Mr and Mrs Sandman go to Port Antonio

[JitterBug]

i'm also following you on the yellow board. great reading so far.

[sandman66]

12/26/2013, 7:52 pm


When I quit writing last night I mentioned we were going to find the source of the loud music. It was a small bar right on the corner of the street our hotel sits on. We walked in, ordered a couple beers and had a seat. There was an older couple sitting at the bar, and one other guy sitting in an old velvet easy chair. He was probably in his 50's and kind of singing along with the music. It seemed we really didn't fit in but I was determined to sit a while and listen to the music. Well 5 minutes later Mr easy chair gets up and walks up to me. He was there to point out our hotel key had fallen out of my pocket (he just picked up the key and said this fell from your pocket). That was all I needed. We started talking and next thing the 3 of us are sharing a spot, wife and Andy in the 2 easy chairs, me on a stool. We started a good conversation and when his drink was empty, I offered to by him one, he never asked. I learned Andy was a semi regular at this bar, which was owned by the bartender, Tony. Andy drank something I had never heard of, rum mixed with milk and a bit of water. He said it was very smooth. We sat with him for well over an hour. We learned he lived his entire life around PA. He won a scholarship that entitled him to go to high school, and worked for 22 years as a night auditor until he was told he was retiring. He worked at various hotels after that, I don't think he works anymore. I think his favorite hobby now is betting on horse racing, he told us he was going somewhere tomorrow to watch the races and do some betting. It was easily our best bar experience so far, even Tony the owner was extra friendly to us on the way out. I hope our next time there he remembers us.
Thursday morning was the same routine. Up at 8 and downstairs for breakfast. We decided to go for a walk downtown, it was pretty dead, nothing like Christmas eve. Most places were closed for Boxing day so really nothing to see. So it was decided lets go back to the beach and relax. It was pretty cloudy but we hoped for the best. Back to the hotel, quick stop at the store for supplies and away we went. We decided to go back to Frenchmans cove. It was busier than our first time there but what I really noticed is how much calmer it was, not flat was just small waves coming in, my swim toys were calling me. We got a couple loungers and set up for the day. The sun was shining hard and except for a very quick shower, the clouds mostly stayed away. I spent a good hour snorkeling along the cliffs beyond the roped off area, saw quite a few small fish but with the fresh water river feeding into the cove the water is a bit brackish, so the clarity isn't very good.
I really like this beach, the workers there are very good, and there are no hassles whatsoever. We will be back, but we still need to get to Reach Falls, Winnifred beach, Long beach, rio grande rafting etc. I forgot to mention our new friend Andy (who we ran into this morning in Port Antonio while he was on his way to watch the races) told us to see a King Saba at the blue lagoon. He told us they are lifelong friends and to make sure we ask for him and tell him we are friends of Andys. I guess we will see how that turns out. We might go there tomorrow if its nice out.
On the way home we stopped in at Woody's Low bridge restaurant. Had a really good burger and fries. Burger was small but had lots of layers and tasted great. When we left there was a guy that you could see had some mental challenges sitting right next to the drivers door of our car. He had a knife in his hand, chipping away at a small tree branch. He never said a word, perhaps he can't talk, but he put his hand out and kept it there till we drove away. I kind of felt bad but I really don't hand out money to anyone. If we go back there and he's around I will probably give him at least a good meals worth of money.
We were up on our rooftop lounge for a bit until once again the rain chased us down. Right now its pouring (wife said gushing). If it slows down we are going to go for a couple beers at our new bar, and go see if a certain cook stand is open. Theres a guy that has a couple huge pots of soup on the go but our timing hasn't worked out yet. I love soup in Jamaica. Thanks for reading, I hope everyone (or most) enjoy it. And by the way, I am still looking for advice on how to arrange the rio grande raft trip.