April 28 - The drive to Negril and the first afternoon

Due to various weather issues, our flight from Charlotte was delayed, re-routed, then re-routed again mid air.  I had the window seat, and as we approached Jamaica I looked out to see fluffy clouds floating over the ocean, and a few islands.  (I believe we also flew over Cuba)  We approached Jamaica from the west, flying over the road we'd be driving on shortly.

Fluffy white clouds leave shadows on the ocean below.  

 The road to Negril hugs the coastline.

Immigrations and customs went pretty smoothly, this is the first year we managed to fill out the forms properly before we got off the plane, so we were able to line right up and scoot on through.  The first thing that struck me as we exited the plane was the warmth and humidity.  After the winter and spring we have had, it felt like a relief to be a little too warm.  As we make our way to the exit there are about 50 or so uniformed drivers, waiting for anyone who needs a ride.  We say "No Thankyou" as we walk past, and step out into the humid Jamaican air to find our friend Tryone.

D took the lead, and as I searched the crowd I found Tyrone sitting on a bench.  We made eye contact and he jumped up to greet us I called to D to stop and turn around.  Tyrone had recognized me, but as he walked up to us he said to D "What did you do Mon?  You look younger, I did not recognize you!  Welcome back home!"

My view from inside the van.

We climbed into Tyrone's familiar van and caught up with each other as we drove out of the airport, turning west on the main road to circumnavigate the island around to Negril.  Along the way we stopped in Lucea (pronounced Lucy) to a stand owned by one of Tyrone's friends... for fresh coconut water and a snack of honey bananas.

The stand has fruit snacks, fresh coconuts, conch shells, baskets and other gift shop type items.

 G and her ice cold coconut - you cannot get fresher than this!

 G and Tyrone

There are lots of plants to take pictures of in Jamaica :)

 Some local foliage

Another 45 minutes or so and we were driving along the familiar strip of Negril.  I recognized many of my favorite restaurants, and noticed a few new shops as we cruised the length of the beach.  A quick stop at the cambio to change our US dollars to Jamaican, and we finally arrive at our first destination, Tensing Pen.  They greeted us with ice cold washcloths scented with lemonbalm, and glasses of fruit punch.  After a quick check in, we were taken to our room... the Middle Pillar.

This room is the smallest we've stayed in on the property, and pretty much in the center of the grounds.

Me at the base of the stairs, our outdoor shower is to the left of the frame (behind me)

 The view of our room from the other side of the bridge

We were all pretty  exhausted, but as we wandered the grounds and settled in for lunch, G found herself a second wind in the form of a new friend.  Lunch was a shared plate of jerk chicken pizza, and ackee pizza for D and I... sort of a Jamaican take on Italian/American. After having spent the last upteen hours confined to a plane, I was happy to just sit by the pool for the rest of the afternoon and let G get a good amount of playtime in with her new friend.

For dinner we made our way to Tensing Pen's dining room again... this time I had snapper simmered in a pumpkin sauce.

The photo is fuzzy and doesn't to it justice... I was far too exhausted to notice that it was out of focus before I scarfed it down.

I love the way they treat pumpkin here, and the snapper was much thicker and firmer than what we get back home (very much like halibut)  After dinner we crashed completely... I recall the rough sound of the ocean just outside the window, and at some point the dogs barked and I halfway woke up... other than that I was dead to the world for a solid 10 hours at least.