Guirigay and Sweetie Pie’s PaRedux It’s all true and it never really happened…

It's Jon...I took the pic...just not clear enough to see the stamp lol

Been following the Boardie Bash trip reports and enjoying these immensely, but just took the time to watch the belly flop videos. Wow, just Wow! How fun was all that. I've been working on connecting up with drummerboy13 and thought I'd check him out in the contest. It was fun to see all of you that I've been seeing in stills, and hearing about in Epic stories. What a fun bunch. Thanks to the videographer especially the montage in the third vid! Nice. Now, I'm going to have to figure out how to go next year. Ya'll rock.

So much fun guys, at least no one shatzed themselves.

Misti - hope you're enjoying Negril RIGHT NOW!

BJ - Thanks man, lots of fun. You need to find a way to be down there next year!

Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus, Magic Bus
I want it, I want it, I want it...(You CAN have it!)

We’re not rolling very long when we pull over at a long, low, narrow building. “Howie’s!!” Marley declares and we’re all pouring off the bus. Now Howie’s is an absolutely amazing food experience and should not be missed but like so much in Jamaica if you were to judge it by it’s appearance you might just miss out on one of the best experiences of your life. On first glance you might think you were stopping at a livestock barn. Open sided with iron gating around it, it looks like something out of the 19th century. This is a bit of a cool feat as Chicken says the building is only 30 or 40 years old. It went up and expanded as Howie’s food became more popular, and it’s popular for a reason. It’s incredible. And the open sides are necessary because they cook EVERYTHING on wood fires. Rows of huge cooking pots on a long series of grates, each poised above a pile of glowing embers that are constantly being fed with nicely cut bits of wood.

There is a long list of choices but I’m set on some oxtail. Sweetie Pie is going round and round. “I really want to try the curry goat but Pooper will hate me!” “Oh, Pooper will not be happy,” says Marley, “They have faces!” And with that Marley and Sweetie Pie go through a series of potential outcomes. “Everything you want here has a face,” I say to Sweetie Pie. “I know I’m going to get the stink eye!” says Sweetie Pie as she steps up to order, “But I have to try the goat!” It was a good call, sorry Pooper… :)

We’re all in the dining room, well, a room with some picnic tables, and we are putting our chow on. There’s a little bit of talking but it’s mostly of the moaning and exultation variety, very brief. Occasionally Sweetie Pie will say, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but it’s SO delicious.” It is. The oxtail is. Everything is. What an experience. After we finish there is a little milling about for the Cancer Stick Crew. A fairly large group gathers out near the bus to watch one of the shop guys chopping wood. There was much interest in watching this guy chop wood. What was that about?

Chicken and GonJon at the dining room door
Attachment 15403

And here is the wood chopper
Attachment 15402

Just as we’re getting ready to leave I ask Sweetie Pie if she took a picture of the pots. I had seen them all line up in a row on the cooking grate and thought “Beauty!” “I was going to and got sidetracked,” she says. “Go, quick, we’ll wait,” I said and she runs around to the front of the shop. She’s back quickly saying, “One off, I hope they turn out.” Ummm, yes, they did. What a talented lady…

Attachment 15400
Attachment 15401

Think how much you'll save...(You CAN have it!)]

Chickens Magic Bus Too is rolling and we’re barely under way from our lunch stop when someone yells out “Middle Quarter!” and someone else yells out “Pepper Shrimp!” Well, I’ve heard of these magical delicacies and it doesn’t matter that we’ve just had lunch, I want some! We pull up to the roadside shop and a bunch of us pile off. I get a bag of pepper shrimp and pop one in my mouth. Now I’m not usually a fan of shell on shrimp, especially if the head is still on, but these are delicious and pretty easy to eat. And hot. Spicy, spicy hot. So we’re milling around chatting with the shop ladies and having a nice time. One of the ladies had offered her soup when we got off the bus but no one had taken her up on it. We were here for Pepper Shrimp, after all. I’m in a small turtle circle with one of the ladies and she manages to talk Clarity into getting a cup of soup. “It’s only a dollar,” she says, “give it a try.” I won’t ever forget the look on Clarity’s face after that first sip. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, “You HAVE to try this!” Since I’m standing right next to her at this point, I do. “Oh my God!” I exclaimed as I simultaneously reached into my pocket for a dollar bill. The shop lady has the biggest smile on her face at this point, she KNOWS what’s coming. A cup is poured for me “which I will share with you” and Clarity’s cup and my cup start a domino effect of taste, moan, purchase. Nearly everyone gets a cup. I have a good laugh with the shop lady. “You just need to get one person to try it, right?” “Just get that first one,” she smiles, “then it sells itself.” Yes it does. Marley gets her cup and gets on the bus.

The incredible shrimp
Attachment 15404

And here we are in the middle of a soup frenzy. I think Chicken may have already finished his!!
Attachment 15405

I want it, I want it, I want it, I want it ... (You can't have it!)


Marley lets Ninja have a taste. Now Ninja declares that he had a taste and knew that a few more bites would be counter-productive but I swear I remember shortly down the road as we were all feasting on our soup, Sweetness pointing out whole pepper shrimp in the bottom of her cup, that I heard Marley say, “Hey, I OFFERED to buy you a cup!”…

Thruppence and sixpence every day
Just to drive to my baby
Thruppence and sixpence each day
'Cause I drive my baby every way

A pence here, a pence there gets us across the southern coast of Jamaica to Black River. We pull in to a marina like area, not for pleasure boats though, working boats. We’re going to switch to boats, it’s time to take to the sea!!

Thank you Guirigay!!!! I did offer to buy him a cup! LOL
But like the good little wife I am, I shared mine with him because I knew he would love it too.....even though I must admit that was REALLY hard to do! lol

Cheers Guirigay, smiling, reminiscing and tasting that lovely damn soup again! Thanks for the fab memories, wow! Till next April (the catz are all booked whoohoo!!).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by spottycatz

till next april (the catz are all booked whoohoo!!).

---

partayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

Long delay, I know, so I'll steal one of my favorite Luvsdaislands trip report bits - Let's continue...

Turtles are tottling about the boat launch, like everything else today this runs a little slow. We’d been riding in the back of the bus with Brasi for the last stretch. He busted out the McCleod tartan scarf we will hang at the bar. I’m super psyched. We end up being the first ones on the boat, me and Brasi and Sweetie Pie. We’re on by ourselves for a little bit, who knew turtles would be so slow to take to the sea? Finally Sweetness gets on board with more than a little trepidation. Pooper sits down next to her to offer support. She is facing some personal demons to do this part of the trip. Big up, much respect sista! Do you need me to smack anyone for you? You know I will. I’ll smack ‘em good and hard for you, you just let me know…

SpottyCatz get on board and Booger takes up the coxswain’s position. Wish I’d remembered to call him that at the time, I would have had A LOT of fun with that… I’m telling you, this takes a little while, Sweetie Pie grabs a number of shots of boats and birds and dogs and… Hey we’re pulling away from the dock! Now we just need to sit idling in the river for a while as the entire process is repeated for launch number two. Which is not any more coordinated than our launch… Our captain points out all the crocodiles, which here amounts to one HUGE stuffed Croc on the dock at Swaby’s Black River Safari.

Attachment 15550

Attachment 15551

After a long idle listening to much commotion on the launch dock we finally have a second boat of turtles under way. As we head out the estuary into the open sea the water gets rougher and Sweetness does NOT like it. We’re cutting through 2-3 footers and getting a little bump-bump and sea spray with each wave. Sweetie Pie is covering her camera and Brasi is covering his head! Not really, he’s actually coming around at this point and we’re very excited. It’s a long run along the coast before you get to Pelican. We evaluate the probable cost and level of desirability of a number of waterfront properties. It is beautiful here.

As the Pelican nears our anticipation grows. This is just a surreal sort of experience. This thing just should not be here, but it is. It shouldn’t survive out here, but it does. There are a couple of boats here already so we’re really going to get this place hopping. It’s late afternoon by the time we pull up to the dock, we are going to make this the ultimate happy hour.

Attachment 15553

Disembarking from the boat to the bar is a bit of an adventure and the boat captains who are there and the bar staff all assist. Stepping into the Pelican is a trip. Light filters in from everywhere, including the roof and reflected off the water and up through the floor. There really aren’t any solid surfaces here, even the bar itself is a patchwork of boards and driftwood and thatch. The bar itself holds a lot more people than I would have expected. There were 5 or 6 visitors when we arrived plus their captains plus 2 or 3 bar peeps plus a couple of rastas with a wood carving business and our 15 plus our captains. I have figured at least 25 people and the place did not feel crowded. It seemed to have a kind of Tardis effect, it seemed bigger on the inside.

I’ve been worried that Sweetie Pie’s camera has been soaked on the way out. It has taken some humidity damage but it recovers, after snapping this first fuzzy pic in the bar.

Attachment 15552

We wander around the bar a little bit, check out the pier and decide we need a dip in the water. I look out to see Ninja nearly out to the reef and head out that way, Sweetie Pie follows behind. As I’m on my way Ninja makes it to the reef, there are a number of places where the water barely covers the surface of the reef and Ninja is standing on one of them. “Walking on water!” yells Ninja. Damn, this cat has water command skills. “Splash high!” and it does. “Support my weight!” and it does. “Take care of my used Red Stripe!” and, well, it does…

As we're on our way out to the reef, a wayward pirate appears to have been kicking sea urchins...
Attachment 15554



Sweetie Pie and I go to the surf side of the reef. Hubby-man is behind us and he and Ninja get into a National Geographic episode. It’s just a very cool spot. You move very slowly and watch each step to stay on the dead coral around a variety of different shallow tidal pools. I’ve never been any place like it.

After a bit we regroup with Ninja and Hubby and head back toward the bar. We all successfully navigate the water shoe eating pit of muck. Somewhere just before the bar we pull up short and shuffle kick the water trying to alert the wildlife to our presence. You know how it’s always good to have some winnowing members of the bale? Slower than you so you can out swim the shark, deafer than you so they don’t hear the click of the spear gun, less cautious than you so they’ll check if that pile of hot dogs has a hook in it, less aware than you so they don’t notice an entire bale of turtles splashing up on them? Yeah, it’s great to have them around! I don’t think they thought of it as winnowing, though, I’m pretty sure they were thinking #winning…

When we get back to the bar there is some commotion about Clarity being injured, but there is no existing evidence. Clarity is up and around as usual, Marley’s overproof shot must have been a wicked painkiller. Sweetie Pie and I decide to switch from warm Red Stripe to warm rum. It goes down smooth and easy at the Pelican. The bar is hopping.

Attachment 15557

Attachment 15558

Attachment 15555


Brasi and I pick out a good spot for the McCleod tartan. I ask Brasi if he brought a pen. “I knew you were going to ask that!” He smiles. No worries, we’ll leave our mark anonymously. I find a cross bar as high as I can reach and tie the scarf off in a knot then drape it over the rafter. It looks good. We take it in for a few and Sweetie Pie snaps a shot. We’re clearly not clear headed as we forget to get a shot of us with the tartan.

Attachment 15556

Sweetie Pie and I end up on the dock platform with another group that has come out to the Pelican. We’re both pretty mesmerized by the place and are discussing the possibility and logistics of actually being married there. “It would be perfect,” says one of the ladies in the group, “It can be done, it has been done. You just need a minister willing to come out here.” We talk excitedly for a minute and then realize there is no way we could get our parents out here. The boat transfers would be just about impossible. Around this time Marley has tottled in and says something like, “They wouldn’t have any problem getting into or out of Catcha!” I believe this moment would be referred to as planting the seed…

There is much back and forth between the dock and the bar and down the steps to the water and back up to the bar and back out to the dock. Several more warm rums are consumed. Rastas laugh at pathetic turtles trying to corral wayward children for sacrifice. A few turtles pay the wood carvers to add their names to pantheon. Some terrific photos are taken. Love and friendship are celebrated in truly epic fashion.

Attachment 15568

Attachment 15559

Attachment 15560

Attachment 15561

Pirate Clowns! Just what the heck are you supposed to do when you're invaded by pirate clowns???

Attachment 15590

Attachment 15565



No one has any particular interest in leaving but we realize the time is coming, the sun is dropping on the horizon and the wind has picked up a little bit. “Looks like we might be against the wind both ways,” I say to our captain. “Ya mon,” He says, “That’s why we should go.” Our boat is first at the bottom of the steps and Sweetness joins me in the back. No one needs their ass kicked at the Pelican, lovely people out here and real gentlemen. They have Sweetness relaxed and smiling before we leave.

Attachment 15566

Attachment 15567

As we’re idling off the bar we hear a scream worthy of any horror film shriek out behind us. “Hmmm,” we wonder but by the time we look back the other boat is rocking and laughing and hooting. Couldn’t have been THAT bad! The good news is that in the time it has taken us to saddle up the bale the wind has shifted and we’re riding the rollers instead of cutting them. With less to worry about the captains run side by side and we have a mock race. I have some good boating conversation with our captain and thank him for running side by side. It just adds more things for them to be aware of, it’s much easier to run separate. “Ya mon,” he says, “ We like to do it when we can, it’s much more fun for you.” This is obvious as we have all kinds of interplay between the two boats.