Clarity and Tizzy - Ditto! What you both said
CherryNorth49 - Thanks! I need to finish this up quick because the last few days are foggy. The hurricane put us in a weird limbo.
Gerry - LOL! Nonsense! I remember spying you cruising down the west end road on your scooter in April, before we officially met and I thought OMG, I just had a real live GerryG123 sighting! Lol!
Guri - Storm's a comin
Bjritz - Awww, that's sweet. Now your making me blush
I remember waking up Wednesday morning thinking to myself...hmmmm, the seas aren't very loud. i remember the ruckus they made back in april, kept me up all night. now, not so much. I scampered down the death ladder to check it out. nope, not the destruction I expected to see...
I wanna say this is the morning that +1 went to the bar and brought back a fruit plate and coffee to enjoy on our veranda. Treated me to a little breakfast in bed if you will.
Eventually, we wandered over to the bar to find out the full sit. Dwight was supposed to be working today and I was eager to say hi. Turns out Omar is at the bar...Dwight called in sick, lol. Omar informs us the hurricane is supposed to pass over the east side of the island around 5pm today. Oh, so we are still in limbo here...waiting for this bea-atch to show up. It also dawns on me that today is moving day. I am kicking myself right now because not only do we have to pack up, but now I have to lug all of those "hurricane supplies" a.k.a. a 12 pack of Red Stripe, half a bottle of JB and 2 bags of snacks to Catcha. You would think I would try to lighten my load by a few beers or so, but the RS burn-out is fierce this morning. Dave happens to walk by and says "Have a nice time at Catcha. It will be rougher there." with a devilish little grin. Thanks, Dave! Not helping my nervous anxiety this morning. You happen to have a xanax or 5?
So here we are again, shoving 10lbs of $hit in a 5lb bag and checking out. Coco gave me a heads up that they have moved quite a few people around at Catcha, so the Xtabi staff calls down to see if they still have a room for us. Indeed they do, so we wait for a taxi. Interesting and so weird - we have to wait for awhile because there is NO traffic. The road is silent. It's erie and unsettling. I am beginning to re-think the move.
Before I can finish the thought we hop in a cab and are on our way. Arrive at Catcha. Say hi to Mr. Lewis and mosey on in to meet Andrea. She tells us that they had to move guests from Sagi and Libra, thus the room we booked, Virgo, was unavailable and they would put us in Gemini II. No worries, we totally understand. We drop our bags and head to Ivans, snapping pictures along the way.
Whoa. Coco had tipped us off saying that they completely took the bar down and cleared the furniture but seeing it in person was trippy. There was nothing left. Not even the electrical wiring for the light fixtures. I had no idea they bagged the plants to protect them from the sea spray.
The seas are starting to pick up. Not huge waves crashing into the cliff yet, but the rise and fall has to be at least 10 feet. We sit down at the bar and order lunch. Coco shows up and we have a chat about being in limbo. We are all just waiting.... And it's not like you can lay out in the sun to wait. Or cliff jump and wait. Or swim around on a green floatie and wait. Nope. All you can do is sit around at the bar and wait.
A few more pictures around Catcha. Sagi all boarded up!!
As we finish up lunch at Ivans, a familiar song comes on. Its funny how music weaves in and out of your life. A particular song may have a particular meaning on a particular day. While it's not my favorite Tarrus Riley song, it's been haunting me for weeks. Random shuffles on Pandora or showing up on XM's The Joint while I am driving home for lunch. And here I am, sitting at Ivans and the damn song comes on again! Coco makes the joke that this is "Mother Nature" trip.
We decide it's time to get this hurricane party started with overproof and ting. After a few of those, we need to scurry back to the room. 2pm has crept up on us. Sure enough, Lenbert is right on time. We hear the beep beep outside the gate. Time to hit the One Love Pub Crawl and paint this town red!
The death ladder comment makes me laugh. When I was considering Xtabi for our next visit, I had sort of thought that I would be putting my life on the line every time I had to pee.
It is really interesting seeing the preparations that have gone into Sandy. I would never have guessed they bagged the plants. I had kind of wondered how these lush gardens survived Mother Nature's more vicious side. Turns out it is a lot of hard work.
Nothing like a hurricane to change the rhythm of your days. Not ideal, but it sounds like you made the most of it.
No, the good news is there is a bathroom upstairs as well! One does get used to the death ladder; however, carrying anything (i.e. luggage) up and down is a real test in acrobatics.Originally Posted by CherryNorth49
The death ladder comment makes me laugh. When I was considering Xtabi for our next visit, I had sort of thought that I would be putting my life on the line every time I had to pee.
It is really interesting seeing the preparations that have gone into Sandy. I would never have guessed they bagged the plants. I had kind of wondered how these lush gardens survived Mother Nature's more vicious side. Turns out it is a lot of hard work.
Nothing like a hurricane to change the rhythm of your days. Not ideal, but it sounds like you made the most of it.
I had the same thought about the plants. And yes, it was a lot of work in preparation, and again in re-building. I was amazed.
The One Love bus is fairly full already with shall I say...seasoned Negril lovers who aren't going to let Sandy get us down. We make the various stops along the cliff road and then beach road to pick up other like-minded brave souls. It just so happens we have coerced a beautiful lady friend from Xtabi as well as an awesomely hilarious British couple from Sandy Haven, who we had met earlier in our trip, to go along with this hurricane party on wheels. With the bus full, Lenbert makes an observation, “You all are the only tourists out today, yeah mon!” He is met with cheers from the crowd. You see apparently the big AIs have really enforced their ‘it’s not safe to leave the walls of the compound’ rule. They put their guests on lockdown, if you will. Reason number 4,347,128 to not stay at an AI, imho.
First stop on this hurricane party is Mi Yard! I scamper quick like to the bar, grab a couple of beers and make my way out to the deck to watch the waves. The wind is really starting to pick up. And the energy in the air is unreal.
After we snap a few photos of the One Love Pub Crawl Hurricane Style crew, we pile back in the bus and hit…The No Limit Bar! I meet some sweet young boys, and give them the rest of my Hubba Bubba. I would have never thought bubble gum could be such a hit on a day like today, but a bunch of us on the bus were already digging it. I start to realize that Lenbert is making this up as we go along. Some places are already out of power, so Lenbert makes a phone call to see where our next stop may be…i.e. who bought gas today for their generators.
Yup, that’s a picture of 2Pac next to a picture of Obama, lol.
We load on up again and this time I call shotgun, but instead of heading down the West End Road, Lenbert turns to head up Ella Lane. Oh….I know where we are goingWe stop in front of the famous Bentley’s Crab House. Bentley hops on board and passes out his cards to everyone. He needs no introduction to us, and we do our part selling everyone on the experience that is Bentley. My food is gorgeous, baby! Five things on your plate!
Stop 4 is Xtabi. A familiar placeOmar and Dave have a little chuckle when they see us walk in - not 3 hours after we check out.
Stop 5 is the Lighthouse. I was really psyched to drop by, as I had not been before. Granted, we don't stay long. The wind is pretty gnarly and everyone would much rather be hunkered down behind a bar somewhere.
Stop 6 is Sir D's. Not much of a sunset tonight, lol. A few boys were putting on a cliff jump show. The mom in me came out...I wanted to holler at them about swimming in rough seas for pete's sake!
As pub crawls tend to go...the night is getting foggier and foggier. Plus, my new found British friend and I decided the hell with beer it's time to put down some overproof. I am impressed. It's her first time to Negril and that girl can drink some OP!
At some point, I took this video. Obviously, it was before sunset... But it's out of sequence with my other photos. Operation mind erase mystery I suppose. One thing I noticed was that the West End road was D.E.A.D. Everyone just disappeared. However, every now and then we would drive by a local's hurricane party. And it looked like a GOOD time. A REALLY GOOD time.
Stop number 427, at some point in the evening, was Bella Donna's. OMG, she had pizza! Tomato and onion, I believe. It was delish.
The grand finale was at Seastar. It was fitting to be back with the Seastar crew - where our trip had started. It must have been 2 for 1 because before I knew it I had 2 OP's in my hand. Rut roh...time to pawn one off on someone who looks extra thirsty. Eventually, we called it a successful hurricane party and those of us still standing piled back into the bus. Lenbert mentioned he had to come back to the west end, so we asked him to drop us off last. I wanted to cruise up the road again to see whaa gwaan. It was so surreal. The road was pitch black. You couldn't see past the bus's headlights. Every now and then you would spot a light and you would know who had a generator running and which bar was open.
We finished the night off pretty early at Ivan's. Just long enough to order some food and find our way back to Gemini. Hurricane Sandy was coming to an end. However, her after-effects would still remain.
The next morning we woke up pretty early. I was seething with nervous energy. Call it hurricane energy. Call it the dreaded last day energy. Call it I have hundreds of bug bites and my skin is crawling energy.
I dabble a bit in Ayurvedic science. Ayurveda talks about 3 predominant energies that dominate the physical world. Every person is made up of a completely unique combination of these energies. I am pitta/kapha. The third is vata. Vata is the energy of movement. The force of the wind, if you will. Vata is strongest in fall/mid-winter. Vata is aggravated by travel. I am typically a pretty grounded person (that's the kapha in me), but suddenly I am realizing that all of this vata energy is really making me wig out! I remember Lorax2 making a comment about how hurricanes carry intense energy. I am feeling it and it's got me all out of sorts. And subs aren't helping.
We decide it would be best if we lay as low as possible for the day. Enjoy Catcha as much as we can, even though the seas are picking up. We had planned on meeting up with our British friends at Tony's hut this afternoon, but I just have no motivation to do so. The only task I can agree to is going to the Canoe bar for the webcast.
Eventually, we make it over to Ivans for breakfast. I had to get me some stuffed Johnny cake. Didn't even need to look at a menu. I just remembered the pic from Marley's trip report. After some food, we decide to find a lounge chair and chill-lax. The seas are rough, but not spraying over the wall like the day before. The wind however is still deafening and I just can't settle.
After I have my fill of “sunning”, lol, I suggest to +1 that we go take a nap. Well go figure, nap time turns into toss and turn time. Toss and turn time turns into RE TV time. A video that we discovered earlier in the week comes on.
Well, I can’t tell you exactly what happened next. But I can say the maid got a laugh. Those of you who know Catcha, may be familiar with Gemini II. If you are in your room in the middle of the day, typically you are in the maid’s way. +1 already discovered what that can mean at Xtabi. Well, I figured we were good in Gemini, because the front door is down a long hallway from the rest of the room. We could always call her off if she comes knocking to fluff the pillows. What I did not take into account was if she came to the back door, which she did. We see the silhouette on the veranda and freeze…thinking maybe she will just go away. Nope! A minute later the door swings open.
HI! HI!
OH!! So SORRY!
It’s OK! SORRY, SORRY! LOL, LOL, LOL!!!!!!!
I think I may have discovered another time warp at Catcha.
We wander on back over to Ivans to watch the staff put everything they took apart the last 2 days back together. These guys were carrying those heavy a$$ umbrella holders made of concrete and stone by what looked like a long stick of bamboo. Yeah, if I tried to do that, I would totally drop it on my foot.
Kevin was re-wiring the sound system.
Seriously??!! Safety first, Kevin! You are going to make the mom in me come out again, and she is on vacation!
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