Mr. X Does Negril (2010) with No Reservations
Chapter 20 – Bourbon Beach
September 5th, 2010 – Sunday – (Day 2)
We unload from Seastar Van and walk right in to Bourbon Beach. Large open air place. Couple bars. Big stage. Right on beach. Not many people around. We are greeted when we walk in by a guy who says his name is Shabba and he works there. We are the only customers. He gets beach recliners set up for the group. Points out everything we need. Other couple had been here before and knew the ropes. Big open beach you could be in the sun or much more importantly I could be in the shade and the actual ocean was 15 feet away. The bar about 15 feet way. We start off with a few cold red stripes.
Check out the beach and water. The beach is stunning. No trash. No debris. No cigarette butts. Looked just like at the nicer AI’s somebody has raked this beach today. Perfect soft clean white sand. Water is crystal clear. I go in it is warm but not hot. Perfect for me. Refreshing but not cold at all.
We play in water a little then go back to bar.
Shabba asks if we like Bob Marley?
Just so happens we do like Bob Marley.
Would you like to hear some Bob Marley?
My friend tells him we have heard a lot of Bob Marley would it be possible to play anything but Bob Marley?
Play what you like/want to listen to. Kool he says and goes and fires up the sound system. My friend and Shabba are music people. I don’t exactly know what we listen too but it was cool. We have music all day.
After we had been there about an hour I had to get the scoop on the Jerk Chicken.
Bartender said it was ready.
Started off with a ½ chicken.
Friend got the same thing.
He is a foodie too!
So how was the famous Bourbon Beach Jerk Chicken?
Well again it’s broken into 2 parts.
First the chicken which is marinated and slow cooked the right way. I thought the chicken was excellent. On par with the best I have had. 2nd part is the sauce. Very different than Mr. Biggas yet still excellent. Wow good sauce. Mr. Biggas and Bourbon Beach sauces are both unique and different but both excellent.
We show Shabba our cigars. He is extremely impressed. We try a few and a few more as the day goes on. He tells us the way our cigars are rolled, no worries you can walk around smoking these anywhere. I am not sure but don’t think he is an actual attorney. We smoked at Bourbon Beach. Smoked in the water. Hardly anybody on beach. Not a care in the world.
Saw a pattie guy on beach. He was pushing bike along with metal box strapped to front. I was not hungry but that is really not the point. Could not tell if he had “kind eyes” as some reviews had noted. He looked to be an older friendly man so I had to ask him what his name was.
“Neville” he said.
“That SIR is the PHRASE THAT PAYS!” I said.
So I got one of every kind of Pattie he had. Talked to him for a few minutes. Made good impression with him. Sure I over tipped him but Jeez I am on Day 2 of vacation and I already know by staying at the Seastar Inn I am going to have money. If you want to know my name just say King to him and he will tell you what my name is. Every time I saw him for the next few days I would shout King (King of the Patties) and he would shout my name and wave. Very nice man and excellent patties.
Got coconut from fruit vendor at Bourbon Beach girls handled negotiation so don’t know cost. He brought out to us in the water and said when we finished bring back to him to cut up. I love coconut water. Problem is I am a little full and could not drink the gallon of water that was inside the giant coconut. I drank and drank and drank but there was still water in the coconut. Big damn coconut I guess. Fullest I have been all day. Can’t drink anymore. Fruit guy had told us to bring back after we drink the water and he will cut them up so we can eat the coconut jelly inside. I tried but so full just can not drink the whole coconut. Vendor kind of looked down on us for not finishing coconut water. Damn I hate to be wasteful. He chopped them up and we ate the coconut jelly. Pretty good.
We walk down the beach past.
Kubaya
Legends
Jamaica Tamboo
Risky business
Merrill's 3
Yellowbird
Merrill’s 2
Merrill’s 1
Grand Pineapple
Alfred’s
We stop at Alfred’s for a red stripe and tried little food. (I thought you said you were full?) I was full but we walked down the beach and this was like an hour after the coconut so a little room is starting to open back up in my tummy. Me no dummy I know what to order at Alfred’s. Blacken fish. Pretty good. I would come back and eat or hang out to watch a show. Kind of laid back not many people anywhere. Seemed a lot smaller and more compact than Bourbon Beach.
Looked at a few places on the beach Grand Pineapple looked good to me. Good size beach etc.
Not many people around at all. Which is the way I like it. Somewhere around Risky Business are a lot of Jamaican Teenagers having fun and playing in the water. Maybe some kind of local party. Last day of summer before school starts tomorrow (Monday).
Start walking back to Bourbon Beach. Splashing water. Slow walking just goofing off and less than 10 minutes we are back to Bourbon Beach. Little hungry so I get another half chicken at Bourbon Beach. It’s just as good as the first half chicken. Damn good chicken. Wifey tries to give me a hard time about eating whole chicken. I know she had at least a couple of bites so I could not have eaten the whole chicken myself. Half plus half does not mean I ate a whole chicken. Close maybe. Good chicken will eat it again you can bet on that.
So my food tally for me alone the afternoon at beach would be
(2) ½ chickens (BB)
Blacken fish (Alfred’s)
Whole coconut (BB)
Other assorted fruits (BB)
2 patties (Neville)
And not a lot of beers over day say maybe 4 or 5.
Bathrooms clean. Wife said girl’s bathroom clean.
Did not really know what to expect from Bourbon Beach. They treated us great. We took care of bartender (he was quiet and nice and I forgot his name) and Shabba who looked out for us all day. Told Shabba we would be back tomorrow night for the show. Shabba might get to sing an original song as part of the show.
Any beach vendor get too aggressive or any problem at all and Shabba took care of it. Tipped him at end of day 1000J (12US). We had a group of 4 and he took care of us from 11am to 4pm. Well worth it to me. Pretty slow relaxing fun day. No stress. No hassles.
Day is winding down. Decide to head back to Seastar Inn. We call driver and he says no problem he will swing by and pick us up. Other couple must have left when we were walking. If he was busy would have just caught cab outside Bourbon Beach. Figure it would cost the same for us 4 probably about 1000J. So just as soon give it to someone we know. 3 cabs waiting outside Bourbon Beach just kind of looked at us. My friend tipped the Seastar driver 1000J again we had 4 people so no big deal. Drove us back to Seastar about 430pm. Happy hour 2 for 1 drinks. Kool with that.
Thanks and Praise
Shower change
Review of Bourbon Beach during Daytime
Basically large open air bar and stage for concerts that just happens to be directly on the ocean with a beautiful white sand beach that they keep very clean. Lots of sun and shade. I knew going this was going to be a hit or miss place. The 2 guys working there took care of us and treated us right. We had a great time and had the run of the whole place and it was a big hit. Did not sample much on the food menu. They cooked jerk chicken the way it is suppose to be done. Jerk chicken and sause are big time.