The party is in full swing when we arrive but we give it a little push. A lot of folks who met last night are happy to be back together in a quieter environment. I’m glad it was rockin’ last night because it kept me going and having to talk loud probably helped keep oxygen running to my brain, but I’m happy now to be able to talk. It’s our first chance as a group to have that easy going chat about. The cocktail party on the beach with all your old friends – from yesterday – and your new ones from today. We’re reminded of that “best friends for a day” sensation of the pub crawl in February only this is taken an order of magnitude higher and refined by the belief that this “ain’t just for a day”.

It’s just a terrific mishmash of overlapping conversations and people standing in big groups where you can turn any of four or five directions and drop in on some great dialogue. It’s almost too much. Talking to someone you’re enjoying the hell out of and hearing a voice behind you that makes you smile and looking over the shoulder of your partner and seeing someone you’ve looked forward to meeting for months. All senses firing on hyperdrive, mind shifting threads of consciousness at a rapid rate, all lubricated by the incredible offerings of Negril.

Sweetie Pie and I have a great chat at a table with Sweetness. We plant some seeds. I have always admired her tag line Preach Peace/ Live Love / Blessed Be. It is not a tag line. She DOES preach peace and she definitely lives love. I pray that she be blessed and offer mine as needed.

The band is terrific, one of those various assemblages of talented Negril musicians finding a way to make a living. Earl Lockes is singing. He remembers us from the Boat Bar and NCB in February. Just a great voice. An excellent trumpet player as well. Good enough to stop me in my tracks in a talk with Sweetness and Sweetie Pie and turn around to watch him riff a solo. I end up buying a CD of his, have to admit I haven’t had a chance to listen yet. Will need to do that soon now that I’m thinking about it…

We have all the boardie musicians in the house and I try to pull them together. I talk to Jim and he says, “Let me know what you need!” See why people love SeaSplash? Rasta Stan, MuzikDoc, DrummerBoy and Brasi are not nearly as enthusiastic! They’re having a good time and don’t want to work, very understandable. Rasta Stan makes an astute observation about following the incredible band that is playing. The whole operation fades away…

Sweetie Pie has a nice talk with Rob exploring the options of running a business remotely from Jamaica. He is very helpful. Says it’s the easiest way to stay down there long term. No shingle, much fewer hassles.