Old Steamer Beach

I just read in the Gleaner that rightful ownership of Old Steamer Beach in Hopewell is now in question because (surprise) the government wants to establish public facilities on the property and there are a lot of J-bucks to be made. Naturally, I have an Old Steamer story.
A year after Hurricane Gilbert my wife and I were finally able to travel back to Negril and were anxious to find out how our friends in Negril had made out. It was also on that trip we decided to rent a car and chose Shalman Scott's local company in MoBay. We wanted our money to stay local as a small way to help the recovery from "Di Breeze". And Mr. Scott was a former mayor of MoBay.
I had reserved an automatic transmission and we were mentally prepared for driving on the "correct" side of the road. However upon our arrival the only car available was a small pea soup green Fiat apple crate with a manual transmission. I learned to drive on a stick shift but now I had to shift left-handed on the "correct"! Getting out of town, grinding gears all the way while slowing all the traffic behind us became an anxiety attack on wheels.
Then I saw the sign---"Old Steamer Landing" and quickly pulled in for a deep breath and to collect my wits. With Red Stripes in hand we listened as the young proprietor told us his tale. His wife, baby and he lived with his folks in a coconut grove up the hill. When Gilbert hit, the grove was "all mash up" and the pipe water from MoBay shut down. Luckily they all survived, catching fish and drinking coconut water for about two weeks, then patching up the bar after the electric came back. This was only the first Gilbert story I heard during that trip.