Saturday April 13, last full day on the island

I woke early - around 5:45 am - to the sound of birds rising to meet the day.  I decided to spend my last relaxing morning on the property with my zoom lens and a leisurely stroll around area near the Fleming house to check out the birds as they sought out their breakfast. 

I spotted one earlier in the trip, but finally captured a decent shot of a Jamaican Mango hummingbird, large for a hummingbird and endemic to the island.

White wing dove, somewhat backlit, but a good enough shot to ID

A couple of Jamaican woodpeckers

While looking for the woodpeckers, this yellow-billed parrot flashed overhead and I reflexively hit the shutter on my camera.  I didn't have enough time to focus, but the flash of tail color that I caught helped to positively ID the bird.

There were 3 parrots eating in a palm tree, I stood under it for about 20 minutes waiting for them to move to where I could get a clear shot.  Finally one flew out, and was kind enough to land on a well lit tree branch for me.Yellow-Billed parrots are also endemic to the island.

Just in case my pinhole photos of the banyan don't turn out, I stopped by with my DSLR to grab a few shots.

I headed back to the room around 7:30 to wake D and G for breakfast.  Down at Bizot, I decided to change it up and enjoy some foods I can't easily get back in the states.

Steamed callaloo, roasted tomato, and a plate of local fruits.

The weather was pretty clear and sunny, though windy, so the ocean was a bit too choppy for any more snorkeling.  G and I decided to spent mid-day around the pool, alternating between cooling off in the water and reading our books in the chairs.  By lunch time D had himself involved in a lively game of dominoes at the bar, so G and I meandered down to the Bamboo Grill for lunch.

I can't remember if I'd taken a picture of the actual kitchen part before - here it is, along with the menu board.

I had the fish in foil, plantain, and roasted sweet potato.  G was not very hungry so she had some festival.

After a bit more time in the pool and time to read, G and I headed back to the room to shower and begin packing.  It didn't take very long to have things decently organized, so I picked up some photo gear and headed out for a walk around the grounds.

Mocking bird will not allow you to park beyond this point!

Another lensball shot of the rocky shoreline, this time with clear skies.

Pretty contrast of the foliage against the sky 

Back on the main beach with the lensball

The main beach at Goldeneye

This is the island in the middle of the beach.  I called it the "party island", although I rarely saw anyone on it - it seems to be designed to host a large party.  There are chairs and lounges in little spots of sand...

...and at the end of the island there is a stone bar, behind the bar is a massive stone bench and table.

From the table looking out at the endless sea.  

The view looking up from our beach chairs, the palm trees are technicolor against the blue sky

Saturday night at Goldeneye is a giant party, with a huge pool-side buffet dinner at Bizot Bar and massive bonfire on the beach.  After finishing up a bit more packing and cleaning up for dinner, we all headed down to Bizot just as the buffet was being set up.  I took a few photos of the set up before the food was brought out.  Also, I don't usually prefer to eat at buffets because it is difficult to ask questions about ingredients, but the head chef of the kitchen came out and walked me through the entire buffet, listing all the ingredients in everything and guiding me through what I was and was not able to eat.  Goldeneye will be getting a great review from me just on how they handled my allergies throughout the trip.

D played dominoes until dinnertime (sorry for the darkness, I didn't want to turn on the flash)

Soup and bread station - the soup was a "pepper pot" soup, made with callaloo, coconut milk, spices, and root vegetables.

The salad bar (I avoided it due to the bowl of chopped egg)

Rice and peas and roasted vegetables

The BBQ station included beef, suckling pig, and jerk chicken on 3 different grills.

The seafood station had grilled mahi mahi, and seafood saute with your choice of shrimp, scallops, calamari, and mussels.  To the right of this was a massive table filled with cheeses, crackers, and fruit... and around the corner to the left (which I didn't see until later) were three trays of sides - mac & cheese, roasted sweet potato in peppers and roasted plantain in peppers.  

The lounges were removed and tables were set out around the pool

The dessert table

I started with the soup, which was delicious and honestly I could have just eaten that all night.

grilled mahi mahi with fruit salsa, roasted vegetables with peppers/onions, suckling pig

D and G at dinner, we took a table near the bar for the extra light

G and I at dinner

The bonfire - the photo doesn't do it justice, the bundle of wood was 7 feet high when they started it

My second plate of food - mostly sauteed shrimp and a bit of the beef

This dinner had the largest crowd I'd seen at Goldeneye, but it was still spread out to the point where we felt like it was a private dinner just for us.  We stayed out pretty late, enjoying the food and drinks, and as the other tables began to wind down, D headed over to the bar to get into a full-on tournament of dominoes.  G and I were getting tired, so we headed back to the room to settle in for the night. 

There's not a lot to say about Sunday - we woke up early, showered, and had our luggage packed into a van by 6:45 am.  On our last walk across the property, as we were crossing the bridge, a massive leopard stingray swam up the lagoon directly below us (too quickly for me to grab a photo, unfortunately, but the experience was cool!)  The drive to the airport was 2 hours of us alternately nodding off.  Security was interesting - they flagged my carry-on to be inspected for "electronics", but fully inspected the bag that didn't have the electronics in it.  I stood with my hands folded in front of me so that I wouldn't react when the agent started pulling out my cameras, but I did cringe as she yanked my pinhole camera out of it's case and started turning it over (I'm so glad I wrapped it in bubble wrap!)  Our flight to Charlotte was uneventful, customs was empty so we had no problem going through, and we made it to our gate with a half hour to spare before our scheduled boarding.  Our connection flight ended up being delayed by an hour, first because there was no plane, then because there was no crew (due to them being on other delayed flights)  In the end we landed roughly 2 hours later than expected, but happy to be back home safely.

A lazy Monday April 8

Today was a day taken at slow pace as we all were still adjusting to the time zone change.  I slept solidly, save for a bit of disorientation, and I woke early - 5:45 am local time - to the sound of the prolific local birds.  I attempted to go back to sleep, but the sound of a loud splash startled me, and my curiosity to see what was making the racket woke me up for good.  Breakfast would not begin until 7:30, so D and I took a walk around the grounds.

The resort is relatively empty, apparently it was filled to capacity last week and we arrived the day that most of the visitors checked out.  We did not see another guest on our walk, but I did spot several new species of birds.

Little Blue Heron 

Zenaida Dove

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Another Little Blue Heron - the lighting on this one made him easier to photograph

After our quiet walk, we meandered back to Bizot Bar where D grabbed a table and ordered coffee while I went back to the room to wake G.  

Bizot Bar is decorated with an ample amount of driftwood and plays reggae music all day

I actually have a decent selection of choices for breakfast, which is a rarity for me.  This is the plantain and peanut porridge served with local honey and toasted coconut

The small plate of fruit has a great variety of banana, watermelon, papaya, pineapple, mango, orange, and I'm not sure what the purple thing is called, but it tastes like rambutan

 After breakfast we headed back to the room to change and G and I headed to the pool near snorkel cove.  We swam until we were waterlogged, and as we began to doze in the lounge chairs I felt a hint of rain, so we gathered our gear and headed back to the room.   G showered and it was about time for lunch, so we headed over to check out Bamboo Grill on the Button Beach part of the property.

Always a great treat in Jamaica, G enjoys a fresh coconut water.

Bamboo Bar is located directly on Button Beach.  The kitchen portion is a separate bamboo building just above the beach

I'm fairly certain I spotted a Mango Hummingbird while we waited for our lunch, but I didn't have my good camera on me to capture a photo. 

I ordered fish in foil along with sweet plantain and roasted potato, and the lunches come with a fresh salad made from the produce from Pantrepant Farms, also owned by Chris Blackwell.  The salad greens are far sturdier than the lettuce we have in the States.  The fish is snapper, covered in callaloo, which is my favorite green vegetable in Jamaica.

After lunch we decided to stay on Button Beach and attempt a little snorkeling.  Unfortunately the sandy bottom was too churned up to have any decent visibility, and the ocean was too rough to venture out, so we decided to go over and swim in the main pool instead.

There are two pools just off the main beach.  The second is the "Goldeneye Pool", a saltwater pool set over the ocean.

The pools have steps down so that you can either swim in the center, or sit around the edge.  Here I am in the corner of the Goldeneye pool over the ocean.

As the wind picked up, we all began to feel the effects of the jet lag and early morning, and headed back to the room to shower and rest again. I was woken from my nap by the sounds of people some loud birds making a cackle-type racket.  I picked up my camera and stepped outside to investigate, and discovered a small flock of parrots flying around the trees on the island in the center of the lagoon.

The photo is bad due to backlighting and distance, but it is clear enough to positively identify olive-throated parakeets, endemic to Jamaica.  They are really adorable!

 While standing on the dock waiting for the parakeets to fly closer, I heard what sounded like a sudden downpour of rain in one spot across the lagoon.  It was a school of hundreds of tiny fish suddenly leaping out of the water all at once.

I shifted my lens just as the sudden swarm was dying down.

I took the opportunity in the remaining daylight to walk the grounds around the cottage to check out a few more species of bird.

Cape May Warbler, a common winter visitor to Jamaica

An American Redstart, another common visitor in the winter.  The bird stayed too high to really capture it's stunning colors, beyond the red and yellow shown it also has a streak of bright yellow at the top of the tail.

 Once the light faded, it was time to go to dinner.  Tonight we dined at the Gazebo restaurant, located up near the main office of Goldeneye.  Our path took us across the main beach and up over the suspension bridge.

The view from the restaurant overlooking the bridge.

I ordered the marinated tomato carpaccio salad to start...

And the pan seared snapper with okra, green peppers, and "fish tea".  The broth was not nearly as fishy as I thought it might be, and was actually a lovely compliment to the massive piece of fish.

After dinner, we retired for the evening, where I reflected on the difference between identifying fish vs. birds.  Although I haven't really snorkeled much yet, I have seen plenty of fish just off the dock of our cottage, and I've even managed to grab some photos.  The only fish I can positively identify, however, is the barracuda.  The snorkel guides seem to be missing the two other prominent fish that meander past our dock, which I'm finding a little frustrating.  Maybe the guide who runs the glass bottom boat will be able to help me with that.

The turn-down service at the resort include covering the bed with the mosquito net... which is nice... except that last night I tangled my foot in the net while I was sleeping, and woke up completely disoriented.  Hopefully tonight I'll remember where I am and possibly not be jolted awake at 1 am again. :)