Friday - the last full day

Our last full day in Jamaica dawns with fresh blue skies and calm waters.  It's a relatively quiet morning, and since all of our running around for this trip is done, we take our time to soak in the beach environment while we can.  Breakfast is long, slow, and laid back... as I keep popping up from my chair to snap photos of the lizards who decided to join us for the morning.

This guy was running along the chain link fence that separates the properties

This guy was in the palm tree above our heads.

I also spent some time wandering the gardens with the lensbaby lens on my camera

We spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon taking in the last of our swimming opportunities, feeding the fish and enjoying the beach.

G being the mermaid that she has turned into

Look I'm swimming in the ocean without a floaty!  (OK it's only 3 feet deep, but still...)

D, floating and feeding the fish.  You've gotta keep the bread out of the water or it'll just turn to mush.

This is vacation... ice cold coconut water, hot sun, and perfect water.

Around mid-afternoon the stingray came back through while I was out in the water.  I didn't have the camera on me at the time, but I got to see it for the first time under the water.  Holy shit, that thing is huge... the body itself looked large from the surface, but looking under the water I got to see the 6 foot long tail trailing behind it.  It was at once beautiful, amazing, and slightly terrifying.  
We stayed at Idle Awhile all day, either in the chairs, on the deck, or at the bar playing dominoes.  D met a group from the Caymen Islands who also seem to have a Patois-like dialect and were immediately drawn to the sound of dominoes on the bar. While D got into a game for money, G and I stayed at a table and played Spot It and Uno.  (Jennie, one of the bartenders, got into our Spot It game so we ended up leaving the game for her to take home... we'll replace it through Amazon once we get back in the states.)  As D worked through his big game, we ordered lunch.

I ordered the steamed fish for lunch, which is not nearly as bland as it sounds... steamed with onions and peppers, and served with callaloo and fries for me, since I'd had my fill of rice and peas.

After lunch we stayed around the beach a bit, doing a little more swimming until the waves got too wavey and the fish had moved on.   After we turned in our towels and cleared our gear from the chairs, we headed back to the room to shower up and start semi-sorting things out for packing.

Then we decided to just shove that off until morning, and enjoy what we had left of interaction with the folks at the hotel.

Friday night at Idle Awhile is a special menu prepared deck-side and live music.  Tonight there was not even a hint of rain, so the band set up on their stage on the beach, as we gathered on the deck to hang out with the staff and get ready for dinner. As the sun set, our last sunset of our vacation, we wandered out to the beach to take some photos.

G and I in front of the sunset

G by the little palm tree where we had our chairs set up every day.

The sunset as viewed from my camera

After the sunset I packed up the camera gear and stuck around the bar, hanging out and talking with the guys before we eventually wandered over to our table for dinner.  I ordered the peppered shrimp - same dish I'd had the week before - which was excellently spicy.  D and S had both ordered the peppered steak along with some of the conch (steamed in a foil pouch with callaloo)  and they couldn't finish their dinner so I ended up with a lot of conch/callaloo as well.
There was a large group of girls who had just checked in to the hotel earlier in the week - 6 girls in their late 20's who are originally from the east coast, and for the last 5 years have made an annual trip to Jamaica all together to hang out on the beach and chill.  G made friends with them quickly (telling one about the zipline adventure, and then she would stop a friend, and then stop another friend, so that they could all hear about G's big adventures in the jungle)  They took up the big center table during dinner, and the surrounding tables were all filled with other guests of the hotel.  It was the busiest time I'd seen at the restaurant... the music was fantastic and the atmosphere was like one giant party.

D during his big game of dominoes

Needle, in the midst of taking care of tables

This is Aaron, one of the security guards that D stays up chatting with well into the night.

Tonight's band up on stage

G and I at the table after finishing up our meals

During the last song the girls got up from their table and hauled G out to dance... she wanted me to come too.

We stayed out at the bar all night... throughout dinner, after the band had cleared their gear, after the guests had all left... we were there at the bar with the crew.  Needle stayed after work to get into a game of dominoes with D, Aaron and one of the chefs from the kitchen.  It's amazing to watch how fast they play, see them calculate how many cards are left, see how they can read each other's hands... and of course I'm there to make sure Needle doesn't cheat.  (How do you cheat at dominoes?  Move quick, with authority, swap the dominoes around, and play two at once when nobody is looking.  Needle is highly skilled at sneaking hands, but even after two of his special rum punches I can still spot his attempts to cheat.  You know he's contemplating it when he asks me "Hey, don't you need to check on G?")  Needle stayed up well past closing, as it was our last time to hang out with him, and it was hugs all around when he finally had to call it a night and head home.  I went in to our room - with all our clothing strewn about, my gear spread across the bed, and not one damn thing packed, and passed out for a short night of sleep.