Monty & Melo's "5 Months Mon Goat Can Eat" Trip Report - Oct 2012

[Monty&Melo]

Monday morning, day 4 of the trip. First full day on the beach and more importantly first morning beach walk of the trip. I like to get out early, before 7am, usually around 630am. Today was no different, I left Rondel about 640am and headed up the beach, knowing that I was going to have to navigate the sea on the way, I walked barefoot. If I know I can stay out of the water the whole time I usually wear running shoes and socks, but I actually prefer barefoot, although the bone spur I have in my heel prefers that I wear shoes. I figure what ‘s a little short term pain for the feeling of having the sand between my toes as I walk up the beach.

After navigating in and around the wata at the Boat Bar and Mariposa, I am off. Walking, walking, walking. I am surprised at how slow it is on the beach and the rest of the week as I walk I keep running into the same 10-15 tourists each morning. Not even many beach guys working the beach. I joked with the bartender later that day that I was on the beach walking for an hour and a half and only got offered ganga twice. I guess that is one way to measure how busy Negril is. I will compare it on my February walks when it should be in full business mode.

My brother usually leaves later than me, so I usually meet him on the way back. Today I saw him approaching me as I was just about to get back to Beaches (or whatever it is now). He removes his headphones (he likes to listen to music when he walks alone, he says he gets left alone if he can’t hear people offer him stuff). We start walking back towards Rondel. He immediately tells me how nice the beach walk is compared to the cliffs, and then tells me how freaked out he was on our cliffs walk yesterday. I finally figure out why he kept asking me when we were going to turn back on that walk yesterday. He could have just said something….but I guess I was supposed to get the hint, being the wiser older brother that I am.

Back at the hotel we pick up the girls and head for Firefly, our normal beach-breakfast spot. We also frequent Montana’s in the wintertime, but it was not open in slow season. The view from Firefly is great. Here are a couple of shots of the Firefly. Of course if you have ever been there in February or busy season you know that the “scenery” changes quite dramatically from this time of year.

While this tree doesn’t provide much shade, it is pretty cool looking and the color contrasts in this shot are awesome I think



Another shot of the beach at Firefly



Monty, Melo and JMA at the table at Firefly (OK, I’m having a Dragon Stout for breakfast….don’t judge!!)



After breakfast we head back to Rondel, get on our suits and hit the beach. Just hung out on the beach for most of the day, my brother and I did take a walk down to Bourbon Beach, I had to judge for myself whether it was back to its former glory. I can attest that it is. The bar was busy with a nice mix of tourists and locals, we grabbed a qtr jerk chicken and some fries and let me tell you, the jerk chicken was awesome, and you’ll forget that ketchup even exists if you dip your fries in the jerk sauce….wow good stuff and cheap too, $700J for chicken and fries that the 2 of us almost couldn’t finish. Well worth the walk down and what was even more impressive was that the whole bar transactions were being recorded on an Ipad with a Bluetooth receipt printer and everything. Highest tech bar I have ever encountered on the beach in Jamaica.

When we got back to Rondel, the girls were getting their lunch from Norm. Here is a picture:



When we returned home we tried to explain this bicycle to my dad. No chain, no pedals, he just pushes it down the beach, I am not sure dad ever understood how this actually works....

Of course later in the afternoon we made our way down here, as is our normal habit when in Negril



Caught this crab enjoying a spliff on the beach at Canoe….looks like he is having a good time and now I know why those little things don’t walk straight!!!



After Canoe, we walked down to Doc’s, he had promised us conch soup the next time we came and even had some curry goat, so all was right in the world again. That conch soup will bring you back from the dead. I know healthcare in Jamaica is not the greatest, but if I am ever near death in Negril and need something to bring me back from the brink, I am going to get the conch soup at Chicken Lavish and I figure if it doesn’t rescue me at least I will die happy and well nourished. After hanging out there for a couple of hours we were back at Rondel ready for another good night’s sleep in Negril….