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

[Hubby-man]

Where to begin? It feels like I am starting from scratch after this long time and all the things that happened. It's like talking about another world and another time. The stress has caught up with me again. I get up some days with a tiredness that does not want to dissipate. I feel like grief has aged us, I see an old man in my own reflection.

...It's definitely time for the next reach!

Despite the distance in space and time, Catcha Falling Star has left a lasting, maybe permanent impression. Even as a well traveled person, it was a first for me in many ways. I remember the exclamations escaping involuntarily as we took it all in: “How did we get here! How are we so lucky!”

As we walked the grounds, through the flower arches and passed Ivan's bar, a view suddenly opened up that simply took my breath away.



Natural stone paths, mosaics of different color boulders, criss-crossed the various levels, up and down stairs and over bridges. They disappeared behind corners and into niches, wound down the steep cliffs and paused whenever out of view to offer private hang-outs, fitted with chairs, tables and shading umbrellas. A whimsical labyrinth for a king to explore, a pleasure garden for the human condition, made of stone and mortar, sea-salt, and flowers.



Ivans Bar towers over it all, the famous giant tree stump at it's center. The structure is brimming with art strewn about, metal sculptures over-grown with the potted plants they hold, faces cut into the wood and pieces of glass hanging from the beams, breaking the sun-light and making it dance as a million bright spots that mingle with the familiar wavy reflectons from the pool.





It seemed like where ever the eye looked there was something beautiful to behold - and not at all in a tacky or overly-posh way. Rather than conquering or overwhelming its environment, Catcha Falling Star seems to have just grown out of the rock, hugging it as naturally as lichen.

[Hubby-man]

The gardens are no less beautiful. On the morning of our first full day at Catcha Falling star we walked around with cameras poised. I easily got lost in chasing butterflies, wasps and other critters...


The view from the Gemini Patio

[Hubby-man]

After snorkeling and sunning in the cove



I settled down at the bar for a dirty banana and some sketching

[Hubby-man]

While Daisy left to explore the area around Catcha and visit Milo at Banana shout.

When she got back she was ready for a very big FIRST of her own. Ever since she researched Negril and Jamaica; Daisy had been trying to wrap her mind around one thing in particular:

Cliff jumping!

What a challenge! We are talking about someone who until about a year ago did not like to be in water, where her feet could not touch the ground, someone who considered snorkeling an extreme sport, and consistently declared herself as unable to swim! “I doggy paddle!”

Now this anxious girl was watching kids and dads hop off the cliffs around the grounds and something stirred inside of her, like an animal instinct, a little chunk of genetic code that whispered from within:
“Ye-eeeees! That is who you aaare! That is what you do-oooo! Do-oooo it! Ju-uuump! Juuuuuuuump!”

She walked to the edge of the cliff, staring down at the swirling water...

“You go first!” - she commanded.

Ok , alright, I thought. I have done this. A few times. A lot of times. In fact, often enough to have experienced a variety of possible outcomes - some involving surpressed man tears and very red skin....

But O.K., for the sake of supporting my sporty-spice I'll go first.

So I marched around the bend to the popular hop-off point passed the signs, telling me insurance isn't going to cover what I am about to do.



I was in good spirits until I broke off the first attempt, some bad memories and doubts creeping in. Suddenly my stomach was jumping down before I was.

It's a matter of perspective clues and spatial understanding, something my brain could do, before I said my first words, that was now giving me a slight pause. Thinking about jumping from afar and overcoming one's instinctual inhibition split-seconds before the point of no return are two totally different animals.

I took a deep breath, told my brain 'There is no way we are going to withdraw from this challenge!' and I finally jumped.

I dutifully played down the accomplishment and in a No-Big-Deal kind of fashion handed over the baton to Daisy.

I'll let the video do the story-telling. But I want you to know how incredibly impressed I am by this proud giant of a woman I married.



To be continued