April 2 - big adventure day to Mayfield Falls and Zimbali Retreat

This morning dawned without a cloud in the sky, which was a wonderful thing to see considering our plans for the day. I woke early and wandered the grounds searching for birds as I enjoyed my first couple of cups of Blue Mountain coffee, and then joined the rest of the crew in the restaurant for a hearty breakfast. After completing our meal, we gathered up our water shoes and towels and met Ashton in the driveway. Our destinations today: Mayfield Falls for a hike up the river, followed by a quick stop for lunch, back to the room to freshen up, and then off to Zimbali Retreats for a very special dinner.

The drive to Mayfield is roughly an hour, depending on traffic and road conditions (read: potholes so deep we have to crawl over them) The entrance has changed since our last visit in 2009, and they no longer have individual changing rooms, we walk a steep staircase down instead of a driveway, and they built a series of small gazebo type tables under thatched roofs where you can leave your belongings with your driver, who will keep a close eye on them. This seems more secure to me than renting the lockers, as the lockers themselves do not always have a solid door on them.

The hike up the river involves several spots to jump into the water, or simply fall sideways... some swimming... a lot of wading... and plenty of photo opportunities. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

This was taken at one of the first "group photo" opportunities.  

This was one of the "just fall in sideways!" spots... I didn't propel myself off the rock so much as I just braced for impact and tipped over.

This is supposed to be a romantic kissing pose... however when I turned to kiss D, the water hit me in just the right way to take my bikini bottoms completely off.  So of course I burst out laughing as I chased my bottoms down my leg and just hoped they didn't end up all the way downriver. (Thankfully I was able to catch them at my knees.)

This is the "lean your head back and make a waterfall over your face" spot.  My sister is holding me into the corner so I don't fly off the rock... this did not prevent my bottoms from coming off again though (under the water, my right hand is gripping one side of my bottoms)

This is the "jump from the sawed off tree... it is perfectly safe, just aim well or you will land on a rock" spot.  D did a fantastic canonball, the tour guides applauded his technique.

Gayle was super brave and jumped off the lower boulder in the same spot.  This is a girl who didn't want to get into a pool right before the trip!  I am so very proud of the huge strides she has taken on this trip :)

G and I are underneath the waterfall, giving the thumbs up.

Family photo opportunity (immediately above the cave G and I were in)

After all the fun in the water, there is a short hike back to the changing area where we all generally did the surfer-dressing-room (wrap a towel around you and strip under it, try to wiggle into your dry clothes without dropping the towel) As we drove back toward the hotel we hit some rain, however it cleared by the time we arrived at Juici Beef. We picked up some patties for lunch, and some fries next door, and settled in back at the hotel to grab our quick lunch and clean up for dinner. I gathered my gear together and we met back in the driveway in time to drive up to Zimbali.

Zimbali Retreats is a new experience for us... it is a farm and hotel/spa/retreat owned by a lovely couple. For their Open Kitchen dinner experience you are greeted at the gate and introduced to the staff, served a fresh juice, taken on a tour of the farm, then back to the open kitchen restaurant. Here you have the pleasure of sitting up at the bar and interacting with the chefs as they create the 4 course meal.

Group meals like this are usually a problem for me, however their care for my allergies was very impressive. When we first walked in they asked us if anyone had any food allergies (my hand shot up, of course) and throughout the dinner I was able to lean forward and double check on the ingredients of things that I had not seen being prepared in front of me. They have an Ital version of their dinner, so I knew I would not starve, but I was happy to be able to have the complete fish dinner. The only change they made for me was the dessert, I received the vegan option.

A view of the farm from the balcony of the restaurant's lounge area

The garden portion of the farm, where they grow a lot of their vegetables.

I played with my optic80 lens again here

Some coconut and plantain trees on the farm

Here are the tiny and incredibly delicious pineapples... one pineapple per bush.

Our chefs, hard at work in the kitchen preparing our first course, coconut sushi

The sushi was completely vegetarian... coconut (instead of rice) carrot, cucumber, and banana. It sounds like an odd combination, however it was incredibly wonderful.  G loved it, and I have never seen her enjoy anything with seaweed before.

Course#2 - Pumpkin Soup.  Amazingly good. (their pumpkin here is more like our acorn squash than our pumpkins)

Our chefs cutting up a banana leaf for the fish dishes.  They steam these by putting them directly on the gas burner to soften them up... they stay pliable once they have been warmed in this way.

Preparing he filling to go inside the banana leaf along with the butterfish

My main course, butterfish wrapped with peppers and onions and veggies, plantain cakes, and salad with a banana dressing.  The plantain cakes are a similar texture to hashbrowns... the chefs had us guess what they use as a binder, and D guessed correctly... they use banana as the binder (not egg!)

My dinner, after I tore into the banana leaf.  I swear, the steamed fish in Jamaica is among the most flavorful fish I've had anywhere.  It never sounds like it would be flavorful, but the combination of veggies and peppers and onions they use creates an amazingly fantastic medley of taste.

My dessert was the sweet potato cake.  YUM.  

I just love being able to eat dessert in restaurants... it is such a rarity for me.

Everyone else had what looked like chocolate cake.  This was another trivia question... guess what is in the cake.  Out of everyone in the restaurant (all adults), it was G who finally got the right answer - black beans.

The night we went was a special night complete with African drummers... when we were done eating G jumped up to join the drummers for a little bit.

Afterward I spoke with the owner just to let him know how much I appreciate the care they took with my allergies. He gave me a huge hug and thanked me... they put a lot of heart into their food (90% of what they serve is grown on the farm itself, 100% organic) and he is happy to hear that they are accomplishing their goals of providing great food to everyone, even those of us who are “restaurantingly challenged” (my phrase)

It was a fantastic night and an incredible dining experience. I highly recommend this to anyone who finds their way to the general Negril area.