingly curious about a trip at either Christmas or New Years.  Well, this week I booked us a trip over New Years.  Let the countdown begin!


Yeah, I love being a good influence!  I expect at some point we are going to want to see Negril at high season, but for now we are really into the low season rates.  I'm expecting some more of your awesome pictures when you get back.  :Cool: 




> Loving your report! So much so that I"m starting to regret going go Barbados this December instead of our usual Negril trip. I knew I would miss going to Negril but its starting to be painful! May just have to find a way to get back sooner! Keep posting.. I"ll suffer through it.


Hahaha!  When I started this, I never considered how cruel it might be to others; it's getting me all psyched up but I'm into the single digit fidget.  :EEK!:   If I where you, I'd look into that getting back sooner thing.  Like justchuck!

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## CherryNorth49

> LOL - clearly a head injury   Can't wait to see Coco all lit up for Christmas and get me some more of that chicken...


I hoped you see things my way  :Smile:   You are going to love it, what a great place for around the holidays!  My mouth is watering thinking of that chicken...

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## Lorax2

Damn Cherry, can this trip report get any better?  :Smile:  
Sorry you were feeling under the weather...hot tubs and overproof don't mix too well  :Frown: 
Love the TR, love the pictures, glad you had a great trip.

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 11

  Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream. 
― John Lennon

Our first full day on the beach started well after dawn.  With our complimentary breakfast vouchers in hand, we made it down to the restaurant with minutes to spare.  We contemplated upgrading our order, but decided to just go with the bread and pastry basket.  It's a pretty decent continental breakfast basket.  I'm pretty sure there was fruit, too.


Then there didn't seem to be much more to do that find a pair of loungers and set in to enjoy the day.  Food came to us from the vendors, the most memorable of which was slice of ginger bread, which is one of Sunshine's most favorite things. 

Coco certainly has a beautiful stretch of beach with is so deep.  There is lots of shade available.  I think even at high season, it wouldn't feel all that crowded.  I would guess the resort was at least 65% occupied while we were there.

As the afternoon wore on, the staff and Coco started getting setup for a sunset wedding.  We had front row seats for the setup and as the wedding guests started to gather we wandered off to find less conspicuous seats.  We thought we might have a sub with the sunset and doing that in the middle of someone else's wedding seemed rude.   They could not have asked for a better sunset on their wedding day.


There is a third member of our traveling party.  His name is Bristoe and if elephants needed passports, his would be impressive.  He doesn't get out quite as much as we do, but he certainly seemed to be having his own party with maids each day.  At all three properties, when we returned each day it was to find him in a new pose.   I'm a sucker for flowers and thought this was adorable.

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## CherryNorth49

We had originally tried to book into Idle Awhile, but they had no rooms available.  We could still check out the restaurant though, so we headed over to Chill Awhile for dinner.  We tend to eat really late so are often one of the last groups seated at whatever restaurant we are eating at.  We were finding on this trip that often meant the best tables were reset and waiting for us.  

I ordered the Shrimp Rundown and Sunshine had the Lobster Thermadore.  


He was in heaven.  I was glad the restaurant wasn't busy, because he was having trouble not audibly enjoying his meal.  Mine was just alright.  They were nice shrimp, though I'm not sure they had been deveined as well as they could have been.   My experience with rundown is it is not a spicy dish, but it should still be flavorful.  This one was a bit bland.  The bill gave me a bit of sticker shock, but we had just had shrimp and lobster beach front.  Maybe if I had enjoyed my meal more I would feel we'd got better value. The service was very good, but there was only one other table occupied, so no one was being tested.  

For a time every evening we'd fall into the period where our rhythm became very simple.  We'd head down to the beach to put our feet in the sea.  


We are never purposely in past our ankles, but every once in a while, a particularly big set of waves catches us out and manages to soak our shorts. We bring down our drinks and move about on the edge of the surf.  If you stand still in matter of minutes you'll find yourself sunk into the sand up to your ankles.  I let that happen again and again.  We talk about everything and nothing.  Either the call of nature or an empty cup chases us away.  If the bar is open, the solution might be simple.  If not, it might be a trip back to the room.  Then we repeat.  When we eventually call it a night, we are a little salty and a little sandy and it's all irie.

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## CherryNorth49

> Damn Cherry, can this trip report get any better?  
> Sorry you were feeling under the weather...hot tubs and overproof don't mix too well 
> Love the TR, love the pictures, glad you had a great trip.


Aww, thanks Lorax  :Embarrassment:   Negril gives me such good material to work with!

I have certainly learned to treat the over-proof with the respect it deserves!  I'm hoping that is a lesson I don't need to learn again.

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## mamade11

I go with the head injury too but I'm sorry you weren't feeling good after the rum  :Frown:    I have always been told hot tubs and alcohol don't mix - but in Jamaica I've been known to break my own rules when it comes to rum!!!
I am so enjoying your report!!! Bringing back great memories.
But..... will we have to wait until next year to hear how much fun you have this year - maybe some sneak reports!!!

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## Seveen

thank you thank you!

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## ladyluckireland

Can't wait to read more we are going in April on our first trip and i love trip reports

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## bjritz

This report just keeps delivering! Loved the idea of excursion during hotel transfer. Your day looked wonderful and the smiles say it all. I like your descriptions so far of CCLP sounds fantastic. Loved your beach shadow picture. Each new chapter is a thrill, thanks and keep it coming!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 12

 Earth's crammed with heaven...
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes. 
― Elizabeth Barrett Browning


This beach day starts like most, down to Marley-by-the-Sea for breakfast.  Tough call on whether Catcha or Coco has the better morning view, as they are just so different.  Either one is sure better than the snow banks at home.


Afterwards we wandered back to the room and enjoyed a bit of time on our huge patio.  We had exhausted our supply of Shamrocks O.J. so decided to make the walk up the road to get more.  Even at a slow shuffle, it really wasn't that far a walk. Fifteen minutes maybe? I'd walk a lot further for that juice.

When hunger called we decided to wander over to Sunbeach for some lunch.  They were setting up the stage for a show that night.


This day was probably the most questionable we had, weather wise.  It was overcast most of the day and it rained periodically.  By periodically I mean each time we thought we might get to some loungers on the beach.  It went kind of like this.  Pick lounger, spread out towel and look up to feel the first drop of rain.  Shrug, fold up towel and seek shelter.  Oh well, tough luck having to drink Red Stripe at the bar instead.

There is something fundamentally different about the vibe on the beach versus the West End.  A year later, I am still struggling to put my finger on what that difference actually is. When people call Negril the Capital of Casual, I feel that more on the beach than I do on the West End.  Up on the cliffs as the day wound down, I found myself feeling like getting cleaned up a bit before heading into the evening.  I straightened my cowlicks and even put a spot of makeup on a couple of times.  On the beach, I didn't feel that urge.  Maybe its the fact that there is always a little bit of sand everywhere that makes the extra effort seem kind of unnecessary. 

Another big plus on our room location was that as the sun began to set, instead of being roasted on our balcony, the greenery acted as a lovely shade.

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## iowagirl

Aahhhhh.  Sunbeach.  Our favorite beach bar and lunch spot!  At least you had a great place to chill on a weird weather day!  

And btw - thank you so much for the thorough West End (especially Catcha!) report and your attempt to differentiate the vibes there and on the beach.  Last year was our first cliffs stay, but we were way out at the Westender - which was truly wonderful - but a little remote.  We are looking forward to experiencing that vibe in a few weeks!

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## CherryNorth49

> thank you thank you!


You are very welcome!




> Can't wait to read more we are going in April on our first trip and i love trip reports


I feel pretty confident saying you will absolutely love it.  Based on your handle, are you coming from Ireland?  That will be quite a journey!  I had the chance to visit Ireland for the first time this past St. Paddy's day.  It was a great experience.




> This report just keeps delivering! Loved the idea of excursion during hotel transfer. Your day looked wonderful and the smiles say it all. I like your descriptions so far of CCLP sounds fantastic. Loved your beach shadow picture. Each new chapter is a thrill, thanks and keep it coming!


Thank you.  :Embarrassment:  I do highly recommend doing an excursion on moving day. It was a lot of fun. Depending on where you are going and in what kind of vehicle, it might make sense to make arrangements for your luggage not to make the full journey.  I'm sure either Catcha or Coco would have held our bags as we made the trek.  I have been dragging my feet figuring out what we are going to do this year - I'm too busy writing about last year!  Looking at my ticker, I had best get on it...

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## CherryNorth49

> Aahhhhh.  Sunbeach.  Our favorite beach bar and lunch spot!  At least you had a great place to chill on a weird weather day!  
> 
> And btw - thank you so much for the thorough West End (especially Catcha!) report and your attempt to differentiate the vibes there and on the beach.  Last year was our first cliffs stay, but we were way out at the Westender - which was truly wonderful - but a little remote.  We are looking forward to experiencing that vibe in a few weeks!


Catcha is pure magic.  You are in for such a treat!  I feel like going to Negril is like stepping out of this world.  Catcha was like stepping out of time entirely.  Hang in there. You're almost at the single digit fidget.  :Big Grin:

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## CherryNorth49

> I go with the head injury too but I'm sorry you weren't feeling good after the rum    I have always been told hot tubs and alcohol don't mix - but in Jamaica I've been known to break my own rules when it comes to rum!!!
> I am so enjoying your report!!! Bringing back great memories.
> But..... will we have to wait until next year to hear how much fun you have this year - maybe some sneak reports!!!


You almost broke me, but I pretty much bounced right back! All those good Jamaican eats helped fix me back up.  Really, it was all my own doing.  I know the hot tub rule, but we were having so much fun!

If we are going by the pattern so far, the marathon report is probably another year away.  It seems to take time for the story to come together in my mind. I'm hoping to have better luck technology wise this year, so I might manage to post some pics along the way.  No promises though, because once my feet hit the ground, I get a little caught up in the moment.  :Cool: 

I suspect

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## CherryNorth49

Somewhere during this day, my smart phone had its second encounter with my chug jug.   The darn thing opened up in my bag, soaking the contents including my phone.  I don't know whether I was more annoyed at the jug at myself for still using it.  I didn't notice it right away though, so I have no idea how long my phone was in the puddle.  It seemed to still be working so I dried it off and went about my day.

Our streak of fantastic sunsets was finally at an end.  If everyone was perfect, would we appreciate them as much?  


After sunset, while we were playing in the surf, we couldn't help but notice there seemed to be a bit of party going on at Sunbeach.  The band was playing and they had set up a bunch of tables set right out on the beach.  Drawn in by the music, we thought we'd head that way for dinner.

The staff was working so hard to achieve this fine dining on the beach vibe.  Dennis was expertly serving as Matre 'D.  It was candles and white table clothes, albeit on plastic patio furniture.  It still all came together as a bit of a pinch me moment.  We are sitting on the beach, in the sand with the sound of the surf on one side and reggae on the other.  

At some point, we gained a new friend.  I'm hoping it says something positive about us that strange dogs seem to find us to be good napping companions.


As the meal wore on, we discovered one drawback to dining in the deep sand.  We were slowing sinking.  When we first arrived the table was a normal height.  Eventually I'd sunk far enough that I actually couldn't get out of my chair.  I was tucked too close to the table and had sunk far enough the geometry just wasn't working any more.  It desperate times, I could have slid out of the chair and managed to get out using a crawl under the table approach, but I think I aged out of that approach somewhere around kindergarten.  I didn't really want to draw attention to my dilemma, as hilarious as I found it.

Eventually the call of nature brought the issue to a head.  I leaned over to Sunshine, "Honey, I can't get out of my chair.  I don't want to make a scene, can you help?"  

So he made like the perfect gentleman and jumped up to 'pull my chair out' for me.  That statement has never been so literal, as he was pulling me and chair a foot out of the sand.  The whole thing was just striking us so funny.  When I returned, he had moved my chair a bit, but the sand was already loosened and as I sat back down the chair, I sunk right back down.  I was in stitches laughing, while trying to still trying to remain dignified.  The harder I laughed, the more the chair sunk.  I don't know how well we succeeded at the dignified part, but we were having fun.  By the time we left, I could almost rest my chin on the table.  The legs of both our chairs were almost completely buried in the sand. 

We got some star gazing in that night.  The clouds must have cleared out at some point.  The moon was coming up much later now, so we had a period of darkness when the stars got to show off to their full effect.  Normally that would make me feel like just a speck in the universe, but somehow in Negril it just feels right.

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## nutz4travel

When we were at Coco a couple of weeks ago, every night it was calm, a bunch of people would go down to the water to see the dinoflagellates.  Apparently they luminesce when you move your hands in the water.  Not sure if it's seasonal or not, but you might want to try it next trip, add it to your "nightly routine"  :Smile:   I didn't try it myself, I'm not going in the ocean in the dark, but many did and they claim to have seen them...

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## justchuck

Thanks, always a pleasure to read!

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## Seveen

i _was_ patiently waiting lol

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 13

  Summer's lease hath all too short a date. 
― William Shakespeare,
 
Lazy found a new level on our last day.  We pretty much spent the first half of the day in bed.  It was as though we could feel the trip winding down.  We took an 'If we didn't get on with the day, the day wouldn't end' approach.  We actually told housekeeping not to bother with our room.  We didn't want to vacate it long enough for them to clean it.

I had put my phone on the charger the night before and I when I checked it in the morning, nothing had happened.  The battery was down to less than 10%.  I plugged it back in and checked back a while later, not only is it not charging, but it won't connect to wi-fi and I'm down to about 2% battery.  Within the hour, my phone was a paper weight.  Now really, who cares about a phone on vacation, right?  That would depend on if you had been dumb enough not print out any of your return flight information stored on said device.   So I knew we were leaving the next day in the afternoon, but I didn't actually know what time.  I didn't want to alarm Sunshine, about the trouble with my phone or my total lack of information about how we were getting home.  I also don't want to admit I'd made such a rookie mistake.  E-tickets are great, but in paradise having a paper backup is even better.

We didn't have much for food supplies in the room so finally about 3 pm, the need to eat chased us out of our room.  I don't know why we didn't order in.  I think because I was still having trouble understanding people in person, the thought of trying to do it on the phone was that much more daunting.  We walked down to the grill and ordered a couple of cheese pizzas.  Sunshine has seen a couple come off the grill the day before and thought they'd be just the thing.  When you are really hungry, food can seem like it takes forever, but I swear this was the longest I have ever waited for food in Negril.

Given the day and sky, I was a bit concerned our last sunset in Negril would be a bust.  It turned out to be anything but.  It was just playing a bit of peek-a-boo with the clouds.




We ran into Mamade11 and Frank just taking it all in.  We'd all be venturing home the next day.  Mamade captured the moment for us.


She did more than just capture the sunset though.  On our way back to our rooms, she wandered over with me to the one spot by the pool where the free Wi-Fi actually worked and lent me her phone so I could find our flight info.  Westjet's website did me no good, because I didn't have my darn confirmation number.  Those are six very useful digits, without which I was out of luck.  There would be no web check in for us. I managed to find the departure time on the airport website.   It was about when I thought.  It was going to be tight given when Kingsley was picking us up, but he'd known our flight time when we'd set the pickup, so I was relying on his expertise.

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## CherryNorth49

> Thanks, always a pleasure to read!


Thanks,  :Embarrassment: I am sure having fun writing it!  




> i _was_ patiently waiting lol


Sorry my dear, Tuesday morning my boss traps me in a meeting room all morning long. But not next Tuesday...or the one after that  :Big Grin:

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## CherryNorth49

> When we were at Coco a couple of weeks ago, every night it was calm, a bunch of people would go down to the water to see the dinoflagellates.  Apparently they luminesce when you move your hands in the water.  Not sure if it's seasonal or not, but you might want to try it next trip, add it to your "nightly routine"   I didn't try it myself, I'm not going in the ocean in the dark, but many did and they claim to have seen them...


Very interesting.  I someday want to get to the other side of the island to do the Mystic Waters thing for just that experience.  I love the concept of the water literally lighting up around you.  Do you know how far out into the water they had to go?  I stick my feet in the water at night, but getting any further in than that kind of freaks me out!

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## JitterBug

mystic waters . . . is it real? . . . love your report . . .

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## CherryNorth49

It was our last night and we still hadn't been to Step-a-side.  We decided to walk up to Shamrocks and pick up some chicken on the way back.  We'd been debating smuggling a bottle of Shamrocks home.  It would have to go into our suitcase which is a spillage risk, but it is a plastic bottle.  I know how cold the luggage gets in the hold during the flight, so I figured the lack of refrigeration wouldn't be a big deal.  I thought it would a nice transition our first morning home.  We got juice, a few snacks and headed back out onto the road.

How do you know you have found the best jerk in Negril?  When you walk up to his barrel, the barrel master is on a chair the other side of the ditch, looking at his phone with no concern as to who might be passing by.  No need for him to be loudly hawking his wares.  Business finds him.  This is how we found things at the Original Step-a-side.  He was set up in his usual spot between the Jungle and Montana's, nearly across the road from Fun Holiday.

"Evening! Is there chicken ready?" I call over.

He looks up with a start and with a, "Yamon, no problem," he coming hustling over to his barrel.  We share with him how happy we are to back, as his is the best jerk chicken we've ever had.  We are not the first to tell him this, but he seems to genuinely appreciate the praise.

Our chicken in hand we head back to our balcony.


This is the best picture I have of our room and its through a closed door.  We are both shutter bugs, I don't know how neither of us managed to get anything better. I think when we arrive at a new place we are just living in the moment.  It takes less than 15 minutes for us to have spread our crap everywhere.  Then I don't want to take a picture of our mess.  I've made a mental note, we shall see if I do any better this year.


On one of our evening trips between the sea and the room, we decided to go for a little walk around Coco.  We were really feeling the Christmas lights and set about getting in some Christmas card shots.  We don't actually do a Christmas card, but if we did, these would be the shots. 


I think back home that kind of silliness would have me feeling a bit self conscious, but after a week plus in Negril, it just felt right.  


Vacations are wonderful things and vacations in Negril may be the best of them all.  We dragged the night out as long as we possibly could.  Unfortunately, there was no denying that tomorrow we'd be homeward bound.

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## Seveen

now i'm getting anxious that your vacation (and this trip report) is almost done lol

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## CherryNorth49

> mystic waters . . . is it real? . . . love your report . . .


I think it is actually called Glistening Waters...there is a lagoon where the Martha Brae river meets the sea (near Falmouth) that, if conditions are right is supposed to be amazing...one of the best places in the Caribbean to experience luminescent water.

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## CherryNorth49

> now i'm getting anxious that your vacation (and this trip report) is almost done lol


You and me both!  For me though it is mostly because I have been so distracted with writing, that I have done no preparation for our trip.  Ticker says 4 days - I need to get some laundry done  :EEK!:

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## jojo p

That shot with the two Red Stripes with the lights in the background....  best Christmas card ever!!!! Didn't you
love CoCo.  Fun report.

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## murph

Awesome report! Such perfect timing... cant wait for my first stay at CoCo!!!

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## nutz4travel

> Very interesting.  I someday want to get to the other side of the island to do the Mystic Waters thing for just that experience.  I love the concept of the water literally lighting up around you.  Do you know how far out into the water they had to go?  I stick my feet in the water at night, but getting any further in than that kind of freaks me out!


I think they just went in about waist deep, too much for me at night  :Smile: 

Don't forget to print your itinerary this time LOL  What can I say, I'm a paper girl, always print copies of everything...  Old habits I guess

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## Seveen

here's a link to glistening waters you can swim or boat --- and don't go when there's a full moon

i would plan it in as a part of a longer trip to that side of the island --- maybe hit up Ocho Rios and 9-mile and spend a couple of nights 

not sure it's worth the trip from negril for the night 

http://www.glisteningwaters.com/

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## jcjcnj

Loved your report and photos.  What a nice trip.  We don't have our trip booked but your report reminds me we have to get to it!  We will be bringing our grown family with us this year so we have to wait until June.  Man, the winter will be a long strange trip, indeed, here in Jersey without a trip to Negril.

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## DConkle

Loved looking forward to you report these last several days! And the pics too! Also look forward to the report from your upcoming trip!

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## Lady Jane

Oh I so enjoyed this report Cherry. Love you style of writing. Anymore?

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## CherryNorth49

> Oh I so enjoyed this report Cherry. Love you style of writing. Anymore?


There is one more chapter, we aren't home yet!  I'm just finishing it up...endings are hard  :Frown:

----------


## Lady Jane

> There is one more chapter, we aren't home yet!  I'm just finishing it up...endings are hard


Enjoy the last of your trip, as I know you will. I can't wait for next years now!!!!!  :-)

----------


## CherryNorth49

Chapter 14

  Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright 
― Bob Marley

Waking up on the last morning in Negril is bittersweet.  I know we need to leave so we can come back, but I don't have to get excited about it.  We get most packed and have breakfast.  We wander around the property and take a few last pictures.  


If you are looking for ice at Coco, take the right fork at Bob.  There is a big commercial ice machine in that wooden fenced space you see.  The sign on the gate said keep closed; since it didn't say staff only or do not enter, we peeked.  We accessed it at all times of day and night, no one seemed to object.

I was anxious about the amount of time we had to get to the airport.  I thought we were cutting it a bit close.  If I hadn't drowned my phone, I would have likely emailed Kingsley and pushed the time up by at least half an hour.  I was trying to be calm, but my inside voice was howling.

We were done checking out and sitting at the curb fifteen minutes early.  I don't have a watch; that is my phone's job.    At about two minutes to twelve I am losing my cool.  Sunshine got to be the calm, cool and rational one.   He literally has to tell me to chill.  At five past twelve I am just shy of hyperventilating.  Two minutes later Robert pulls in driving Kingsley's van.  I've got my bag to the door before he has the van in park.

I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure how long the drive was supposed to be.  On the way in I'm so lost in the just landed feeling of bliss that it could be 30 minutes or 3 hours.   Our other trip out was on the JUTA run, which has too many stops to really judge time. I also don't know the road well enough to be able to reassure myself as the landmarks pass.   

I know that I am supposed to be looking for a safe, law abiding driver, but in this moment, I wanted Robert to drive like the wind.  Instead, we are out on a casual Saturday drive.  I'm sure it's purposeful because I was such a gawker on the trip to Mayfield Falls.  I'm watching the clock in the van.  I should be checking in right about now, but I'm still on the coastal road with miles to go.

I start a conversation with Robert, trying to get him to come to the conclusion that he needs to put the pedal down, without actually tell him to do that.  When he realizes how tight we are on time, he gives a bit of a grunt, picks up his phone and calls the boss.  I don't know what is said, maybe it was patois, maybe I just didn't understand.  The outcome is all that matters, because all of a sudden Robert's driving style has dramatically changed.  We might have set a new record for the amount of time it took us to get through Mobay.  He was weaving in and out of traffic like a pro.  If I hadn't been so stressed, I would have been cheering.  I felt like he was totally in control and never took unreasonable risks.  Some traffic laws may have been violated, but the man knows how to drive.  We pulled up to the airport with the tires almost smoking; we paid our fare and sprinted into the airport. 

The line at Westjet is painfully long.  Sunshine gets in line with the bags and I try to at least get us checked in on the self-serve terminals.  At least that way they would have to consciously leave us behind.  Nope, need that blasted confirmation number.  We are literally the last in the line for the three flights all leaving about the same time.  In the thirty or so minutes we stood there, no one came in behind us.  

There is only one agent and we are on Jamaican time.  I want to scream with frustration.  Finally, there are only two groups ahead of us.  A couple decked out in AI logo wear steps up to the counter.  Their bags go on the scaleand now we spend five minutes watching them repack half a suitcase into their carry-on.  I mean what is the point?  Do you think the airplane really cares whether the weight is in the hold or in the overhead bins?  Burns the same amount of gas either way. 

Then it is our turn.  I ask the agent if we are going to make our flight.  It's like he doesn't hear.  I ask again and get nothing.  A third try and I give up.  Just give me a yes or no for pity sake!  The good news is he checks us in and we make a dash for immigration/security.  The only plus side to being late is the line has gotten considerably shorter.

We make it through, manage to get duty free and a pretzel to eat and they are calling our flight.  It seems like an instant and we are pulling away from the gate.  Oh sweet Jamaica, I don't want to say good-bye.

This is the last picture we took in Jamaica.  It is of our balcony at Coco.


This is the very next picture on the camera.


If I close my eyes and sip slowly, maybe just maybe I can imagine my way back to the island.  

Do you see it; see my hand raised up into the sky?

----------


## CherryNorth49

Epilogue

 There is no real ending. Its just the place where you stop the story. 
― Frank Herbert

 Thank you  for following Sunshine and I along in this marathon recounting of our journey.  Your comments give me comfort that our love for Negril stands us in good company. Our story is not glamorous, nor tabloid worthy.  It is an honest account of how we remember our experiences in Negril.  For the veterans, I hope that it helped take you back to your own adventures on the rock.  For those of you just setting out, I hope it helps you feel more confident for the road ahead.  Negril is worth getting to know and we can't wait to get back to it.

Sunshine's been lurking about and continues to be amazed at the warmth and support demonstrated daily on this board.  The on-line community here at Negril.com has a bit of the same magic that makes Negril so great.

Having channeled pretty much all of my excess energy into writing this report, I am certainly the most relaxed I have ever been before a trip.  With my ticker down to only three days to go, I figure I'm only going to be able to wind myself up so much at this point.

So what is up for us this year?

We are starting our trip in the Gatehouse at Catcha, where we plan to spend four glorious nights ridding ourselves of a year's accumulated stress.  I think knowing the magic of Catcha will be waiting for us when we arrive is part of why I am so calm. 

Then we are heading up the lane to the Seastar Inn for a week.  This move is so short we may just walk up the lane, bags and all.  It is our hope that Seastar will be a good base from which to explore more of what Negril has to offer.  We have taken the recent safety warnings to heart, but we aren't going to let fear of bad people get in the way of our continuing to get to know Negril.

Our last three days we are going to give AI a try at Grand Pineapple.  This will be a first for Sunshine and I, as we've never been to an all-inclusive.  I think the small size and great location will make it a good fit for us both.

If our paths should cross on the island, and I hope they do, please say hello.  We met some great people last year and really hope to continue the trend this year. 

Soon come Negril, soon come.

----------


## billndonna

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your wonderful trip and pictures with us.It has helped our much needed fix to hold us off until our arrival this Friday,hope to see you guys some where in our travels.We will be moving to Catcha on the 27th and then visiting Seastar for the Saturday evening festivities on the 30th.Safe travels to you and Sunshine and have a fantasic vacation!!

----------


## Reggae Roy

Thanks for sharing your trip report and photos with us. Loved it all!

----------


## nutz4travel

Thank you for sharing - I enjoyed each and every instalment  :Smile: 

Have a great trip - can't wait to read your next trip report!

----------


## Muck

Well done!!

----------


## JitterBug

thank you for sharing your trip . . . was a pleasure to read . . . we are riding home on the same flight and will shout out . . .

----------


## JitterBug

i don't care to be last minute for the return home . . . there are always 2-3 flights checking in at the same spot . . . prefer to be at the top of the line . . .

----------


## Patricia

Fun report ~

----------


## *vi*

Great job on the report.  Enjoyed reliving it with the two of you.  Thank you for sharing.  Having stayed at the Pineapple, I know you two will love it as much as I did.  A tip...when on the beach, although the shade by the fence is inviting, try to sit closer to the clubhouse so you won't be disturbed by the guys from the other side of the fence.  The food was pretty good but my favorite meal was breakfast.  The omelets are fantastic.  The bartenders are fun and friendly while the drinks are excellent.  The staff members are friendly, accommodating and professional.  They are a close group and treat the guests like family.  Are you staying beachside or garden side?

----------


## iowagirl

What a (another!) great trip report.  So much fun to read and experience your journey through your wonderful writing and perfect pictures.  Thank you so much for sharing yourself like that!

We will be at Catcha (and the Gatehouse!) shortly after you.  Keep it warm for us!  :Smile:   Have a wonderful trip, more adventures and don't stop with the trip reports!

----------


## JaJodi

Very much appreciated! Hopeyour next trip is as magical as the one you just shared!

----------


## Sam I Am

Thanks you for sharing!  Hope to run into you next week!

----------


## 68Stang

We stayed at the GP last June.  The folks there were great!  Say hi to Courtney (he does all the carvings)  Tell him we still love our moose and we will see him again in May / June.

----------


## murph

Thanks again for the report- job well done!!!

See you two in a few daze!

----------


## NiceLady

Thanks for the report!  We always make sure to never miss the sunset too!   It was my hubby and I from Winnipeg at canoe bar last year and we'll be in Negril next week too!   See you at Seastar on the 30th if not sooner.  If you reserve a boardie table, add 2 more  :Smile:

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## bjritz

Seeing Sunshine smiling in all these photos lets me know he is a smart man. He has somehow captured CherryNorth for a travel partner. Thanks for packing us up in your bag for this trip. It was like being right there with you.

Have as much or more fun in the next few days as you arrive afresh in Negril. You have a great itinerary setup. Looking forward to the next report. You have made this TR really fun. Enjoy the Rock!

----------


## CherryNorth49

> That shot with the two Red Stripes with the lights in the background....  best Christmas card ever!!!! Didn't you
> love CoCo.  Fun report.


The last two years I have made a photo calendar for both of to have at work, kind of a greatest hits of the year.  That one is the highlight of December  :Smile: 




> Awesome report! Such perfect timing... cant wait for my first stay at CoCo!!!


I have no doubt you will be very happy there.




> I think they just went in about waist deep, too much for me at night 
> 
> Don't forget to print your itinerary this time LOL  What can I say, I'm a paper girl, always print copies of everything...  Old habits I guess


It is already printed!  I can't promise I won't ever make the mistake again, but I'm going to be a big fan of paper for the foreseeable future.




> here's a link to glistening waters you can swim or boat --- and don't go when there's a full moon
> 
> i would plan it in as a part of a longer trip to that side of the island --- maybe hit up Ocho Rios and 9-mile and spend a couple of nights 
> 
> not sure it's worth the trip from negril for the night 
> 
> http://www.glisteningwaters.com/


I'm with you, it is too far to go for the evening.  I expect at some point, we are going to venture to more of Jamaica than just Negril.  I'm a bit torn as to whether we should head towards Ochi or Treasure Beach first.  They are almost total opposites.

----------


## CherryNorth49

> Loved your report and photos.  What a nice trip.  We don't have our trip booked but your report reminds me we have to get to it!  We will be bringing our grown family with us this year so we have to wait until June.  Man, the winter will be a long strange trip, indeed, here in Jersey without a trip to Negril.


I so understand the long winter!  You should get on booking so you can get your ticker going.  Winter is easier with the promise of paradise, even if the promise is a still a ways off.  Thanks for following along  :Smile: 




> Loved looking forward to you report these last several days! And the pics too! Also look forward to the report from your upcoming trip!


Aww, thanks  :Embarrassment:  




> Enjoy the last of your trip, as I know you will. I can't wait for next years now!!!!!  :-)


Getting home is always a bit bittersweet.  The bad news is it may very well be next year before the next installment.  Its more fun to write about when you are about to return.  Unless we get back earlier that is...you reading this Sunshine???

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## CherryNorth49

> Great job on the report.  Enjoyed reliving it with the two of you.  Thank you for sharing.  Having stayed at the Pineapple, I know you two will love it as much as I did.  A tip...when on the beach, although the shade by the fence is inviting, try to sit closer to the clubhouse so you won't be disturbed by the guys from the other side of the fence.  The food was pretty good but my favorite meal was breakfast.  The omelets are fantastic.  The bartenders are fun and friendly while the drinks are excellent.  The staff members are friendly, accommodating and professional.  They are a close group and treat the guests like family.  Are you staying beachside or garden side?


I'm so hear that.  We are staying on the beach side.  It was a few more $$, but we didn't want to be having to cross the road on our nighttime trips to and from the beach.




> Thanks for the report!  We always make sure to never miss the sunset too!   It was my hubby and I from Winnipeg at canoe bar last year and we'll be in Negril next week too!   See you at Seastar on the 30th if not sooner.  If you reserve a boardie table, add 2 more


See, this is part of why this board is so awesome!  It is nice to see you again NiceLady.  :Smile:  If it weren't for the board, we wouldn't have met last year and we'd have no way to connect again this year. It's great you're able to make it down again this year.  I've got you down for 2 on the 30th.  Anyone else want to join in?

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## CherryNorth49

Okay, trying to reply with multi quotes is making me a bit crazy!  I'm changing approach.

Reggae Roy  You are welcome, it was my pleasure

Muck  Thank you!

Jitterbug  I hope perhaps our paths will cross before then.  I'm with you, first in line is much better than last.  We are planning on being at the airport very early this yearwe've booked Club Mobay to give us further incentive to be early.

Patricia  it was such a fun trip, I'm glad that came through in the report.

Iowagirl  I'm going to try and get some Gatehouse pictures for you.  You don't have long now!

JaJodi  Thank you so much.  I'm hoping this one has a far less dramatic start.

Sam I am  Right back at you!

69Stang  Moose?  Now there is something I haven't seen much of in Negril. I have to figure that was a special request!  I'll pass the message along.

Murph  Hahaha!  Please do say hello!

Bjritz  I like you more and more!  I keep telling him he's a lucky man; some days he might even believe me.  :Stick Out Tongue:  Thank you for your well wishes.  We are so excited!

----------


## jamaicarob

awesome, thank you, soon come

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## CherryNorth49

> Thank you so much for taking the time to share your wonderful trip and pictures with us.It has helped our much needed fix to hold us off until our arrival this Friday,hope to see you guys some where in our travels.We will be moving to Catcha on the 27th and then visiting Seastar for the Saturday evening festivities on the 30th.Safe travels to you and Sunshine and have a fantasic vacation!!


I hope we do see you the 30th.  Are you still planning on doing a pub crawl?  Have you settled on a date?  If I'm not mistaken, I've heard you talking about looking for the party bus.  We want on the party bus!

----------


## kaycee

I enjoyed your trip report very much! Thanks for sharing!

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## billndonna

Cherry,we have not decided on the pub crawl yet,Lenbert said he would pick us up around 2 at Catcha on Sunday the 1st but we are leaving on the 2nd and probably have an 11am pickup so not sure how hard we want to party yet.We will play it by ear this time and see how the week goes.We are going to walk up to Seastar sometime early in the day on the 30th to sign up for the evening activities and do a test run on the cold beer!!

----------


## justchuck

Thanks so much for a great report!  Now, get packing, you've got a plane to catch.

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## mamade11

CherryNorth - I so loved your report.  It was even better to be able to relive some of last year  :Smile:    Wishing we were there again - next year it is
Negril again - no more pit stops in Mexico even though we did like it.
Grand Pineapple - I have such great memories there - it was actually my first trip to Negril when it was still Negril Gardens and we did go again when it turned into Grand Pineapple.  I think you will love it there also!! It's AI - but so close to so may places and your oj is only across the street!! 
I hope you and Sunshine have an awesome trip, I just know you will.  Enjoy, be safe and have a rum punch for me!!  
(And maybe just a little report so we know how much fun your having  :Smile:

----------


## rocknrollfarmer

Dear Cherry & Sunshine! We are down to 10 days. soon come. Can't wait!  Your trip reports are very verrry addicting! As evidenced by how many hits??? You have Rock Star status here on this site! I'm amazed at all the experiences you have achieved in your short time of Negril. The folks at the big AI's don't have a clue to what else is out there! Thanks for taking us along on rides!  Let us know when your planning on the one love bus. So we can do a "do-over" from our first pub crawl trip.  See you on Dec. 2nd. We'll sing karaoke at Seastar!   Have fun packing, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money! Ha Ha.  Farmer & Wife

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## Onceyougo

I'm embarrassed to tell you that I had tears in my eyes as you raced to the airport on the last day, and I'm not sure whether I was feeling your pain at having to leave, or just being selfish about not reading another fabulous report for a whole year!  Thank you SO much for bringing us into your journey in such a warm and personal way.  You are a wonderful writer!  I have an idea - why don't you just write fictional Negril reports, based on all you picked up in your two trips there, say every month or so.  I for one would pay for such a service, and I bet you'd find some other happy subscribers here as well!

I hope you have the best trip yet, and that you get to experience at least one more "perfect day."  I'll be there for New Year's, but I hope our paths will cross sometime.  And has anyone mentioned that you two are the MOST adorable couple ever??

----------


## Big_frank

Loved your report. Safe travels ahead.

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## Lady Jane

<clap, clap, clap> Great report Cherry. Enjoy your last few days. Do we really have to wait a year?

----------


## Sun84

[QUOTE=bjritz;113672]Seeing Sunshine smiling in all these photos lets me know he is a smart man. He has somehow captured CherryNorth for a travel partner. Thanks for packing us up in your bag for this trip. It was like being right there with you.QUOTE]

Hi All! Errr, this is Sunshine with a big hello! bjritz, I couldn't agree more. I count my lucky stars everyday and can't believe another adventure with my sweetheart is just around the cornor.

I'm astounded at all of the positive, supportive, downright wonderfull comments on this board. It's a bit daunting reliving last years vacation through Cherry's writing but an absolute pleasure at the same time. Colour me gobsmacked flabbergasted at how she captures the essence of our travels in her trip reports. Love you hon! :Smile: 

I can't wait to meet all of you who's journey crosses our own. Thank you to each and everyone for all of the kind words and support you had for Cherry. It's made my month watching how happy she's been doing her thing and the awesome response from this community. 

Cheers to all and soon come Negril, soon come...

----------


## Pisces

Bravo for a wonderful report!! Enjoy the upcoming trip!!

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## Seveen

Absolutely perfect!

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## butch

Great trip report....thanks!

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## CherryNorth49

Oh man, winter has arrived in Winnipeg.  I am so very glad our countdown is almost there!

Kaycee  I'm glad you enjoyed, thanks for following aong

Billndonna - I know from experience that hangovers and travel days are NOT a good combination.  We are already booked on the crawl on the 27th, so I will leave it as is for the time being. Doesn't mean that we won't be up for doing it again!  Look forward to seeing you at the Seastar.

Justchuck  This is by far the latest I have ever left getting started.  Should be an entertaining 2 days!

Mamade  Funny, now that you mention it, I do recall you talking about GP.  When I asked Sunshine if he was interested in staying there, his first statement was that it would be awesome because Shamrock's was right next door.  On his map of Negril, Shamrock's is dead centre!  We will for sure have a toast for you.  Maybe we'll see you next year and we can do it in person.

Farmer  You are making me blush!  Pencil in the 4th for that pub crawl, I'm ready for a do over.  Looking forward to you entertaining us at Karaoke, I expect at least one joke that makes me groan!  Twice the money won't happen, but I'll work on half the clothes. 

Onceyougo  your post just about brought tears to my eyes!  Writing fiction is a daunting task, though starting with stories of Negril is a great thought.  It certainly is an inspiration.

Big_frank  Thank you!

Lady Jane  Not if we get back sooner!

Pisces  Thanks.  We are going to do our level best to enjoy every single moment.  Tough job, be we are up for it.  :Big Grin: 

Seveen  High praise indeed.

Butch  I'm glad you enjoyed it.

----------


## CherryNorth49

[QUOTE=Sun84;113830]


> Seeing Sunshine smiling in all these photos lets me know he is a smart man. He has somehow captured CherryNorth for a travel partner. Thanks for packing us up in your bag for this trip. It was like being right there with you.QUOTE]
> 
> Hi All! Errr, this is Sunshine with a big hello! bjritz, I couldn't agree more. I count my lucky stars everyday and can't believe another adventure with my sweetheart is just around the cornor.
> 
> I'm astounded at all of the positive, supportive, downright wonderfull comments on this board. It's a bit daunting reliving last years vacation through Cherry's writing but an absolute pleasure at the same time. Colour me gobsmacked flabbergasted at how she captures the essence of our travels in her trip reports. Love you hon!
> 
> I can't wait to meet all of you who's journey crosses our own. Thank you to each and everyone for all of the kind words and support you had for Cherry. It's made my month watching how happy she's been doing her thing and the awesome response from this community. 
> 
> Cheers to all and soon come Negril, soon come...


Well hello Sunshine, fancy meeting you here!  First one home gets the laundry sorted?  We've got some work to do  :EEK!:

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## NikkiB

Gonna miss the wonderful daily updates! Wishing you both safe and happy travels and hoping that our paths may cross someday  :Smile:

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## Rum-polephoreskin

Cherry,
Thank you so much for the report.
I wanted to get that "thank you" to you before you headed back.
I love your report, personally I get much more from a trip report than asking direct Q's on the board.
I'm still back on page 10 but I'm gleaning your repoert for all the good info.
We've never taken the bus, so that was very insightful.
Thanks again,
Mickey

PS I located my old account, I'd forgotten about my hyphen (that's-what-she-said) - happy days (thanks Guiriguy).

----------


## Rum-polephoreskin

I just did the math, you're leaving tomorrow!

Once again thanks for the great report can't wait for the next one.

*Enjoy yourselves* and don't let the haters bring you down (i.e. _It's never the ones you suspect_ . . .).

----------


## Guirigay

Very nice, Cherry, such an easy, open, engaging story. I really enjoy your writing. Love it up at Catcha and throw it down at Seastar!

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## Rum-polephoreskin

Cherry, 
I hope you see this before you leave:
Bigga's roadside jerk chicken stand on the road down to Negril.
The driver will know it (if he's still there).

----------


## CherryNorth49

NikkiB - I find I rather miss writing them!  Thank you for your kind wishes.

Rum-polephoreskin - So glad to see you back on the boards!  I would be one of those folks wondering how things had turned out with Mrs. Peel. I was just back from our first trip while you were sharing your existential ramblings from Negril and I enjoyed them thoroughly.  I may have taken on a few a few of your literary devices.  :Embarrassment:   I do try to work useful tidbits into our tale, I am glad your finding some of them.  Thanks for the reminder about Biggas.  It would have been a stop last year, if Sunshine hadn't been down for the count.

Guirigay - I'm feeling a little star struck, with two great trip reporters commenting one after the other.  I'm a big fan of your stories, I am glad you've enjoyed mine.  Congrats again to you and Sweetie Pie.  Thanks for sharing those pictures of your big day.




> Love it up at Catcha and throw it down at Seastar!


That pretty much sums up the plan!

We are no longer counting days, but hours.  I checked us in this morning and have our boarding passes printed out.  I'm more than half packed and at this point really, I have a passport and credit card, the rest is just details!

----------


## Lorax2

Cherry, I hope you and Sunshine have a fantastic trip!  Enjoy it for all it's worth, and rack up those new adventures so you can give us a new report  :Smile:

----------


## papamark

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your trip report start to finish this morning.  
It is always a pleasure to hear stories and see pictures of our favorite places.
You guys do it up right. 
Thank you for sharing...

Oh ya...and have another memorable trip.  With that itinerary...should be easy mon!!

----------


## SazO

Cherry,
That has to be the best TR I've ever read. I thoroughly enjoyed every word. 
It appears you are in Negril when we are there as well, I'd be so happy to bump into you guys. 
We are doing the 100 candles at Ivan's the night before our wedding (Sunday night at Ivan's - 1st December) so it was lovely to read that part of your review too (very exciting for me). 
Well, have a safe trip back to Negril. Hope you won't need to even open the pepto or Imodium this time.

Happy travels,
Sarah x

----------


## Mike_D

I savored every last bit of this report. Wonderful stuff!

Mrs. D and I started going to the rock around the same time you and Sunshine did, so I can totally relate to your experiences. Have an awesome trip this time around, and we look forward to another trip report soon!

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## CherryNorth49

We made it home and life is good! I think we both spent the whole travel day holding our breath waiting for something to go wrong and it never did!  Catcha is every bit as lovely as we remember.  I am staring out at the cove with my  coffee and juice awaiting my stuffed johnny cakes.  Life is good!

View yesterday, same today but with fewer clouds.



We used the arrival service at Club MoBay.  Worth its weight in gold!  We've never seen the airport that busy, we figure it saved us an hour.  It would all depend though on when you were landing and how many other flights were coming in too.

I'm quoting Hussyband, it is hot, hot, hot.  Certainly hotter than it has been the last 2 years.

My lounger is calling, then a dip in the pool.  Rinse and Repeat  :Smile:

----------


## Lady Jane

Yippee you made it safe and sound. 2 weeks until I arrive. Stuffed johnny cakes sound so yummy. Enjoy every moment. -16C with windchill here so please suck up some heat for me.

----------


## nutz4travel

Thanks Cherry!  I love that view  :Smile:   Sigh...

----------


## SazO

6 days and counting!

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## Lorax2

Cherry, I have to ask you to post more Catcha pictures so I can stay in bed with the covers over my head and pretend that I am there...crappy weather here with cold, rain, snow, wind...nor'easter kind of stuff...looks nice there...I only have like 5 months left  :Frown:

----------


## rocknrollfarmer

5 days and counting.....no snow here yet! Happy Thanksgiving! Ch ch ch cherry bomb! & Sunshine.

----------


## Muck

> 5 days and counting.....no snow here yet! Happy Thanksgiving! Ch ch ch cherry bomb! & Sunshine.


Nice Runaway's reference!!

10 days and counting here....

----------


## Rum-polephoreskin

Thanx for the Pic Cherry.
It's snowing, cold and gloomy here in Frostbite Falls and the sun sets before 5PM.
That picture was the warmest I felt all day.

Enjoy!!!

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## CherryNorth49

Hello from the bar at Seastar! I can't believe we have already been here a week.

We seem to luck into the rooms with not the best wifi, so I haven't been online much.

One more photo from Catcha - doesn't much look like the view from the Gatehouse, does it?



Our last night proved to be extra memorable.

I had a pinch me moment yesterday as i swung on a hammock on the porch overlooking the valley at Zimbali.  Low and behold they were playing my song on the radio.  its refrains were still buzzy in my head while I lay on a lounger in the river enjoying the River Cool Down massage.  Big two thumbs up to Zimbali.  The farm to table tour was great and Stacy has magic hands.

A few other discoveries - Aubie makes a great burger and it comes in a mini size I could actually finish.  LTU really might have the best view of the sunset - and the biggest pasta bowls ever. Also, generators are very useful on the westend.  Power was out for 6 hours or more this morning, but not at Seastar.

Looking forward to the Seastar show tonight.  For this afternoon, I think I am going to have my lunch at the pool bar.

Sorry there arent more pictures, but I am working off of too many devices and this one doesn't have the pictures.

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## Lorax2

Hi Cherry! Sounds like you are having another great trip, thanks for checking in  :Smile: 
I will look for you on the webcast tonight...give a wave to all us cold people out here

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## Jim-Donna

let me check my count down...Your killing me here. LOL
Cherry I really enjoyed reading about your trip. TY for taking the time.
Hope you understand the spoken voice better this time.

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## qualityandfay

Welcome visitors i am a born Jamaican i love my country i an the part owner of Doctor Quality and Fay's Art & Craft and Variety store over 27 yrs my ither partner is  Doctor Quality he is a carver we make our carvings, jewellery, straw items, crotchet items locally we are situated on the west - End rd  of Negril just 5 mins driving from Ricks Cafe Resturant and bar, our soecial discount and friendly service awaits you,  we also offer free shuttle just call us at 18763683619 Fay or 18765849030 Quaity thanks alot 
You can also visit our website at Negril.com clt on Market

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## newfiegirl59

like you cherry my first trip a very long time ago (my 21st, b,d,)was for 1 week , 27 yrs later my husband and I went for 2 weeks trip 3 2 yrs later was 3 weeks with the last week spent driving around the island with stops in treasure beach, port Antonio, and mo-bay. then trip 4 we upped to 4 weeks where we happened to be in the right place at the right time and found our permanent/temporary home where we will be 2months this year. next year we will top out at 3 months. I love ja. I need to win the lottery so I can move there.

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## newfiegirl59

o.k. I really need to go to sleep now been reading your fantastic report on & off for 2 hours now made it to pg. 15  it's 1 am  will continue to live vicariously thru u tomorrow.

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## Rum-polephoreskin

I love that panorama shot.
It looks like a Maxfield Parish painting.
Well done!

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## captaind

*Here's my panorama:*

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## jimnkim

Just finished reading both your trip reports. Great stuff.  :Smile:  really got the Jamaica vibe reading them. I only wish I could be there. You are a great writer, please keep it up.

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