The rest of our Trip Report - Catcha Falling Star & Blue Cave Castle

[Clarity]

There is a change that occurs after 6 days in Negril. It's difficult to describe in words. Your other life begins to fade away and find yourself falling into this relaxed groove. Anxieties dissolve and concerns about work feel really far away. Your skin becomes tan and smells like ocean air. You wear less make up (your foundation no longer matches your skin tone anyway...) and you care less about silly body image insecurities. You wear a lot less clothes, basically your bathing suits become permanent uniforms.The toxins from all the fast food consumed in America are out of your system and you just feel more healthy from all the fresh fruits. You walk a little slower, you feel a slight tingle in your cheeks from smiling so much and you say “yeah man”... A LOT. It's involuntary. It just comes out as a response to most things followed by a nod.

You're in Island mode. It's the best feeling in the world...

After 24 hours in Catcha, we reached that 6 day mark and we were in a state of bliss. Markus was so relaxed and happy. We both felt so blessed and so in love. I felt like nothing in the world could rip us out of the cloud.

Jamar had taken a day excursion to “Little Bay” but we had decided to spend our last full day lounging around at Catcha Falling star. We just wanted some romantic one on one time, some real relaxation. Nothing to do, nowhere to go... We snorkeled together, lay out in the sun, made love in our cabin,sketched together and jumped off cliffs.. I walked over to Banana shout and met Milo. We had a delicious lunch at the jerk shack across the street.

We watched our last sunset in our private little cove carved into the cliffside overlooking the ocean. We lay side by side on the comfortable lounge chairs holding hands and watching the sun sink below the horizon.



The sky was filled with warm oranges, while the lapping ocean soaked in the last rays of the golden sun.

The last sunset is always so bittersweet. You're filled with gratefulness for the whole experience, but you also don't want that sun to disappear... You want to hold onto that light, hold onto that moment...



My eyes filled with tears. I tried to blink them away and they spilled down my cheeks. Markus wiped them away and kissed me.

“Honey, don't cry... we're going to be back. You know it.....”, he whispered. “This is only the beginning of many trips we're going to take to Jamaica, for the rest of our lives and we have a long life together ahead of us.”

I nodded but it's just really hard to leave Catcha Falling Star.

“C'mon lets get showered and changed. We'll have dinner at Ivans”, Markus suggested. “You can try that Lobster Thermidore you keep talking about... I think tonight is a good night to do that”

The mention of lobster thermidore immediately made me smile. My whole life I had wanted to try lobster thermidore...

We started walking across the grounds of Catcha towards the Gemini Cottage and who do we bump into again?

Bella Bea!

I was so happy to see her and we hugged. She wasn't even supposed to still be in Negril, but she had extended her trip by a day. Seeing her and her mom's smiling face brightened my mood too.

They settled down at a table for their dinner at Ivans while Markus & I went back to our cottage to change.

[Clarity]

Once we were dressed, we walked back through the lush walkways towards Ivans Restaurant. The sky was a deep purple and blue hue, with stars twinkling. The sparkling lights were draped around the pool area and the bar. It was really beautiful.

“We have a special table for you guys” the waitress said with a smile and led us to the little table by the pool overlooking the water. It was intimate and separate from everyone else. We loved it.



I looked at the menu, but I already knew what I wanted.



“Lobster thermidore please” - oh how much I enjoyed saying that!

Markus ordered The Jerk chicken platter.

We were both so happy and relaxed together that night at that special table.



Words can't adequately describe how much I enjoyed the Lobster Thermidore or how delicious it was. This picture doesn't do it any justice...



Each piece of lobster slid out of the shell in perfect bitesized portions with the most creamy sauce, and spring onions..with rich mashed potatoes underneath. I ate each piece very slowly, savoring each bite.. rolling it around on my tongue.. sooooo good. I was in absolute heaven.

[Clarity]

After our AMAZING dinner, we walked over to Bea's table. She and her mom had just finished their meal too.

Bea mentioned she was planning on hitting Alfreds for some dancing, but we decided to stay at the resort and take it easy. We had to be up early to meet Jamar at Blue Cave Castle for breakfast, then catch the noon webcast at Fun Holiday before speeding to the airport with Chicken to catch our flight back to SF.

Bea and I said our goodbyes. I thanked her for the beautiful Jewelry she had given me in the traveling jewelry exchange.

“I sure hope we'll see eachother again someday”, I said.

“Certainly we will” Bea said will a smile.

(And we actually WILL next month!.)

When Bea left, Markus and I settled down in the comfortable seats at Ivans Bar for a final round of Dirty Banana's.

Bob Marley was playing on the speakers, and Kevin the bartender was singing along to “Cornerstone” while making our drinks.

We decided to attempt to play Dominoes. We noticed that everyone plays this game in Jamaica.

“Do you know how to play?”, I asked Markus. “Because I don't”

“um...I think I remember playing this as boy in Germany...”, He said. Spreading out the pieces.



After a few rounds, we noticed that Kevin was watching us with an amused and perplexed expression.

“Hey, Do you have any hints and tips for Dominoes?”, I asked.

Kevin wiped his hands with a bar cloth and walked up to us with a smile. “Yeah, mon.. first of all, You are playing this game all wrong. That's not how we play it here in Jamaica. Let me show you how it's done”, He said.



So we began playing Dominoes with Kevin. He showed us how to play proper and he let me win a few rounds before kicking both of our butts!

Warning: This man is not to be reckoned with. He is a master at this game. Don't let him convince you otherwise.

We could have stayed there all night playing dominoes with Kevin but it was getting late and we knew it was time to retire..

That's what's so amazing about the staff at Catcha. We were only there for two nights and we really feel like we got to know all of them. The kitchen staff, Ty, Kevin, Carol, Maureen, Andrea... everyone. Just an astounding group of caring people. Everyone called us by our names after less than a day.

Ordinarily, I would end the day right here, but actually there was more that happened that last night. I'm going to open up about it, even though it's embarrassing.

The next part of this trip report is for Rumpolephoreskin



To be continued....

[Angel]

Nice report Daisy and Markus. Now next month will have to write another one :-) you and some other people that will be there. Ok Jamar where is yours? Guess you did not leave the country then.

[Clarity]

Thanks Angel!!
No Jamar didn't leave the country.
He quit his job and started packing...
but then received an surprisingly amazing job offer in San Francisco that he couldn't refuse.
Instead of dragging himself to a job he hates every day, he now has a job he loves.
It fell into his lap and it would have never happened if the trip to Jamaica hadn't pushed him to change his life.
He still wants to go to Thailand though.
I'm going to be honest, I'm glad he's still around...He means a lot to me and Markus.
But I don't think he will be around much longer. His lust for travel and new experiences is too strong.
He'll be updating with a new entry on thursday or Friday.

[cassidygirl]

Watch out, you two. We stayed at Catcha 13 years ago and wound up with a little surprise, our oldest is now 12 ; )

[tfw73]

Oh my, lol. Awwww

[Reggae Roy]

Fantastic trip report and photos. Thanks for sharing.

[marley9808]

There is a change that occurs after 6 days in Negril. It's difficult to describe in words. Your other life begins to fade away and find yourself falling into this relaxed groove. Anxieties dissolve and concerns about work feel really far away. Your skin becomes tan and smells like ocean air. You wear less make up (your foundation no longer matches your skin tone anyway...) and you care less about silly body image insecurities. You wear a lot less clothes, basically your bathing suits become permanent uniforms.The toxins from all the fast food consumed in America are out of your system and you just feel more healthy from all the fresh fruits. You walk a little slower, you feel a slight tingle in your cheeks from smiling so much and you say “yeah man”... A LOT. It's involuntary. It just comes out as a response to most things followed by a nod.

You're in Island mode. It's the best feeling in the world...

Yep! You nailed it.....this is the most perfect explanation of the phenomena we all love, we all strive for, we all save our money to get back to!
And in 1 month....we get to have it again! Lucky us!

Oh and the special table is great! That was where we had our anniversary dinner!


P.S. It makes me so happy to see that you both loved Catcha.....but I knew you would! How can you not? It is a magical special place that I thought existed only in my dreams

[Fred Stripe]

Catcha is by far the best place I have ever stayed at. I was looking around to see James Bond walk up in a white tuxedo coat and order a dry martini....We stayed at the little Pisces for like $115 per night.Nice deck and outdoor shower......I was in the shower and a small crab was on the floor,I yelp lke a girl doing the pee pee dance in the shower,I finally catch the varmit but drop him and now he is in the batchroom under the cabinet......The rest of the trip we had to lift our feet off the floor when we sat on the bowl. Sexy stuff here.....