The rest of our Trip Report - Catcha Falling Star & Blue Cave Castle

We stopped our trip report abruptly in February and I don't like to leave anything unfinished. Our trip report is our small way thanking everyone for all of the help, encouragement and advice you've given us.

So We'll be posting the rest of our trip report in this thread

If you missed the first two parts here are the links

Part one - http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...Report-Day-1-3
Part two - http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...report-Day-4-7

I chose to start a new thread for these last two days because it's too hard for me to re-visit our old thread. It ended on such a tragic note and when I click back into it I start crying. It's just easier for me this way. I truly appreciate all of your support during that time...It gave us so much comfort...It's been a very difficult time, but we're healing and we're doing better, It's still too painful to write about though so I'm just going to leave it at that...

On a positive note: Our anniversary trip is coming up and hotels are all booked! It's a dream come true for us. So What better time to get the ball rolling again? So I'll hand the Keyboard over to Markus.

(Jamar will also be updating this week to share his impressions of “Blue Cave Castle” and his day trip to “Little Bay”)

******

rubbing palms together ....

...thank you so much for sharing with us. So looking forward to it.......can't wait to hear how you like my favorite resort CFS and your impressions of the Castle where I have never been (but heard great things about Teddy and the views).

Can't wait to read it!

Where to begin? It feels like I am starting from scratch after this long time and all the things that happened. It's like talking about another world and another time. The stress has caught up with me again. I get up some days with a tiredness that does not want to dissipate. I feel like grief has aged us, I see an old man in my own reflection.

...It's definitely time for the next reach!

Despite the distance in space and time, Catcha Falling Star has left a lasting, maybe permanent impression. Even as a well traveled person, it was a first for me in many ways. I remember the exclamations escaping involuntarily as we took it all in: “How did we get here! How are we so lucky!”

As we walked the grounds, through the flower arches and passed Ivan's bar, a view suddenly opened up that simply took my breath away.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...hafirstday.jpg

Natural stone paths, mosaics of different color boulders, criss-crossed the various levels, up and down stairs and over bridges. They disappeared behind corners and into niches, wound down the steep cliffs and paused whenever out of view to offer private hang-outs, fitted with chairs, tables and shading umbrellas. A whimsical labyrinth for a king to explore, a pleasure garden for the human condition, made of stone and mortar, sea-salt, and flowers.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...afirstday2.jpg

Ivans Bar towers over it all, the famous giant tree stump at it's center. The structure is brimming with art strewn about, metal sculptures over-grown with the potted plants they hold, faces cut into the wood and pieces of glass hanging from the beams, breaking the sun-light and making it dance as a million bright spots that mingle with the familiar wavy reflectons from the pool.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...afirstday3.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...afirstday4.jpg

It seemed like where ever the eye looked there was something beautiful to behold - and not at all in a tacky or overly-posh way. Rather than conquering or overwhelming its environment, Catcha Falling Star seems to have just grown out of the rock, hugging it as naturally as lichen.

This first encounter will certainly stick with me for a long time to come.

The tour did not only include the grounds though. An eager cook invited us to inspect the restaurants kitchen, showed us the fresh ingredients for the tonights dinner and pointed out how very clean and organized everything was. We got to say hello to the whole kitchen staff only minutes into our stay. That too was a first.

I can no longer give you a perfect play-by-play of our stay, but there were special moments that have burned themselves into my memory.

One of them was during our first snorkeling expedition, minutes after tossing the suitcases onto our beds. We entered the water on the south side and swam around the terrasses to the cove, that cuts into the cliff on the other side and disappears into a cave.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...ingsnorkel.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...rningwater.jpg

On the bottom is large sandy area with slopes of coral rock on each side. I let myself sink some 30 feet to the bottom and touched down lightly onto the sand. Hovering indian-style I took in the view.

The water has the clarity of air and, with the mid-day light beaming through, the bright space between the cliffs looks simply enormous. I immediately thought of a cathedral, the quietness under water only accentuated by the omnipresent crackling noise of coral being eaten and shells being cracked. Tropical fish with their myriads of bright colors floated like molten pieces of stained glass though the this palatial space.

At the entrance of the cave at the end, a school of silvery fish stuck their heads out, then disappeard, then came out again, to check if every thing was still in good order. Had I not run out of air - oh, I would have stayed much longer.

The gardens are no less beautiful. On the morning of our first full day at Catcha Falling star we walked around with cameras poised. I easily got lost in chasing butterflies, wasps and other critters...

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...rningviewr.jpg
The view from the Gemini Patio

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...scusflower.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...aflowerbee.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...orningwalk.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...rningwalk1.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...morningben.jpg

The breakfast was also amazing..

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...akfastmenu.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...gbreakfast.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...breakfast2.jpg

After snorkeling and sunning in the cove

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...voritespot.jpg

I settled down at the bar for a dirty banana and some sketching

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...atchacarol.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...tchasketch.jpg

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...sketchview.jpg


While Daisy left to explore the area around Catcha and visit Milo at Banana shout.

When she got back she was ready for a very big FIRST of her own. Ever since she researched Negril and Jamaica; Daisy had been trying to wrap her mind around one thing in particular:

Cliff jumping!

What a challenge! We are talking about someone who until about a year ago did not like to be in water, where her feet could not touch the ground, someone who considered snorkeling an extreme sport, and consistently declared herself as unable to swim! “I doggy paddle!”

Now this anxious girl was watching kids and dads hop off the cliffs around the grounds and something stirred inside of her, like an animal instinct, a little chunk of genetic code that whispered from within:
“Ye-eeeees! That is who you aaare! That is what you do-oooo! Do-oooo it! Ju-uuump! Juuuuuuuump!”

She walked to the edge of the cliff, staring down at the swirling water...

“You go first!” - she commanded.

Ok , alright, I thought. I have done this. A few times. A lot of times. In fact, often enough to have experienced a variety of possible outcomes - some involving surpressed man tears and very red skin....

But O.K., for the sake of supporting my sporty-spice I'll go first.

So I marched around the bend to the popular hop-off point passed the signs, telling me insurance isn't going to cover what I am about to do.

http://i1181.photobucket.com/albums/...scliffjump.jpg

I was in good spirits until I broke off the first attempt, some bad memories and doubts creeping in. Suddenly my stomach was jumping down before I was.

It's a matter of perspective clues and spatial understanding, something my brain could do, before I said my first words, that was now giving me a slight pause. Thinking about jumping from afar and overcoming one's instinctual inhibition split-seconds before the point of no return are two totally different animals.

I took a deep breath, told my brain 'There is no way we are going to withdraw from this challenge!' and I finally jumped.

I dutifully played down the accomplishment and in a No-Big-Deal kind of fashion handed over the baton to Daisy.

I'll let the video do the story-telling. But I want you to know how incredibly impressed I am by this proud giant of a woman I married.:)

http://youtu.be/YhwaEpi_8Zg

To be continued