The morning started at breakfast, where Charlie and I both had a minor disagreement with Barbara about the way eggs should be cooked.

A rasta-style tourist from Massachusetts is visiting Seastar Inn, and we all had a great discussion about Bob Marley and all things Jamaica. Charlie has a Marley tattoo on his arm, and it’s a great convo-starter.

Charlie and I have been spending a lot of time together, but we split up today, as I went spear-fishing and he and a few others went on a catamaran cruise.

Several others were on the boat today with Famous Vincent including an Indian family; all nice folks.

Later I hung at Bourbon Beach with Memphis Mike and Nicky, an old fling. A local who lives nearby is a good spear-fisher, too, and I told him to bring all the lobsters to Seastar Inn, and he showed up with six of them. I had the cook make them for me, requesting that the take all the meat from the tails and mix it with spaghetti and marinara sauce; oh what a treat, that platter lasted me for three days.

I bought phone minutes, visiting the peanut man (always a tradition) and, as usual, spent a good deal of time fending off the beggars and hookers and dealers and hustlers that are always part of the Negril landscape. It’s just something you deal with. I hate it, but it’s worth it to be on the island.

Later, a visitor from the USA had some California chronic that he smuggled in – risky but ingenious, he simply grinded up a nice little batch and fitted it in his money clip with rubber bands around both sides through the x-ray machines. He shared a bit, and it was the highlight of the whole trip!