Day 3-Sunday
Here comes the rain again. And again. It lets up long enough at 930 for breakfast. Tam had the complimentary continental again; I went for the callaloo, onion and peppers omelet. Yum. Again. Service was excellent today, with 3 different servers hustling around, making sure everyone got what they wanted, when they wanted it. Did I mention that coffee was included and if you upgraded from the Continental you got juice with your order? The breakfasts so far have been great, the baked goods great and the banana bread great. Also, the restaurant is very clean, which is difficult for an open-air establishment.
Today is spent dodging rain, swimming in the ocean during the rain and watching how absolutely deserted the beach is. I've never seen it this slow, June or no.
Now for one of the finds of the trip, the Firefly "pancake" beach bar. Maxine is the hostess and she is very kind and chill. The place is firmly under roof in case of rain(yeah!), the RS is $150J and the chairs and tables very comfortable. They have dominos to lend and decent tunes on the mp3. As long as Firefly isn't full up, you can use the beach loungers as well! Lunch was coco bread, beer cheese patty and beef patty on the beach. No jerk pork guy. Again. This bar became "our" bar for the remainder of the trip!
We were debating what to do that evening and settled on the Westender Inn with another couple from Coco. We met this nice couple in the main swimming pool during a rare rain break. I had the netbook going, videochatting with my kids, RS's on deck and a great feeling of calm settling over us. Negril was now coursing through our veins and we were finally in stress-free "no problem, mon" zone. Tam and I had seen the ads for the Westender's bonfire and we wanted to check out the property.
The Westender Shuttle arrived on time and took us out to the property...which is way out, a long way from much of anything. The driver was very informative and polite. Interesting place. Very dramatic location with an unusual vibe, owing to the remote location. The weather was very windy and they finally got the bonfire lit. This was cool and the four of us hung near it, and enjoyed the setting. It was just us 4 and 4 staff! The food was jerk chicken, jerk pork, curry conch, rice and peas, no salad. The food was VERY good, but the old guy serving/cooking the food had a poor attitude and actually snarled and hissed at us when we asked for some seconds. Hissed!!! Sheesh. Also, the drinks were VERY expensive out here. I don't know if I can recommend the bonfire, given the lack of entertainment, other than the bonfire, strangely hostile food service and high drink prices. The $15 included r/t transport, but it would have to, as Westender is in the middle of nowhere. It’s a cool location and if there was some entertainment, the bonfire could be bon. We decided that for us it WAS worth it to see the place, eat a decent meal and have r/t transport for $15us p/p. YMMV. Back to the hotel for a nightcap and turn in. Oh my.....listen to that rain........
My little pet peeve. I live in the country and people are always saying middle of "nowhere" when actually...it's very nice and quiet and beautiful. Alot of people like staying someplace where there isn't alot of noise of hotels and restaurants and bars right next door, so the Westender is perfect for them (us!) We all need different stuff on vacation, which is great, because if we all wanted the SAME place, it would get pretty darn crowded there! (p.s. I barely drink so I can't comment on the cost of drinks...it's probably because the booze has to travel so far to get there!) p.s. I love your reports!
