Mr. and Mrs. D go to Negril - A Trip Report

[Mike_D]

GerryG, Tizzy, Seveen, Pretty40, Clarity, Marley, Murph and Sweetness: Thanks for the positive feedback! I will keep it going...

[Mike_D]

I woke up in the morning feeling well rested after a good night's sleep. I looked at the clock and it read 8:00am. That was good enough for me as I usually wake-up at 6:00am on a normal work day. I walked over to the french doors that led to the balcony and opened them up. The room was immediately filled with fresh air and the morning sunshine. Mrs. D., who can usually outsleep me by a couple hours, woke-up as well. We were both excited to be in Negril and couldn't wait to start our day.

Our plan was to grab some breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day swimming and snorkeling off of the cliffs of Home Sweet Home. We quickly got ready and headed down to the restaurant at HSH. Like many places in Negril, the restaurant here has a chalkboard where the daily offerings are written, instead of a regular menu. The only item we were concerned with was the ackee and saltfish. I had told my wife about the Jamaican national dish before our trip, and we were looking forward to trying it. We both LOVED it. In fact, I think Mrs. D. ordered it every morning for the remainder of our trip. We also enjoyed a cup of coffee. I didn't ask, but I believe it was blue mountain coffee. The available juices at the HSH restaurant, seemed to change every morning. Sometimes they had orange juice and sometimes they had pineapple juice or mango juice. Either way, it was fresh and delicious.

While we were enjoying breakfast, a couple in their 50s emerged from the cliffs with snorkeling gear in hand. They said that they go snorkeling early every morning as that is best time to see ocean life. I said, "Man, I thought we were getting up early. I hope there is still something to see out there". They said that the snorkeling is good anytime at HSH, since there is a coral "canyon" right off the cliffs where a lot of fish can be seen. We later learned that the couple were expats who live somewhere inland in Jamaica. They frequently stay at HSH when they want to enjoy Negril. Sounds like a nice life to me.

After breakfast, we grabbed our snorkeling gear from the room and headed down to the sun decks. There are 3 or 4 different sun decks on the cliffs at HSH. Since HSH is a small hotel, you can usually get a whole sun deck and couple lounge chairs to yourself. On this day we had the entire cliffs to ourselves. We did some swimming first to get used to the water before we put on our snorkel gear. This was my wife's first time snorkeling so I had to coax her into it. However, once she got the hang of it she was loving it and we snorkeled together for hours. On or next reach, my wife is insisting that we get to hotel early enough to get some snorkeling in before sunset.


This is me, trying on my new snorkeling gear

We spent most of the day laying on the cliffs and swimming in the water. When it was time for lunch I walked up to the restaurant and ordered a chicken sandwich and fish & chips. I then went back down to the sun deck to relax. Before long, the server was on his way down the cliff steps to bring us our lunch and a couple Red Stripes. We enjoyed our meal and spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the gorgous weather.

Since it was Thursday, our plan next was to hit Canoe Bar for dinner and the webcast.

[negrilbay]

Really enjoying your report.

[CherryNorth49]

Great report so far. Looking forward to the next installment

[MoFromMonroe]

OMG I can't wait to get there.

[Mike_D]

Mo, here are a few more pics of the HSH cliffs to get you excited about your trip...

[MoFromMonroe]

Thank you Mike. How will I ever get through the next 63 days????

[Seveen]

good stuff! keep it coming

[CherryNorth49]

I can see my room at Blue Cave Castle in that first shot, so it is getting me pretty excited to get there too!

[Mike_D]

I figured I should pick-up the pace a little bit. I have a personal goal to finish this trip report before our next reach. We're almost finished with day 2!