Chapter 4

“Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have someone click the shutter.”
― Ansel Adams

It was our first full day in Negril and I had set an alarm clock for 6:10 in the morning. No joke.

Am I only one who checks the moon tables before heading on vacation?

Well, I do and I had discovered that we were arriving just in time for the full moon and that it was due to set into the ocean pretty much right in front of the castle not long after sunrise. This is my inner geek showing, but I am sucker for astronomical events. I had on opportunity once (with a 3 hour drive) to witness a total solar eclipse. It is one of my Top 10 Most Magical Experiences ever. This wasn't quite that, but I fell in love with the idea of seeing the full moon come up in the evening and then witnessing it set into the sea with the sun rising behind us.

I had originally thought we might still be up to see this happen, but obviously our plans had changed. From the beginning, I was a bit doubtful as to whether or not I'd be able to get Sunshine out of bed, but I decided in advance not to be a pain about it if he opted to just sleep through.

Well as it turns out, there was a plus side to food poisoning. Having had a pretty early night, by the time the alarm went off, we were both actually already awake. We had only to step out our front door.


Each armed with camera we had a magical start to the day.


We headed up to the upper deck to see the sun crest over the top of the hills.