Trip report….March 14th to the 21st.

[jimnkim]

Great report!!!

[ladyluckireland]

Great report looking fordward to more

[Lax1724]

BHV's trip reports are very scarce on here. This is awesome.

[Shaggy]

love the report

[sher]

Great report so far! Where can we find Chef Donald? Does he walk the beach like the other vendors do, just earlier?

[need some sun]

Chef Donald was on the beach walking past BHV around 6:30am, headed toward bourbon beach. He is tall, skinny, and has a big smile. He carries one of those aluminum boxes you see other venders with.

[Biggs of the week]

Nice start ! You did it right Patrick has been my long time driver honest man.BHV nice set-up I have known Buju since the old T-Water days.I'm sure everyone was happy.Nice job.

[need some sun]

I want to touch on the jet ski subject.
My wife and I brought snorkeling gear with us. The mask and snorkel fit into our carry-ons, and we packed the fins into a checked bag full of give away stuff. Now, my wife is new to snorkeling and this was her first time in open water. She was a bit nervous, and didn't want to go out on a glass bottomed boat for fear she would get scarred and embarrass herself in front of strangers. So we decided to just swim around the beach area until she felt comfortable, and then head out a little further. I had talked to Captain Raymond about what was out in the immediate area, and he directed me down the beach past Ansell's and out about 150 yards to an old reef. It wasn't as nice as the reef in front of Rhodes Hall, but it was perfect for my wife. She has a fear of shadows in the water. Her imagination can get the best of her, especially in a new environment. So I tied an inflatable tube to a 14 ft. piece of 550 cord and drug it behind us just in case she needed to get out of the water in a hurry. After several passes around the beach, we headed out. We got out to the reef in no time, and there were corrals, fish, and an eel. She was a little freaked out at first, and did jump onto the tube once to calm herself, but all in all she had a great time and got to experience a world she had never seen before. We even saw a puffer fish, lots of big stars, and sea urchins galore. I half contemplated grabbing a few of the urchins to eat, but I wasn't sure about any regulation, seasons, or whether there was a difference between the black, long spiny ones and the white, short spiny ones. Anyway, the point of this story is, had there been jet skis operating along the beach, we never would have had the ability to just swim out and see those things. I would not have felt safe enough. Another thing I noticed was the number of people swimming out along where the grass is. Everyday there were swimmers, long distance swimmer by the look of it, just going from one end of the beach to the other. I've been to other beaches in the Caribbean, and I gotta tell ya, the beach in Negril was the most peaceful beach I have ever seen. Right now it's a swimmers paradise, and I hope it stays that way.

Back on topic.
I had Diana call ahead to Seastar for reservations and a pick up for 10 people at 6pm. She said the shuttle was free one way, and we would have to pay for the return trip. I called Patrick to see if he would be available. "No problem, mon". "Anytime you need me, just call".
So the shuttle picked us up a 6pm sharp and took us past the round-a-bout, up the curvy assed road called One Love Dr. and down the lane to the Seastar Inn. There were other shuttles dropping off guests when we arrived. It was very busy and just turning around was an excursive in patience. Once we were all off the shuttle and through the iron gates, everyone relaxed. We paid, got our wristbands, and were escorted to our table. They put us right in the middle, so my wife and I grabbed the chairs closest to the stage. Another great choice! I saw Rob there setting up and working the webcast. I wanted to introduce myself, but decided not to. I'm a newby, right? maybe next time. So we had some drinks and chatted a bit until the food was served.
Seastar Inn was really cool. We checked out the gift shop, my wife pretended to push me into the pool to get a laugh out of the bartenders, and the size of the hot tub…crazy! I could just imagine how much fun that would be, up and running and full of people.
7pm comes around and the food was served. All of our group got in line right away, except for my wife and I. We decided to hang back and finish our drinks while the line got shorter. But then everybody started coming back to the table with their food and we had to go. The food looked so good! We got in line behind this big guy with white hair and a hearty laugh. His name was Jim and he most defiantly was a regular. We chatted and he gave us a tip, "Save room for the fish, it's the best". Now I gotta tell ya, the pot roast was extra tender, the chicken was cooked to perfection and the salad and greens were excellent, but that fish was to die for. I ate a huge plate of food and still went back for more fish. Fantastic! I highly recommend the Saturday buffet.
Ok, so the brides parents were with us, Her father is 73 and her mother is in her late 60's. We'll call them Roy and Jacky (because that's their names, ha!) Now Roy likes his beer, and Red Stripe was no exception. Jacky liked all the foo-foo drinks, rum punch, hurricane, what have you. Jacky has a tendency to fall asleep at the strangest times. So after dinner the band starts playing, and they are great. We danced, sang, and generally had a blast. But as the evening went on, and the band got louder, I could see that Roy was getting that look on his face. You know the look, the one that says, "Turn that **** down!" And Jacky was all of a sudden falling asleep at the table…like where did that come from? The band was finishing up and the bride to be says maybe we should call it a night, get Roy and Jacky back to the villa. Cool, no problem, mon. So I walk outside and call Patrick. He says he'll be there in 20 minutes. I go back in and spread the word that Patrick is on his way. Well, this beautiful, talented, and sexy female singer takes the stage and starts a "train dance". From out of nowhere, Jacky pops up, grabs my wife and her daughter and proceeds to go for it! Next thing you know, Patrick is there and it was all we could do to get them off of the floor and into the van. But Roy was still happy to leave the loud music behind. We headed back to BHV for a night cap and called it a day. One full day in Negril and it already feels like three.

I'm going to apologize now for not having any pictures from Seastar (sorry), but somethings are just made for the memory banks. An evening at Seastar Inn in one of them.

[MoFromMonroe]

Loving this report. For some reason I can't see the pictures in the latest post.

[WestEndGirl]

Need Some Sun,

Was the wedding held on St. Paddy's day?

I was at BHV with some friends following a glass bottom boat ride & there was a wedding. The couple had been together for about 15 years.

Our group was from Michigan & we chatted with the wedding party for a bit.

Was that your group?!