Jamaica 'mon!

Days 3 - 5 of Jamaica! Yes, I'm getting a bit tired of the travelogue so I'm going to speed things up and finish everything today. At this point, Ed has just received his luggage and is happily wearing clothes that are dry and changing them at a truly unheard of speed!

For those of you wondering, that bruise photo from yesterday is of his "flank". The bruise extends from the top of his butt to right about the knee. Still a pretty site to behold as of today!

So, step on to the "Booze Cruise" aboard the Wild Thing Boat with us and travel to Rick's Cafe, site of where many professionals (and non-professional morons - yes, I'm looking at you, Ed!) dive from 50 Foot Cliffs into the surf as it pounds on the rocks.
In the middle of the photo to the right, just under the crane, you will see where professionals and idiots alike take a plunge into the surf. All for the low low cost of $2! What a bargain! Now, let's talk about Ed in particular. He dives off the boat with a life preserver and swims to the ladder that will take him up the winding staircase to the dive site. He stands ready to jump -- and he backs down. After having another beer (this is the booze cruise afterall!) at Rick's Cafe, he and his liquid courage head to the dive site again. And he backs down, again.
All the while, the "lifeguard" (and yes, I use that term loosely) says to him, "Hey 'mon, what's the problem -- it's just water!". Ummmmm, yes it is. But if you look closely, it's also some honkin' rocks and heavy waves crashing against them! But yes, it is just water if you use the literal translation!

It's time for a little "disclaimer": The photo to the right is not of Ed jumping from the 50 ft point, it is of him jumping from the 10 ft point near the stairs. You see, I know this because when he jumped from the 50 ft point, he was NOT wearing a life jacket -- or really ugly belt, you pick!

So back up the stairs he goes, now fully ready to take on the beast at 50 ft! He does jump, and while it wasn't perfect form, the Canadian Judges gave him a 4.1. The US Judges expected much higher degrees of difficulty and gave him a 2.0!

So he pops safely back to the surface and begins to swim back to the boat. Along the way, another runs into partier who chickened out and is now regretting his choice. After these two, ahem, "divers" find out that there are another 30 minutes left before we set sail, they decided to go back up; with Ed in the "supportive friend" role. Well, needless to say they both jump, Mr. Scaredycat immediately after Ed. This is where the bruise comes in -- the landing was not pretty -- AT ALL! So, the two amigos now swim back to the boat to reflect on their glory days as cliff divers. Bruises not yet evident!

So now let's talk about the professionals. In the photo to the right, you will notice a tree and rather rickety platform about 3/4 of the way up. This is where the pros dive from. Now they do not "jump", the "dive". As in backdives, etc.

While Kris and I enjoyed cool refreshing beverages aboard the Wild Thing and Ed cheated death not once, but twice, a very brave Jamaican (right under the flag) climbed the tree and stood on the 2 X 4 platform and prepared to jump.

But he wasn't quite ready. He decided to shimmy up the tree for a better look to a point above the flag and pull himself into a sideways handstand from a branch that would likely snap in a 50 mph wind. Appropriate "ooooohhhs" and "aaahhhhs" were yelled as we prepared for him to jump!

(For those of you who thought this might be a "Missy Tale" -- the picture to the left proves it is not!)

Mike, our snorkeling guide from Day 2 had a group out on his boat and dropped anchor next to us and joined the Wild Thing partiers. He called this man "Bird in the Sky". Actually, pretty appropriate as this diver turned his back to the sea and executed a picture perfect back dive from 100 ft! WOW!
The Canadian and US Judges gave him a Perfect 6.0!

Times up on the booze cruise and we head back to Negril. Enjoy these photos of the scenery!














So, we're back aboard the Wild Thing and the music is great and the Red Stripe is flowing. At this point, I am content to sit towards the back of the boat and relax, but one of our friendly crew members has other ideas. Apparently, they are playing his favorite song and he needs a dance partner. I was quietly minding my own business chatting with a woman from Wisconsin (Packer fan -- but we'll forgive her that little indiscretion!) when she and I were pulled from our seats to learn some reggae moves.

Here we are doing a move called the "Scooby Doo" -- I was already a veteran of this particular move since they taught it during Reggae lessons on the beach at the resort. The good news is I was having a wonderful time that Ed and Kris chose to preserve on video -- the bad news is I am still a terrible dancer. The even better news is that I will not subject you all to the video!
You're welcome -- in advance!!

A word on the "toplessness" at the resort. Let me just say that there really should be a permitting process of some sort before anyone is allowed to go topless -- or wear a thong! Let me add that topless beach aerobics and topless reggae lessons on the beach should be outlawed at all costs -- I need some brain bleach!!! ICK! Even Kris and Ed were skeeved out several times. The other times, they simply hid behind their sunglasses.

Quick answers for those of you that are curious: No, I didn't go topless, as I have far too much respect for the rest of the guests and with all the trouble in Israel -- I just couldn't add another thing for CNN to spend time on! I also didn't take photos! Those of you that have asked should really find something else to do with your time!

So, I've hit the highlights of the trip! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did! Last Sunset photo coming right up!

Jamaica - Day 2

On day two of our trip, we decided to hire a boat to go snorkeling. $90 US for 3 of us on a two hour trip with two separate dive sites. We saw many unique fish, including -- as some of your know, barracuda!

Sorry about the photo, didn't mean to scare you! Just wanted to make sure everyone knew that I'd had my eyebrows done before we left (and so did Ed!) But that is me ready to dive to the murky depths. (Ok, so it was 10 feet -- it was still scary!!)

So, the boys suit up and are ready to dive before we even leave the beach! Silly boys! Our boat picks us up and takes us, along with another couple out to the dive site. The first site is a reef where you can find the sunken remains of a cannon from an old pirate ship. Very cool!! (You'll just have to imagine that one, we didn't take any photos of it!) Beautiful clown fish, tangs, jellyfish (yes, jellyfish -- but not the kind that can sting you -- didn't know there was such a kind, so I guess that makes this vacation educational as well!) Needlefish, pretty white fish and tons of coral to look at. Mike told us that when it was time to go back to the boat he would whistle. He then said that meant there was a shark and we should swim quickly back to the boat. I'm pretty sure he was teasing -- really, I'm pretty sure of that!

Those of you who know Ed understand that he likes to go where no man has gone before and pretty much break every rule imaginable. So, underwater, he didn't hear the whistle. He was enjoying himself too much and has no threatened to turn his aquarium into all salt water fish. Again, those of you who know Ed hope this doesn't happen because we all remember how pricey those babies were! Finally, he came up for air and got back on the boat to join the rest of us sweltering in the sun who had actually obeyed the whistle rule -- or saw a shark! Of we go to the next dive site -- where we will meet Mr. Barracuda!

Dive site number two was beautiful as well. We enjoyed the reefs here and our guide Mike took a family photo. (I'm the one on the left!) The boys took off as they are known to do so I just paddled along looking at the fish. What I didn't know was that Mike was right next to me and grabbed me by the arm and pointed down to a 10 lb barracuda. We popped out of the water, he shared what we were looking at and I hauled some major butt away from the site! Not to be put off, Mike grabbed me again when he saw it. He says they are his favorite fish for eating -- funny, the fish looked at me like people were his favorite food as well!

We are home safe and sound from Jamaica! What a wonderful trip we had! Great to spend time together enjoying one last hurrah before Kris heads to college. Here is where I will post our photos along with some of my witty reparte I'm so well know for! (I'm new to this, so hang in there with me! We have over 100 photos so it will be done in stages, I'm sure!)

Most of you by now know of the luggage problem we encountered when we arrived in Negril. It is now known as "Gee, Missy really wanted out of the airport! So much so, that she grabbed a bag that "looked" like Ed's -- but -- not so much! Anyway, here are the moments before we realized the Great Luggage Debacle of 2006 -- where we were blissfully unaware of the problem at hand -- Ed had no clothes! As I've said in previous emails -- I looked FAB-U-LOUS!

We flew from Charlotte to Montego Bay and were met by transportation that would take us to Riu Tropical Bay with all the luggage (ok -- most of the luggage!) The trip from the airport takes about 1.5 hours, so we chatted with our driver who kindly stopped mid-way to allow us to use the restrooms and stock up on some of the local culture -- a/k/a "Red Stripe" beer. He pointed out the local scenary, which included goats and more goats and then some more goats. Driving there is done in the English style (on the other side of the road) so I spent most of the time panicked! But he delivered us safely and we were at the resort!





Anywho -- we arrived at the resort and checked into our room. It was beautiful with an ocean view, overlooking the beach. Two queen size beds were pushed together to form one verrrry large bed so all three of us were comfortable. Ok, TWO of us were comfortable. Ed had to sleep on the crack between the two beds each night. Now before you say anything, Kris reasoned that this was his senior trip and I reasoned that -- well, that -- well I AM A GIRL! Either way, Ed kept most of us awake with his snoring anyway so I figure it was a fair trade!

We quickly donned our bathing suits and headed for the bar. Which bar, you ask? Well, we had our choice of 3 -- one pool bar, one beach bar and another shady bar. Honestly, I can't remember which one we chose! I'm pretty sure it was the pool bar, so we settled into the seats at the bar and enjoyed a few pina coladas. YUM!







After changing for dinner, we went to the buffet on the resort. Always loads of food, from salads, to main courses to deserts to you name it! Note the difference in my dress and that of poor Ed! His luggage would not be located for another 36 hours. (But, don't I look great??) The food at the buffet was always good, as was the Jerk Hut directly on the beach and the lunch served under cover at the Bloody Bay restaurant. We only ate in one of the a la Carte restaurants, Sir Anthony's, and it was rather bland. There was a pizzeria open during the day that had great food for the less adventurous in the crowd (ME!) who didn't really care to taste grilled goat! I'm not kidding -- they serve goat! They also don't believe in "boneless" anything! But nevertheless, the food was great!

You might be wondering after such a long day, what did we do? Well, we went back to the room. You also might be concerned about not having our fill of beverages before we headed back. Fear not, friends! Our resort had it all worked out! In our room were sufficient amounts of nearly every liquor you could want. Appleton Rum, Brandy, Gin, Vodka (yes, Mom and Mike -- VODKA!) that they refilled every two days along with mixers of tonic, club soda, regular soda and an orange "Sof Drink". (Note: I did not misspell that -- that's how they spell it!) Bottled water was also available since the water from the tap was not drinkable. That being said, I brushed my teeth with the finest water in Jamaica daily -- no more stomach parasites for me!

That's it for day one! Luggage still missing and three tired family members. We watched tv (Kris was a bit displeased with the fact that we only had 24 channels and many of them were in spanish, dutch and french!) but we slept well anyway -- except for Ed who will likely not quit complaining about sleeping on the crack for quite some time now. His snoring said otherwise, but he insists that it was NOT comfortable.

Next post will cover Day 2 activities! See -- don't you feel like you are on vacation with us?