On the prowl in Negril

Be advised this (memory gaps) is what happens when you don't do your trip report in a timely fashion.

Regardless, there is some factual information in this report that will possibly justify using your valuable time to read it - well maybe, you be the judge and feel free to jack me up if I have led you astray.

We flew in May 27, 2014. Our driver was Clive. On the ride to Negril he told us he'd spent time in our home state/province. We had another thing in common in that he was a former teacher. I had just left that profession after 26 years in a prison classroom (yes in a prison).

Got road drinks in Lucea (Clive's home town). Stopped at Bigga's for some finger licking good chicken on the way down. We had the cabin closest to the gate @ Catcha (our first time there). We mosied down to the bar for some post trip drinks.

Kevin, the bartender informed me that there was a currently a "Heinecken shortage". Fortunately this Heinecken shortage didn't extend beyond Catcha's gate and I was able to keep properly hydrated.

A couple words about this particular cabin. There was audible truck traffic until about 8 PM, due to the proximity of the gate and internal driveway. There is also foot traffic at shift changes that goes right by the cabin's deck.
Actually we kind of enjoyed this, but if you're contemplating renting this cabin these are things you may want to know.

Bdee, bdee, bedee, Thats all folks, for day one.

no matter where you stay on the property, you are at catcha!!!

Dig Clive,dig biggas,dig the west end,diggen this report!

Day two, Wednesday, May 28
We had breakfast overlooking the sea. Attachment 40343
Carol was our server and she was sweeter than bear meat. Coffee is self serve in an urn which is perfect for me.
I really, really need coffee to start my sputtering motor.

After breakfast we walked to the beach. We stopped for a couple hunks of that special chocolate cake you can obtain in the west end. Two pieces for $20. The cakes seemed to have lost their old punch, either that or I'm incredibly jaded.

Next stop was Sun Island, I was looking for some swim goggles (the little kind you use for lap swimming/surface swimming). Sun Island had none and they sent me down to the drugstore, across the street from the Chinaman's (downtown). On the way down we stopped at the Sea View Sports Bar & Grill (AKA the Corner Bar). Attachment 40344
It's a fair walk to the beach and one must stay properly hydrated in the tropics.

The drugstore came through with goggles and we walked on to the beach. We passed through the area that looks like an open air market. I picked up a servicible herb grinder in the market. Mrs. Peel got a craft bracelet (if my memory serves).

We hoofed it as far as Sunbeach and decided that was far enough and it was time to re-hydrate. Sophia was tending bar and miracuously (to me anyway - my memory is simply vestigal at this point in my life) Mrs. Peel remembered Sophia's name (how does she do it?).Attachment 40345

Mrs. Peel was sampling rum punches and I was replenishing my vital fluids with a little help from the Dutch. A submarine may have surfaced while we were at the beach, but again, the memory is hazy so let's simply assume (based on past practices) that is what transpired. Attachment 40346
Then we were hungry.
We ordered pepper/salt shrimp.

We headed back down the beach. As we neared my daughter's favorite spot on the beach (Root's) I heard nature distinctly calling to my bladder.

Libations of all sorts ensued and the next thing you know, someone had turned up the (sand) gravity and we were a long way from Catcha. There was some minimal panhandling going on at Roots, nothing problematic though.

Nature called again by the time we reached Alfred's. Alfred's had a small "No Ganja" sign posted that was being ignored by the assembled with extreme prejudice. Mrs. Peel concluded that Alfred's had the best rum punch she'd sampled that day. That's what she said but she may have been punch-drunk by that time.

We managed to navigate back to the Chinaman's for groceries but it wasn't the most organized shopping excursion.

Somewhere (my notes fail me) we had pina coladas and dirty bananas. My next note is: The sun fell early this evening.

vacation is such a wonderful thing !

You look like the cat who swallowed the canary...LOL

I hope this next section is useful.
One day I timed our walking with the intent of sharing the information with fellow boardies.
We tried to walk at least one way everywhere, generally if there were groceries involved (wet groceries or otherwise) we took a cab back.
In the main we walked everywhere, thus according to our calculations anyway, we could drink as much beer as we wanted.

From Catcha:
Sips & Bites 5 minutes
De Bar 10
Pressley's 15
3 Dives 20
Jenny's 25
Canoe 40

I'll follow this up with more destinations and times.
Let it be noted I have one bad leg so you may be a little faster but I think you may find this info helpful and if you walk you don't have to worry what color the cab's plates are.

Um, Patricia I used to live in spitting distance of Mayville.

Hi Rum! Nice to see you back on the board and posting your trip!

Well put....said

Great start.

Hey Lola!

Loving your report! We stayed in the Gatehouse cottage at Catcha and really enjoyed it! if you are anywhere at Catcha, it's all good!

Rum, nice report - times for rolling to spots is invaluable. Nothing but chill under that hat in the pic. Keep it coming.

Trip reports are always great, even if they are late. More is welcome!

Day Three, Thursday , May 29
We started with coffee overlooking the sea. Mrs. Peel spotted dolphins out on the horizon but I missed them. I was distracted by the glaring mismatch between my sausage fingers and and the keyboard of Mrs. Peel's notebook. After coffee we strolled to Sips and Bites. Attachment 40351
I have contradicting walk times in my notebook so I'm going to err on the high side (erring on the high side seems like a Negril natural), which put Sips and Bites @ 14 minutes from Catcha. Mrs. Peel had a caliloo omelet and I had my favorite JA breakfast, saltfish and ackee.

From S&B we headed to Ragabones AKA Red Dragon. I've heard about Ragabone's ever since my first trip ('98) but never got up there (Red Ground).
I was pretty sure I could make a 90 degree turn off the West End Rd. near Sun Island and that would take me to the neighborhood, since I wasn't sure though I opted for going the long way around by the roundabout (someone cue "Yes").

Even with this prudent approach I still missed a turn and we ended up hailing a cab. I don't remember what color the plates were but we were close and it was a cheap but informative cab ride and we got at least a rudimentary idea of the lay out of Red Ground. The morning was hot. By 10:30 the ice cold (possibly the coldest beers in Negril) beers were sliding.Attachment 40352

Gordo, the owner's son was bartending. He was wearing a T-shirt with the following legend:
F_CK Yo_
Want To Buy A Vowel?
Reggae was playing on a Jamaican radio station. The breeze coming in through the open windows made those frosty beers sweat. As someone said above: "Vacation is good". Mrs. Peel noticed a baseball bat strategically located within the bartenders reach. Down the bar from us an older gentleman was drinking water and performing what sounded like an incantation. Five beers later (for less than $10) we decided we'd got there too early to wait for their famous pork lunch.

If you want to try Ragabone's pork it's a good idea to be there by 12:30 (PM - when they set it out). Gordo says it will be gone by 3:PM.

We'd have to wait for another time for the pork. We walked back to the Corner Bar. Cricket was on the TV's and it was drawing a small local crowd. The weather was perfect. We walked on to Canoe for rum/fruit punches. Attachment 40355
Someone was in the process of rebuilding the Negril Yacht Club (miss you Chuck, Donna, et. al.). Next we sauntered into the "German Bar". There was a sign in there with the legend:
"Drawers showing not acceptable"
My, my, my, how very Teutonic. Are we really in Negril? It was dead so we pushed on to Mi Yard. The picture below is technically a Negril dog, but the caption could read: This is your brain in Negril:
Attachment 40356

We met a pleasant German lady there named Karin. Karin was troubled by the helmetless scooter pilots. She mentioned her friend Roberta's book about Negril (my notes are so sketchy - does anyone know about a Negril book written by a Roberta?). Karin said she was staying @ Jackies On The Reef and she extolled the virtues of its natural setting with a saltwater pool.

After Mi Yard we walked to Xtabi (where we stayed last time - we had the cottage closest to 3 Dives - a location hard to beat). At Xtabi it was time to re-hydrate. Due to the loss of precious electrolytes we decided to go with dirty bananas, you know potassium. Our bartender was Kevin (a different Kevin from Catcha's). Kevin said the pork goes fast at Red Dragon, don't wait around.

We walked up to De Barr. One of the best things about May is people have time to talk. We found out that the bartender was familiar with a couple of our friends: Fatty, and GerryG. They were cooking chicken at De Bar and it smelled too good to pass up.

It was a perfectly balanced Negril day. We were able to cover a lot of ground, explored a new area for us (Red Ground), had many drinks and all of them well presented (except the German Bar).

Someone dispatched half a cake, probably me, but the notes begin to lack clarity at this point. The day closes out with the following note:
AhhhBees @ Natalie - dinner here. I have two pictures (can anyone tell me where we were?):
Attachment 40359
Even though I have no idea where we were the seriousness of the moment seemed to escape me:
Attachment 40360

This is fun! Thanks for the comic version of your trip and for sharing. :)

Another good report....thanks Rum :)

Looking like a very good time was had,please continue and thanks for sharing!

Great read... thanks for sharing Rum

Sweeeeet! you guys know how to do it! Nothin' better than walking around Negril in search of a likkle adventure............

I'm enjoying your report very much :)

loveing the report makes me sad that we are not going back this year

What a sweet time to poke my head in here. A Rum report!! Mrs. Peel is truly lovely and you, sir, are aces.

Day 4 Friday, May 30
It only took three days for me to build an excuse for my failed notes. Direct transcription from the notes:
Note book has taken a real beating-waterlogged-semi dried out, folded, unfolded, beat.
However next to my feeble brain's recollecting powers it's a champ. A good friend once told me the shortest pencil is better than the longest memory. In short, glad I took notes, and pictures.

We started the day with coffee by the sea. Carol our favorite server was back today. I took a morning dip while Mrs. Peel kept an eye out for dolphins.

We decided to explore the Westend Rd. We walked from Catcha to what appeared to be a sewage treatment plant. There was no sign proclaiming its purpose but there were cars in the lot with signage on their doors. This plant was located down the road after it forks. One fork heads to "Just Natural" and the other fork goes by this plant. The plant's fork is the fork closest to the sea. There didn't seem to be much after the plant so we turned around and walked back to "Just Natural". We headed back toward Catcha and stopped at the West End Bakery for "watas". We planned on returning twice, once to eat at "Just Natural" and once to get a patty (pasties in the U.P.) at the "Out Of Town Bakery".
Attachment 40413
Attachment 40410
The above is a little alcove off the West end road.

We saw a huge spider with an equally huge web on the way back.
Attachment 40411
(this view is from the road so that gives you some idea of the spider's size)

We had a couple rum and cokes on the deck (remember to hydrate in the tropics) then headed out for lunch at the Red Dragon.
Attachment 40412

Most of the patrons were drinking old school, shot and a glass of water. It was like a neighborhood bar at home except we couldn't ear hustle the patois. Still you could recognize some of the action. The atmosphere was friendly and open.
Attachment 40414
(The above is Mrs. Peel and Gordo - action picks up as it gets closer to the pork being served.)

The lottery was on TV and it had a rapt following in the bar.
Finally the moment of truth, the pork was served. I ordered a pound after conferring with Gordo. My pork was wrapped in foil, the most succulent pork I'd ever thrown a lip over. It's eaten with your fingers but I wished I had an entrenching tool so I could shovel it in faster. Then with a flourish that would have impressed the Tasmanian Devil, and embarrassed Emily Post I wiped out the contents of the foil packet.

The pork is served piping hot and spiced hot via the Scottish hat peppers. I love hot food but I refrained from eating the Scottish peppers. You can avoid the peppers but you can't avoid their heat. Some people have their pork with a slice or two of white bread (similar in looks to Wonder Bread), I guess this may be to cut the heat. Tender stomachs be advised. Best pork I've had in Negril or the surrounding area, possibly the planet. Exquisite!

Thankfully there is their chest of ice cold beer, ice crystals literally cling to the freshly extracted bottles. Just the thing for washing down the hot pork. After we'd eaten and been hosed off by the attendants a couple sat down to our left and we engaged them in small talk. It turned out they were Rob (from the board) and Bnewb. We'd never met them before. Generally we sew our wild oats in the daytime and turn in early, so we've never been to any boardie bashes. Bnewb was a real surprise for me. From Bnewb's posts I had always assumed Bnewb was a white man in his 70's. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a detective.

From the Red Dragon we proceeded downtown. We scored some hot peanuts on the way. In case you ever have trouble drinking a beer just get some hot peanuts, um, you know, unless you're the kind that can drink beer without encouragement. Jamaican peanuts have a shell like paper. If you haven't tried them yet you need to change that.

Beers @ the Sea View Sports Bar and Grill. These slid so well that by the time we got to Mi Yard we decided it was time for more.

From the porch of Mi Yard we could see an afternoon storm building up over the beach.
Attachment 40415
As the storm rolled in a domestic drama unfolded before our eyes. There was a hen in the yard. She was chasing a huge, shiny centipede. The hen ran the grease right off her little drumsticks. Perseverance paid off. She was holding the centipede in her beak when the rooster arrived on the scene. He'd been watching her run the bug down. The rooster snatched the centipede from her little yellow bill and in Mrs. Peel's indignant words, "He didn't even share it."

Maybe it was Karin's suggestion from the day before but we got into a helmet discussion. Neither of us bike so I'm not sure why it came up. Mrs. Peel said," You don't see as many people wearing helmets here as at home." All I could come up with for a rejoinder was: "You don't see as many Buicks as you do in Door County either."

Next up, No Limit Bar, Byron was herding the beers there. Byron said it was a quiet May and the next big excitement he expected was the ATI party in July. "That's a party for a week," Byron said.

A dip in the sea can really put the spring back in your step. I spent a half hour or so pulling Mrs. Peel around on a plastic air raft, a poor man's version of Cleopatra's barge. The degree of refreshment was amazing. With this new found energy we were capable of constructing rum and cokes on our deck (we were staying in Pisces). We hung on the deck until about 7:30 then took a cab to Pressley's (maybe walking wasn't an option - west end road vehicle traffic can be a little hairy for walking after dark - or maybe, just maybe it was the rum). (BTW Pressley's is where I proposed to Mrs. Peel two years ago.)

By the time we got back I was sure I could hear my pillow singing lullabies. Mrs. Peel thought a night cap was in order so we navigated down to Ivan's. There was a young Jamaican couple (who turned out to be brother and sister) and a young American couple. The group was celebrating the young American man's birthday.

At one point I was going to wish him a "Happy Birthday" but he was caught up in conversation, so I waited. Before I could say anything, the young man said to me, "You're Rum-polephoreskin?"

I (being the master of clever repartee) said,"How did you know that?" He explained (I have the whitest left leg of any tourist your likely to find in Negril).
I asked the young man his name and he said Tim. I asked if he was a boardie.
He said, "Yes I'm Booger." His wife Sandy goes by "Pooper" on the board. Booger and I then began discussing posts and other boardies (were anyone's ears ringing?).

The lovely young Jamaican woman went behind the bar and grabbed a mic. She began singing "Happy Birthday" to Tim. That was followed by the bartender singing a long explicit version of the "Big Bamboo". He did this karaoke style, teasing people with the verses. Continuing in the funny penis song category, the bartender broke into a racy cover of Chuck Berry's "My Ding-a-ling". This turned into a sing along, at least during the choruses. The crowd was small but we were rockin' wall to wall.

A little later we had a chance to talk with Sandy and Tim. Their daughter is the same age as our youngest, and they shared her prom pictures with us. Sandy shared some insights about Negril in May (this was our first May). Unfortunately they were leaving the next day and we didn't get to talk again. It was 10 PM when we finally bedded down, latest we stayed up (on this trip anyway).

Hey Guirigay

Roberta Raigh Pryor.....NEGRIL Reggae, Riots & Romance is the book you spoke of.
GREAT FUNNY report........PLEASE continue.

Thanks Jim-Donna, I knew a boardie would bail me out.
More tomorrow, I'm a hunt and peck typist and me writing is slow, taxing work indeed.

Love the report! How did you like visiting in May? We always go the end of April but this year other obligations are pushing our trip to May 20 - 27th. I always worry about more rain the later I get into the summer, and after my last trip this past October (for the Cocolapalm Halloween party in which it rained quite a bit during our stay), I am really needing more sun than rain!

We were there at the cusp of May and June.
Rain was never a problem. I can say the same for (my time in) July.
Afternoon rain showers can and do happen all year in the tropics.

If there is a bad weather time, I'd guess it was the Fall/Hurricaine season.

Nice report. It must have been a shock to learn Bnewb is a beautiful blonde and not a 70-something male. Scotch Bonnet peppers are available at one of my local grocers direct from Jamaica. One is all you need to make a big pot of chilli.

@ Big Frank
I was shocked.
It's funny how we jump to conclusions about other boardies based on their avatars.

[

Saturday May 31
Mrs. Peel kicked off the day with a fruit plate and I took a swim. We hiked back out to "Out Of Town Pastry". I think we got patties here (notes don't mention what we got - We were discussing this last night and when she saw the picture below Mrs. Peel began salivating like Pavlov's dog - i.e. good food at the far end of town).
Attachment 40430

As we're walking back toward Catcha a young JA man on bike took notice of us. He pulled up by us and said," You're a lucky man. . . "
I looked over at Mrs. Peel and I could tell her head was beginning to swell. I was thinking we'll need to butter her skull to fit her through the cottage door.
Then the young man looked at my legs and said," You're lucky, you got two different colored feet." Mrs. Peel looked crestfallen.
Although I'm willing to state in front god and anyone else listening that I am a lucky man because I was walking a back road in JA with the love of my life.

Next we walked down to Scotia for some cash. It was a typical ATM transaction in JA, meaning it took less than half an hour and less the 75% of the curse words housed in my vocabulary.

After the Scotia frustration and reinforced with cash we headed to Bourbon Beach for suds.

The bartender demonstrated some trick ways to open a beer bottle, these techniques are lost to my hazy memory - should have wrote them down. The night before "Third World" had played at B/B. The bartender said it was a good party.

North of Bourbon Beach we could see a monsoon that looked like soon come was on its itinerary. Jamaicans in B/B didn't seem to notice the "no Ganja" signs. (full disclosure: this bad photo may not be B/B it may be Alfred's.)
Attachment 40431

My next note is so cryptic I can't decode it so I'm just going to assume it's true (direct from the transcripts):
"Horses were in the bar."

Next stop was Alfred's, then we settled in at Sunbeach. Sand Gravity seemed to jam up the workings of my watch and time crawled along at a glacial speed. As time slowed down fun rose up. Allisia was beer wrangling.
Attachment 40432

We ordered the salt & pepper shrimp (again) and waited out the monsoon.

After the rain we walked out to the road and caught a taxi to 3 Dives. Someone made sure that the subs didn't pass me by and good times ensued.
We spoke with Jenny (an Ag. student) there. Mrs. Peel got the curried goat and I had the shrimp with beans and rice. Excellent food!

. . . and then the curtain came down.

Sunday June 1
This was one of those days when you find yourself a palapa and just chill on the sea.
Attachment 40433

We had breakfast at Catcha and Carol was our server, she's great! Mrs. Peel and I both went for a post breakfast swim.

Then it was beers, subs and tunes. Have you ever seen those portable bluetooth speakers? You can play tunes off your smart phone.I have one of those and it's perfect for the beach and fits in the palm of your hand. Mine is called a mini-boom-box and made by Logitech.
Attachment 40434
Attachment 40435
The above photo is the swimming cove at Catcha.

We walked over to Sea Star that evening. Randy was bartending. Mrs. Peel remembered his name, again, how does she do it? We had a lot of fun with Randy. As I said earlier that is one of the coolest things about May, working people have time to talk. We had dinner @ Sea Star and concluded it was the best meal we'd had yet.

Jim and I party like you two. In the daylight~~ Get up early, drink, walk, explore, chill...........

Love this trip report. How come you have 2 different coloured feet? I met Booger and Pooper and Tizzy out of the blue. They walked into where I was staying. I recognized them from pictures on this board. LOL. No hiding even if you want to. LOL

Ha ha great story and love how you describe it: "As the storm rolled in a domestic drama unfolded before our eyes. There was a hen in the yard. She was chasing a huge, shiny centipede. The hen ran the grease right off her little drumsticks. Perseverance paid off. She was holding the centipede in her beak when the rooster arrived on the scene. He'd been watching her run the bug down. The rooster snatched the centipede from her little yellow bill and in Mrs. Peel's indignant words, "He didn't even share it."

@ Jim-Donna: You have to play to your strengths, of which I have zero after 10 PM.
@Lady Jane: I'll see if I can find a picture of my bi-colored (or bi-coloured) legs.
@ Lola: I thought there was a moral to that story but I didn't want to hammer it. BTW That was my Hemingway impersonation (writing-wise).

@ Lady Jane
I'm lucky because I got two different colored feet:
Attachment 40446
Best I could come up with was from Yellowstone, I hope that's OK Rob.