10 Years, 12 Nights, 6 Hotels, ONE LOVE - April 2012 Trip Report

[Clarity]

Sorry for falling off the face of the earth for a while. Life has been particularly hectic. I also felt like we had passed our expiration date for completing this trip report. I figured no one would care anymore about what happened on our vacation. It’s old news.

But then I logged into Negril.com yesterday and saw Tizzy’s new April trip report. Reading her words and seeing her pictures brought me right back to Negril. It was as though no time had passed. I love that she’s sharing her experiences. It inspired me to continue sharing ours.

Yes, we are going to finish this trip report, if it’s the last thing we do. *shakes fist*

So here goes….

Trip Report Continued…

We last left off with Chicken’s magic bus ride. We had just left YS Falls, had lunch, pepper shrimp in middle quarters and we were rumbling down the road towards Pelican Bar.

Chicken parked the magic bus in front of Black River. We all piled up and most of us headed straight for the bathroom.

There was a line up of boats along the shore and the owners were negotiating a price for roundtrip transport to Pelican Bar. I didn’t hear what was going on because I was more interested in taking pictures… My eyes scanned the shore for crocodiles.



Eventually the group split up into two separate boats and we were on the water heading out into the great blue sea.



The initial stretch was pretty bumpy for me. I gripped the side of the boat tightly and I had to close my eyes at times to avoid the sprays of saltwater. I had never been on a boat this small before for any long distances. Now we were going out pretty far past my usual comfort level. The wind was in my face, the smell of ocean and the clouds overhead…It was surprisingly peaceful once I just surrendered to it and erased the fear of the boat capsizing onto a hungry school of sharks…

The ride was longer than I expected but that’s usually how it is when you’re eager to get somewhere.



I had been looking forward to Pelican Bar the most. I had seen the pictures, but it was hard to imagine a place like this actually existing in real life. It was something out of a fairytale. This structure looked like it should not even be standing and would simply collapse if you blew on it too hard.

It was so exciting when we first spotted it in the horizon. I was completely fascinated by the sight. It was like experiencing something in person that you only dreamed of. A lot of Jamaica feels like that… almost surreal and you have to pinch yourself just to be sure you’re really there. I hope this feeling I get when I’m in Jamaica never goes away because it’s the best feeling in the world.



We had arrived!

[Clarity]

The staircase leading up to the Pelican bar is gnarly and lopsided steps made out of crooked wood…with big unexpected gaps. It looks like something the Lost Boys in Peter pan would have built. I felt like I was going to fall backwards after each step. This could have been due to my red stripe consumption…

I loved the way it looked inside the bar with all the colorful flags, signs, sticks and carvings.



We bought red stripes and wandered around, exploring and peering at everything. There was a buzz of adventure and happiness in the air. All around me. I loved the energy.

The next course of action was exploring the waters around the bar. The bartender told us that the waters were shallow and easy to swim around in. It was pretty hot and I was eager to cool off. Some people began to strip down to their bathing suits and jump in.

I climbed down the rickity staircase to join the group of swimming and splashing turtles. I eased into the warm ocean water. It was about 3 feet deep and kind of cloudy. I couldn’t see past my knees..

“There are some sea urchins on the bottom”, Someone noted immediately. “Everyone just be sure to shuffle your feet when you walk around”

“Sea Urchins??” I whispered to Markus “oh no…” I gripped his arm.

“Don’t worry”, He assured me. “As long as you shuffle, you will be fine”

And this leads us to….

UrchinGate 2012

Okay, So you’ve heard the sea urchin story from many different perspectives already (Marley, Ninja, Guirigay, Booger, Spottycatz…I think even Sweetness).Now I guess it’s my turn to tell the story.

First my lionfish encounter, then the Bats encounter and now Sea Urchins? As if I don’t have enough things to be afraid of. It’s really odd that this even happened.

First of all, I was wearing water shoes with thick rubber soles! I was the overly cautious one of the group. Almost everyone else was barefoot. No one had a problem. Second of all, I WAS shuffling carefully just like everyone told me to do!

*Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle*

Of course, I shuffled right into a sand bank covered in Sea urchins and one of them got stuck in my big toe. I lifted my foot and saw a sea urchin firmly attached to it! I gasped at the sight and felt sheer panic. Now what?? I hopped over to Markus. “Oh! Ow! Take it out! Take it out!”

Markus valiantly came to my rescue. He quickly pulled it out for me and chucked it far away from the bar.

“Are you okay?”, He asked (He thought it had just gotten stuck in the rubber part of my shoe, but actually it penetrated through the cloth part)

“Yeah, I’m fine… I think I want to get out of this water now though…” I mumbled. My toe was throbbing and I experienced pain when I put pressure on it… but I didn’t want to concern anyone. I just figured the pain was temporary and would go away. I told Markus to keep swimming with the group. They were heading out to explore a shallow area to the right of the bar.

So I limped back up into the Pelican bar. The Spottycatz, Sandie (pooper), Booger, Becky, Sweetness and Marley were all hanging out there drinking and chatting up a storm.

Sandie immediately noticed I was limping. She went into nurse mode. “Daisy, Why are you limping?”, She asked.

The group all turned and stared at me with concern.

“I just stepped on a sea urchin” I said with a shrug and wave of my hand “Eh, It hurts a bit, but I’ll be fine… I’m just going to order a drink and-.”

“No”, Sandie said shaking her head “Let me see your foot”

“I’m fine” I said trying to look nonchalant “Carry on everyone”

“Your foot”, Sandie ordered “Now” She patted her lap.

When Sandie means business, she is not messing around. I didn’t want to take off my water shoes because I’m self-conscious about my feet. I also don’t like having them touched by anyone. (I know it’s weird, I’m just really ticklish) I’ve involuntarily kicked an ex-boyfriend in the face that thought it would be cute to tickle my toes.

I saw from Sandie’s expression that there was no use fighting her on the issue though so I reluctantly pulled off my water shoes, mumbling and grumbling to myself.

Of course, when I saw my big toe… I had to gasp out loud. There were all these black spines sticking out of it!

…that can’t be good…Now all eyes were on me

“You need to get those spines out”, Sandie said “Give me your foot”

“No, That’s okay… I haven’t had a pedicure, So you know… I’m just gonna…um,wait it out…see what happens….”

“YOUR FOOT”, Sandie repeated “NOW”

I sat down on the hard wooden floor of Pelican bar and surrendered my foot to Sandie. She grabbed it with expert ease and accessed the situation. “Mmmhmmmm” she said, suddenly she was squeezing out the spines and pulling them individually out with her fingers. I winced because I was feeling some serious pain, but I was so grateful at the same time.

“Okay there are still some spines left that I can’t reach with my fingers, we need to dig deeper”, She said in a calm and steady voice. Something told me this wasn’t good news…

Suddenly someone was handing her a switchblade! A SWITCHBLADE!

“Whoah whoah whoah!!” I said laughing “that’s not... no wait!”

That’s when a towel was thrown over my head and I couldn’t see anything
.
I’m thinking “Okay, here I am sitting on the floor of some bar made of sticks, in the middle of the Caribbean ocean. My big toe is covered with sea urchin spines. A woman I just met a few days ago is about to perform an operation with a switchblade.. and now a towel has been thrown over my head??…”

I pulled it off and turned around. “What the-…??” I started laughing.

That’s when I felt a stabbing pain in my toe. Sandie was now busy with the switchblade. She had a steady hand and a firm grip on my foot. She was clearly a pro at this. Spottycatz, Sweetness looked so concerned… Booger looked…well, mischievous as always…



Marley immediately bought me a shot and said “Here drink this, quick – it will help with the pain!!”

I downed the shot and started gasping, it burned so bad… “Aaaaaaaah!!!! What was that?!?!”

“Overproof rum”, Marley said urgently like a nurse that had just administered necessary medication. “Here’s a chaser”

Surprisingly, that helped… or at least the burning in my throat and chest distracted me from the pain in my toe. So that was good. This whole situation was just so bizarre that I had to laugh… I looked around at this caring group of newfound friends protectively surrounding me and I realized that I really loved these guys. I especially loved Sandie for stepping up and removing the spines from my foot like that. It was that moment that this Negril.com group of boardies went from friends to family in my eyes.

I hugged her when the operation was over, she kept repeating medical advice. “I want to see you tomorrow and I want you to show me your foot, I want you to call me at ANY TIME if you think there is an infection or any pain. Let’s schedule a time and place for a follow up appointment”

She is amazing and truly the mother hen of the group.

Thank you so much Sandie!

She removed every spine from my toe… sans one tiny piece. That came out 3 weeks after I left Jamaica. She had disinfected the area with alcohol, so thanks to her swift medical care… I was absolutely fine

…Albeit slightly traumatized. I absolutely loved the Pelican Bar and it’s an experience NOT to be missed. I would go again in a heartbeat but wild horses couldn’t drag me back into those surrounding waters.

To be continued



UP NEXT: The rest of the day at Pelican Bar and some special video footage

[Angel]

Welcome back hope that life treats you better. An expiration date for your report? Nope sorry come on post away. Like your photos and reports. Nice you had Sandie to get those spines out. At least you did have your shoes on and did not step on it.

[marley9808]

Yay!


Hmmmm a video you say? I can't wait to see it
lol
Glad you are back on the report....I love reliving this trip

[Seveen]

yeah!

[TizzyATX]

I would just like to say for the record.....Clarity....if I had known what was happening I would have been there to offer my moral support as well. You are such a trooper. PS, I dug out a little spine about a week after the trip too. Guess I was feelin no pain that day hahaa. Those little suckers HURT!

So glad you are back on board with this.....and looking forward to the vid

[Guirigay]

Tiz is a bit of a fibber, but in a loving supportive way. Pretty much NOTHING was going to get Tiz inside the Pelican Bar while all this was going on...

Please carry on my friend, glad you're back

[marley9808]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
GG - That was the exact same thing I was thinking LOL

[booger]

Tiz is a bit of a fibber, but in a loving supportive way. Pretty much NOTHING was going to get Tiz inside the Pelican Bar while all this was going on...

Please carry on my friend, glad you're back

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
GG - That was the exact same thing I was thinking LOL

me too, but I'm wearing my nice guy hat today. Lol Tiz!

[marley9808]

Nice guy hat?

Oh this just keeps getting funnier!