A "Shiny" new Trip Report!

[groove16]

we were sitting at the bar next to firefly, sun beach, i think, a few trips back...did not know anything about firefly...wife got a full view of naked old guy as he was getting up from his lounger...i didnt see the guy, but her face was priceless...lol....

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Go West Middle Aged Man:

We decide to take it easy on our first night as we are sure tomorrow will be an eventful day. (Boardie Bash) We take a little walk up to Fire Water to have a beer or six where we will meet up with a local friend of ours. Fire Water is a cool little bar that overlooks the sea and is a fantastic place to see the sunset. Here is something I've always wondered....Why do we say the sun is "setting" when it's actually staying in the same place and we are just rotating away from it?

So we take a little trek up the road and let me say, you guys on here weren't kidding when you said to be careful walking the West end. Woah!!! Its not all bad, but there sure are a few rough spots. We saw a few other people that weren't having a very good time with it and one lady actually turned her ankle and fell down right in front of us one day when we were sitting at AhhBees. Luckily she was ok. You definitely need to pay attention where you are stepping up there. (not so much on the beach)

When we got to Fire Water it was dead. One white dude washing glasses behind the bar who I erroneously assumed was the owner for the first hour or so, and two local guys selling herb/bracelets/artwork etc. So we sat there chatting with them and getting primed for the next ten days in paradise. We were actually sorta glad that it was gonna be a quiet evening and then..........up pulls the One Love Bus!

We actually burst out laughing and start high-fiving because we know it's gonna be a BIG party now. Well, we could not have been more wrong. There were about 12 people on the crawl and I could almost compare the vibe I got from them to going to a strangers funeral. Most of them just sat two to a table and talked quietly. There were a few people drinking and having fun but it was a small percentage. We chatted with them for a while but eventually we just sat and BS'd with Lenbert. He said that every once in a while he gets a group that just doesn't "get into" the tour for whatever reasons and this was one of them. Oh well. A few of them were having fun at least.

We asked what nights we could get in with him and he pulls out this ratty old crumpled up spiral notebook from under his seat that looked like it went through a car wash. We gave him crap for keeping his records for such a vastly popular and successful business in something like that. He just looked confused about that and laughed at us like it was no big deal.

Did I ever mention that I really like most Jamaicans a lot?

Nice notebook!


Lenbert, us, and the bus.




View from Fire Water

[Roy Mon !]

We have NEVER had a quiet pub crawl yet !!! I will not let that happen lol.

[jojo p]

I MISS your smiling faces

[Lola]

Well, this is an interesting report with insider info, LOL Sometimes HiLo or ValueMaster have packages of salted cow skin in the meat area.

[lawngirl]

OMG I CANT WAIT TO GET THERE!!!!! thanks for everyone's reports......251 days...not really counting....

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

After the Earth rotated us into darkness, we were starving for a fat AhhBees burger, and once again....we were not disappointed. (well, a little but I will get to that later) I had the bacon stuffed cheeseburger and it was so good we went back 2 days later and got another one. I highly recommend trying everything on their menu at least once. The perfect meal just before you go to bed. (leave me alone! I'm on vacation!)

This place even looks cool at night.


Weird looking bug we found outside on the ceiling in the hall.


We had a great nights sleep (as I always do in Negril) and woke up early to great the day. The Mirage has no bar or restaurant on site, but they do put out a small complimentary continental breakfast for the guests. It was nice to have the basics each morning. Fruit, coffee, juice, milk, and homemade bread, toast, croissants, and some seriously delicious banana bread each day. (I think it was all from Charella) It was all really good but I'm more of a meat and potatoes guy and by about 10:00 I was always looking for some bacon or something.

[Nancy Marie]

I'm afraid to ask but how big was that bug?

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Haha!
It was about the size of my thumb.......with legs!
Not a big fan of the insect world but this guy wasn't too scary looking.

[BIG SHINY n Rootsy]

Guests of the Mirage are allowed to use the beach at their sister property Charella, so on our first day we took full advantage of this. Charella is a really nice place and it seemed like we were treated just like one of their own guests. We got a personal tour of the lobby area, pool, restaurant, and bar area before being escorted to our very own spot on the beach. We knew the Boardie Bash was going on but we didn't feel like drinking yet so we had a small breakfast that was pretty good, toured the grounds a little, and then took a walk down the beach.

We stopped by Sunnyside first to say hi to Maureen and have a couple of blender drinks to try and beat the heat. It was our first full day and I was a hot and sweaty as usual. I know they are better known for $150J Red Stripes but, it's nice to have a mudslide or a dirty banana when it's really hot out. After walking the beach for a couple hours we decided to head down to Firefly and check out the bash.

The princess with her coffee while we wait for our breakfast.


We stopped by our friend Masons shop to say hello. You should check this place out if you've never been in there. He's a real nice guy and there is never any pressure to buy something. He has some very interesting carvings for sale and he is definitely a true artist. It's not the same stuff you see everywhere else on the beach, but I must warn you......it's HOT in there!


The master craftsman hard at work on another amazing piece.



Now, we didn't actually know anyone that was going to be at the boardie bash, and I'm really not all that comfortable meeting new people, (especially strangers that you meet online) so we thought we would just do a walk-by and see if we could recognize anyone. Well......we didn't. Julie suggested that we continue up the beach to CW to see some of our longtime friends that we knew would be there and then hit the bash on the way back. We didn't get very far with that idea as luck would have it, and I'm glad that we didn't.

Next up......the infamous JoJo!