Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

[MISS RACSAN]

I figured that I better get going with this - especially since everyone that was there at the same time has already started theirs!

Family Vacation with a Wedding! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I started planning this trip the minute we left Negril last February. Actually never even totally unpacked my suitcase until last summer because I just knew that I was rebooking and going right back - but unfortunately that never happened! I’m sure that others have had that very same notion! This is Be-Rad’s fifth trip to the island and my second. We have brought along Be-Rad’s three kids - Eddie (15), Danny (13) and Amy (11) for a family vacation since we also planned on getting married and we just couldn’t do that without them! I think that they were more excited than us to be going to Jamaica – if that was at all possible!

Saturday - Day 1 – Flight from Detroit and Our Arrival in Jamaica – Just mentioning our check in because it was by far the smoothest airport check in that I have ever had anywhere! There were several Apple reps helping out and there wasn’t any line at all (minutes later there were thirty people behind us – so timing did help!) – and even with five people’s worth of birth certificates, photo IDs and luggage – we sailed right through! Flight was surprisingly half full – but then again it was the late afternoon flight that only people who booked late and had no choice would really want to take – that was us! Spent most of the flight helping my new-to-be 13 yr. old stepson with his homework. We managed to finish the entire week’s worth of work before we landed. He was one happy camper! As we descended out of the big black clouds – we saw our first glimpse of the island. Since the flight was so empty, each of the kids were able to grab window seats. The plane levels off and it seems as though we circled the entire island before we land. As we head around the mountains we see land under us and water out in front and the sun is shining as though it had never rained on this side of the island! It was so close to setting – how cool is this going to be - but just then the plane banks to the right and ten minutes later we land in a very wet Montego Bay! Clapping and whistling is heard throughout the plane – until then flight was especially quiet! We flew an Air 2000 charter – which doesn’t have a liquor license – which we found out upon takeoff – so those that wanted to get into their vacation mode - in flight - were pretty unhappy! We landed on the approach where it looks like you are going to land in the water - kids kept looking at me asking me where was the runway?! They were just a little nervous for a minute! Immediately upon landing, the pilot announces that it had stormed earlier that day and had been raining for the better part of two days. He says that he hopes the storms are now over for our stay – we hope so too! I almost skip across the tarmac and into the terminal – who cares that it is raining – we are finally on vacation! I had given one of the boys a tip for the singers just in case they were still there this late – but they weren’t. Second trip and I have yet to see them! And now that I think about it, I never did get that tip money back from him! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] The line on the left was super long – so we went to the farthest one on the right where we were next in line – maybe too many people have read this tip! Immigration and Customs were a breeze – lots of paperwork to hand over traveling with five people – but no problem, mon! Just love the smiles on everyone’s faces! We get shuffled through the Apple rep to the porter and are directed out to a van – it seems within seconds (I was really kind of looking for the rest room – and see it on our way out the door as we race to keep up with the porter!) We are rushed outside just to sit and wait for 30 minutes. Turns out we were waiting on nothing – as we were the only ones in the van to Negril. Good thing too – since it was one of the very small ones and our luggage sat on the back seat. It was really too hard to see anything in the dark and I was almost glad for the kids sake that we were leaving in the daylight so they could see more of the island. We stopped somewhere along the way for Red Stripe/Ting/Potty break and watched some very bad karaoke for a few minutes! The rain came pouring down and their equipment shorted out while we were standing there. The boys had gone inside and came running out of the bathroom telling us that there were crabs all over the bathroom – yeah right – a-ha, sure we think – our driver is shaking his head no way - but sure enough – there were crabs – about twenty of them, several of them the size of large saucers running all over the bathroom! Now that was a first for us to see - even in Jamaica! Even the driver seemed amazed! Maybe they were pets? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Check in at the Negril Gardens was very smooth – had a very nice conversation with Monique as we were filling out the paperwork. Seeing we had two rooms, this took longer than airport check-in, immigration and customs put together! She and Stacy Ann and everyone at the front desk were absolutely wonderful all week. Even managed to talk them into giving us a second set of keys for each room after two days! (We were told originally that it was against policy.) We were planning to see if they would provide us an upgrade to the beachside because we were getting married (Semi’s suggestion!) – but we weren’t very confident that it would work since we had booked two rooms. But that was not even necessary as we had already been upgraded! We were suppose to be on the gardenside, right next to the kid’s room, with queen bed – but we ended up across the main path from them on the beachside – within site of their front door – with the standard two double beds – but we certainly weren’t going to complain! The dinner buffet at NG ends at 10:00 p.m. – so we just managed to get over there in time to have a bite to eat. It was a very nice buffet even this late to closing time. They even offered to bring out fresh food if we saw something that we wanted more of. The buffet and restaurant help at NG were so nice and helpful all week - every day asking us how we were doing, what we had done so far, what our plans for the day were, if we needed anything special. And they genuinely cared! As we ate, I was very surprised to see only one person at the bar. At first it appeared to be maybe a very slow night, but the activity there didn’t really pick up much all week. I was a little disappointed with the bar, as hanging out with the bartenders is usually so much fun. And despite many attempts, and with one exception for one of the daytime bartenders, this just didn’t happen here. And believe me, we tried! It was almost eleven and no one except Amy seemed ready for bed, so the boys threw on their swimsuits and we took off for the pool. When we stayed at the Riu last year, the pools closed at 6:00 p.m. – so we were excited to know that NG kept their pool open all of the time. The dogs next door began barking the second we got near the pool and never stopped. We felt really bad for the people, if any, that might be already sleeping next door and any people at our resort that had rooms next to the pool. As it turned out, every time anyone went to the pool, the dogs next door barked continuously! We sent the boys back to their room - and went down to the bar to check it out, hoping that the activity there had picked up. We were the only ones there...

[Nanook]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

and???...LOL, you are pretty good at leavin us hanging! Waiting pon the next installment! Thanks in advance ....

[jazzyjade]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

lol I know exactly how it is to leave suitcases packed. I just opened mine to pack it for a trip and I discovered a ton of stuff that I thought I had lost!

I had totally forgotten about Riu's pools closing--but I can't remember if they ever reopened after the dinner hour. We went on many late nite skinny dips there (with permission from staff) and they were great--no problems about anyone being around since most people seemed to be asleep by 1:00.

[MISS RACSAN]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Sunday – Day 2 - I was up at the crack of dawn to explore our new home for the week. We only made it out of the resort three or four times last year and although we are staying AI again this week, I plan to get out! So except for a day at Margaritaville last February, this was the first time I had ever even been on 7 Mile Beach. I took a short walk both directions to get my bearings - trying to remember from memory all of the maps that I had looked at before we left. I walked past Alfred’s next door down to Rondel and back – and then down past all of the Merrill’s resorts, YellowBird and finally turned around at Legends. It was a quick walk but it was so nice and peaceful – everyone was getting ready for their day, cleaning the beaches, setting up tables, etc. The water was very churned up this week and there was quite a bit of seaweed washed ashore each morning. The NG watersports guys raked it up and dug deep trenches and buried it each morning. The water never was very clear until Friday afternoon!

I went back to the room and took a look at my maps to see what would have been just beyond my walk to see how much farther I should go the next morning. Everyone was up – so down to the breakfast buffet. The breakfast buffets were very nice – oatmeal/porridge, toast, potatoes, made to order eggs/omelets, French toast, pancakes and plenty of fresh juice and fruit every morning. Off to the beach for a few hours. Kids immediately hooked up with the watersports guys – Danny and Oral - and they were off in the double kayak within the hour!

The hair braiders saw us immediately – we knew we were the fresh meat in town - and descended on us with the same hour! But that was okay – Amy had already decided that she wanted some of her hair braided. I wanted her to experience the negotiating that goes on, so I tell her to explain exactly what she wants and to get a price. They start right up at $40 and Amy counters with $20 – everyone is laughing at her bargaining tactics– so they decide on $25 and that was fine by me - Amy heads off with them down the beach. I let her walk a little ways down the beach alone with them, so she felt like she had some freedom, however, they kept walking and then turned up into some buildings a little bit farther than I was comfortable with. I wasn’t sure that letting her go alone for even those two minutes was that great of an idea anymore (she is only 11), so I jumped up and followed them down the beach. I find them in the little metal yard behind Pete’s Restaurant – laundry hanging overhead and people sleeping all over the benches in the “restaurant.” I felt bad that I had let her go by herself, thinking that she might have been scared – only being her first morning here – but Amy doesn’t look the least bit nervous and there was another girl getting her hair done to keep her company. I never got her name – but we saw her several times during the week – and we just called her “Minnesota!” Eddie managed to talk them into doing one braid in his hair for free – so we took turns sitting with her. I ran back once to NG and got a few drinks for everyone. Amy has pretty short hair so I was amazed at how long it took them to do her hair – had to keep reminding Amy to let them know what she wanted in case they were doing too much – but in the end she liked it. It started to rain and they moved the girls inside. We actually had to run back and get Amy a towel as she started to shiver and was so close to tears with getting her hair yanked around!

As I was sitting there, a guy sticks his head inside the dark building and is talking some deal with the guy up front – low and behold – it is my husband-to-be’s best man Harley – who isn’t even suppose to be on the plane from Detroit yet. Seems he knew all along he was going to be there early – and wanted to surprise us – he did – but I think that we surprised him more when he found it sitting in this building!

We had plans to meet up with our friends, Dummy and his wife Heffer, at Margaritaville to watch the NASCAR race at noon. They had flown in on the same plane with us on Saturday, but were staying up on the cliffs with four other people at a house called Palace View. This is a Sunday tradition that Dummy started two years ago when he and Heffer came down for their wedding – so we have started our last two vacations in Negril at Margaritaville. We had planned to walk the beach but were running a little behind because of the hours of hairbraiding – so ended up taking a taxi down. Spent four or so hours there – met the other couple that were staying with D&H and also Heffer’s uncle and his friend – all of which were on our plane on Saturday and we just didn’t know it! Kids played on the water trampoline for an hour or so and then already looked pretty bored. I started to get scared that they weren’t going to have any fun in Jamaica – and we would have to entertain them every minute of the day – but that wasn’t never the case. Seems Danny was not too sure at first he really liked the salt water – but Eddie assured us that he loved the beach. He somehow managed to walk down the beach and found a hot tub to jump in. He said that he even got thirsty, and went and bought himself a Ting there and jumped back in – just like he belonged there. Still have no idea exactly where he hot tubbed – especially since we didn’t even know he had wandered away! Bad parents!

Fed them some bad nachos for lunch and then headed back to NG. Amy wanted to check out the pool since she missed our excursion the night before, so even though it had begun to rain I walked over with her. We had the pool to ourselves and spent an hour swimming around in the warm rain – taking a break for one game of lawn chess. Back to the rooms to shower, change and have dinner.

After dinner we sat down and played several games of “Pigs.” Does everyone know this game? Little pink plastic pigs that you roll for points? Every time we bring this game on vacation we end up having to leave it with people at the resort or hotel – no matter where we are – everyone is always so intrigued with them – and this vacation was no exception! The boys were very excited to walk the beach to see the music at Alfred’s, but when the music finally began they decided that they were too tired to go – or so we were told.

Be-Rad and I pulled up some chairs on the beach to listen to the music for awhile. My legs were getting bit up, so we decided to walk down the beach. We ended up picking up a new “friend” Brian – who walked with us and told us some stories, offered himself up as a guide if we needed, the usual. I knew that Tami and Joe from the boards had arrived today – so tried to spot them at the Fun Holiday bar - but didn’t see them. They live within 20 minutes of me back at home – but we have yet to meet! We offered our new “friend” a beer at Fun Holiday – but he declined. A few minutes later, he asked if we could buy him some chicken instead. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] Ended up giving him $3 for chicken – or whatever he really used it for - and he disappeared into the night - never to be seen again! Finally, we were alone But there was no romantic beach walk together that night – we somehow managed to walk by a pack of dogs - right at the exact moment one of them started a fight. Dogs were baring fangs, yelping, barking and jumping all over each other – with Be-Rad right in the middle! It was a little scary at first – lots of dog slobber all over both of us - but whatever dog instigated the fight must have backed down - and all was quiet again. Other people standing there on the beach looked more upset and scared than we were! Back at NG we sat back in our plastic seats on the beach - and boy was I still getting bitten up. I had even used bug spray twice! Up wander the two boys – seems that they couldn’t sleep – and had decided to take a walk - along the road. Said that they met some cool guys – whatever that might mean! They weren’t really fooling us,! We had to informed them that we didn’t really want them wandering out at night alone without us! (like they didn’t already know that!) Bad kids! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[jazzyjade]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Ha! I love Pass the Pigs--it makes a great vacation game and can be easily adapted into a drinking game.

You can play online too!


Here's what it looks like:

[stargirl911]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

((Miss Racsan)) great report so far, keep it comin' please [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
pictures, pictures please [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[MISS RACSAN]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Monday – Day 3 Wore up to find thirty or so bites on my legs – aarrgh! Nice sized ones too! Boy did they itch and I even used bug spray! I itched them enough to make a few of them bleed immediately – it’s like they had little scabs in the middle where the stinger went in that scratched off. These bites are pretty weird because mosquitoes don’t hardly even touch me here in Michigan. Be-Rad has some messages to deliver to the guys across the street from a student of his, who calls himself Whitemop. Very small world, he was subbing one day and he mentioned he was going to Jamaica. Seems one of the students used to stay at NG all of the time before it went AI – and now he stays with one of the bartenders from NG. So if anyone else knows Whitemop (17-18 yr old from northern Michigan) – he says to say hi to everyone and to make sure we tell everyone that he cut off his dreads! So Be-Rad and Danny take off to deliver the messages and come back with freshly squeezed orange juice and several pieces of cocoa bread with cheese (Danny is our little cheese hound!). A wonderful breakfast!

Hung around the resort all morning as we had set up our wedding meeting with Shacola at 11:30 a.m. Details of the wedding were so very easy – we had to pick out some music, some flowers and the location – it took 40 minutes tops. I would totally recommend to everyone thinking about getting married in Jamaica – to just do it. The wedding coordinators handle everything – it was absolutely perfect for us! And now we have an excuse to go back every year! We FedEx’d our papers (copies of birth certificates and divorce decrees – if applicable) down a month earlier and that’s all we had to do before we got there. I brought along a CD to play – our song, Van Morrison’s Moondance – had wanted to surprise Be-Rad – but he actually asked me if I brought it along in the car on the way to the airport – actually kind of romantic of him to remember - so there was no surprising him. Hey, that had to be one of the reasons my luggage was overweight – I didn’t forget anything! [They didn’t do anything about my luggage being so heavy on the way down – they just told me it had to be a lot lighter on the way home or they would charge me – no problem mon – half of the suitcase was full of snacks, paperbacks, lotions, perfume, sketch books, Nerf balls, colored pencils, markers, etc. that would all be staying in Negril!] It was actually quite a bit lighter than last year – took less clothes – but now the limit is 44 lbs. instead of 70 lbs. And I actually, really truly, think that my suitcase weighs 44 lbs. empty! Truly! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Took one of the boys and Amy with me on a walk down the beach this afternoon as they hadn’t been any farther than Merrill’s for the hairbraiding trip. Saw our friend “Minnesota” and a few other people from our resort. One of the other things that I wanted to do this trip is to eat at some different places – so my plan was to pick up afternoon snacks for us from different places so as not to totally break our budget! We stopped at DeBuss/Bourbon Beach and picked up two orders of chicken and fries – ate one order there and brought the other one back for the two other “boys.” Stopped on the way back to say hi to Carol-Ann at Yellow Bird but she wasn’t around this afternoon. Felt like I was sneaking in their back gate – but had no problem when I told them who I was looking for! I had told her via the boards that I was going to try and have her join us for snorkeling when we were down and hoped that she was still staying there when we arrived.

Kids decided that they would like to parasail – boy that was a surprise! Lucky I had already budgeted that one in our spending money – and both Be-Rad and I have never been either – so sent Be-Rad went off to negotiate a deal. Also being a salesman, I had Be-Rad do most of the negotiating on this trip. I’m far too easy – and would rather pay full price than haggle! He gets us a great deal. So off we go on one boat and were then transferred to another. We used Air Time and they did a great job and were fun to talk to. Be-Rad and Danny were the first ones up – and they had a very long trip. As they were coming down they kept screaming that they could see a shark. We thought that they were kidding around until they were down in the boat – so the Air Time guys headed the boat over that direction – and sure enough – there was a 6-7 ft. hammerhead shark slowly swimming along, minding his own business. That was almost enough excitement to make us forget that there were still three of us left to go parasailing! [Had explained to the kids earlier that they didn’t have to worry about sharks in Negril! Oops!] Amy and I were up next – but we never saw the shark again. We did see a sea turtle, but it was from pretty high up, but it was still pretty cool. The mountains were beautiful and it was so peaceful and calm up there. I was really expecting to be jostled around quite a bit because it was pretty windy out. Our ride was much shorter or at least so it seemed. Eddie was last and went up solo – he said he didn’t see a thing – can’t imagine why – he was too busy fooling around in his harness! As we were jumping off the boat and Be-Rad was paying – the Air Time guys starting to give him a hassle about the price - but with one cell phone call to the guy he spoke with on the beach – everything was good. Guess we did get too good of a deal! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Hung out on the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Boys decided to check out the beach grill at NG – even thought they had just eaten some jerk chicken! So maybe going the AI route would eventually be pay off! The beach grill has cheeseburgers, hamburgers, hotdogs and grilled cheese – all with fries. The kids really liked the grilled cheese sandwiches. The grill opens up around 2:30 and stays open until about 5:30 – so if you miss the lunch buffet there is still something to eat all afternoon. I think that all of us visited the beach grill at some point during the week. In fact, one afternoon, and I’m sure that NG wouldn’t really like to hear this – Amy – our little dog lover – without our knowledge, took two of the beach dogs to her room – I guess she carried them one by one to the room - and after she got them locked in, went and ordered them each cheeseburgers from the grill! She also made water bowls for them out of the clean ashtrays! The well fed dogs were released by me, the new wicked stepmom-to-be, immediately upon their discovery! [Of course I found out because the boys came running down to the beach to nark on her!] But they really did seem to be pretty nice dogs…]

Be-Rad has developed a habit of always getting two drinks at the bar – one for me – and one for him - which in most cases would be a wonderful gesture, but…he really likes papaya daiquiris – and I don’t like them at all! So I have to keep handing them off to one of the boys so as to not hurt his feelings! The bartenders told him that mangos were not yet in season so they wouldn’t be having any this week and he is a little disappointed. On our last trip he rotated between mango and papaya almost the entire trip – which caused the girls we traveled with to tease him constantly about drinking foo-foo drinks! Hmmm – don’t I hear the fruit lady yelling everyday… "Any Mango, Any Pineapple, Any Coconut.." (or is she saying “" mango, a pineapple, a coconut…" never could really tell!) So this afternoon, when I hear her coming up the beach with the basket on her head, I head over to check it out. And the basket on her head is full of mangos! I grab three of the ripest ones and ask her how much - 550J she says - I’m thinking this is pretty high for three pieces of fruit – so I repeat it - 550J really? - as I’m looking at my money, from behind me a guy jumps in and says, here I’ll help you it will be one of these and one of these, grabbing a $10 and a $1 from my hand! I’m laughing because I don’t really have a problem counting my money – I was just a little hesitant to give up $11 for mangos! But for Be-Rad’s mango daiquiris it should be worth it and I just let her have the money - since he has already handed it to her! Now she probably thinks that she can get $4 a mango from everyone! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I take one of the mangos up to our favorite daytime bartender and ask her if she could possibly whip it up into a mango daiquiri – I even volunteered to peel and chop it for her. She starts to laugh – and from behind the bar, she pulls out a mango! She said that she bought it for Be-Rad on her way into work today because she knew that he really wanted to have a mango daiquiri! What a sweetie! Be-Rad was so happy – and he better be - he has three more mangos worth of daiquiris to drink this week!

All of the boys decide to go back to the rooms and take a nap. Tonight Be-Rad was meeting up with Harley and Dummy for his “Bachelor Party.” Wasn’t too sure I liked the idea – but didn’t put up too much of a fuss – seeing I didn’t think that I really had much of a choice. Amy and I grabbed the cameras and went down to the beach hoping for a sunset. We watched the end of the Manager’s Cocktail Party where there was a dance contest going on – with the winner winning a bottle of – you guessed it – rum! Looked as though they also had rum punch being dispensed from their huge “juice” containers – but they were already taking them away when we got down there. That would have been key for the bar to have – I would have loved some self-serve rum punch or anything self-serve! The sun failed to provide us a sunset as it slipped under the clouds on the way down and was gone. Tonight was Jamaican Night at NG – they had quite a few Jamaican specialties on the buffet – jerk chicken, jerk pork, and a very spicy fish dish. This is one of the things that I liked about NG – there were always some Jamaican foods on the buffet – and not totally Americanized either. They also had a different fish dish every day. I especially like the variety of ways they cooked their snapper. Yumm! And their soup – heaven – Conch Gumbo, Corn Chowder, Pumpkin and even their Cream of Spinach! I would love some of any of them right now!

We played a few games of cards with the kids and then Be-Rad was off to play for the night. Amy asked if she could spend the night with me and she ended up watching a movie in our room. I wandered down to the bar to pick up a rum cream on the rocks – sure didn’t feel I was exactly drinking my share of the AI price yet! Boys decide that they are hungry and raid the snacks that I brought along with me – but what they really want is pizza! Hmmm – not a problem, let’s go take a walk. Kids look at me weird and follow me down to the beach, past Alfred’s to Mr. Slice! We order a medium pizza and split a Ting while we wait. Kids are pretty excited that they are going to be eating Jamaican pizza – but are pretty surprised when it looks just like pizza from home! We finish all but a piece or two and end up sharing the rest with a guy that had just pulled up a chair. He was pretty much out of it – so I figured a few pieces of pizza could only help him! Kids seem to be pretty humored by this drunk/wasted adult - even more humored when he offers them some of his “smoke!” Kids decline but seem almost happy that they had at least been asked! There is a world of difference between the kids that I see at home in GR and the kids from up north where they live – they are definitely much more sheltered and naïve up north. So this has actually been quite a learning experience for them. Probably both good and bad!

Be-Rad wandered back in around 5:30 a.m. – looking surprisingly and suspiciously sober and totally normal. Hmmm – how weird! He says that they had a few drinks at Coral Seas and then headed down to Risky Business, where they didn’t leave until 4 AM. He walked Harley back to CS and then had to walk back to NG as he never saw a taxi at that early/late hour. I’m sure that there is more to tell about this night – but I will probably never hear about it! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Simpson]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Where did you go? Please continue - remember this was suppose to be my wedding and honeymoon too! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[MISS RACSAN]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Tuesday – Day 4 – Took the kids down to breakfast and out to the beach. The kids are really attached to their dad, even at home, and it was quite a chore to get them to leave him alone and let him sleep for even an extra hour! All they wanted to do is flop down in the extra bed and hang out with him! And I think that I was making more noise asking them to be quiet! Finally got them out of there by promising that I would play some Frisbee with them. So I spend the next hour playing Frisbee and catch with all of the kids – and that turned into a game of chicken - girls against boys – and we creamed them every time! Pretty soon we had a large group of guys out in the water playing – bet there were eight sets of people playing – some people came down that were swimming beyond Alfred’s, two of the NG guys (not sure what they exactly did there!) and us two girls! So here I am, with a bunch of men and boys playing chicken! I’m sure we were quite a site! It got to the point I couldn’t even keep Amy on my shoulders any more and the others weren’t even seeking us out to topple, so we bowed out of the game - of course no one cares that we are there anymore - until we try to leave! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Amy found a new friend in the water and left with her and her family to go swimming across the street in the pool. And Danny and Eddie were now in learning how to play dominos with NG’s Danny in the Watersports building. That left me – oh my gosh – all by myself! I love being by myself, where Be-Rad hates it. He calls me at least once on the nights that he doesn’t have his kids – just because he is bored and lonely! I on the other hand, live by myself and have no problem being alone for days! I end up reading a whole 11 pages in the book - Walk Good - that I brought especially for the trip. I guess I was basically just watching the beach sites moving by and re-reading paragraphs over and over! I especially loved the voice of the sandwich board guy from Roots Bamboo calling out the name of the shows every night – Nickel Slik a few nights (I think..) I would love to hear that voice on the radio every day – can barely remember how he said it now! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] Saw some hairbraiding ladies come out from around the wall of Alfred’s – seems they were beading up the sleeves and bottoms of some of the t-shirts that the “Looney Crew” group had made up especially for their trip. Hi – to anyone from that group that is reading this! With the colorful fringe beading - they were really cute – I will have to remember to bring down a special t-shirt and have it done next time. I had been contemplating getting part of my hair braided for the wedding – just to keep it away from my face for the week. So I wandered over there to see if they could do it and for how much. They were just finishing up with someone else – so I head back to our beach – pick up two drinks – one for me and one for whoever did my hair. I couldn’t find the boys anywhere now - so off I go around the wall with no one knowing where I went! And who is now sitting down to get their hair braided? M, the wife of the couple that is staying with Heffer and Dummy up on the cliffs. Seems they are over at NG looking for us! The security guards at NG were very cool – they always let them wander for a few minutes looking for us, and they knew all of our friends by the end of the week! I have both of my drinks gone before they even start on my hair – so I run back over and get a few more – this is the closest thing that I get to even feeling like I drank any alcohol this vacation – don’t know if that is good or bad! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] But this is a different type of vacation – not a bunch of couples like usual – and I have to be responsible – we have the kids with us! Goodness knows, Be-Rad isn’t behaving at all! It is M’s birthday and while she is being held captive in the braiding chair, she is sent over a shot of tequila and several other shots along with two or three drinks. I was thinking to myself that it will be a lot of fun to watch her stand up after an hour of having her braids done! I wasn’t really sure I liked what they were doing to my hair – wasn’t even close to how I had it done in Cancun – but didn’t want to sit through any more torture! Figured I’d be able to make it work somehow before the wedding! Has anyone else noticed that the ladies that do the hairbraiding, all have the smallest little mirrors to look into – with their edges wrapped in duct tape or not covered at all? I plan on bringing these ladies some nice mirrors next year! As I am being braided, Be-Rad shows up – seems he has slept until noon, couldn’t find any of us and now wants to eat lunch – and doesn’t want to eat by himself! I send him over the bar at Alfred’s – I guess M is still doing shot after shot – but I can’t turn my head to see – can only hear the hollering! They decide to order some food – so of course, being on the food mission this week, I yell at Be-Rad to get us something to share so I can test it out! Be-Rad orders a lobster salad with some sort of fruity (maybe sesame papaya) dressing – awesome – and their special that day of a blackened fish sandwich. All of the food looks really good! The lunch buffet at NG is okay – but these lunches were great! Dummy, Heffer and their friends all decide to eat with us and then take off to explore more of town and to go shopping. They have rented a van for the week for the six of them and they just loved having the freedom to come and go. Being that far up on the cliffs, a mile or so even past the lighthouse, they almost had to have it. Heffer’s uncle ended up being a chauffeur for the week – but he didn’t seem to mind it!

Clouds had been rolling in and out all morning and have finally decided to stick around. I stick it out as long as I can on the beach and Be-Rad goes in for another nap – maybe he wasn’t in as good shape as I thought he was last night! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] Eddie goes to their room to do some homework and who knows where Danny was - really he was just gone for awhile - he said he was out on the beach but I never saw him! Bad parent! Amy decides to hang out with me on the beach, so she and I take a walk down to a Irie Vibes so she can email her mom. I’m still pretty disappointed that the water is so churned up. Last year when we stayed on Bloody Bay – my favorite part of the day was standing in the water with tons of fish circling my legs. Then walking until I kicked up a sting ray. This trip, I’ve seen one little white fish in the water and even throwing out pieces of bread didn’t seem to attract any more! Although this did attract Mophead – “You like fish? Come snorkleing with me, I will show you fish, I will let you feed them!...”

We get to Irie Vibes and Amy sees a couple of orders of food go by and decides that she is now hungry – and in a whiny voices tells me that she doesn’t really want to eat at the beach grill again – AGAIN I think, it is only Tuesday! There was no need to whine, we grabbed a menu and placed an order for some chicken wings (of course she didn’t want any sauce on them). We send her email and go over to grab the wings – I see that they are all sauced up, but Amy digs right in and never says a word about it and eats all but the one that I take for my sample! As we are heading back to NG – she reminds me that I have promised to go double kayaking with her and haven’t yet – again, it is only TUESDAY! – so we go and sign one out. It is pretty windy and since Amy is not much help, we don’t go too far along the beach. I thought it would be fun to cruise along the beach all the way to the end and come back – but that never happened since I was the one doing all of the paddling! We get back and decide to give up on the sun ever coming back out and go in to shower. Tonight we are heading to 3 Dives to meet up with some fellow Boardies. Failed to mention, my bug bites are driving me absolutely crazy – hydrocortizone cream and caladryl aren’t doing a darn thing – I really just want to tear off the top layer of skin on my legs! And I’m not kidding – they got even worse in the evening. And Be-Rad and the kids don’t have one bite! They just don’t understand why I’m complaining – they itched unlike anything that I have ever been bitten by!

I am now caught up with Tami! Next...an evening at 3 Dives with fellow Boardies!

[MISS RACSAN]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Tuesday Night - 3 Dives...

We take a taxi one way up to 3 Dives. Kids are very interested in the “dive” part of 3 Dives and head right to the cliffs. Harley and his twin sister Debi, who just arrived in Jamaica today, arrive a few moments later. I run into RastaStan immediately and while I am speaking with him, the kids are told by someone that they should run over and jump from the platforms at Xtabi. I actually never really did see where they could have jumped in from 3 Dives. I pass all three of them running back down to driveway to the road. So instead of running up to the restaurant at 3 Dives to meet everyone there, I grab the camera and get over to the edge of the cliffs just in time to see the boys launch themselves one by one into the water. Amy chickens out, so she goes down and jumps off the lowest swim platform. Someone over at Xtabi has now talked the boys into jumping from the edge of the upper restaurant level. I’m thinking to myself that we have totally lost control of them and Be-Rad is just standing watching! The boys jump in from up there and Amy runs up one level – has one second of hesitation – and jumps off the higher level. As I am standing there, a father with two boys about our boys’ ages – asks me if I would let my kids do that? He sure wouldn’t. I just smile and point out Be-Rad and tell him that he is their dad. He looks totally shocked! Maybe we are Bad Parents! ( : But there was no way that we would be leaving Negril without the boys jumping from some cliffs!

It then begins to rain and everyone starts to congregate under the roof up at the restaurant. Guess there won’t be a sunset again tonight! Got everyone settled at a table with a drink and then I started to mingle. Be-Rad just doesn’t understand the entire “board” thing – I think that he must think that I spend hours in a chat room! I recognize Tami from her pictures and walk over to meet her and her husband, Joe. She comes over and meets our big group. Our daughter was immediately enthralled with Tami’s digital camera (the Camedia with the Polaroid ability) and Tami is gracious enough to let her take a picture with it – and also takes a Polaroid picture of Amy with her head full of beads – which, I might add, is one of her prized souvenirs from the trip! Thanks again Tami! For some reason I feel like I already know her because of her trip reports from last year and because they live only 20 minutes away from me! Seems weird that we have to go to Negril to meet! I also meet MarBrisa who lives on the other side of the same state (and who now I’ve learned was on the same plane with us – guess we should have spoken more at 3 Dives!). A lot of Michiganers from the boards are in Negril this week! I had already met RastaStan out at the cliffs, although I never met his wife, and also met TrelawnySmall. I recognized Seatheworld “Martina” from her pictures, but never got to speak with her. I’m also thinking that Murray and her husband should have been there somewhere – since I had seen on the boards that Sala was taking them to Mayfield that day – and there were surely many others there that I wished I would have had time to meet! The place was packed and everyone was moving around greeting each other – all like long lost friends! Sienna and Sala show up and they are immediately sucked into the crowd! I don’t think that either of them got one minute of free time there that night! It looked like everyone was having a great time – and the food looked great – okay not great – awesome - who cared about the rain! We had given up on the rest of our group showing up so we didn’t know what to do about our dinner plans. Then just moments after we told Harley’s driver, Rick, that we would go back with him, they all show up! Kind of a bummer! The covered restaurant is packed with people so our friends head out to sit in the shelter out by the cliffs. I really wanted to try the chicken at 3 Dives - my reward for finally posting my 2002 trip report – but it seems that we will be leaving without eating – I’m very confused – isn’t that why we came here?! Harley tells me that we will be coming back – yeah! – guess we are just taking the kids and Debi back to their respective resorts! (Are we leaving the kids by themselves? I’m thinking that this is not a good idea.) On the way out, Tami grabs me to make sure that I have met Sienna – seems she has been looking for me! Unfortunately, I only get to speak with her for a moment as everyone I was with had already packed themselves into the van. I tell her that we are dropping off the kids and coming back – but when I get into the car and start to ask about really leaving the kids alone – I’m told that when they said that we were coming back – they didn’t mean we were coming back again tonight. We get back to the resort and hit the dinner buffet – not exactly 3 Dives chicken - I’m thinking to myself! I was pretty disappointed that we left because I just didn’t understand why! Oh well, we eat, stop and get a drink and go back to the room to sit on the patio.. We made plans earlier to meet our friends over at Alfred’s to see WhiteBob sing – and weren’t sure if those plans were still intact. We had seen WhiteBob at 3 Dives and because of the rain, he had decided to cancel. Now for some reason, we decide to lay down, which is always a mistake, and we end up falling asleep sometime around ten – I wake up about midnight. Oops, I run over to Alfred’s to see if anyone in our group has made it down. I walk back and forth along the fence and somehow get myself a dance partner - because all of a sudden I have arms grasping my waist from behind me and then a little bit of grinding going on behind me! I turn around, do a little spin step - smile an dsay something like thanks for the dance and keep moving! Not seeing anyone – I go back to the room, undress and jump back in the bed. Be-Rad wakes up and feels bad that we made plans and didn’t show up – so he decides that he should go over there too – he comes back a few HOURS later and says that he hasn’t seen anyone. Seems that Harley, Debi, Dummy, Heffer, her uncle and his friend were all there back near the bar and Be-Rad spent all of his time – up front – next to the speakers! I guess neither of us must have looked too hard!

[ohliz]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Ooh, I feel like I'm there!!

There are 4 dives at 3 dives but they are all very high, except the one that you walk down the steps to, by the cave. That one is on the opposite end of hte property from Xtabi and since 3 Dives lost their ladder in a storm, you have to swim over to Xtabi to get back up [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Glad the kids enjoyed it!!

[MISS RACSAN]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Wednesday – April 16th - Day 5 – Our Wedding Day

Woke up to a warm steady rain with the bright sun trying to shine right through it. I am at first a little sad that it is raining – but it really doesn’t look like it will last all day – plus isn’t rain on your wedding day suppose to mean good luck? The clouds did break by early morning and it ended up being an absolutely beautiful day. And my bug bites have pretty much stopped itching – what a great day – I’m serious – they were driving be crazy!

Amy and I have started a morning tradition where she comes over very morning and goes through my suitcase to pick out gifts for the housekeepers for each of the two rooms. I’ve been leaving a few $$ and a little gift for them every day. Today she picks out a 3-piece bath lotion/gel set for her room and a bottle of perfume for ours. The boys think that it gift thing is a little weird. I overhear Amy explaining to the boys what she is doing and why it is nice to leave gifts for the workers. Her story wasn’t even close to what I had told her (she told them something like they don’t have any perfume or body wash in Negril!) – but somehow the boys actually catch on to the real why. They ask me later if they can leave their Nerf footballs with some of the local boys that swim every day at Alfred’s. I explain to them – that is exactly why I brought them! By the end of the week, all of the gifts plus more – have been distributed to the kids and NG employees. Kids were going through their stuff and our stuff just looking for stuff to give away! At the end of the week, we are asked by several of the employees to write a note and sign it stating that we have given the items to them as gifts – so they don’t have trouble with their bosses – and we are happy to do so.

Hung around the beach all morning. At some point, Be-Rad took the kids sailing one by one. As we watch he and Amy go around the big Alfred’s platform, their sailboat goes down! As we watch them, I am just sure Amy must be crying. She had just mentioned before they set out that hopefully they didn’t tip over because she was kind of scared some big fish or shark might get her! I guess we haven’t quite convinced her that there wouldn’t be any sharks this close to shore! In less than two minutes, the watersports guys have their boat offloaded from its trailer and in the water. They are just about to start the motor to go get them when Be-Rad gets the sailboat righted. I hadn’t realized how close the watersports people really watched over us. It was pretty nice to know! Be-Rad brings Amy right back in and she was absolutely fine. When I see Amy the next time after our trip – she is reading the book "Jaws". Seems she is now quite enthralled with sharks – even did a report on them for school! I ask Be-Rad if he thinks it’s okay for her to read this "adult" of a book – and he doesn’t see why not. Amy mentions several times that weekend that the book has a lot of cuss words in it. [It has been years since I’ve read the book – but have just recently been told that there is quite a sex scene in it – oops – we ARE bad parents – because I know now she has already finished the book!] While we are in Negril – Amy is suppose to read 3 chapters every day for homework. Her mom has sent her down with two books to read – she mentions that they were her absolsute favorites when she was little. Amy has now deemed them both stupid, boring, and baby-ish. We are sitting on the beach one afternoon and she picks her dad’s book out of the beach bag and starts to read it – she doesn’t even make it through the first page – when she asks me – what is a wore? A wore? Yes, a wore – W-H-O-R-E. Oh my gosh, you know Amy, I’m not sure, but I don’t really think that you should be reading your dad’s book – it will be tough to share one book and he’ll be back any minute, etc., etc..…. You should really keep reading your “pony” books because your mom specially picked them out for you and you don’t want to disappoint her. It takes some convincing – but I get that book away from her! (this was kind of a diversion – but I just remembered sitting there on the beach, in the middle of all of these people when she asked me that – and our neighbors next door who were sitting right next us started laughing hysterically! They teased me about that many times during the week! What’s a wore….?

Harley and his sister walked down from Coral Seas to spend the morning with us. Debi wanted some jerk chicken and our “Road Businesses Map” says that there is a “Jerk Center” right down the beach. We take a walk and stop in at YellowBird to see Carol Ann at YB, hoping that she would still be around this early in the morning – but she wasn’t – just missed her I guess. Left her a message that we’d be snorkeling with Mophead on Friday morning and I hoped that she could join us. I knew that we wouldn’t be making the noon board meeting at Fun Holiday because of our wedding – guess we really could have made it – but we had guests visiting so honestly we didn’t even try. I’m not sure that we found the “Jerk Center” but we were led to a place that served food! We ordered some jerk chicken and pork and some roasted veggies to bring back. We meet Harley coming out of the In and Out Mart, carrying out a case of Heineken and a huge bag of ice. Seems he won’t drink Red Stripe on tap at the resort! So I go back to the room to get our cooler for him- all the way thinking to myself that we are certainly not going to recoup any of the day pass money we spent on him with him drinking his own beer! So he better eat a lot!! We had bought our friends day/night passes so that they could share our wedding day – and become our video and photographers! Just some extra costs associated with us staying at an AI – so much for the “free” wedding! I will say that we were able to negotiated a slightly lower rate with the GM as some of our guests weren’t arriving until after 2:00 p.m. [appears the Dummy had a rough night at Alfred’s the night before! ( : ] Dummy and his wife actually showed up around 1:00 p.m. for lunch and everyone but me took off for the buffet. Wasn’t really ever hungry at lunchtime since I’m not used to have breakfast and lunch everyday – so they all accused me of being too nervous – but I don’t really think that I was nervous – at least yet! Debi and Harley walked back to their room at CS to get ready and I didn’t see them again until I was walking down the aisle! I tried slipping away quietly around 2:30 to start getting ready for the ceremony, however, fiancé and the kids caught me. All I wanted was an hour to take a shower and get my hair, etc. done before I had to start worrying about dressing everyone else! Be-Rad decided that there was much too much commotion going on in our room and retreated to the kids’ rooms to rest a/k/a a nap! Unfortunately for him – but luckily for me, the boys followed him, so don’t know how much of a nap he got! Amy stayed with me and watched cartoons for an hour – so she wasn’t in the way at all! Dummy and his wife used the kid’s room to change, so I was actually quite relaxed by the time the flowers arrived at 4:20 p.m. Didn’t she say they’d be there at 3:30 p.m.? She must have meant Jamaican time! I really didn’t have to worry about anything since I had sent my little spy Amy run down to the beach a few times to let me know what was going on – started to get nervous when she returned to tell me that the beach was full of people. Just then I saw Shacola walking up the path to our room…

[Tami]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Oh girl this is too good I was waiting to hear how the wedding day went. You tell Amy that it was my pleasure to give her a pic. I kept that picture on my camera through the whole trip (ended up deleting some cuz I ran out of room.) but ended up deleating it because all my pics are posted on line. I didn't feel right posting someone else's kids pic without permission. I do have to tell ya that my little guy, 10 years old, asked "Who is that cute girl"? Too funny

[MISS RACSAN]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

The Wedding Ceremony – Amy and I walk together hand in hand down the sidewalk, past the bar. I think I remember Shacola telling us to slow down! I vaguely remember noticing flower petals to walk on down the aisle in the sand and that Amy was barefoot! Barefoot? Where are her new sandals? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] I ask Shacola if I should kick off my shoes before I step into the sand – and she tells me to keep them on. So I do – sinking every step of the way! I look all around and there quite a few people sitting on lounge chairs and up on the grass on towels. I see people with cameras and our friend Dummy with our camcorder. Everything is now a blur! Then I see Be-Rad standing up near the flower-covered arch – he is smiling and he truly has tears in his eyes. I look over – and Debi who I just met yesterday – is crying. Oh my gosh, the ceremony hasn’t even started yet – why are you guys crying? And please don’t let me cry! For a moment I thought that I would - just because they all were, so I look all around, smile at the boys - the only ones sitting - and try just to concentrate on walking! I walk up to Brad – remember standing way to far away from him – and then try to concentrate of what Rev. Barrett is saying. I remember thinking that I will never be able to repeat all of those vows that he has Be-Rad saying – but somehow I do – our rings are exchanged and one last message from Rev. Barrett and the ceremony is over. Clapping all around us – pictures and more pictures are flashing. Everyone is happy and smiling, hugging us. Everyone including me, loves a wedding! Now I'm wondering where all of those pictures are! They didn't come out of the 12 rolls that I had developed - little bit of bummer! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

After the ceremony, we sign our marriage papers and Rev. Barrett sticks around for a few pictures. We decided that there might finally just be one heck of a sunset tonight – so we grab all of the chairs that they have placed around our specially decorated wedding table set up in the grass – and take them down to the beach. Many many champagne toasts and pictures later - and then the first spectacular sunset of the week. Just for our wedding we say to ourselves… Hope some of these pictures turn out because it was absolutely beautiful!

Heffer has had several glasses of champagne and has started to get a little loopy and a little loud – I think it is quite funny since we never get her to drink much at home – but Dummy is not amused and cuts her off until after she has eaten! But being the trouble makers we are, we keep sending her glasses of it anyway! Tonight was Beach Party night at NG – so all of the dining tables and the buffet had been brought down to the beach. We have exceptionally excellent wait service this evening from Kim. She is such a great person! Found out that she is related to Paula from 3 Dives – small world! It was one of the best meals that we had at NG. They also had a steel drum band playing in the background – seemed like it was all just for us – not the other 60 people! In fact, never saw so many people all at once at dinnertime! We met another couple in the buffet line that had just gotten married at home on Monday – but we never saw them again, so I hope they had a great honeymoon in Negril! How could they not?!

I heard at dinner that NG was now at full capacity and they were bumping people and sending them down to Sandals – a nice $750.00 upgrade – but there were some people that just weren’t taking the bump and were very upset. They had picked somewhere mid-beach to stay, worked their entire trip around it and that is where they wanted to stay. One couple I spoke to had stayed at Sandals on Tuesday night and were moved back on Wednesday – taking the place of someone that went to Sandals for two nights. I agree that would have been a hassle, being moved around, having to unpack and repack several times – but for those that wanted something a little more upscale it would have been key. I guess we were very fortunate to be upgraded to the beachside when it was available.

We sit down by the water and visit with our friends. The moon is peeking out from behind the resort buildings – and everyone seems to be mesmerized by it’s rising. I tell everyone that we picked this day out special for our wedding because it is going to be a full moon! No one believes me – but it is kind of true. I remember someone last year telling me how awesome the full moons are in Negril – and when picking out dates – I actually looked and was excited to find out that it was the same week! So I picked Wednesday out because of that and the Beach Party. As the moon rises it gets larger and larger until it is hanging up over our heads! Our own private nightlight! We take our chairs back out to the water and just sit and talk. It was so great to have our friends at the resort with us. And of course, sitting in a long white dress on the beach attracts a little bit of attention to! We meet and talk with almost everyone that is walking down the beach. We do this for hours with side trips to the bar for refills. The water is still pretty wavy and comes up right to our feet. It is so nice just to sit with a drink in my hands, with the warm water lapping at our feet, in Negril, with my new husband, his kids and our friends. What could be better than this! I feel so lucky! And the best part - Be-Rad keeps looking at me – taking my hand – and keeps telling me how happy he is too! Sappy, I know - but this day was long coming - now I wish I would have just done it years ago!

Dummy, Heffer, Be-Rad and I go back and sit on our patio. I am telling Heffer about the twenty or so nice sized snails that are crawling all over the “chameleon” tree. Amy has found a tree next to the main path that has lizards crawling all over it – every time we go and look at them they are either bright bright green or tanish brown – I’m sure that they really aren’t chameleons, but this is what she has called the tree! I grab a flashlight and drag Heffer over to see the snails – as I’m maneuvering around the tree with the flashlight – I step into the soft dirt encircled around the tree to give Heffer a better angle and show her how if you touch their antennae they suck them back in (humor me – this is our excitement for the night!). Immediately, my foot is on fire! So here I am, still wearing my dress, doing a little dance on the grass trying to get whatever is biting me off. I use the flashlight and don’t see anything. I run past the guys into the bathroom, jump in the tub and wash my feet off. Off come ten or so of the tiniest little ants. I go back to the tree – and sure enough I have managed to leave a footprint right in the middle of their house. Hundreds of ants are busy trying to fix what I destroyed with one little step! The guys think that I’m crazy – but for a minute I really thought my foot was on fire! Once I wash them off – I felt so much better! Insects are really getting me on this trip!

People start to leave us around 11:30-12:00 p.m. I can’t believe that we are actually married! It has been a very long day – and I’m still walking around in my dress – but I am not the least bit tired. Good thing for Be-Rad! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Simpson]

Re: Trip Report - Negril Gardens April 12-19, 2003

Sorry, I fell a few days behind! Your wedding sounded just perfect, I am so jealous. So how was having it on the beach? I know that you really wanted to get married out on the cliffs - but was it okay? It sounded absolutely perfect to me! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I still really really want to get married down there. It still may happen, maybe I will shoot for your anniversary week next year! Would still love to meet you and your new family. You were such a help to me, you will just never know. Hugs!