Just got back home....

[rocknrollfarmer]

OK...here we go. Our #17 Negril trip, and report. As you may recall this is a re-scheduled trip from January. Plus, to try to book rooms last minute in early Feb. is hard. Bear with me, as my typing skills are limited. Sunday Feb. 13 head to Minneapolis {4 hour drive} and stay at a park & stay hotel [the one with the Outback steakhouse} get acclimated with a nice meal... coconut shrimp & steak. Monday Feb. 13 fly out at at 9:10 am from MSP. No de-icing of the plane! Freaky nice weather we've been having in Minnesota. We sat next to a young newly-wed couple, on their honeymoon. They are staying at Couples Swept Away. I gave them some advise etc. like "since you're staying at an AI, you might as well try a Flaming Marley". And I gave them Lenbert's phone number. We arrive in Mobay airport on time, and we tried Club Mobay. Good thing as the airport was crazy busy. So, rum punches, cold Red Stripes & snacks! Then out to the taxi's and find Clive's Transportation waiting for us [and Red Stripes}. It was just the four of us in the van. A couple from {guess where?} Canada. were with us. We always enjoy the trip to Negril, and drop the Canadian peeps off at Sun Quest. Our first resort is Merrills 2. {This is a small AI} Check in was good, and just drop the bags off in the room, and head to the bar, and check out the property. It is nice and tucked in between Merrils 2 and Merrils 3 is Yellow Bird, where those tasty Dirty Bananas are! Then we have supper, with salads, fish, beef, mashed potatoes, desserts etc. Very good! Long day, then off to bed.
TUESDAY FEB. 14. Up at 6:00 am! What the heck? Too anxious maybe? As soon as coffee was ready, I had a few cups. Deb finally came down for breakfast. We ate with Ernie. No Skip sightings yet. Breakfast is pretty darn good there. Then Ernie took off, and we went over to Travellers for the Kids Culture day. Lots of school children doing acting, singing, dancing etc. Good time. We bought a brick for $10 for the newly planned library. We got to paint our names on the brick. Spent quite a bit of time there. Then walked the beach checking tings out mon' {starting to get into my JA groove} Then dinner at Merrils. Great meal. Rested for a bit, then started in on the Dirty bananas, & Red Stripes. It is Valentines Day today. Beres Hammond is at Woodstock tonight. We didn't go. Not too familiar with Beres, and it was $50. We splurged and had lobster for supper. WOW! That was good. We went to bed at 9:00 pm, and there was the LOUD music til 2:30 coming from some where. Not complaining.
WED. FEB. 15 : Up early, had a great breakfast again. Fruits, callalou, omelets, porridge, juices, etc. Then for a long beach walk to deliver cartons of smokes for somebody {no name} we bought at duty free in Mpls. airport. Ran into Joe Isaacks at Boat bar, plus Jeff from Kentucky, and some friends at Sun Beach from {guess where} Canada! Still haven't run into Skip. We are going to go swimming in the ocean today, as the water looks very inviting. Start walking back to our resort to have lunch. {Don't want to miss out....this farm-boy from Minnesota} Been talking to a few other guests, and we find out there are very few folks who speak English here. I'm guessing Italy? French? French Canadian? Total "deer in the headlights" look when you say "Hows it goin'?". Lunch was fantastic. Very tasty. Good variety. Find out the chef there is from Italy. So there is quite a few pasta dishes. Delicious. We just hung-out there for awhile, and walked back down to The Boat Bar for the afternoon music. The sound system is vastly improved. Just a lickle loud at times though. Pinky Dread was great on vocals, and Frank as always great on trumpet. Nice crowd. After a while we left, and walked back down the beach. Stopped at Sunnyside to say Hi to Maureen & Robert, plus gulp down a few Red Stripes. They have a new sign in front. Looks good. We kept walking, Drifter's had music, we didn't stop. Waved at Big John Cold beer guy. Took our time, and geez, it's almost time for supper! Need I say??? Yeah I will. It was great. Merrils had a one man band playing Bob Marley songs. We go to our room, as guess what? The music at Drifter's is loud and clear from our balcony. Almost like being there. Then for these "old folks" it's time for bed. 9:00......there, am I doing ok with the trip report? It's 8:35 Minnesota time, and getting sleepy. To be continued.....Yamon'

[Cands]

Great report! Looking forward to more! Thanks!

[billndonna]

Great report so far,thanks for sharing!

[never2many]

clap, clap, clap.

[rocknrollfarmer]

Round two....Thanks for going along for the ride with us. I'll try to use paragraphs. THURSDAY FEB. 16 : Up at 7:30. We had a nice rain overnight. Rain is a good thing. The plants & flowers look great. It's a beautiful day! Great breakfast. We went to Times Square for a likkle bit of shopping. Went right to shop #10 . Had a nice talk with Adrian. Thanks for the calendars! Nice gifts for my single friends back home, and their "man-caves". Bought a little turtle for a friend back home as well. And some hot Magnum. We went back to the beach so Deb can lay out and work on that all important tan. Then some folks on the beach said that Skip & Ernie came by looking for me. That's ok for now, as my liver will thank me. Then Jeff from Kentucky came by, and then Kevin Sterling came by to pick up the new headphones I brought down for him. Kevin said he was going to perform at Drifter's today. Kevin took off, and we had a great dinner. Deb crashed on the beach, I went up to the room to take a nap. We then took the long walk to Drifter's {about 50 steps!} They had a so-so crowd, the band is very tight. Then Luddy invited a young 20 year old guitarist to come on stage, and OMG was he good, and he also played key boards. I believe his nick name was JR. Look for him in the future.
We bought a bucket of beer, and it's hot out and the ice doesn't last long. Need to drink faster...right??? Then, look who shows up? It's Skip & Ernie! Whoop whoop! Kevin Sterling never showed up. Then time to go, and had a nice big supper at Merrils. Man, that Italian chef knows how to cook! Boom....in bed by 8:00
FRIDAY FEB. 17: I'm up for early morning beach walk , with a "walkin' coffee". I'm on the look out for a young Rasta man that I met on the beach last December. Janarder was his name, we had a nice chat, he sang a couple tunes, and no pressure to buy anything! I did by something though. I video taped him singing his songs. {with his permission} Then I transferred to a dvd to give to him this reach. Went back to the resort, had breakfast with Ernie. We had met a fellow guest from Wisconsin Jim, and he had rented a car for their trip, and offered to take me to Bloody Bay {no charge} where I could go see Garnett {our JA family}. He works at Couples Negril. Plus I wanted to drop off a sign I made for Office of Nature. {they really liked it}. Man, that new Royalton hotel is YUUUGE! I made it to the beach in front of Couples {after I walked by the nudie section ?*%@!!} Didn't see Pam Anderson. Garnett came down, and we had a nice talk, he told me about his two week trip to Chicago from a month ago. He said he froze his ears and fingers! He wants to come to our farm sometime, but he said only in the summer! lol. We made plans for Garnett and his family to come to Seastar, when we get there, and on his and daughter Colleen's day off.
I hooked a route taxi ride back to Merrils. Spent most of the day laying out on the beach with Deb. I fluffed her pillow, retrieved dirty bananas from the bar for her etc. "Anything else I can do for you honey?" Then we went over to Merrils 3 for lunch. They have the best grilled hamburgers there! So good actually, that I had to ask the cook where the hamburgers came from. They are from Grace company. You know... the best ketchup!!! Then we met a couple from Minnesota, and he said he was a lead singer from a rock band that played bars etc. in the late 70's and early 80's. I remembered the band.
Gonna go over to Drifter's for a bit. Drifter's was really full. There was a really annoying woman singer {no dis-respect. sorry} we heard her at The Boat bar before. I left a CD of the late great Danny Gatton for Drifter's {and Seastar} guitarist Kenroy Campbell. He's really good! Then we left. We walked down to Roots Bamboo and bought pre-sale tickets for the show their that night. Bushman, Sister Doreen, The Silvertons and trumpet man Frank. On our way back, we spotted Skip & Ernie at Sunnyside. Deb said "OK, you can stay" boys will be boys, you know. lol Also met Captain Bruce. After a while Skip & Ernie wanted to go to Drifter's. We bought a beer from Big John. The boys went into Drifter's , and I went back to the resort for a shower, and get ready for the fantastic supper tonight. Am always looking forward to every meal there! The tickets for the show tonight say 9:00 pm start. Yes, I know how this works, when they say the start time is this, plan on at least an hour and a half later. We did go down to Roots Bamboo early to hang out etc. They had problems withe the sound system, squealing distorted loud etc. Sister Doreen sang a likkle bit, she does pretty good. Then it's 11:30, still not much going on, and we've been in bed by 9:00 every night, so we looked at each other, and said "let's go". Never did see Bushman. I guess he did show up, though.
Seen Nurse Beth. "Thanks for being there Nurse Beth!" In bed at 12:00. Tomorrow's another day in paradise...... til next post friends. thanks for going along on our ride. yamon'

[justchuck]

Thanks for a nice report!

[Yesihunt2]

Enjoying your trip report...

[rocknrollfarmer]

Let me knock out a "quickie" SATURDAY FEB. 18: Up at 8:00, no plans for today so far mon'. Looks like a windy day coming. Had breakfast with Ernie. The fellas are planning on doing a west end pub walk today. I'll pass. Deb and I took a long beach walk to the left, almost as far as we could go. Then walked the other way to Woodstock "by the time I get to Woodstock" groovy man. After walking back from there we just went swimming in the ocean and laid out. Then over to Merrils 3 for those great hamburgers, with cheese lettuce and tomatoes and french fries with Grace ketchup, plus to wash it all down with Red Stripe on tap. It's good! Then there was a steel drum band set up at the bandshell of Risky Business. They were playing Beatles songs and more. No music today at Drifter's. So, we just laid out and swam again. Watched the sunset, and got showered and got ready for supper. Since it was Saturday, and not much else going on, I thought we should go to the Seastar show. Deb didn't want to go , since we were moving to Seastar the next day. She let me go alone, and I called for Henry to pick me up for the 7:00 shuttle. The van was full of folks going also from other resorts. Quite a few had never been to Seastar or Jamaica. Newbies. Since we've done the Saturday night Seastar many times, I told them that they would like it. We get there, and there is a pretty good crowd. Plus Skip and Ernie! Yippee! They walked back to Seastar from the west end pub walk. They said they put on alot of miles, plus hitting quite a few "watering holes" along the way. There's my friend Kevin Sterling gonna start the show, and he says to me "Hey Todd, we don't have a emcee for the night, you wanna do it?"
I guess Chris was out of town, so I said sure. Skip starts heckling...lol. On with the show. Kevin was great, he even got Barbara up on stage to sing, then the Seastar drummers and dancers, and then the new singer Princess Tia! Fun . I figured I'd better take the 10:00 shuttle back. {Make sure Skip & Ernie get home. lol.}
Deb was sleeping, and I was hungry. Walked out to the beach road, bought a quarter chicken white meat from Mr. Brown barrel cooker guy. $5 with bread. Took back to the balcony, and demolished the great jerk chicken. Good night. Tomorrow's another day. Yamon'

[Mike_D]

Great report, Farmer! Thanks for taking the time.

It's good to hear a review of Merril's. I'm glad the food is up to par.

[Shaggy]

good report ty