So I cancelled my camping trip and went to Negril instead.......

:p. A few of you have throw some WTF's out there when I wrote that we decided to cancel our camping trip and book a last minute trip to Negril. Allow me to clarify that it was not a pack your sleeping bag and tent and go camping kind of trip. It was a rent a motorhome, drive 7 hours each way, and set up shop in a National park type of camping trip. When you factor in the cost of the motorhome, gas prices in California over the last couple of weeks, food, etc., it made sense at the time that I could spend a little more and go to Negril instead. Last minute airfare was surprisingly low when I checked it so I pushed the button. Problem was I didn't partner with my better half, so it didn't work out as smooth as I had expected.

So on the way home from work I picked up two of the super Red Stripes that I have only seen here in the States. I walked into the house trying to contain my excitement and approached Sandie and said "Hey, how about a Red Stripe to celebrate our vacation." She grabbed it and looked at me and knew instantly that I was up to something. So I came clean and told her that I cancelled our camping trip, set up my mom to watch Booger and the house, and had booked a room at Catcha and purchased the airfare as well, and had Kingsley set up to pick us up on arrival. She instantly said "No way, we are going on vacation and taking Booger!" WTF? Did she just hit her head? I can't believe what is happening right now. So I said a couple of parting words and went and pouted in my living room.

Next thing you know I'm canceling the room, ride with Kingsley, and room at Catcha. I hadn't hit up my mom yet and just about the time I was about too Sandie rolls in with a change of heart. Alright, now it's time to rebook the airfare, the room, and the ride! "Hey babe, do we have any more beer?" Cause right about now I could use one or 20. Oh great, airfare has now gone up $400 in a matter of half a day! Maybe this wasn't a great idea?

So now that you have some background, it's time to talk about the trip.......

OMG!!!

I wondered when I saw your post about going on the pub crawl last Friday....thinking, geez, trips planned for December, April, and how many times now since this past April? You've got it bad Booger!!! :)

So, let's hear about your most recent trip....

Too funny... Next time maybe you'll give it a few minutes for it to sink in before pulling the plug :) Let's have it, I'm having trip report withdrawal...

Is the other Booger a child or a pet?

Ha! I love it, a camping trip turned into a Negril trip! I don't blame ya one bit, I think Negril is hands down better than camping (of course I haven't ever gone camping!). I think it's so sweet of Sandie to think of Lil Booger missing out on a vacation. Hope you are both having lots of fun in the sun!

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Originally Posted by Hettie

Is the other Booger a child or a pet?

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Booger is my daughter and I have been calling her that since she was a snot nosed kiddo. She loves hanging out with Grandma though, so it was a non-issue as far as she was concerned. I'm good with a Booger break every now and then and Mom soon found that she was too. Love her to death, but I have learned to have no problem about being selfish with my time as well.

Grandma has hinted that she wouldn't mind watching Booger in Negril as my Mom loves to travel as much as I. And I'm looking at trying to make that happen for the April trip, and if I can pull it off I will. They would just have to stay somewhere down the street.:cool:

That's so nice that Booger has a grandparent to spend time with while you two get away for some alone time. Sounds perfect to me, everyone wins!

I had three days to do pre-vacation stuff. First thing that came to mind is that I need to get Bentley some Old Bay and I remembered someone(Blake?) showing a link to a 7 lb tub. I looked it up and ordered it for Friday delivery. Also crossed my fingers that my new credit card wold be here that "might" make it by Saturday, which would be too late. Thanks to the POS who decided to use my credit card for your own gain. The one that I was going to use for the trip on everything that I could. The one that gives me miles to use for tickets back to Negril. I hope that when you get caught Bubba is your cellie....

Leave out of LAX at 9am which is in fact our first day time flight to Jamaica. We always do the red eye, but I am getting too old for those flights as I do not sleep too well on flights, unless the Doc has been nice enough to give me some valium to calm the nerves. We land around 7:30 PM and I am expecting customs/immigration times to be tiny. Nope, it took a bit but I could care less. I'm in back in Jamaica on three days notice and I'm freaking stoked.

Make it out in about 45 minutes and just as I do Kingsley is driving up to scoop us up. Hugs, handshakes, pleasantries are exchanged and off we go, with Mrs Kingsley along for the ride. Stop a few blocks from the airport to grab some beers and haul booty to Negril. We pull in about 9:30 and figure we missed most of the Seastar show so instead swing by Eddie's to put in an order. Soon come Eddie, I need to go check in at Catcha Gardens.

Hit the gate at Catcha Gardens and Marshall the night guard is there to handle all the details. He escorts us into the second building back, lower floor room with AC and I am pleasantly surprised with the room. It's a good sized room that was super clean and presents a great value on the West End. We only stay one night here and than it is on to the sister property for the rest of the week. If you have given thought to this place I would tell you to check it out. I think I paid $77 for the room, and you could get a fan room on special for $49. I believe the $49 advertised is not inclusive of tax, and the $77 was. Nice pool area in the back and you are across the street from LTU, just a stones throw away from Sexy Rexy, and a 3 wood away from Sir D's.

Wake up and decide to head over to Catcha to check the new construction out while Sandie sleeps in. The weather is perfect and I have a good stride going and make it there in no time. I had to stop by and say hi to my girl Mauvette, whom always starts your stay at Catcha off on the right foot. Head down looking for the new building and was surprised with it's location. It is directly to the right of Star and it ties in well with the newer 6 room unit to it's right. Workers are busting butt trying to get it finished, so I'll have to check it out later. Say hi to the rest of the staff, many who just laugh when they see me because they know I'm hooked. Time to head back to wake Sandie up so we can check out and hit the other place.

I get there and she is up! Surprised as the night before we closed Eddie's down and than hung out with Sexy Rexy till sometime in the morning. My freaking head hurt no matter what I threw at it and I knew Sandie would be in the same shape. If you hear karaoke coming from the Gardens it is probably coming from Rexy's. Still not sure if I sang that night, and hesitant to ask Sandie if I did because she likes to play the "what can Booger remember" game. LOL.

Our room is not ready, but is now next in line. Leave the bags on the porch of Moon and start our way down to the bar. Get just a few steps and see Jackie and some guys looking at a newly poured concrete hole in the ground.
"Hey Jackie, what's going on here?"
"New septic tank mon!"
"Hey Jackie, is it going to smell like $hit here all week?"
"No mon" Laughing
"This is a new one Mon"
Alright, good cause half off a night won't work if I have to smell $hit all week. I need to get into the zone and not worry about anything for the rest of the week. Grab a beer and this was about the time I took the following pic. I already posted it, but thought it came out pretty good using the new panorama option in io6, Apples new mobile software.
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Get settled in and decide to call Bentley so we can arrange a time to meet up so I can give him his Old Bay. He decides now is a good time and comes over. Walking with Bentley thru Catcha after just meeting up a few seconds earlier is a sight to see. He bleeds such energy and his animation exchanges are really fun. I take him down to the pool to say hi to Sandie and than we stop by the bar where is meets a handful of people and delivers his normal routine. He had everyone cracking up, this pic was taken a few seconds later.
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He says it might last him till the end of December. He was out the last time we ate there, so no crab cakes to be had. Bring your own Old Bay is a safe bet to getting some crab cakes.

Later that night I ended up getting my Red Stripe bottle stuck in my koozie. It was designed for a can and not a Red Stripe bottle and it did not want to come out. Check out that team work.
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They even had to take a time out as all previous methods had failed.
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They staff here likes to have fun and the occasional practical joke gets played and sometimes you get to join along. One of them hit me up to offer up 100 dollars to who ever could get the bottle out. When she announced it she left out the part that it was Jamaican dollars. That bottle was out in record time and it was time to pay up. You should have seen everyone laughing when I pulled out the Jamaican $100 bill. Might look not so funny from the outside, but if you knew the crew you would understand.

Garfield the chef hits the bar and says I can have some pumpkin soup if I want some. Seriously, just bring it next time. I am addicted to Pumpkin soup.
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((love))

Man, what's the matter with me. The whole reason I even thought about taking this trip was because I knew I had a friend in town. Pulp Fiction moment.....

Before even heading to Catcha in the morning I hit up Marshall to see if Sweetness was in her room. She was staying at the Gardens as well and he directed me to her room. I made the announcement as I was walking up so as not to catch her in a special moment. I was met by her soon to be hubby Kevin at the door. He had a big smile on his face and we shook hands and he informed me that she would be right out. Got to feel the guy out to make sure he was a good fit for my girl Sweetness.:cool: I am proud to announce that Mr Kevin is a good guy. Wish I had some time to kick it with him and have a few beers. But he had some bigger things he was working on.

She walks out and her face was a true Kodak moment. I wanted to stay and shoot the $hit but I moved on to give them there space and after that is when I made my initial walk over to Catcha Falling Star. Already miss you dear.....

I think that's the furthest Bentley has been away from the crab house since he was a little kid ....

Loving this!
Oh how I miss the gang at Catcha!

I hope you told Garfield and Sanjay that they better have Pumpkin soup everyday when we are there in December....they owe me!

LMAO....you are so right about Bentley.....he is a special negril legend mon. Great guy!!!!
Miss you too Mr. but I bet we see you sooner that you think......love to Sandie and Brodie too. Lovin the report......go mon go

Just finished filling out the Global Entry paperwork. Takes for ever but I hope it works as buzzing thru immigration and customs would be really nice. It's a $100 non-refundable fee to do it.

back to the trip.....

So after closing the bar down at Ivan's I was hungry and decided a trip to Miyard was in order. We grab a cab and make our way down there and I order the usual egg and cheese sandwich. As we are sitting there I notice a guy chatting up Sandie and was thinking it was they typical "I know that guy" hussel. I didn't recognize him and I tried to convince Sandie that it was indeed a hussel. She wasn't believing me as she was convinced, however she is rather naive so I wasn't having it. She lightened the mood and as I would find out later in the week he did know who I was. That story will follow in the next coming days. I hope I didn't make too big off an a$$ of myself. Couple beers later and it was time to retire to the Moon cottage.

Taxi'd back to Catcha and when we hit the room we plugged in the laptop next to the daybed on the porch and proceeded to enjoy each others company as well as a few more beers. It was a nice time just the two of us enjoy some quiet drunken time to ourselves.

I had told Sandie on the plane that I wanted to spend as much time as I could at Catcha as our last two stays involved way too much off site activity. So Monday we were at Catcha pretty much the whole day. Once Tuesday hit I had the itch to grab some pizza and hit the beach.

Tuesday rolls around and we decide we'll walk up to Seastar to grab some beers, eat some pizza, and swim. We ate pizza and drank some beers but never made it into the pool. I wanted to hit the beach and after the light thin crust pizza we set off en route to Seasplash. The place was dead but Rasta Dave was hanging out there. He is no longer employed, but still hangs around from time to time. In fact nobody was staying there at the moment. A huge change from when Jim was there doing his thing.

This was the quietest I have ever seen the beach and the higgle was low key and non-intrusive. After chit chatting with Dave we decided to walk the beach and hit some more bars. We ended up at Sun Beach after I had to prove to a higgler that this was not my first rodeo. I looked over and saw Dennis the Menace standing there and I said "see over there, that is Dennis the Menace." His tone completely changed and we were soon at the bar enjoying some time with Dennis.
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I saw a guy that I thought was Ras Husmo so I approached him and asked him his name.
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It sure was and we spent about an hour talking to him about art as Sandie is an artist and it was an enjoyable time. Sandie took a picture of him as she likes doing portraits and I cannot wait for the outcome. She is bringing it to him in December and they are going to exchange pieces. I'll post the painting when she meets up with him next, it's a great pic and it should turn out great. Little did I know he used to be a contortionist and he entertained us for a bit with his moves.
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After getting a thorough art lesson from Ras we decided to head back to Catcha to finish the night out. We ran into the owner who was there to oversee the improvements going on and he offered up a tour on the two new rooms. Sandie was bare foot and he insisted that she go put some shoes on. She pleaded with him as she could walk on hot coals but he would not waiver. So she runs off to get some shoes while Harry and I head over to the new units. A lot of guys were knee deep in their work so we had to navigate around this and that to get to the top. The balcony from Sky is where I took this picture.
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As we head down I am following Sandie and Harry and Sandie decided to step into fresh concrete that had just been smoothed out. Her shoes of choice were flip flops and you can only imagine what happens with wet concrete and flip flops. She proceeds to try and take Harry with her but my cat like reflexes, which are quicker than Ninja reflexes, save Harry. Sorry Babe, but saving the old guy was the right thing to do.... It reminded me of the commercial where the grandpa is smoothing out a sidewalk and his grandkid decides to walk thru it. I felt horrible that the guys would have to smooth out my wives imprint into their new path, but they were chill and I made it up to them at the bar later. I have pictures to remind me of the new rooms, she has some bruises and cuts. Lesson learned for her to never wear flip flops to a construction site. :p

We close down Ivan's and decide to head over to Ahhbee's to check it out. He is still open so we have a few beers and than all of us head next door to play some pool.
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Ahhbee is a great host and ensures we have a great time at his place as well as the pool place. We stumble back to Catcha and I am pleased that I have an after hours spot so close to Catcha now. I'm rarely ready to go to bed at 10PM and now Ahhbee's presents another option. This wouldn't be our last time hanging with Ahhbee.

Another late night chilling on the porch enjoying each others company on the daybed listening to some roots reggae. This daybed becomes a favorite spot and Tiz I now know what you mean about your spot.

Janet read rasta dave was working at seasplash. we looked for him while we were there, couldn't find anyone who knew who we were talking about.
we met him on our last reach, he was so much fun, although that was the night the rum punches punched back, lol...

I'm enjoying this report very much...:)

awesome anecdotes Booger! And view from the new room at Catcha,OMG! Can't wait for more.

oh yeah, and that is a pretty wild (and difficult) yoga pose that ras is doing. He is wiry and thin but strong and flexible too.

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Originally Posted by groove16

Janet read rasta dave was working at seasplash. we looked for him while we were there, couldn't find anyone who knew who we were talking about.
we met him on our last reach, he was so much fun, although that was the night the rum punches punched back, lol...

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I thought he worked there as well as I have seen him every single time I have gone there. He set me straight the first time I saw him this week.

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Originally Posted by kaycee

I'm enjoying this report very much...:)

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Thanks Kaycee, I'm trying to whip it out quickly before I forget. :o

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Originally Posted by irieworld

awesome anecdotes Booger! And view from the new room at Catcha,OMG! Can't wait for more.

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Originally Posted by irieworld

oh yeah, and that is a pretty wild (and difficult) yoga pose that ras is doing. He is wiry and thin but strong and flexible too.

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Thanks Irie, trying to keep it dumbed down a little this time. Dumbing it down is one of my specialties.

Speaking of Ras, he says when he has all his strength he will walk around in that pose too. The man is super flexible and I was blown away when he hopped up into his pose. Picked up two cool pieces from him that I will post when we get to that day.

Waking up to a beautiful day and we decide to chill it out at Catcha for the day and get our drink on. Spent my time between the pool and the ocean as this day was like every other day until the last where the ocean was swimmable every single day. Completely opposite of my April trip. One thing about today though was that it was HOT HOT HOT with little to no breeze and I was contemplating a move to a room with AC. We also had a hot date with Sweetness and a new boardie whom I had yet to meet.

Attachment 18324

It's hard to notice the changes that were made to Ivan's to make the bar area bigger in this shot. Looks the same as it always has, however the bar now extends approximately 25 additional feet towards the water. Tomorrow nights pics will give you some shots from inside the bar.

I lined up a meal with Bentley for a little after 5:30 and had Sweetness +3, a couple we had met from Catcha, and Sandie and I. A grand total of 9 people would meet up for some great food later in the day. I preordered the food with some folks eating 2 crabs and 5 things on their plate, some eating crab cakes with 5 things on their plate, and chicken for Ms Sweetness, and pasta and meatballs for me. Let's see if he gets all this right. And oh yeah, don't miss the Red Stripe, rum, and special juice.

I lined up Vincent to pick us up at 5:30 so that we could water taxi it down to Pee Wee's, where we would hop out and walk up Pee Wee Lane to Bentley's. About 5PM I decided I needed AC for the rest of the week so I hit up Mauvette to get a new room. She moved us to Virgo, we moved all our crap, and we were sitting at Ivan's at 5:30 just as Roger pulled up on time. I had never taking a ride from Catcha towards the roundabout, so it was cool to see all the places from the water.

View from Virgo's balcony to the left
Attachment 18325

Roger ran at a leisurely pace so that we could take it all in. He made a quick stop at Rockhouse and soon enough we were pulling up to Pee Wee's so he could let us out. The sea had picked up a little and getting to Pee Wee's landing is no joke. That man has soon mean skills with his boat as if he knew exactly where every underwater out cropping was. I was watching threw the bottom of the boat just waiting for him to blow his prop on the reef. No problem mon.....

We cut through Pee Wee's and were soon at Bentley's. Sweetness, Nikki V the boardie I had yet to meet, and a young man who looked familiar were already there. Introductions were made and a minute later we are sitting down shooting the breeze enjoying all things Bentleys. Sandie leans over and says, "that's the guy who we met at Mi Yard the other night who said he recognized you." Come to find out he recognized me from a Sweetness trip report about how I surprised world. Uhhhh, now I feel like a douche and realize I missed the mark the other night. Sandie gave me the look and I conceded. His name was Mathis and he is a great guy, but of course he is if he is hanging with Sweetness.

Bentley confirms our orders and soon enough our table is set and we look like we have enough food for a small army. As he is bringing the food out another party of 4 show up and now we have 12 people eating as well as two people helping Bentley out. So yep that deck that looks rustic had no problem with 15 people up there. It would have been 16, but the hubby of our new found friends wasn't feeling well and decided to stay back. More to come on that.

The 4 other people that showed up were Monty & Melo and two of their friends. They know how to have a good time and we had some good times up on Bentley's deck. I wish I had some pics to share as it was a great night, but since I do not you will just need to pay him a visit on your next trip. His food is that good and you will have enough for at two meals unless you can put away some serious food. My pasta and 20 meatballs could have fed 3.

After dinner we head back for a quick night cap with Sweetness where we say our goodbyes till next time. Head back to Ivan's and do the usual of closing it down, and finish the night on the porch of Virgo. Kevin did a good job of entertaining us as the bar was empty.
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This is a great lower level one bedroom, closes to Banana Shout, that stayed cool in the living room even with the lack of AC. The AC in the bedroom actually made me cover up it blew that good.
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I'm not sure I would like the room as much if the people next to us were using the balcony at the same time as you are fairly close to each other. I need my space when I'm chilling on my porch so I can play my music and not interrupt anyone. This night it is Movado, Popcann, and some Maxi Priest.

Booger it was so nice to meet you last week, sorry my wife and I couldn't spend more time with you and Sandie but we had the other 2 couples with us and were there celebrating one of the couples Vow Renewal that afternoon for their 30th anniversary. Next time we will hang with the professional party crew of you, Sandie and Garfield! Please say hi to Sandie and lil Booger for Michele and I.

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Originally Posted by Tanfastic

Booger it was so nice to meet you last week, sorry my wife and I couldn't spend more time with you and Sandie but we had the other 2 couples with us and were there celebrating one of the couples Vow Renewal that afternoon for their 30th anniversary. Next time we will hang with the professional party crew of you, Sandie and Garfield! Please say hi to Sandie and lil Booger for Michele and I.

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LOL. I think we all had our share at that point. Good meeting you briefly as well and I'm sure we will cross paths again.

Booger I adore your writing! You have a way of making me feel exactly how chill & relaxed you are. Your like some local that just visits & works in the states. I sure hope I get to meet some of these cool ass people you know in JA.

Thanks for takin us on this ride with you.

Eddie from Eddie's Debar was telling me about some rooms he was working on in his yard and I wanted to check them out. So we headed down the way to Eddie's and met him at the bar.
"Hey Eddie, can we get a beer and check out your new rooms?"
"Yah Mon"
So we wander down past his restroom to the left of the property near the kitchen and there it is, 3 rooms or should I say cottages dotting across the property. Here is a pic of the middle unit and the one on the right. The middle unit is two bedroom and the side units are 1 bedrooms if I remember correct. The two bedroom also has 2 bathrooms.
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The windows have security bars and the whole vibe of the place felt good. If he provided overnight security I would give this place some serious thought. Great food and new clean rooms which are a great value if he sticks to the prices he is considering. Hey Eddie, when does the pool go in?

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Clean simple rooms and.....
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A nice little bathroom as well......
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The porch looks chill too....
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And let's not forget the yard picture...
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Eddie's Debar is a great place to chill at with great food, so if you are in the market for budget accommodations on the West End give this place a thought.

This night was also the official let's break in the new bar at Ivan's party and I could not wait. I knew a lot interesting people would be there for the party and that the bar would be hopping. Little did I know the night would be up there with my best nights ever at Ivan's, and that is saying a lot.......

Loving it Booger!

My two little containers of Old Bay won't last long for Bentley - that 7 pounder was impressive!

Can't wait for more of your report :)

I'm loving your trip report so far, Boogs!
It's so good to see so many familiar faces and smiles.
Thank you for sharing your story with us.
I'm totally jealous but happy for you at the same time!( 5 to 4 - you beat me, dang it lol!)
PLEASE keep it coming, this is really great! I'm going to fall asleep and have good dreams of Jamaica tonight :D
Oh that pumpkin soup.....

Nice Booger, thank you for sharing. That Old Bay container is big. So little Booger ( don't know how little) may go with Grandma nice.

Booger, My panoramic shots look like yours.. With the black lines in the corners. It's awful hard to follow that damn line on the phone. Anyway, if you go to edit image in your photo album, you can crop the lines out. Just a random tip, if you were unaware.

Daisy....we should recommend these rooms at Eddies to Jamar maybe for December!
Boogs, hit us up with the costs on those would you

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Originally Posted by Flipadelphia26

Booger, My panoramic shots look like yours.. With the black lines in the corners. It's awful hard to follow that damn line on the phone. Anyway, if you go to edit image in your phot0 album, you can crop the lines out. Just a random tip, if you were unaware.

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Hey Flip,
Yeah I saw that and was just too lazy to crop it this time. And you are right man, it is not easy keeping a steady head all the way across, so good thing we can edit a little out.

Lovin the report! Once upon a time we use to rent a house on a lake with a boat dock. Boat for the week, pay the pet deposit, etc. and found that going to the caribbean was actually cheaper. I agree, love the kids, but sometimes we all need a break and mine are grown. Love your picture of catcha with Banana Shout in the background. Two of our favorite places in Negril. And Kingsley and Sandra are wonderful people. I still stay in touch with them.

I totally agree with you about taking some time off from the children. Mommy & Daddy special alone time in Negril makes for more patient mommy and daddy at home, LOL. The kids do enjoy their time with the Grandparents. They have started to ask about when they can go to JA, b/c they see how much I love it. Thinking about a 2 weeker sometime in 2014 with the whole family in tow and bring along some cool peeps from WP.

On with the TR! I am glued...

This will be our first vacation with just us since our honeymoon in 1991. Can hardly wait another minute!!!!!

I am having a hard time using the panorama thing. I just dont get it. Are you really suppose to move while you click?

Great trip report. Loved every minute of it and all the details. I want to hang around with you next reach. You don't miss a ting.

Great report, Booger. I've really enjoyed reading all of the excellent reports on Catcha over the last few months...we'll be staying @ Catcha (first time!) for part of our trip this February. Can't wait to experience it! :) It's going to be surreal as we get through the gate!

Ronnie gave us a little tour of Eddie's last year with the new construction...looks like the rooms are coming along nicely.

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Once upon a time we use to rent a house on a lake with a boat dock. Boat for the week, pay the pet deposit, etc. and found that going to the caribbean was actually cheaper.

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Aud-A-Sea, I agree. I set out to do a trip to the FL Keys and by the time you fly, rent a car and pay more for a room it was less moola in Negril. So, glad I did that instead.

Time for another pic Booger.