Marley and Ninja: Having Their Cake And Drinking It Too! Trip Report - April 2012

[marley9808]

Booger....unless of course she doesn't realize it is you who is curled up next to her! HAHAHAHAHA
Have I mentioned (today) how much I love your wife! LOL..you guys crack me up!

And Eden, thanks, he definitely is a sweetheart...I think I'll keep him! lol
But yes, the worrier sure got the best of me for a brief moment....but soon the rum cream made me forget all of that! Ha!

[luvmylabs]

In my best Sophia Grace (from the Ellen show) voice, "So good, so good".

Thanks for letting us all follow along on your EPIC trip.

[marley9808]

Day 3: April 23, 2012

I awoke to a sound so familiar, because it is a sound I hear frequently in my dreams. I knew this morning EXACTLY where I was…..I was HOME! And that sound was the sound of the waves crashing up on the cliffs outside our door at good ole Sagi cottage at Catcha. Gosh I am so happy to be home! I remember thinking the very first time we stayed here how loud the sound of the waves crashing was, and if it would keep me up at night, and then I remember crying the last day of that trip because I wondered if I would ever be able to go to sleep again without hearing that sound…..sigh, there is just nothing like it, and you have to just experience it to really understand what I mean! So anyways, back to waking up. It was probably around 7 or 8, I usually still wake up early when in Jamaica and typically before Ninja, so I try to be quiet to not disturb him, but this morning I just couldn’t wait to bust out those doors and get outside. I love this place so much I just want to soak it all up as much as I can. I told Raul I was heading to breakfast and I grabbed my rum cream (we all remember that, don’t we) and off I went, he said he would be there soon. As I rounded the bar to the restaurant area I saw Sweetness sitting at a table and I asked if I could join her and of course she said yes. So I sat down and I tried to fill her in on what happened last night after we dropped her off. It was at that moment that we both realized that I am of no use in the morning without first getting a cup of coffee….I will not make that mistake again. And after the second elementary and completely common word I tried to speak to her and could not manage to come up with (tablecloth?), we both decided to continue the conversation after I went for my coffee. So I went and filled up my large mug with half coffee and half rum cream, yep that’s how we do it, and I took a sweet sip! Aahhhh, ok now I think I can make sense. I told her how we really didn’t do much more after we left her and she said yes, she had heard us come back in not too long after, as she is in the Gatehouse cottage and can pretty much here when everyone comes and goes….no sneaking in on Sweetness, no sah! So we sat and talked and laughed as we recalled the events from last night.

Soon after Booger emerged from Libra and came out for what I can only guess was Sandie’s much needed mug of smart juice, and possibly his own as well. About that time Ninja came out and joined us at the table. I think we have discussed at great length that my all-time favorite breakfast in the whole world is Xtabi’s French Toast (I am almost positive they put crack in it), but I will have to say that a close second is Catcha’s Jumbo Johnny Cakes breakfast. And it is possibly Ninja’s all-time favorite, so this being our first breakfast at Ivan’s we both ordered it. Yum!

Jumbo Johnny Cakes stuffed with egg, bacon and cheese from Ivan’s



After breakfast we decided to go back to the room and get into our suits. Unfortunately the sea was pretty rough today but it was a gorgeous day and we decided to spend it in and by the pool at Catcha.

Rough seas at Catcha



Beautiful day at the pool



Oh and we decided to take Joe with us….however once we got ready and were headed to the pool Joe was nowhere to be found, I looked everywhere and then realized I hadn’t checked the obvious place……the outdoor shower! You know those shower shows are legendary! LOL

Joe and his shower show in the outdoor shower at Sagi



We sat by the cliffs for a while taking it all in



and then soon after we heard Jon and Tizzy come up. It was such a beautiful day and the pool was calling….Joe wanted in too so Tizzy and I let him join us on the floatie….rough life he has, right?



We stayed at Catcha the whole morning to midday just chilling, swimming, lounging, relaxing…..it was afterall, the big day, the day of the Bellyflop Challenge and we had been told to get there by 2pm, it was probably 1:30 by then so we grabbed a drink, dried off and got ready to head up the lane to Seastar Inn……

[marley9808]

Day 3, cont.

Now I am not going to spend too terribly much time on the Bellyflop challenge, for two reasons mainly. 1) You have already heard it, seen it, talked about it a million times already so what more can I add? And 2) This is/was Ninja’s big day so I am going to let him take the bulk of this description so stay tuned for that, and also for the debut of the now famous Bellyflop Remix video that he has made and will share with you all in his post…..get ready for it….it is truly EPIC!

So we arrived at the gates at Seastar and made our way to the pool, already on hand were Brasi, of course, Guirigay, Gerryg and Muzikdoc, maybe a couple of others also. We got situated and I and Brasi discussed the fundamentals of how we were going to handle the voting, the scorekeeping, and the entry fees, etc. As we were working out the logistics Ninja was busy trying to make contact with our “Man-in-the-box” Joe via our ipad. And simultaneously Chris, the owner of Seastar, had his staff setting up tables for the judges and making sure everyone had plenty to drink, etc. Wow, I can’t say enough about Chris and the staff at Seastar. For an event that was probably mostly just adlibbed and thrown together last minute, they made it look like a whole team had been planning for it for months! Amazing! And let’s not forget Brasi he had come fully equipped with everything he could think of as well. There were score cards and master score sheets and props and so on.

Then Patty arrived along with Kopper and Beachgirl66 and plus 1 and Beccajean. Patty also had put quite the effort into this event. She had made sashes for all of the judges to wear and they were blingy and fabulous as you would expect. After sashing us all she gave kopper specific instructions on how he would be documenting the event. “You are to take pictures of everyone’s flop” “You should also be videoing every moment, make sure you capture everything” LOL Kopper was walking around the place like a one-man newspaper reporter and photographer. It was so funny and perfect! Everywhere you looked there was a camera or video camera on you. If it wasn’t Kopper, it was Sweetie Pie equipped with her fancy camera, then later I spotted Negril Bill snapping photos, and towards the end I even saw a familiar (but yet to have met) face from the board, Katho, armed with her camera as well. This made me feel good because as the official scorekeeper and with Ninja as a flooper, I wasn’t able to take but very few pictures of the event!

Now the time had come, the place was starting to actually fill with people, some I knew and others I didn’t, but all spectators. It was awesome, even the staff had gathered, and some locals too, and even the guys who were busy building the new rooms off of the pool stopped to watch the crazy festivities. But how could you not? It was quite the event! Brasi made an announcement to the crowd and then offered up the very first Flop to get the show going. Everyone cheered. The judges gathered and I explained the scoring as Brasi and I had just agreed on and then he introduced the judging panel to the crowd. Then the event began. There were 3 rounds of flopping followed by the final Flop Off between the top 2 floppers. The 1st and 2nd round featured all of the floppers, Muzikdoc, drummerboy13, Gerryg123, Ninja, Booger, Sandie (aka Pooper), Guirigay and Jon. After 2 rounds, the top 4 (based on scores) moved on to the third round. The 3rd round consisted of Muzikdoc, Ninja, Booger and Guirigay. After the last round, the top 2 floppers with the overall highest scores moved on to the final round, they were Ninja and Guirigay. They both made one last final flop and the winner was then determined by audience applause. The winner was crowned (or should I say, sashed) and I am so proud to say that the title went to my husband, Ninja….I couldn’t be any prouder! And I will also say that every single flopper did a fabulous job. If I was to give my opinion I would have crowned Muzikdoc with the best form, drummerboy13 with the most unconventional flop, Gerryg with the scariest (I thought for sure he was going to hit his head on that first one), Ninja with the most creative and highest level of difficulty, Booger with the most X rated, Pooper with the funniest lead up, Guirigay with the best style and costume and overall most hilarious, and Jon with the most height. It was a GREAT time, and like I said before probably the most fun I have ever had in Negril! The winner was sashed, the runner up was too. We posed for photos and the prizes were awarded. Brasi had donated a $20 bar tab to the winner and Chris from Seastar had donated $100 gift certificate to Seastar Inn! WOW! Ninja decided to give the $20 bar tab to Guirigay for being such a great opponent and runner up and I took off toward the gift shop to spend my husband’s winnings (oh come on, you know that is the way it works LOL) But seriously, we did get the one thing I had been dying to get from Seastar, the famous hammock that Francine makes!!!

Thanks Brasi, and Chris and Seastar Inn, it was so much fun…..oh and with the entry fees from all who participated and the donations made by the spectators, etc. we raised $9100 Js to donate to the N.E.E.T. buy a brick program at Travelers! What an event! And so of course we decided to round up the crew and head down to Traveler’s to deliver the donation. We made some calls and paid some tabs and soon folks were piling into the vans and cars to head down to the beach…..

Some photos from the event, along with a video of the 1st round of the BBC 2012!

[marley9808]

In my best Sophia Grace (from the Ellen show) voice, "So good, so good".

Thanks for letting us all follow along on your EPIC trip.

Awwww, thanks! My pleasure!

[booger]

X rated? LOL! That was PG all the way.......
And those Johnny cakes look killer. I had their breakfast burrito a couple of mornings and they were killer too. Does Ivan's serve anything that sucks?

[Clarity]

I really enjoyed reading both side of the "Ninja is missing" incident. I completely understood your concern, Marley and could totally relate. I would have reacted the same way. Ninja's side of the story had me laughing. It's so sweet how he went all that way to get your Rum cream!!
The bellyflop was so much fun! Loved the pictures!
Please keep it coming!

[marley9808]

X rated? LOL! That was PG all the way.......
And those Johnny cakes look killer. I had their breakfast burrito a couple of mornings and they were killer too. Does Ivan's serve anything that sucks?

Hahaha, yeah PG I guess, considering some of the things I saw later in the week, I guess you are right!

And yes, you are correct....Ivan's food is to date the best I have ever had...the only exception is that I still think Xtabi's French Toast dominates in that category, but omg, Ivan's! Everything there is delicious! yummmmmmm

[deanna]

It really does taste like a birthday cake. EVIL.

OMG- THIS I'VE GOT TO TRY! Do you mix it with anything? Is it LOW CARB?????

Btw..LOVE the trip report

[ralonzo29]

Day3 con’t: Monday April 23, 2012
NINJA's 2Cents
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OK this first part is gonna brief (and for me thats a miracle). Sleep YES. It was probably the longest sleep we had had so far while in Negril. Which isnt really saying much cuz we hadn’t caught up yet. I showered headed to breakfast, got to talk to Sweetness more. And of course [I’m gonna call Carol out here] had to help her pronounce my name again. I told her just add an ‘H’ Rahul its how my Mom (the woman I love and the originator of my name) says it. Or at least everyone says she does. 2 years ago when we got married and we were on Negril Escape, Natasha our wedding planner also pronounced it with an ‘H’ in it so I realized it has to be a Jamaican thing. My parents were not born there, but my grandparents where (Kingston) and I’m sure my mom has some of the accent traits. Anyhooo, Carol took my order YAY Johnny cakes mmmmmmm. We lounged I got to chat up Tizzy and Jon, Booger and Sandy more. Really got to know them more. Had my heart set on cliff jumping but oh well the rough seas wouldn't allow it. Well time to go flop.

Well since i’ve done this for everyone so far lets get Jon out of the way.
Again if you consider Booger and Him a comic duo, he’s what my parents would call the straight man (and no not that kind of straight man though I’m sure the week would prove he was). You can understand it if you go here . Not sarcastic like Boog but funny in his own respect. Alway ready to ask questions. We talked tattoos and life and I came to realize like many many of the comic straight men out there [Dean Martin, Lou Costello, George Burns, Dan Rowan, Daffy Duck to name a few] he is an entity on his own with his own brand of humor and life realizations. Oh yeah a surfer dude, TOTALLY. But generally a guy you really want to know and talk to.

--------

Alright for the moment you’ve really been waiting for. The look in the mind of a flopper. Its like watching HBO’s 24/7 Road to Pacquiao/Bradley. So here is my own 24/7 Road to Belly Flop 2012 - Ninja edition. But to understand we have to back up a bit before the trip.

Somewhere in the months leading up to the Flop, momentary pause to rewind back even further - polF eht ot pu gindael shtnom eht ni erehwemoS - . My wonderful wife volunteered me for this (I try and heed the acronym NAVY - Never again volunteer yourself but I guess I didnt she did) and I just went along ok back forward now. Somewhere in the months leading up to our trip the flop had been discussed a couple of times and then somewhere Brasi said Chris was donating the 100 gift certificate. This is when I decided I’d be a smart ass and say something like tell him to make it out to me. I like to talk trash alot, but I’m never really afraid to try and back it up. So fast forward to the day of the trip in, the flop came up a couple of times between me and Shauna and Guirigay. There was the mention of props and costumes and I’ll admit what once was just a bunch of guys (and one awesome girl) basically hurting themselves for the pleasure of the masses now in my mind was something I didn’t really prepare for. I didn’t have a costume I had no props, I had a couple times thought about what I would do flop wise but never actually practiced. I found myself just keeping quiet, its better to convince your opponents that you carry secret weapons than to open your mouth and given them any advantage.

Between saturday and monday, other things had come up. Like the talk of flopping from the roof. Something I’m glad didnt happen simply for safety reasons alone. Now I was I have to admit a bit nervous. I mean I did [as my friend Angela would say] sell wolf tickets as to who was gonna win. My only hope was that no one was listening to me. I kept going over the only two ideas I had for a flop in mind. I’m great at visualization (oh and modest).

So here we were the day of reckoning.

On a side note I do have to bring a conversation with Sandie where she informs us she has recently had shoulder surgery (I believe) and in her last conversation with her Dr she informs that she is going to take part in a flop and was concerned about the shoulder. How do you as a Dr look your patient in the face with out A) suprise or 2) laughter and without batting an eye respond “make sure you tuck the arm”. Which Sandie you did not, I’m telling.

I sized up the competition. With flopping of the roof not an option Thank Jah, I felt I had an even chance with drummerboy, Jon and Booger. They were smaller maybe more athletic but I felt I had them on girth and innovation. Musicdoc and Gerry were my front runners, they at least had the mass to produce a good splash so I felt I had 3rd locked at least. Pooper and Guriguy were the wild cards. He’s sly enough and well she’s crazy enough to take it. Now in all seriousness this was a purely fun event but I’m a competitor inside and even if its fun I’m gonna try. As long as you never become a sore winner or a sore loser its all good, but I HATE LOSING.

Time to start the flopping - Musicdoc was up next and though you know he didn’t win, at the time I was like he’s got it. Great form, good style and great splash.

Drummerboy followed him and well Beachgirl called him out on the fact that it wasnt a bellyflop but I almost thought he was gonna steal one of my 2 moves. He got some good air but called on the technicality of no belly and small splash.

Gerry G brought up the 3rd position and you’d think he’d have learned from drummer boy. The jump and subsequent splash were great but again all back no belly. Beachgirl called him too. I have to agree looking back at the video I thought OMG how did he not split his wig.

I found myself 4th in this group so Brasi called Ninja and up until this moment I had been trying to visualize my first flop. Not knowing how many we had to do I didnt know when to bring out my show stopper. I only had two so...

Thoughts that went through my head as I made my way to the jump point. ‘You're not winning this’, ‘Hey but doesn't mean you can’t try’. I found myself believing myself to be a Sean White or a Tony Hawk. I had to go for the only 3 things I had in my arsenal. Medium Girth(good splashability), Style in the way of posing or positioning and Like ability. I mean I’m me who wouldn’t like me.

I went for what I now call the dhanurasana flop (Bow Flop), WPYOGI will know what that is. I jumped attempted to grab both ankles and release before I touched down. I almost had it but it was enough to get me a high score.

Booger flopped 5th and he went for mass effect and length of his body. It was good enough to get him into the second round.

Next was pooper and she definitely brought out the crazy style, gotta love her. if it wasn't for Jon Guirigay would have pulled up the rear at 6th. Guirigays flop was.....
What I can say about it is if you know him you shouldn't have been surprised. What he may have lacked in size for splash he made up for in style BIG TIME.

I called it done. No way can I beat him, but I’m gonna try.

Jon definitely went for height and air and pulled off an impressive flop.

I don’t quite remember the second round flops with the exception of my 360. I really wasn't sure I was gonna pull off a full 360 and still be able to land the flop. god forbid I don’t land front wise Beachgirl gonna dock me points. Once I left the pool side it was anyone's game if i’d land it but I pulled it off. Of course that was it I was done with the only 2 I had in my arsenal. After the tally We were down to 4 and I had a chance, but no idea what I was gonna do.

My 3rd flop was what I can only call a kickstand flop and it was good enough to propel me to finals. NINJA vs GUIRIGUY the thrill in Negril. We roshambo’d for it which I lost, and as Guirigay said I should have know what he was gonna throw [out of rock, paper or scissor] cuz HE ROCKS.

He chose to go second as I would have, and I set off to go for mass, splash and distance.
I will say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. The couples splash that Sweetie Pie and Guirigay, while cute was no match for my power house. I told you, I’d win.

Oh and don’t let Shauna fool you I told her she could get anything she wanted with my winnings. I know that all sound all serious but trust me I didnt take THAT seriously we are just having fun.



My favorite pic and the video to boot