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We all have tons of, or have seen tons of, sunset pictures, and of course many of them are quite remarkable.
However, there is another rather spectacular feature of Negril, and that is the sunrise. In my line of work, I get to see this all too often, lol...
As many of you know, there is the beach side of Negril, and then there is what is called the jungle side. That side is mostly exactly that: right beyond the properties edge, there is nothing but bush, and swamp, which seems to just be biding it's time to take back what was once it's own.
Going into town, just before the roundabout, you pass over a bridge, the river which the bridge spans cuts back in behind Negril, and the rest of the land mass back there is boggy, sort of trecherous...but there are people who plant back there, fishermen who keep boats and rigs back there...and there are also paths that can get you back there, if you know where to look...
One place that is really just a blip on the Negril radar screen gives a clue- the Sunrise Club. It's right opposite Bar-b-Barn and neighbor to Coral Seas where the limos park. It is on the jungle side, and it is named Sunrise. If you never ask about it, you'll never know about it. It mght seem like "Sunrise" is just a name, but there was actually a purpose to that selection, because they have a pathway cut into the moreass which you can follow down to a bend in the river, and there you will behold the stunning birth of the sun as it clears the thick canopy of bush, bamboo, and palm, that makes up the Great Morass.
I discovered Sunrise gastronomically, lol...it has some great food, excellent, if not one of the very best grilled lobsters in Negril. I'm not much of a sushi guy, but they serve a sort of seafood carpaccio that is really otherworldly, thin slices of marlin and swordfish in a light marinade...The mojitos and the coffee can not be touched, and there are usually some very good pastas at hand. Now there is a brick wood-fired pizza oven that turns out fantastic italian style (thin crust) pizzas- the standards, margherita, diavola, etc.
In any case, I became a regular for the JBM espresso and the hand made gnocchi. The place is an interesting crossroads because of it's set up- hotel and restaurant in the front, then local living spaces in the back. It was a watering hole to a lot of salty characters, there was always this one guy there, obviously on the lam, another was a veteran hash smoker- very interesting character. Devoted his whole life to smoking hash.
So one day at dinner, a friend of mine, Mr. Slice, asked if we knew why the place was named "Sunrise."
I did not. I didn't really care, actually. I just leaned back in my wood chair (after 2 months a simple thing like a chair not made out of cheap plastic is heaven in and of itself) sucked down my espresso, and took a long, lazy pull off my cigar. I admired my companion. Her looks easily placed her into the 'Stunning' category and she had a delicate manner about her as she dined. Slice went on...talking about the Morass, the stunning sunrise, how you had to hike back there through all this bush and bramble...the sunrise...
I was trying to see if she knew what the hell he was talking about. Of course, she did not, as nobody I know down there really takes much notice of the sun, rising or setting, except to tell time by it. I guess it is part of the Statue of Liberty phenomenon.
So Slice proceeds to tell me the history of the joint, how this guy Luca came over from Italy so many years ago, set himself up, took up half the property, found the path, etc.
I guess he could tell this was something I needed to be shown. So he says, what time are you through tonight.
I say 5AM. He says, Perfect. Meet me at the gate. And bring your cameras.
Great. The last thing I really wanted to do was meet Slice at the gate at 5AM. I wanted to be in bed.
So after the club emptied, I got my friend to drive me down. I had known Eddie for about 4 years now. We had been through a lot together. When we got down to Sunrise he asked me what I was doing- I had all my equipment on me.
I go to him, I'm going into the Moreass.
Puzzled look.
You're going back there? You're mad.
So I go, well...do you want to come? Come with me if you've never been.
Now I get a big stare...No sir...there's nothing back there for me...you go...
So now I'm like great, Eddie's basically my murderer and he's not even thinking of going back there, lol...so why am I...
Just then Slice materializes from the shadow of the gate...COOL. You made it...
We walk back through the property. The whole time I'm thinking, why wouldn't Eddie come...is this a set up...what's going to be back there...
Well we pass through the rear of the property, which is divided into a residential area where there are some rentals and people live, and then the front which is the hotel. We get onto a track cut into the bush and proceed. It's still very dark. Not even the dogs have the compunction to bark at us. They just silently mark our passing and put their heads back down.
Noises surround us if not light. The path, such as it is, is makeshift- every now and then, we'll walk across a plank, or some rocks will have been tossed down in a rudimentary pattern to allow passage through bog. I stopped and picked up a 20lb chunk of volcanic debris. I wanted to see what we were passing through. So I flung it out, about 15 feet from where we were precariously perched on a rock bridge.
There was a splunk, and a sucking noise. I turned the camera light to the rock, and watched it sink into the muck. Slice was like, hmmm...maybe you shouldn't do that...
I felt like I was watching Luke's X-wing go down, but Slice made magic with pizza, he was no Yoda.
We move on, and soon we come to the river bend. Standing there, doing nothing but listening and waiting for the sun- out of nowhere, this guy materializes, with a machette. He walks right by us out of the haze then back in....pretty much a ghost and wordless. Didn't miss a beat. I had a hard time imagining this was a common occurence in his life.
Then, we just sat there and waited. Birds and bats flew around, crabs were everywhere...every now and then a fish broke the surface, and a boat slipped past us on it's way out to the river mouth I guess.
Then, a slow hazy glow crept into the sky, like an aura, or the crown of a halo. The morning was birthing the sun, and I swear, a Diplodocus could have broke the surface of the water and it would not have shocked me.
partner in crime:
It's a pretty cool thing to be in the Sunrise Club.
However, there is another rather spectacular feature of Negril, and that is the sunrise. In my line of work, I get to see this all too often, lol...
As many of you know, there is the beach side of Negril, and then there is what is called the jungle side. That side is mostly exactly that: right beyond the properties edge, there is nothing but bush, and swamp, which seems to just be biding it's time to take back what was once it's own.
Going into town, just before the roundabout, you pass over a bridge, the river which the bridge spans cuts back in behind Negril, and the rest of the land mass back there is boggy, sort of trecherous...but there are people who plant back there, fishermen who keep boats and rigs back there...and there are also paths that can get you back there, if you know where to look...
One place that is really just a blip on the Negril radar screen gives a clue- the Sunrise Club. It's right opposite Bar-b-Barn and neighbor to Coral Seas where the limos park. It is on the jungle side, and it is named Sunrise. If you never ask about it, you'll never know about it. It mght seem like "Sunrise" is just a name, but there was actually a purpose to that selection, because they have a pathway cut into the moreass which you can follow down to a bend in the river, and there you will behold the stunning birth of the sun as it clears the thick canopy of bush, bamboo, and palm, that makes up the Great Morass.
I discovered Sunrise gastronomically, lol...it has some great food, excellent, if not one of the very best grilled lobsters in Negril. I'm not much of a sushi guy, but they serve a sort of seafood carpaccio that is really otherworldly, thin slices of marlin and swordfish in a light marinade...The mojitos and the coffee can not be touched, and there are usually some very good pastas at hand. Now there is a brick wood-fired pizza oven that turns out fantastic italian style (thin crust) pizzas- the standards, margherita, diavola, etc.
In any case, I became a regular for the JBM espresso and the hand made gnocchi. The place is an interesting crossroads because of it's set up- hotel and restaurant in the front, then local living spaces in the back. It was a watering hole to a lot of salty characters, there was always this one guy there, obviously on the lam, another was a veteran hash smoker- very interesting character. Devoted his whole life to smoking hash.
So one day at dinner, a friend of mine, Mr. Slice, asked if we knew why the place was named "Sunrise."
I did not. I didn't really care, actually. I just leaned back in my wood chair (after 2 months a simple thing like a chair not made out of cheap plastic is heaven in and of itself) sucked down my espresso, and took a long, lazy pull off my cigar. I admired my companion. Her looks easily placed her into the 'Stunning' category and she had a delicate manner about her as she dined. Slice went on...talking about the Morass, the stunning sunrise, how you had to hike back there through all this bush and bramble...the sunrise...
I was trying to see if she knew what the hell he was talking about. Of course, she did not, as nobody I know down there really takes much notice of the sun, rising or setting, except to tell time by it. I guess it is part of the Statue of Liberty phenomenon.
So Slice proceeds to tell me the history of the joint, how this guy Luca came over from Italy so many years ago, set himself up, took up half the property, found the path, etc.
I guess he could tell this was something I needed to be shown. So he says, what time are you through tonight.
I say 5AM. He says, Perfect. Meet me at the gate. And bring your cameras.
Great. The last thing I really wanted to do was meet Slice at the gate at 5AM. I wanted to be in bed.
So after the club emptied, I got my friend to drive me down. I had known Eddie for about 4 years now. We had been through a lot together. When we got down to Sunrise he asked me what I was doing- I had all my equipment on me.
I go to him, I'm going into the Moreass.
Puzzled look.
You're going back there? You're mad.
So I go, well...do you want to come? Come with me if you've never been.
Now I get a big stare...No sir...there's nothing back there for me...you go...
So now I'm like great, Eddie's basically my murderer and he's not even thinking of going back there, lol...so why am I...
Just then Slice materializes from the shadow of the gate...COOL. You made it...
We walk back through the property. The whole time I'm thinking, why wouldn't Eddie come...is this a set up...what's going to be back there...
Well we pass through the rear of the property, which is divided into a residential area where there are some rentals and people live, and then the front which is the hotel. We get onto a track cut into the bush and proceed. It's still very dark. Not even the dogs have the compunction to bark at us. They just silently mark our passing and put their heads back down.
Noises surround us if not light. The path, such as it is, is makeshift- every now and then, we'll walk across a plank, or some rocks will have been tossed down in a rudimentary pattern to allow passage through bog. I stopped and picked up a 20lb chunk of volcanic debris. I wanted to see what we were passing through. So I flung it out, about 15 feet from where we were precariously perched on a rock bridge.
There was a splunk, and a sucking noise. I turned the camera light to the rock, and watched it sink into the muck. Slice was like, hmmm...maybe you shouldn't do that...
I felt like I was watching Luke's X-wing go down, but Slice made magic with pizza, he was no Yoda.
We move on, and soon we come to the river bend. Standing there, doing nothing but listening and waiting for the sun- out of nowhere, this guy materializes, with a machette. He walks right by us out of the haze then back in....pretty much a ghost and wordless. Didn't miss a beat. I had a hard time imagining this was a common occurence in his life.
Then, we just sat there and waited. Birds and bats flew around, crabs were everywhere...every now and then a fish broke the surface, and a boat slipped past us on it's way out to the river mouth I guess.
Then, a slow hazy glow crept into the sky, like an aura, or the crown of a halo. The morning was birthing the sun, and I swear, a Diplodocus could have broke the surface of the water and it would not have shocked me.
partner in crime:
It's a pretty cool thing to be in the Sunrise Club.
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