Marley and Ninja: Having Their Cake And Drinking It Too! Trip Report - April 2012

Day 4 (cont.)
The bus continued on down the road towards the Black river, and after a few more songs, laughs and of course, Red Stripes, we arrived. We unloaded the bus and quickly boarded our next mode of transportation, two boats that would take us out to the Pelican Bar.

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The first boat loaded up with Spottycatz, Booger, Sandie, Sweetness, Brasi, Guirigay and Sweetiepie and headed out. The second boat had Jon and Tizzy, me and Ninja, Clarity and Hubbyman, and Beccajean and we headed out right behind them. It was a nice ride out to the bar, probably about 20 minutes or so. I love the ride out to the bar because when you leave from Black River and get out into the ocean the bar appears only as a spec way off in the distance…it is so small you think how could I possibly be going out to that spec? But then as you get closer and closer the excitement builds. I pointed the spec out to everyone who was visiting the Pelican Bar for the first time, and then I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

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We arrive to the bar and watch as the first boat disembarks.

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Next it is our turn. I have been to the Pelican bar before but it doesn’t matter, this place is so cool when you first step in you can’t help but get excited. It always makes me feel like I am standing in the club house I built with my friends when I was a kid…and that we are playing “Goonies” or something….but then I realize I am actually in the middle of the ocean…in Jamaica…..AND it’s a BAR! Man this place is awesome

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I looked around and tried to find where Raul and I wrote our names on the boards last time we were here. We wrote our names several places but couldn’t manage to find not one of them so I was a little sad about that. Brasi and Guirigay had brought some offerings of their Scottish heritage to hang up in the bar and Spottycatz brought a flag to hang as well. I walked around and sort of just took it all in and enjoyed watching the others experience the bar as well. Many of the turtles headed out to explore more in the water around the bar.
Here is Markus showing Becky his latest finding, a sea urchin

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Speaking of sea urchins…….(sorry Daisy)
As the gang headed out to explore the ocean, there were several warnings to “shuffle your feet” to avoid stingrays and what not. So Clarity shuffled away and shuffled her foot RIGHT into a sea urchin! Ouch! It actually punctured through her water shoes and pierced her toe, poor Daisy, it’s a wonder she still gets in the ocean with all of her animal encounters and mishaps!
If you look closely at this photo you can see that I actually captured the moment RIGHT after the Sea Urchin incident occurred.

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Now in pain she retreated back to the bar, while Ninja, Markus, Guirigay and Sweetiepie continued out to explore the great wide ocean. She removed her water shoe to take a better look at the damage, and with that she gained the attention of several, including our sweet Sandie. “What are you doing? What happened? Are you hurt?” Sandie said. Daisy then proceeded to explain what happened and before she could even finish, Sandie was demanding her foot. “Give me your foot, right now…prop it up here” she said. Daisy sat on the floor of the bar and Sandie took her foot and examined the damage. Sure enough there were several visible spines in Daisy’s big toe. “These HAVE to come out, right now!” Sandie exclaimed. And with that Booger walked over to his bag and came back with a knife…that’s right folks…a knife! I took one look at it and gasped. I thought back to one of my favorite lines from Crocodile Dundee…”That’s not a knife, THIS is a knife”

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I saw the look on Daisy’s face and I instantly felt her pain. Sandie got to work immediately and Daisy let out a rather loud scream. I felt so bad for her and I didn’t know what to do or how to help. But it looked and sounded so painful and I hated to see my friend in pain so I did the only thing I could think of, I went to the bar and asked for a shot of rum. The bartended showed me the rum and asked “Appleton or overproof?” “woah” I said “Definitely the Appleton!” Then I looked back and saw Daisy and then heard her and I turned back to the bartender and quickly proclaimed “Make that overproof!” So he poured a cup of overproof and I took it to Daisy immediately. I handed it to her and simply said, “Drink this as fast as you can” And without question, she did just that, god bless her. Poor thing, she nearly choked after that rather large glass of gasoline I just made her drink but I like to think that maybe, at least for a short moment, it took her mind off the pain. I then handed her a Red Stripe as a much needed chaser. I am not going to lie, nothing about this minor surgery taking place in a bar made of sticks in the middle of the ocean in Jamaica, was pretty, that is for sure. But Sandie was a rockstar with that knife and serious surgeon like technique….and Daisy, was a trooper for sure! And soon, Sandie completed the serious procedure and all of the excitement died down a little, well for maybe everyone but Daisy. About that time the explorers had returned from the ocean and they got to hear all about the event they had just missed. What a day! There were some more drinks had by all and we wandered out to the deck to take in more of the fabulous views and snap some group photos.

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It was getting later and the sun was about to set so we knew it was time to get back on the boat and head to the shore, though I doubt any of us were all that ready to leave. We said our goodbyes to the bar and boarded the boats. We waved as the first group boarded and headed off

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Next was our turn, boat 2 boarded and after a little bit of rocking and screams (LOL) we were off as well. I looked back on the bar and said goodbye silently, though I know I will be back again.

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As the boats headed back to shore we were mostly side by side for the ride and so of course we took this as a race. Some points our boat was ahead and sometimes theirs was. There was waving and shouting and laughing and perhaps even some moon sightings as we raced back to shore. I am pretty sure I laughed the whole way (but this was something I did most of the week so my body was now used to it). There was so much fun and laughter this day by everyone (well, everyone except our boat captain….he was VERY serious lol).

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Can you imagine having this much fun while surrounded by this kind of beauty?

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And as we headed in that afternoon, we all witnessed what I considered one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen! And definitely hands down the best one of this trip!

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Soon after we returned to the doc and most everyone headed to the restroom, which as Booger stated in his report, had a small fee….but was worth every penny, lol. When I returned from the bathroom I remember witnessing one of my favorite Sandie moments of the trip.
There was a little shop right where we were that had drinks and snacks and what not. The owners of the shop had a couple of dogs. If you know Sandie, you know she loves all animals, but especially dogs. So she walks up to them, and as she is approaching the owners yell out to her “No, no” and then they make this hand gesture like a dog biting. They tell her the dogs bite and not to come near them. And so what does Sandie (aka dog whisperer) do?

This:

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You just have to love this woman…and I do! Love you, pooper!
And with that, we all get back on the bus and head out to start our journey back to Negril…….

oh thank you for this great report....what a joy to relive that day. Seems like yesterday. OK need a tissue - thank you Marley and Raul - I am so loving this.

No words Marley. These memories will never, ever leave us all! x

You're so good MINJA (aka Narley). I was going to post earlier but I couldn't....this really got me, along with the post from Lorax, btw thank you so much for sharing that with all of us, sooo cool!!

This really was just one of the BEST days I can remember...wouldn't trade that day, that experience for anything, and as Spottycatz said....none will ever forget! Treasured memories, and cherished friendships. <3 yall

So how long did it take y'all to get back to Negril from the Pelican bar?

Longer than it should have TFW! we weren't back in town until after 10pm... I remember several beer and bio stops and they were NEVER quick... :)

Great job on this report! How fun, you took me right out there on the boat with you today, Thanks! Those are great pictures and I'm impressed at how well Clarity remains in the witness protection program. So sorry about her foot. Ouch.
What a fun bunch.

I know what all of you mean......it took me a while to sit down and write this trip report because I had no idea how to write about this day. It truly was a magical day.....one of those unspoken, no real way to describe, but all who were a part of it get it, kind of days. So I had no idea how to really represent it in words....as to me, it is really just more of a feeling...a feeling I get when I think back on that day, one I know I will have forever, and a moment in time that I believe has solidified our bond, all of us. There was so much love and happiness and joy in that day, and to me it meant so much. Not only was it just a fun day, but like I said before, the trip had meaning to me from early on because I viewed it as my "re-do" for a trip I had planned so long for to take all of my friends and family on, so I thank all of you as well!
But I don't want to get ahead of myself here.....I will be writing more (tonight, hopefully) to wrap up the day and the ride back home

But for now I will just leave you with this (this will surely make you smile)

Between that video and the group shot at Pelican....yes girl....ear to ear....and a few tears to boot ;)