Greg & Tiffany's 1st Jamaica trip... Pure bliss with a side of rice & beans!

[garysteph1018]

Yep… day 2 is gonna be a long one!

So, Jamaica comes into view! It was beautiful! My adrenaline is so thru the roof it was killing me to sit on that plane! Once we landed and started getting off the plane I so loved hearing those folks say “Welcome to Jamaica”. What also made me happy was to hear the guy looking at our customs card say, “Oh Catcha… nice place! Good choice.” We seriously get thru customs, get our luggage and are heading out the door within 15 minutes! It was spectacular!

Now, on to my first real view of JA! OMG… everything I had anticipated had gone out the window! The smell, the sights, and the photos I was so going to take… everything! All I wanted was to see Rocky! I had Gary following closely behind telling everyone we were okay, while he is asking me where do we go!? I said “Right, we go right” That’s all I know! And right it was! There was Rocky…. a very handsome dark man with a red polo shirt and the biggest smile ever! I was so happy, I can’t even explain! I ran up and hugged him over that lovely makeshift fence as if I had known him forever, or he was my daddy! Whatever! He let me hug him hard, and he says “Hi Steph!” Steph… he said Steph, because he knows me!

Rocky & Gary carried our bags to the curb and Rocky told us to wait there and he would go get the bus! While waiting we had a lovely conversation with a Jamaican man, who honestly I was just wondering what he wanted out of us. I know that's bad, but I was skeptical at first... give me a break, it is my first time out of this mess of country I live in! Rocky pulled up in this big bus, and all I could wonder is... "Is this big ole thing just for us, or are we going somewhere else?" Yep, it was just Rocky, Gary, and me on that bus! Man can he drive!

Our ride to Negril was just overwhelming. Rocky, Gary, and I just chatted! As we were riding, I noticed the cooler up front. I jumped up there and grabbed our Red Stripes as if it were my cooler. Rocky was laughing at me for doing that, but he gladly opened those Red Strips for us, and they were sooooo good!! I didn’t even request to stop anywhere. I just wanted to get to Catcha and then to Sea Star! We were on a mission! I took very little pics because, seriously, I was just in awe and completely overwhelmed. I will admit that I was a little saddened by what I saw the people of Jamaica living in. It kinda made me feel guilty that I was coming to enjoy their country in a beautiful lavish place, and they had to go home to what they had to go home to. Just kinda broke my heart! I think another Red Stripe is in order!

So we get to Catcha… the guard (not Mr. Lewis) opens the big green doors and OMG more emotions that I can’t handle! The place is beyond expectations! Marley had taken wonderful pictures for me, and Clarity had posted a video…. but when you see it in person, it’s just too damn much! I’m in awe, and all Gary can think about is how bad he had to pee! Apparently SOOOO bad, so he ran up to the room with Jason, and ruined my whole plan of walking the grounds together right when we got there! Oh well… the first of many plans that went opposite! It was all good though! Mauvette walked me up to Venus and showed me around, and all I could do was hug her. Pure bliss!

We drop everything off… check out the room, and head to Ivan’s! I had to have a Dirty Banana! So yep, here is where Ty comes in! What a spectacular person! So full of fun! Can I seriously take this for a week! The Dirty Banana was so good and so strong! We sat at Ivan’s at Catcha Falling Star in Jamaica with Ty serving us our first Dirty Banana! It was all just wonderful!

My one and only pic of outside the airport, too excited for anything else!



Our first Red Stripes in Jamaica!!!



Our first pic of the view outside our room! I think I took this picture every day... it was just beautiful!



One more... everything is a first, so I guess I should stop saying that! But here is our first Dirty Banana

[garysteph1018]

Now comes the storm… yep, the storm that knocked out the power! We had been up since 7am… flew to another country…. rode on the wrong side of the road in a bus on a two lane road for two hours… sweated in not the nicest places… drank some Red Stripes and a Dirty Banana, and now I can’t fix myself before heading to Sea Star! Oh well… who gives a damn! Not me!!!!

Gary and I exit Catcha and head down Sea Star lane. Honestly, we were a little concerned. We just don’t see roads like that here in SC. Or better yet, we certainly wouldn’t walk down them! I assured him we would be fine, but I can tell you we walked a little faster than normal! We got to Sea Star. The place was just awesome. The first person I see is GerryG. I called his name, and I know he was thinking “who the hell is this!?” I told him who I was, and whether he knew me or not, I don’t know, but he hugged me like he did. My first boardie contact! Hehehe…

We are seated up front. Gary orders a bucket of beer, and I see two others I recognize, or so I think. Poor Gary, he never got on the board, so all I could do was try to tell him. I just left him sitting there…. ran up to this woman and said “Are you Ma***e?” Bless her, she looked at me quizzically and said “Yes.” I said “I’m Steph!” Another boardie “I’ve known you my whole life” hug! Bliss… pure bliss!

I met some amazing people on this trip, and I’ll just say that even though it was my first night I didn’t think that my trip could get any better. I was so happy to have finally met M & G Montreal! A little note about how awesome the ‘M’ part of this duo is….A few weeks before during a webcast she had offered to let us ride with her from the airport because they were going to be in MoBay picking up their daughter, and had also offered to meet us up the street at Catcha for our first walk down Sea Star lane. I declined the ride because her daughter was arriving about 2 hours after us, and I just wanted to get to Negril. She offered without even knowing me personally…. just the kind of person she is! The kind of person most everyone seems to be on this board, or my new Facebook

M & G and us are chatting and she points over to two folks with a camera and a couple of computers… Did it hit me who they were? Hell no! She says “That’s Rob and Lisa over there.” Really, we just saw them at Catcha. My Gary says… “I thought that was him!” I gave him my best WTF look because he never mentioned it to me, and I asked him how he knew. I had apparently shown him ONE picture of Rob a while back and he recognized him from that picture! I’m not good with that kind of stuff, so I literally had no idea! We were sitting across from them at Ivan’s… who knew… not me! Duh! So I run to Lisa, give her a little hug, and tell her who I am! When she realizes WHO I AM she said she needed a bigger hug! Another great boardie hug!

As the night went on, Gary and I were realized that we were definitely in our comfort zone. M & G made sure of that…. These guys truly made our first night in Negril unbelievably memorable!

I had many favorite moments, but one that I adored was when I was dancing on the floor in my most finest of Reggae rhythms! I go to sit down, and one of the Sea Star waitresses grabbed me and said “One more dance. You’ve got moves!” hehehehe… Okay… You don’t have to twist my arm. Flattery will get you everywhere.

So the night was grand. The food spectacular… my first taste of Rice and Beans…. OMG I love Rice and Beans! The drummers, Stephen, his sister singing (I can’t remember her name), the old guy that danced the ENTIRE time while toking on his ganga, the laughing, the girl in her yellow dress who had a coming to Jesus when the drummers started, and meeting people I can’t remember…. Just everything! Pure bliss… yep it was! M & G told me I had caught it quick… Jamaica Fever! I did too, and I can’t wait to return!


My first boardie contact... GerryG



Our dinner at Sea Star... It was a spectacular time!



The dancer in what I thought was a beautiful pose.



I have some wonderful pictures, and it is so hard to choose what to put up here.

[garysteph1018]

conclusion... YES CONCLUSION! Day 2

Gary & I leave Sea Star, and realize it is now night time, and we’ve got to walk down this street alone. I had to admit that I was a little afraid, but bear with me, it was our first time. Gary cracks me up when he talks about this because he says he bent down to tie his shoe, and looked up, and I was half way down the street. He says he didn’t know I could move that fast!

We get back to Catcha… go over to the cliff by Sagi and hang our feet over the cliff. Looking into the grand Caribbean Ocean at night for the first time was unbelievable! The moon was close to being full, and the night just unreal! We reminisced about the spectacular moments we just experienced, and contemplated the moments we were going to have!

Our first day in Jamaica was made complete by the greatest people… Rocky for getting us to Catcha, talking to GerryG, meeting Rob & Lisa, and spending my night with M & G Montreal and their daughter. We did hang out with the best kid at Sea Star, we think his name is Shakey, but I believe Chris & Francine take care of him. I loved dancing with him.

Gary and I sat for a while. When we went back up to Venus, we enjoyed the view even more from our terrace. Finally, the bed was just calling us way too loud to ignore any more! It was time for some great sleep... our first sleep in Jamaica.... together... alone!

My heart was so full of smiles!

The mighty Caribbean at night! Just infinite awesomeness!



One more pic that I adore... My first turtle sighting! Yes, I thought about the April crew my entire time in JA. I guess this board brings people together whether they ever get to meet in person or not! I do, however, have a love of sea turtles... in fact I wear one around my neck that I got for my birthday... April 27 (day of the boardie bash... ironic, I think not!) These were the first of many that I saw



Day 3... in a few... I gotta work a couple of night shifts first... uugghhhh!