Day 1... Other than very little sleep and the early wake up to arrive at the airport at 5am, all is
good. Arrive in Mobay ontime, grabbed the luggage and head out to ground transportation area.
Looked around for Roy from Thriller Tours and did not spot him....of course many other drivers
are offering to provide a ride. One of the other drivers asked if we had a phone number for Roy
and after a quick call, Roy shows up in less than 2 minutes. We make our first stop at the Mega-
mart to grab a few things. I had mixed emotions as I walked through the mart... almost
too many things... suddenly felt as we had not arrived in Jamaica yet.
On the road and the Jamaica feel sets in as we head to Negril. As we reach Green Island, I
make a call to our hostess for the first five days of our stay. We meet with her husband on the
beach road in Negril and follow him to our home for the next few days. The guesthouse is about
two miles from the Negril round-a-bout towards Sav, near the Negril Hills golf course.
As we enter the yard, we are both pleased to see the progress that has been made to the
property.
We have known for years they were building a place for guest, but had no idea it would be like
this. Concrete walls, tile floors with the shine of the Taj-Mahal and nice flowers and shrubs on
the edge of the yard. The yards next to us were all well kept, some by owners trimming every
few days and others by a small heard of goats that roam the area every morning.
We take a few minutes to relax and chat before starting the unpacking process. There is also a
bar very close with ice cold beer and a pool table.... We are home and loving it already.
Had plans to be on the west end for a party on the first night...but plans in Jamaica need to be
flexible and we flexed our choice to stay put and blend into the surroundings. There were no
other tourist in the area.... many of the neighbors were family of our host... the others were
long time friends and the feel of the neighborhood was very warm and hassle free. I went to
the corner bar with my new friend Enrico and we carried a few cold beers back home and
enjoyed the evening on the nice porch or as some people prefer..'veranda'.
The first nights sleep was very good and the only plans for Saturday were to get a new chip for
the Jamaican phone and head to Seastar later in the evening to see Luciano. I was ready to
head to town for the chip, when the owners sister offered to make the run for me. She was
back in less than 20 minutes with my new chip and enough phone credit for the next few days.
I calle my other long time driver friend Paul to let him know we had arrived. Paul showed up
a few minutes later and after the usual greetings, he took us into town to change some money.
After a quick stop at the Chinamon's shop, I now had some $J and was set for the evening.
We decided to make a stop at 3 Dives on the way to SeaStar Inn to catch the sunset before
the Luciano show. We were very please to know Luciano would be there on our first Saturday
night as usually we see signs in Negril of big name acts that either play before we arrive or a few
days after we leave. We stop in 3 Dives and grab a cold beer and enjoy the sunset
Soon we arrive at Seastar and even though we had seen pics of the remodeling of the bar
and dining areas... we were amazed at how great the place looked. Chris and Francine have
worked very hard to make a place that was already very good to the level of awesome !!
As we entered the area, we noticed a few familiar faces.... first one is Spottycatz who we
had met in 2008 and knew for sure we would be freinds for life. Spottyz had a table for us
and we talked for a few minutes with them as well as Rob & Lisa and then another longtime
boardie friend Rasta Stan walks up and takes the 4 of us to his reserved table near the stage.
The good times just got better !!!
I can't even desribe how good the show was.. from Steven West, the Seastar Drummers and
then Luciano himself gave a very high energy performance. I remember during the show looking
at Spottyz and saying 'and you thought the food was good !!'
And yes, the food was off the hook good, jerk chicken, roast pork (Cindy's favorite),
fried fish (my favorite), salad and more.
Originally Posted by Guirigay
