When I left off we were on day 2 and had just rented a motorcycle from Eddie. We had to take a little ride of course, but were also eager to get into the water - we never made it in that first day. Back at Blue Cave Castle, we grabbed our snorkel stuff and walked down the steps to the water. Blue Cave has several sundecks and steps down the cliffs. One is right in the middle of the garden - you walk down the steps and are inside a cave that you can swim out of into the water - very neat, there's a shower down there too. The water was a bit rough so we opted for the steps OUTSIDE the cave. Water is beautiful there, about 15 feet deep and plenty of fish and stuff to look at. We saw some gars and other reef fish, some coral, some small underwater caves and ledges - all in all good snorkeling. One guy who was staying at the hotel (for the 13th time!) regularly snorkeled from Blue Cave over to Xtabi and the Pickled Parrot for sun and red stripes then snorkeled "home" - he was awfully fit though, we just snorkeled around our little cove and took plenty of lay-in-the-sun breaks.

We had our lobster that night at Three Dives - that was delicious! So much food...we'd have gained 20 pounds if we didn't swim and walk like we did! Sunset was also spent at Three Dives, watching the bonfire go up and chatting with Lloydie and Paula and Ricky (the bartender by the cliffs there) and a couple of Americans having trouble making it home - we saw several trips get extended indefinitely by those lucky ones who didn't have to get back to kids and work! That night was a quiet one for us as we'd been out the night before - we chilled in our little home in the sky for the evening.

It's only been a few days since we got back and already the days are blurring together...that third day, though, was Lee Weinstock's birthday and he came out to Negril for the day. We met him, Rob, Tracy, and a couple of people Lee'd just dropped off for lunch at Kuyaba. Thoroughly enjoyed the company and the food - lunch was delicious and after that, a little beach time was in order. It was a bit chilly but I LOVE the water so we swam and worked on the tan a bit. Couldn't get over how relaxed we were feeling! This day, I also e-mailed my mom who had our kids to let her know we'd gotten in OK and all. That was a relief but not as much as the next day when we spoke on the phone and they were absolutely loving being at Grandma's - from then on I was one relaxed mommy, free to enjoy the trip! It was really different not having the kids with us - we could go where we wanted when we wanted - very Negril.

That night, after dinner (we ate at Xtabi - very good service, food was good too, a bit pricey but we could use the credit card and the view of sunset was nice - we watched Dave from Cleveland dive from Three Dives from our table), we met Tracy and the three of us went out to Alfred's for music that night - great but a bit hot. It was raining and no one on the beach wanted to be in the rain so there were like hundreds of people crowded under Alfred's roof - made for a lively bar scene. We went out in the rain. Headed up to PeeWee's for a bit, played a few games at the bar. Enjoyed ourselves immensely. At that point, P was pretty tired so Tracy and I dropped him off at "home" and went on to MiYard. Again, met some great people and had a blast. Tracy dropped me off at Blue Cave around 4AM.

We'd planned all along to stay only 4 nights at Blue Cave and look for a good beach place for the last 4 nights. So we had a mission. We got on the motorcycle the next day after a lovely breakfast at Just Natural - AGAIN. Their Jamaican breakfast was the best hangover food...

I'd intended to stop by Chippewa, Beach Club Condos, Nirvana, Beach House Villas and Sea Gem. We'd already seen Sea Gem and thought it would be too loud in the middle of everything there. We drove by Chippewa and looked at the grounds but after a moment we didn't see anyone so we left, planning to come back. Grounds looked lovely, little cabins scattered through. It's across the street from the beach and the price is right. Negril Beach Club was a bit more than we wanted to pay. We stopped at Beach House Villas who showed us a really lovely room that was much more than we wanted to pay, the one that was cheaper we couldn't see then. Again, nice grounds and the room we saw was amazing, step off the porch onto the beach kind of thing, with a kitchen and living room. We also stopped at Whistling Bird but they didn't have a room to show us right then either. Again, lovely gardens. Nirvana did have a lovely room and great gardens - there's a fence between the hotel and beach which is a little weird but I could imagine it'd be nice with kids. The room we saw also had a kitchen and living room and was a much better price (Thanks Lonnie!) than the similar setup at Beach House.

We told Nirvana we'd let them know. As we left, we started thinking about missing morning coffee at Blue Cave, and our neat room and the view and the mosquitos on the beach and we decided right then we had to stay where we were. We'd already gotten too attached to our "neighborhood" and the people in it. Rasta John was helping Susan with some Blue Cave website stuff so he was around - we enjoyed breakfast together one morning and spent a couple of hours getting scandisk to run on his PC We stayed on at Blue Cave but decided to switch to a less expensive room - one also with fewer stairs Susan moved us into Room 8 which has a balcony with a great sunset view and a large bed, bathroom, fridge and again, that castle-ey mahogany furniture. This room had some southwestern stuff and African masks too - lots to look at, great atmosphere. Susan was told the masks were magic awhile back and had a nightmare about them that night so bought some South American masks to equal things out. We had straw mat rugs here vs. the oriental rug in the penthouse - every room we saw there is different, and nice.

One of our favorite little trips happened on the spur of the moment. We'd been at the beach, talking to Eddie at his motorcycle place and changing money at the cambio next door. Riding home, we saw thick black smoke billowing out over the water. We pulled over to let a large fire truck pass. Pretty soon, it was clear that two little seaside shacks (on the west end road, going out of town) were totally on fire. It was sad - luckily they were restaurants, not homes, so no one was hurt, but that was two businesses that had to start over completely. Everyone watching looked rather sad.

It was clear we were not going to pass through the road for some time so we turned around. Paula up at Three Dives is from Sheffield and had told us we should take a ride out past the lighthouse and around, through Orange Hill. We figured since we weren't getting home on the cliffroad we could do Paula's trip in reverse, going out the Sav road and returning by the lighthouse. We didn't have a map but we knew the route vaguely and Paula had said to just ask people along the way. So that's what we did.

We set out the Sav road and when we thought we might be near Sheffield, we asked a man by the road. Sure enough, we just had a minute or two more and we turned off the main road. The drive was beautiful - pretty, hilly country and small towns and farms. Everyone waved when we went by, just one hand up, so we started calling these rides the "wave rides" because we all waved at each other as we drove along It was funny how the waving stopped as soon as you got close to "big city" Negril...

Anyway, we rode along, asking here and there how to go, and around a bend I saw this sign - "Jamaica Jurassic Park". I asked P if he'd seen it too and we decided this was one of those things that You Should Not Drive By. We turned around and pulled in. There's a little restaurant/bar there and a man with glasses came out. Behind the restaurant, we could see large metal sculptures of - yes - dinosaurs - and huge flowers and ferns all made of metal and painted and worked into these amazing shapes. Turns out the man with the glasses is the artist. We grab a Ting and he gives us a little tour. He does his work down the road - I can't imagine how he gets these things moved! My kids would have loved it - there was also a little playground but only 2 other people there when we were. It was a fun stop.

We made it back to Negril, though somehow through town and not by the lighthouse. We needed to ask directions more specifically I think - we were helpfully directed right back to town . No problem, the fire was out. We did take the ride out past the lighthouse another time - out to Hog Heaven and beyond. That was a really beautiful ride too, and the roads are strangely smooth and wide - the best roads we encountered the whole trip! Seabirds were around a lot up there, often on the road. These little trips just wouldn't be the same in a car, we were glad for the dirt bike.