Very nice report and the pics are fantastic. Thanks for sharing! The view from your deck is wonderful:)
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Very nice report and the pics are fantastic. Thanks for sharing! The view from your deck is wonderful:)
Bigga's was on my to-do list and somehow never made it back out to Green Island, which is just inexcusable since we had a car...too lazy, sand and cliff gravity. Must go next time!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim-Donna
Make sure you grab extra beers.......Quote:
Originally Posted by Hettie
Glad I'm not the only one who goes to bed early. I'm a morning girl and really love walking the beach in the early a.m. before the vendors are out. Usually see lots of rays and big fish by the water's edge then. I also start out early with rum cream (all good) in my coffee, and then move onto dirty bananas or pina coladas, which probably explains why I'm so sleepy and back to my room shortly after sundown. Will either sit on the patio with a drink and listen to the tree frogs, read a book, or watch a movie, and then I'm out for the count. Can you hear the tree frogs at Citronella, Hettie? Just love their sound (bleep!), which is one of the reasons I prefer the beach.
Up at 6:30 am today, which seems early, but considering we went to bed at 8:30 pm, that's 10 hours of sleep! :eek: The day before we saw the produce truck at LTU on our way back to Citronella after breakfast, so we had walked over there and picked up some items from the truck, including some papaya and pineapple which we had with our coffee. I also got some cabbage and carrots for the salad I planned on making to take to Sweetness party.
6:45 AM photos
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Citronella has two nice dogs, this is Tulip, I can't remember the other one's name right now, will have to think about it.
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I decided to do my cardio workout, which is an interval jump rope session that I do twice a week. The only flat, hard space that worked for jumping rope was down on the swim platform. About halfway through my workout, which consists of 90 seconds of jogging in place style jumping alternating with 30 seconds of full out fast-as-I-can-jump-on-both-feet jumping (repeat 10 times), I hear someone yelling "hey" repeatedly from the road between Rexy's and Sir D's. Then I look over toward Rick's and see a couple of guys out on the point watching me...seems I've attracted a small audience. I keep going and realize that from those distances they probably can't see that I have a rope and it must look like I'm just jumping around like a maniac for no reason. I can only imagine the conversations that took place that morning.
After my workout it was just a little after 9:00 am, so we decided to go down to Hi-Lo for some eggs. Saturday morning is now my favorite time to grocery shop, the place was empty so we could stand around and stare at things without getting in anyone's way. I got some callaloo and onion to go with the eggs.
Back at Citronella, I decided to make a callaloo scramble, so I sauteed the onion and callaloo in the butter I bought until they were tender, then scrambled the eggs and added those. It was delicious with some scotch bonnet sauce we also picked up. After that I wanted to go ahead and put together the cabbage salad for Sweetness' party to give the vinaigrette time to soak in. If you want to do any serious chopping or slicing, take your own kitchen knife (Sweetness suggested this and it's now on my packing list) because I was getting nowhere with the cabbage and carrots using the knives provided. Chad had to help me using his pocket knife (cleaned first) and we had some interestingly sliced veggies in the salad...don't think anyone noticed at the party though, too busy eating. I was going to chop up a scotch bonnet and add it, but Chad convinced me I should just put some of the scotch bonnet sauce in there since I didn't have any gloves. After seeing Sweetness' hands in her photos, I'm glad I took his advice. Ouch! (Add kitchen gloves to the packing list Sweetness ;))
I had just a little time to chill, so I read for awhile on one of the loungers on our verandah and went for a short swim. I tried the new Red Stripe Light apple flavor and it was surprisingly delicious-- very crisp and refreshing and not too heavy on the apple flavor. I also tried the ginger flavor another day and YUCK! I thought I would prefer the ginger, but it was just weird. I wanted more of the apple, but it was hard to find.
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We got cleaned up and ready for the party. It was a nice drive out to Westender, had to stop and wait for a herd of goats, love it when that happens. I like seeing all the different sizes and colors going by.
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We got to Westender at 2:25, a little late, but still the first guests to arrive. Guess we hadn't adjusted to Jamaica time yet. Glad we got there early because it gave a us a chance to chat with Sweetness and look around at Westender. What a nice place, sooooo quiet and peaceful, the staff there seem super, definitely a place I would like to stay some time.
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We decided this should be called the "Butt Washing Station" because when there's a big wave, water shoots up from the hole just under the bench. We think it could be used as a form of punishment...not sure what specific offenses would warrant sitting here, but I'm sure we could all come up with some ideas. :D
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Sweetness is an amazing cook and such a generous, kind individual. All the food was just incredible! The lion fish really blew Chad and I away, I hope more restaurants start serving it since it seems it's there to stay and hopefully fishing for it will keep the population down. I also got to try roasted breadfruit for the first time, love it. I have to say I have never seen a table of food disappear so quickly, what a huge success! And then a lovely sunset...
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Chad and I said our goodbyes and stopped by Citronella to put on long pants before going to Seastar. I usually get a lot of mosquito bites back in the greener areas, but no problems this time. I hope it's because they no longer like me, but it's more likely because it was so dry.
I tried to get some photos of the new construction at Seastar, but they turned out blurry, so won't bother posting them. The place looks nice, much more open feel and the large covered area is great for all-weather performances. We hung out for awhile before eating since we had just eaten at Sweetness' party. When we did eat, had to go back for seconds because the food was so good. I ordered a Zombie to drink and our nice server gave me a look of dismay and clutched my arm, but brought the drink anyway. It was pretty good, I guess it was strong too. :p
We decided to head home around 11:00 and there was a man selling corn and soup outside Seastar. Soup sounded nice, but didn't really want to deal with the corn on the cob, so just asked for soup alone and he obliged. Was going to sit on the edge of our open car trunk to eat my soup, but slid all the way in and just decided to stay there with my legs sticking out all weird, must have been a sight to behold. It was a late night for us, didn't get to sleep until midnight, good times.
Thanks for the tip, do you mean take beers with us or does Bigga sell drinks? I was wondering about that...Quote:
Originally Posted by booger
I didn't hear any at Citronella, and I don't recall ever hearing them anywhere I've stayed on the cliffs. I think they like the morass. I also love to hear them, when we went down to the beach in the evening later in the trip it made me once again consider staying on the beach again someday...maybe...if I can tear myself away from the cliffs for a few nights.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maryann
Thanks for taking the time to post ! I love the ides of the "butt washing bench" , it made me smile .
.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hettie
Bigga has beers, grab extra so you're not driving down the road with your tongue sticking out.
Loving your reports - thanks for the kind words. I loved meeting you two - you are full of light. Laughed out loud about you coming "late" and being first ones there. I had to just relax and let go lol.....I wanted things done at noon but everyting in slow motion in JA......Party 2:00 (nope) Food ready 3:30 ish.....Gone in a flash and then people kept coming and food was GONE. So glad you came and I hope to see you again. Keep the pics and reports coming - I am so enjoying them.
Bless
Its so nice you share such a detailed trip report. You get five stars from me. ♥♥♥♥♥
Love your report and pictures! You both are so cute together!
Great pictures, love the report!
Sweet! Driving in Jamaica...you guys have guts!
Did you disappear on us?? How was the rest of the vacay?
Sorry for the delay everyone, had some items that required all my attention on the present time, but I have some free time this evening, so will continue my report...
Even though Saturday was a late night (for us), still up at seven for coffee and yoga, then made some more eggs and callaloo for breakfast. We decided to head down to Half Moon Beach for the day. It was a nice drive, sunny and relaxed. There were a few small groups of people there when we arrived, mostly European tourists that appeared to be staying on the property. The Wild Thing showed up shortly after we arrived, which didn't bother us. It was a small group and they mostly stayed around the food and drink area that was set up for them.
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I had gotten a jellyfish sting when swimming at Citronella one of the previous days, can't remember when exactly, but it was still red and itchy...shoulda peed on it I guess. :o Didn't think it was bad enough to warrant that humiliation, but it stayed around a long time.
Speaking of stingy, pokey things, there are a LOT of sea urchins at Half Moon Beach. One of the Wild Thing staff members was trying to tell one of European tourists to not walk anywhere but the very middle of the beach to go out in the water, but I don't think the gentleman understood. He came back out of the water pretty quickly and sat down in the sand to pick sea urchin spines out of his foot, without much success. Chad decided there should be a sign with just pictures to help everyone out in the sea urchin matter, this is what he came up with:
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It was a very lazy day, I like to just lie semi-comatose on the beach like this:
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Chad likes to wander around and look at things, so he ends up in more interesting poses like this:
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Some regulars showed up and started the dogs' favorite game, fetching rocks. They look so joyful!
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They have some new pups out there, a least two. They were super cute!
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We had grilled lobster for lunch and I had a nice glass of white wine to go with mine. The lobster was a nice size and prepared well. It was a great meal. After lunch, more beach lounging and I had one of their special drinks in the green coconut made with coconut water and rum, it was awesome!
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Eventually we started feeling the need to get out of the sun, so we decided to head back to Citronella for showers, a nap for Chad, and some relaxation until the evening's gorgeous sunset.
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We were hungry and didn't want to stray far, so tried Murphy's again for chicken, but no chicken tonight. We had a conversation with a really nice man there, he wrote down his name, but I can't tell if it's Lenile or Leniel. He felt bad about not having any chicken for us and said that they just hadn't been selling enough lately to cook it up every day. They just end up wasting it. I hope their business picks up, would love to try out their food. He did say he would have food ready with advance notice, so someone could stop by early in the day and order dinner for later that evening. Maybe keep that in mind if you want to try to eat there. We headed back down the road toward town and stopped at the first jerk barrel we saw, which was Jam-Can. Nice folks there, we ordered some chicken to go and took it back to Citronella to eat. It was well-prepared, everything had a good flavor. Their jerk sauce was too sweet for us, tasted kind of like american bbq sauce, so it would be good for people who don't like spicy foods. It was fun to eat by the light of an oil lamp on our verandah-- Tulip stopped by, think she thought it looked fun too, the food part anyway.
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Oh, and I remembered that the other dog there is named Stella, in case you were wondering.
After dinner, we had a shortened version of our nightly verandah ritual and went to bed really early, wiped out from the sun and fun.
Thanks for sharing, Hettie. Great report!
I love the way you guys roll.
when I read your report, I get that wonderful, laid-back 'Negril' feeling.
Too cool
Great report. Citronella looks beautiful.
thanks for the great trip report....we also went to jam cam!!!!!
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I believe in europe in calleda "beauda".
Up at 6:30 am Monday morning, so much easier to get up when we don't have to go to work. Just have to look at this...
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It was already day 6 and we still hadn't eaten a Jamaican breakfast, so we headed out to see Teresa at Just Natural. Breakfast was perfect as always. As we ate, we decided it would be a good day to head up to the Blue Hole in Brighton, so we went back to Citronella and got ready for that adventure. As we started out of town, it was looking really rainy, so we decided to save that trip for another day. While we were near the roundabout we located the fruit vendors that Sweetness had told me about for future reference. Since we were staying local, decided to head to Sun Beach. It was still pretty early, around 10:300 and the beach was empty and gorgeous.
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It was an excellent beach day, just lounged around, bought fruit, patties, cotton candy, and jerk pork from vendors for lunch. We got a lot of sun, but no burn. Dennis kept the Red Stripes coming.
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Chad struck up a conversation with a couple from L.A. that ended up being new friends of ours.
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We did a whole lot of relaxing, talked to vendors and Sun Beach staff, super chill. They sure do treat us well at Sun Beach, I can't seem to drag myself away from there to hang out anywhere else.
Even though we had jerk pork from Dean for lunch, I still wanted to go to Red Dragon. I overheard another Sun Beach regular named Mikey talking about it and asked him how to get there. He gave us good directions, so we finally found it. I didn't realize how close to downtown it is. When we left the beach in the late afternoon we headed up there and had some pork and Red Stripes. We were lucky we got there when we did, the place was busy and we got the last of the pork. What I assume to be a church "bus" (pickup truck with rails on the bed for everyone to stand inside) came through and the little old ladies were so adorable climbing up into the truck with their nice church dresses and shoes on. I'm talking about 80ish ladies climbing up into that truck like it was nothing--- their more active lifestyles certainly pay off, don't know many 80-90 year olds in the states that could do that. It was something I would love to have photographed, but I never feel comfortable taking conspicuous photos of people I don't know, without their approval.
After our fun Red Dragon experience (can't wait to go back there, love being up in the neighborhood), we headed back to Citronella to enjoy the sunset, music, and some rum drinks on our verandah.
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Great Negril day, can't beat it.
Beautiful!
I've really been enjoying your trip report!
It's so incredibly relaxing to read...
I like your vacation style, just so laid back and chill.
nice report hettie and chad - very nice!
Feeling so relaxed now.... where is my cocktail? lol
I love the pictures. I am putting Red Dragon on the list....I LOVE jerk pork.
ahhhh...what a great trip...thanks for sharing :)
nice report
Thanks a million Hettie, can't wait for April to be able to see, taste smell all the things you have been describing so well to us.
I know, I know...I disappeared for awhile. Been going through a rough patch and haven't had the time or energy to even read the board, let alone work on my trip report. I have a lot of catching up to do, so I better get busy while I have a chance. It's good to be back...
I was up early at 6:40 am ready to do a strength workout. I brought some resistance bands to use, not the most enjoyable or effective workout for me, but it's better than nothing. Some day I might go check out the Negril Gym, seems like an interesting place. I'm guessing they at least have some free weights there.
We decided to go to the Blue Hole in Brighton today after checking out the new breakfast offerings at Canoe. I like the early morning vibe at Canoe and the breakfast food was good. Chad had the Jamaican breakfast and I had the Canoe Eggs and a couple of Morning Glory drinks, which were very nice. Good way to start the day. We had a nice drive up to the Blue Hole, the roads were just fine until you turn off on to the lane leading up to the hole. It was manageable, but very slow-going to avoid messing up the car.
When we get there we go to the bar to get a drink and pay our entry fee. After we pay the entry fee, I order a beer...no beer. Okay, then how about a rum and juice...no rum, no juice. Ummm...well what do you have? Apparently there was a big party the night before and they had nothing left to drink. Nothing. We had about half a bottle of water in the car and beyond that we were out of luck. Guess we should have gone out there the day before.
Since we're there, figure we'll at least chill by the pool awhile. Then the jackhammering begins. :( They're doing some major work on the lodge, looks like it's going to be nice.
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It was soooo hot in the sun, decided to try the pool, which is spring water from the hole, and it is freezing!!! I just can't tolerate swimming in cold water, so after trying the pool and considering my discomfort with heights, I wasn't going anywhere near the hole. So after awhile in the sweltering heat we're parched, nothing to drink, water too cold to swim, and there's jackhammering...needless to say, it's time to go. Blue Hole just didn't work out for us that day, nothing against the place, will give it another shot, but will probably pack a cooler just in case. It's nice to drive around in the countryside for any reason, captured some nice roadside shots:
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On our way back through town we stop to buy some fruit from the fruit vendor stands up the hill just on the Sav side of the roundabout. They have a great selection and we picked up some honey bananas, limes, and a soursop. Neither of us had tried the honey bananas before and WOW...they are just incredible, couldn't stop eating them. We headed back up to the cliffs and stopped by Banmark where everyone was hot and tired and moving as little as possible to try to stay cool. Seemed like a good plan to us, so we picked up some food from Rody's and went back to Citronella to relax. It looked like it might rain and it was one of those days when an afternoon shower is welcome to cool things off and provide an excuse to lounge around and take a nap, but it never happened. It was so dry!!!! We didn't have any rain in 12 days, couldn't believe it. We still had a lazy afternoon, read a bit and lounged in the hammock.
We can't seem to get enough Canoe, so went back down there for dinner. I had the grilled butterfish and loved it. Chad wasn't very hungry, so he just had a snapper skewer. We hung out and chatted with Kirby awhile before heading back up to Citronella for our sunset ritual. What an amazing sunset, one of those that changes completely every few seconds. These photos don't even look like they're from the same evening.
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Another chill evening, just as we like it.
Glad your back :) beautiful sunset pics!
Nice to hear from you again Hettie! Beautiful photo's and lovely trip report, hope there is much more to come! We go to the Round House in 8 weeks time, counting every day!
"Some regulars showed up and started the dogs' favorite game, fetching rocks. They look so joyful!"
That would have been us! We're at Half Moon just about every Sunday and I was just looking at photos from that particular day.
Wonderful report. At last, someone else who goes to bed early, and gets up early! That is my kind of day! Thank-you for taking the time to post!~~
So glad to hear more of your story! Thanks:)
Up early again at 7:00 am because today is moving day. When we originally booked, we had planned to go to Port Antonio for the last half of our reach, but decided later on just to stay in Negril. By that time, the Round House wasn't available for our full stay, so we moved over to the A-Frame for the last 5 nights. More to come on the A-Frame...
In the meantime, as I was shuffling around half asleep in my underpants I see someone walking across our verandah...WTF?!?!? I call out to Chad that someone is walking around our cottage, then I see that it's a couple, must be new guests, and they're walking around our cottage at 7 am taking photos and LOOK IN THE WINDOW AT ME!!!!! Are they serious?!?! And they WAVED!!!! Wow! I cannot believe how clueless people can be. Citronella is designed to provide guests with privacy, that's kinda the whole point of the place because they could totally add a lot more rooms, but they have kept it the way it is for a reason-- people stay there for privacy! I just couldn't believe these people's behavior. They did more clueless stuff throughout the rest of our stay and we just let it go, because I saw them wandering around in owner's private cottage area too, so I know they must have been aware of the problem and it wasn't their fault that these particular guests just didn't get it. OK, deep breaths, got worked up just remembering that nonsense. :mad:
Normal morning coffee on the verandah, legs are really tan by now.
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As I was packing up our kitchen things, I saw an adorable little family of white-crowned pigeons in our yard, the baby is the farthest one.
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We didn't really have to move until 11:00 am, but we wanted to get it finished so we could get on with the rest of the day, so we moved over to the A-Frame around 9:30 am. It's a really cute cottage with a nice layout. It is surrounded by more trees and flowers than the Round House and has a true thatched roof with no plywood underneath, giving it a nice feel. It's at the opposite end of the property, closer to LTU and Rick's. We saw more birds over on that side and the A-Frame has a back deck from the loft that puts you right at tree level for bird watching.
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We unpacked and decided to go down to Sips 'N Bites for Jamaican breakfast. We ran into our new friends from LA on the way and chatted a bit. Got the Jamaican breakfast at Sips 'N Bites-- LOVE LOVE LOVE that place, they are so nice and the food is perfect. We headed back to Citronella after for some nap time.
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Went down to Sun Beach after nap time for some beach time. It was a cloudy, chill beach day. Read the Observer, had some drinks, Chad made friends with the massage lady (whose name escapes me at the moment, but she is a lovely person) and she and I discussed the articles in the paper. The same lizard fell out of a tree onto Chad three times and we all took it as a sign, I think some people may have played the lottery number for lizard that day. It was shedding it's skin and must have been exhausted and confused. All three times, Chad carried it carefully placed it back in the tree with his hands, much to the horror of all the female staff at Sun Beach. I think those anoles are cute, but I guess if you grow up thinking of them as a nuisance, it's a different story. They were really grossed out! :D Oh, and we ate the escoveitch at Sun Beach AGAIN (shout out to SamIam).
We headed back up to the cliffs late in the afternoon and stopped at Wise Choice to grab a couple of things. Ran into our new friends again and invited them over to watch the sunset and chill with us seaside since they were staying at Catcha Gardens. It was fun to hang out with some nice, interesting people. They left for a late dinner and we crashed shortly after.
Have always been a beach girl, but Citronella looks amazing.
Can totally symphatize with you about the window peekers. Recently had my house up for sale, and it sold (hallelujah!), but it seems that when some people see a 4-sale sign in a yard, they think that entitles them to come up and look in the windows, walk around the yard, in the garage, etc. About drove me insane.
Always wanted to know WTF is glutten anyway? Sorry to interupt the trip report, but sounds like you two will know?
Thanks for sharing your trip.The pic's are killer,especially when you remember that it can never be as good as the real thing. It has brought back many beautiful memories. I would really enjoy cooking or sharing one of my dishes with the locals,it would feel good to give back. Stayed @ half moon bay a long time ago,was great.They couldn't figure out why it was called half moon bay.If you snorkel there,one can figure out why it is so named. Driving on your own is fun.Took many backroad trips on a rental motorcycle.The scenery was spectacular and on the m/c you can smell things and are in touch with your surroundings.(And easier to dodge the potholes.) It felt safer than a drive in Minneapolis. Everybodies food reports are driving me nuts,so I made jerk chicken with rice and beans with the spices That we picked up. Which inspired me to make a Jamaican style soup. Jerk chicken soup with red beans and rice.Mention to the Jamaican chef's that's what ya do with the left overs(I am so midwestern!) As I look out at my snow covered back yard,I ground up the last of my coffee beans,topped it off with some rum cream and kept reading the great reports. Thanks everybody!!!
Uh-oh, just saw that I titled this post with the wrong date, should have been 12/22.
Since I'm getting close to the double-digit fidgit for our upcoming December reach, I am going to try to finish last year's trip report, finally. Don't know how many stories I'll remember, but I'll at least get to show you the photos. :o
Poolguy--Since you asked this question months ago, you probably have already found the answer elsewhere, but in case you read this and are still wondering, gluten is a protein found in grains, especially wheat. Some people have a severe allergy to this protein, called celiac disease, and many people like myself have a sensitivity to gluten causing physical symptoms such as fatigue, swelling, bloating, itchy skin, etc. My step-dad's shoulder pains went away when he adopted a mostly gluten-free diet.Quote:
poolguywindsor
Always wanted to know WTF is glutten anyway? Sorry to interupt the trip report, but sounds like you two will know?
Alright, so back to the trip report...apparently we didn't take any photos on Day 9, so sorry to get your hopes up if you were excited about photos. :(
Chad made corned beef hash for breakfast while I jumped rope on the porch of the A-frame cottage. After we ate we went to Sun Beach to meet up with our new friends. It was hot, hot, hot and sunny all day, got lots of sunning in and Menace Margaritas which was a margarita recipe with peach schnapps that Dennis came up with since they were out of triple sec. They were really good, but I think we used up all the limes at the bar. We found out that Dennis would be performing with the band at Sun Beach that evening, so we made plans to pick our friends up at 7:00 to go back to Sun Beach.
We picked up some chicken to go from Best in the West and ate it on the back deck of the A-frame. I rested in the loft bed with fans blowing on me and a wet towel on my face to cool it down. I didn't get sunburned, but overdid it with the heat and sun that day and my face was very flushed.
We got ready and went down to Sun Beach with our friends. The band started playing and there was some really weird feedback going on with their speakers. It was so bad that we all decided to go elsewhere, but we did manage to hear Dennis sing a song before we left. He did such a great job and was so pleased that we made it down just to see him perform. Our friends hadn't been to Canoe yet, so we took them there. It was webcast night and the steel drum band was still playing and we had some rum punches and food. They really loved Canoe and saw how awesome our boardie community is and how nice it is to be a regular and walk into a place where people know your name and give you hugs.
After that we all just hung out on our verandah, listening to the sea crash on the rocks and chatting about everything and nothing at all. Our friends were leaving the next morning and we were sorry to see them go. Hopefully we'll meet up again if they make it back to Negril.