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

Wow,what an awesome party time this April vacation is,we may have to change from November to April!!! Keep those posts coming and thanks for sharing!!!

Day 2: Sunday April 22, 2012

We awoke, not sure what time it was….in fact, probably not even sure exactly where we were….you know that first morning in Jamaica feeling…and then mix that with lots of liquor and very little sleep in the last few days and you get the idea. I tried looking at my watch but got confused because of the time change, so I picked up my Jamaican cell phone and I think it was around 9am or so….so yay, another 4 hours sleep…who needs more, really? I got up, though I DEFINITELY could have slept more (and yes, those beds at Seastar are very comfortable, I think that was Daisy who had told me about them). I headed out in my pajamas to see if anyone else was stirring about. The free breakfast was out but it looked as if they were about to put it away (so it must have been close to 10am) so I walked over quickly and Ninja and I got some cereal and fruit and sat down at a nearby table. No one was really out and about except for the staff. I started to wonder / worry if Daisy and Markus had made it up in time to catch their ride….I was worried because we went to bed at the same time and waking up when we did was hard enough. I know that no amount of alarm clock or anything probably would have woken me up! Just as I was thinking that I logged on to my iPad and saw a bunch of messages from Patty. She was trying to wake up Daisy and couldn’t reach her. You see, Daisy had made a deal with Patty the night before and Patty was to be Daisy’s wakeup call at 6am, I will let her tell that story but for now it had seemed as if the plan might not have been successful and so I had NO idea whether they had woken up in time and caught their ride, or if they were even still up in their room asleep. I messaged Patty back asking her if she had reached Daisy but did not hear back. Just about that time my mind switched gears because I saw Tizzy walk through the gate and head up to the front desk. She hadn’t seen us sitting there so she was heading back out when I called over to her. She came to our table and told us that she had lost her iPhone, so she had stopped by to see if perhaps she had left it here at the party last night but they told her no. So of course my hubby being the high-tech nerd, problem-solving, and overall caring guy he is, immediately tried to use his computer to see if he could track down her missing iPhone using GPS. Tizzy and I chatted a bit and then she said she was heading back to Catcha. I let her know we would be checking in shortly and I would see her soon. I left Ninja at the table, as he was still in full-computer-saves-the-day mode and I returned to our room to shower, pack and get ready to move HOME! As I was finishing up, Ninja returned to the room and told me that he had just seen Booger, Sandie and Jon check out and head down to Catcha. Now I was excited, it had only been 6 months since we were last at Catcha, but I honestly miss that place the MINUTE I walk off the property so I was super excited to get over there. I nearly left Ninja in the shower to get over there but luckily he takes like 5 minutes to get ready, so like a flash we were checking out, thanking the lovely Seastar staff and getting in a car for the quick ride down Seastar Lane. Forty-five seconds later, and with a beep beep, the gates opened and we were home. I opened the car door, grabbed my bag, looked around and then heard a voice coming from the office “Hi Shauna!” My smile instantly got bigger….I knew that voice. I turned and nearly jogged to the office, I saw Ben (resident doggy mascot) and smiled. I entered the office and gave Mauvette a big hug. I just love seeing her smile because it means I am home and I always smile when I am home.

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We chatted a bit and she pointed out our Christmas Card that they had posted on the board. I told her that the boardies were taking over Catcha for the week and to watch out. She laughed and said “I see” and told us that Booger and Sandie were down by the bar (of course, I said). She told us that Sagi was not yet ready but we could put our bags in the office and head to Ivan’s and they would let us know once it was ready. “No worries” we said and we headed down to the bar. When we got to the bar, only Sandie was there, but I did see Carol and Ardia, the day staff and their eyes got big when they saw us and they gave us big hugs….just love those two! We sat down at the bar with Sandie to visit and also chatted with Carol and Ardia. I decided to go ahead and order my first drink at Ivan’s and Carol made me a Purple Rain….it was delicious, as always

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Oh and we had taken over babysitting duties of Joe the previous night so he piped up and said he wanted a drink too, so we obliged.

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Soon after Booger joined us (I think he had been swimming or something) and we chatted with he and his lovely wife at the bar for a while. This was the first time we were able to have a real and memorable conversation with the two of them (By memorable I mean no one was too drunk to remember the conversation this time LOL). We had a really nice time getting to know each other and I knew, just like I had assumed based on messageboard interactions, that I liked them both a whole lot. Not too long after that, Jon showed up and so did Tizzy. I had not really had the chance to officially meet Jon at the party because there were just so many people and so much going on, so the setting at Ivan’s was much better to really chat with what would come to be our little gang of fun folks for the week. I bonded with my fellow Libra, Sandie, immediately (Libras tend to do that) and I laughed at just about everything Booger said (which is exactly what I do when he posts on the board), I thought Jon was a really nice guy and of course Tizzy, well we go way back (from yesterday lol). We all decided to order a little lunch at the bar and I enjoyed my favorite lunch dish (which is actually just an appetizer), the Calypso Trio

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Around that time I looked over and witnessed a very familiar face coming towards the bar. I yelled out “SWEETNESS!” and she yelled back “Yes” lol. It still cracks me up to be in a place and yell a greeting to someone who you have never met in your life, yet you know what she looks like, her name, and she knows the same about you. She comes over to the bar and I jumped up off the big bar stool and gave her a great big hug, something I had long been waiting to do. Sweetness was also staying at Catcha for the week and I was thrilled about that. During the week, at one time or another Catcha would be home to, Marley and Ninja (duh), Booger and Sandie, Jon, Tizzy, Sweetness, Markus and Daisy, Guirigay and Sweetie Pie and even at the very end, Coco! The boardies are taking over! Lol I visited with Sweetness and she mentioned that she had wanted to go to the comedy show up at Moondance Cliffs later that night. I said “Oh yes, that sounds like fun, I want to go too” but we had all already planned to go to the webcast down on the beach at Seasplash. I thought well, what if we all go to the webcast at 5, stay a bit and then head up the cliffs to the comedy show. She said she was in, and the rest of the gang was onboard as well….it’s a deal! So Sweetness parted and went back to her room and we told her we would meet up when the bus comes to get us. About then, my Jamaican cell phone rings and it is Guirigay and SweetiePie. They told me they were up at Seastar because they had taken Daisy up on her offer and they were going to use their room for the next 2 nights. They wanted to know what we were up to and I told them the plan, they were game so I suggested they walk down the lane and come join us at the bar at Ivan’s as it was probably around 3-4pm or so. They agreed and soon they were there joining us at the bar. They chatted with us for a bit and even ordered something to eat. We all left for a bit to go get ready and shortly after we all met back up ready to head down to the webcast.

Here is Ninja and Joe, waiting on all of the girls to get ready so we could head out to the webcast. LOL (Notice the camera in his hand-more on that in a bit)

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I called Chicken to come pick us up in the Magic Bus and he was in MoBay (I think) but he sent his brother, Pelle, with the bus to come get us. So we loaded up onto the Magic Bus and headed down to the beach to Seasplash. Pelle dropped us off and told us Chicken would be back around 6:30 or so to get us and take us to the comedy show up on the cliffs.

Booger- A lot has already been said about Booger in other posts and all of it is true! LOL He did not look like I had pictured him in my head but everything else about him was just as expected. The guy is funny I mean seriously a comedian. He has the perfect sarcastic humor that I love. He says what everyone is thinking and gets away with it, because it is funny. He has a fun-loving spirit that makes you think the guy is never serious about anything, which might just be true. But on the other hand, the part of him that you might not immediately expect is that he is a real sweetheart, I mean a softy for real(Now he will NEVER admit to that, of course) but this is a man who cares A LOT about his wife, his child, and his friends and he does A LOT to see that they are always happy and having fun. You truly are a great guy, booger, and I am glad we got to know you! In fact the only complaint I have about the man is that he makes it IMPOSSIBLE for others to treat him on ANYTHING! Damn you, booger! We tried....and failed, every time!

Sandie (aka Pooper) - I fell in love with pooper instantly, in fact, I think it might just be impossible for anyone not to. She has a heart that is a mile wide and she will do anything to help you whether she knows you or not. You can instantly determine, much like Patty, that she is in a care-giving profession because she takes care of everyone she meets and you always know she is going to make it all better. I can only imagine what a great mother she is, because throughout the week I honestly saw her take care of just about everyone in that way that your mom does when you are a little kid, myself included which you will hear about shortly. Not only is she the best care-giver but she is also the social butterfly. Sandie never met a stranger in her whole life, humans and animals included. One of my favorite things about her is that no matter where we would go, at some point I would look over and she would be hugging someone, or talking to someone that I didn't recognize, sometimes they were staff members, some times other guests or tourists at places we had stopped. I would walk over and ask if she knew them, because she would look so close to the person and just about everytime the answer would be "Yes, I just met them, this is so and so and they are from......" My second favorite thing would be what I will call the "Sandie Look" She gives you this look with her big eyes and you just melt. (Booger, I can only imagine this must be your kryptonite-Ninja will be so excited I used a comic book reference there) I saw that look so many times this week and I just loved it every single time. She would give the look when something upset her, or if she wanted something, or if she didn't approve of something (like eating goat...that one was for you Sweetie Pie) but whatever the reason she was given the look, the results (at least for me) was that it just made me love her even more, every single time I saw it! Sandie, girlfriend, you are amazing, I heart you, I miss you, and I am so glad we met! Smooches!

Jon (aka "Rumspringa" LOL) - When I first met Jon, Sandie introduced him as her brother, which I believed hahahaha. Later I found out that he was actually Booger's childhood friend and that they had been in each others lives for many many years. That already made me believe that he must be a pretty decent guy. At first, much like with Booger, you might judge the book by it's cover and think ok here is some surfer frat boy dude from California, he is probably pretty shallow and just about partying. But actually, Jon put that stereotype to rest almost instantly. He was nothing like that. A father who loves his kids, a very sincere guy, who really needed a fun week of vacation and he was finally going to have it. After hearing some of his back story I, along with just about everyone else, was on board with Booger and Sandie in making sure he had a great vacation, an awesome birthday and just an overall rocking good time.....I think one person in this group went above and beyond to make sure that plan happened for him! And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! lol

Sweetness - It's been said before and I am going to say it again, she truly lives up to her name. Sweetness is, in fact, one of the sweetest women you will ever meet! Her smile can light up a room and you almost immediately know that once you are her friend, she will do anything for you. I think just about all of us got that treatment at some point in the week and I am beyond blessed to now be able to say I am on that friend list! Even more so, for some reason, I almost felt as instantly as I gave her that first hug, that she was more like a sister than a friend. I instantly trusted her and just felt so unbelievably comforted whenever in her presence, I can't really describe it, I guess you just have to experience it. She had told me that she wasn't an overly social person but I never saw that part of her. She was there with all of us and she was having a blast just like everyone else. I never saw her not smiling (well except maybe in that one picture that Spottycatz just posted lol). And she was in Jamaica with all of us at a time she would have been with her sweetie, but instead he was called to work just before she got there. For some that might have been really depressing and sad, but instead she was in the moment with all of us and having fun, and I am sooooooooooo glad she was there! Love you lots, sister Sweetness, thanks for putting aside your "antisocial" tendancies as you put it and being a part of our fun all week!

I actually did know that we spoke of this over some peanut butter

Great story - great picture of Carol! More, more more...

Thanks Coco!
Your PNS is getting bad, isn't it?????
Have you booked your next reach yet? ;)

You are such a precious gem girl friend!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patty Sather

You are such a precious gem girl friend!

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I know you are, but what am I ?!?!?!? LOL
:)

Ninja - the Xtabi ceiling fan description had me rolling. I remember one morning waking up in cottage #4 and laughing about how amazingly LOUD the fan was all night...like it kept waking us up, LOUD. Of course we were too incapacitated to get up and turn it off.

Yes Marley - we've booked again for October :-)