“ NOLAnmr Rookie Trip Report - Part 3 - Thanxgiving ”

Dec 22, 2008, 4:38 PM
Thanksgiving was our second day in Negril. After a long day of travel, being sick and enjoying our first day to the max, the second day could not have started any better. It was actually one of my favorite days of the whole trip. Waking up to the sounds and sight of the CCLP beach from our room after the first full night sleep we had in a long time was perfect. I could also feel my cold/flu gone. We knew we had hours to chill out and relax before we were to be picked up by Negril Escape to head over to their Thanksgiving buffet and Edge Michael show. The rest of our family and friends were arriving today also and we got a day’s jump on everyone in Negril. So we were really looking forward to seeing everyone and how they would react differently in the environment. We were all to be picked up for the event in the early evening and we were also going to double the event as Thanksgiving/Wedding Rehearsal. It would be one of the only times when the whole party would all be together at once. Everyone was mostly staying at Legend’s (all family) with just a couple of friends at Beaches Sandy Bay and a few other friends with us at CCLP.

First thing we did was meet Matt & Z and head across the street to Best in the West. The jerk chicken was the best that we had the whole trip. After that we just went and spent a few hours at CCLP’s beach with some Red Stripes from our rooms and a few of their beach bar’s dirty bananas which were made from real bananas.

We witnessed a rather funny but weird event while we were all in the water at CCLP’s beach. We noticed that the resort’s security guard and the Jet Ski rental guy in the beach were locked in a heated argument and physical fight. So we just stood by and watched the whole thing unfold. Now this wasn’t a conventional fist-fight that you expect two grown men to be in. These 2 warriors stood about 10-15 feet apart and were throwing things at each other; fruit, bottles, branches, etc… (We couldn’t help but laugh). The security guard seemed to be winning the battle because the other guy fled the scene. The guard was applauded and his co-workers congratulated him. His victory celebration was pre-mature though. His opponent had only retreated temporarily to build up his weaponry and strengthen his strategy to continue his attack. He came back with a massive arsenal of debris, shards of metal, bottles, coconuts, etc… and found a great defensive location with cover from his enemy’s firepower. The battle raged on for a few more minutes until a nightstick was used and the jet-ski rental guy conceded the battle for the day as he retreated on his jet-ski into the ocean never to return, at least while we were there. We never knew the reason why they fought so courageously but one of the female hotel guests seem to be on the side of the jet-ski guy, hugging and consoling him.

After the day’s entertainment and soaking up some sun we went to get ready for the Negril Escape shuttle to pick us up. We had no idea of the treat we were in for. I had seen the advertisement for the event on the Negril.com board. We were planning on just having our rehearsal dinner at Kuyaba before that. After trading emails with Carey from NE and some help from boardies. We switched our plans and went with Negril Escape. Natasha and Carey did such a great job with our guests and our event. I mentioned that it would be our wedding rehearsal so they picked us all up on the same shuttle. When we arrived at the location they had a special table just for us in front of the stage. The table was decorated as if for a wedding with bows and all. They also provided us with champagne for toasting. The service was top-notch, the food was great, the views were incredible and the music was just right. Everyone else had only arrived that same day so it was a great intro to Negril and first impression. It was also a relaxed atmosphere which was good as everyone was really tired from travel. The band was great. Omar (guitarist) shreds, his fretboard was smoking. They started with some light instrumentals first, then Fernando played his roots set before Edge Michael finally came on and gave an awesome and energetic performance. By that time, we were feeling the effects of the open bar also….

The show lasted till about 10pm and most of the family went to their resorts to rest while some of us went to the Jungle. It was ladies’ night at the Jungle, we arrived before midnight and this is where things start getting blurry for me. I remember we did hang out outside at the top as the weather was very nice. We drank, the place was jumping, drank some more. Went back to the resort after a couple of hours, hung out, drank some more. Memory?... gone… I’ll find some photos and post to see if I can jog the memory a bit. 2nd night- major success!

This link has the photos of the Negril Escape event:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stephani.../Thanksgiving#

You can view as slideshow or just a photo album, Picasa’s real easy