35 Sunsets Slices of Salt Life from the Capital of Cool

[Jaherring]

Love the photos! Nice crowd at the Boat bar....one of my favorite stops along the beach. Thanks for posting!

[Lady Jane]

Great pics and videos. I love the Boat Bar blast. Thank you so much K3 for posting. Makes this wait so much easier, kinda, sorta. LOL
Anymore sightings of the eagle ray?

[Kahuna3]

L.J. - the eagle ray comes by pretty well every day - right on schedule, kind of like the beach vendors.

An Excursion to YS Falls
Bright and early Saturday morning, 8:30am, we all boarded Lloyd1. Everybody was surprisingly cheery for such an early start. Lloyd1 is a very comfortable, well maintained, twenty three passenger bus, so with only eleven in our party, there was plenty of room to lounge.




Just past the traffic circle in Negril, Lloyd Lewis, our driver and tour guide, stopped at the tri-coloured banana truck and bought two large hands of bananas for the bargain Jamaican price of $500J, which is a very good price considering there’s a banana shortage right now. We passed the bananas around and were quickly back on our way.

Alex and Josh had wanted to see some of the country side so I organized an outing to YS Falls. I asked others in our crew if they wanted to go. I understand how difficult it is for people to give up one beach day from a one or two week trip, so I was pleasantly surprised when seven others decided to come along.

We trundled along the road to Sav with Lloyd commentating and pointing out various things of interest along the way. Passing through Savannah-la-Mar we stopped at a gas station to pick up drinks and road treats.

Soon we passed through the small village of Bluefield’s – this is where Peter Tosh was born and raised and kept a home. Lloyd pulled over to a stop at the front gate to Peter Tosh’s mausoleum. He told us that there was to be a huge party in the village the next day as it was the anniversary of Peter’s birthday. The streets would be impassable, filled with people celebrating the life of the great reggae superstar.



We entered the parish of St. Elizabeth and drove between vast fields of sugar cane framed by green hills further inland. The cane fields gave way to massive papaya plantations.

At Black River, we turned inland and headed for the falls and after a short drive we pulled to a stop at the reception center. A tractor pulled a wagon-full of us up to the falls area, about a five minute drive beside a babbling stream through a cool forest.

For me, the most impressive thing about YS is the vegetation, the trees, the plants, the variety and the lushness of the whole area – it was stunning. Photos don’t do it justice, but here are a few.















Escargot anyone?



We trekked to the upper swimming pool and waded in. After the bathwater temps of the water in Negril, the fresh and COOL water at YS was a bit of a shocker. Alex, Josh, J.T. and I worked our way, against a powerful current, to the base of a rushing waterfall. We braced against the rocks there and pushed our backs into the churning white water. We were pounded by the torrent of water, but it was a lot of fun. The others, watching us from the platform, said we sounded like a bunch of eight year olds yelling and screaming at a waterpark.

We got back onto the wagon and departed the falls, well refreshed, about ninety minutes after we’d arrived.

As we were hanging out at the reception center waiting for Lloyd1, we heard what sounded like a car with an amazingly loud sound system approaching. We all turned to see the source of the music. It was a flatbed truck carrying a load of musicians and some very powerful amplifiers. The truck was moving quickly, there were at least six musicians on board and they were playing to beat the band. Lloyd later told us that this was a funeral band. As the truck roared past a small herd of horses, that had been peacefully grazing in a nearby field, suddenly took flight. They ran with wild abandon across a verdant field. They were a picture of grace and beauty as they galloped under the spreading limbs of a giant tree. For a moment I felt like I was watching wildebeests running across the Serengeti.



We loaded up on beers and patties and left YS Falls. Lloyd made a detour up to Bamboo Alley, which was not far away. It was an interesting sight. Lloyd said that the effect of the bamboo trees arching out over the roadway wasn’t quite what it used to be due to a recent fire that took out some of the bamboo clumps and the fact that the foliage wasn’t as lush as normal due to the on-going drought. When we reached the end of Bamboo Alley we did a u-turn. One side of the street was lined with stalls that were bedecked with bags of peanuts, both shelled and un-shelled. Since they were raw, we didn’t purchase any.

Soon we were back out on highway A2, headed for Negril. It being a Saturday, we encountered a few funeral processions along the way. Whereas in Canada funeral processions are stately, slow moving convoys, the ones we saw pulled out and passed Lloyd1!

On the way back, shortly after crossing back into Westmoreland from St. Elizabeth, we stopped at the seaside town of Whitehouse to visit the Saturday market. It started at the main road and ran all the way down to the sea where there was a pier and some local fishing boats were tied up. My immediate impression was that not many tourists stop here. You’ve seen a photo of Bea, she’s a German blonde and very fair skinned. When we were about halfway down the market road, one of the vendors called out, “Hey, Whitey!”

Bea looked over, smiled, waved and replied, “Hi, Brownie!”

We stopped in at a well-stocked bakery that was crowded with customers buying the freshly baked bread that was stacked high on the counter – it was selling like hot bread! The aroma in that place was divine.

The remainder of the trip back to Negril was uneventful. Shortly after arriving back in our room, the heavens opened up. We enjoyed a tropical deluge from the shelter of our balcony.

[OUV11112]

Thanks for the great report.

I really enjoyed both of your books as well.

[Marijane]

Thanks for the report , I have been following along closely in anticipation of my reach, which now just 12 days away! I also enjoyed both of your books. Enjoy the rest of your stay. Bless

[Lady Jane]

I am slowly savoring Sunset Negril. I want to make it last for 10 more days. Great videos and pics. Has it been raining everyday? Short spurts or long hauls?

[justchuck]

Thanks for posting more of your adventures!

[jan24]

Thanks again for all the TR's and for taking the time to be approached by all your followers. You bring so much joy to SO MANY by sharing your love of the island and the Ja. people. You must do what is right for you, but I will definately miss your experiences and adventures. Irie, bless your family and till we meet again.

I did see a copy of your book in Red Ground last week and they were enjoying it, as we all have. Looking forward to your next chapter.

[Kahuna3]

Thanks jan24, Lady Jane, Marijane, OUV11112 and justchuck - and thankyou ladies for reading my books

It rained heavily last night, and it’s overcast today - and muggy. This morning I saw Bea off to the airport. Nineteen have come – eighteen have departed. Now there is only J.T. and me, and J.T. leaves on Monday. He mentioned renting scooters and going on an excursions somewhere, so when it clears up we might do that.

It was raining when we woke up. Bea decided she wanted to go for a swim, so we went down to the beach, it was absolutely deserted. The sea was calm, she waded out into the water, I stayed on the beach. “It’s warm!” she said.
After Bea left I went up to the gym, it’s about 10 minute walk, or approximately 63 beeps, depending.

Only four sunsets left - I’m going to catch up on a few things, so here goes:
Remember the baby parrot that I mentioned – not The Dude – the new one that was in the cage hutch, the one that we could only hear. Well, unfortunately it died. Francis doesn’t know why. Maybe Tiki and Sinbad will have another. By the way, The Dude is doing well. He now jumps up on my arm, perches there and chats with me. One day I picked a guava from the tree out back and left it in his cage. He ate the whole thing and the next day his beak was all covered with guava seeds and he was pooping pink. We are still working on ‘Leafs Suck’.

The Wild Thing was sold to the Riu in Bloody Bay. It now hauls AI clients from Bloody Bay to Rick’s and back.

The bats have stripped all the fruit from the apple tree. They’ve moved on to their next nocturnal buffet. The apple tree is blooming again, so it looks like the cycle will repeat itself.

I’ve had to give up my morning swims because I got a mild infection in one of my ears. It’s better now but I’m not going back to swimming just yet. But I do miss the swims.

Pub crawl notes:
1st stop – Sunset After Dark
2nd stop . . . ahh, I forgot the rest.

You know how people pass things along to others who are staying longer? There were three ladies in our group who got talked into buying a piece of ‘cake’ one evening. Normally they only drink alcohol, pina coladas to be specific, and Red Stripes. So buying cake was out of their zone. The next day they asked me for advice on how to eat the cake, they were worried they would O.D. – or whatever. I told them just to have a nibble and see how it went. Well, they did get up the gumption to try the cake, but before leaving they wanted to pass the cake, now three days old, to J.T. who was staying on. He laughed, turned it down and told them to eat it before they got on their flight home.

The ice cream truck that plies the beach road goes by at 50kph. How are you supposed to get ice cream from this guy? By the time you hear the music, he’s gone by.

Here are some random photos:

[mn negril fan]

Thanks for the update K3. Great pictures. That looks like the apple tree that was in front of our room. Good thing the bats werent there then she would have freaked. Enjoy the rest of your stay.