December 14--HOME!

The fruit of silence is tranquility.  --Arabian Proverb

    After a very long but uneventful travel day on Tuesday, I am safely and happily back home. I am grateful for a superb vacation. Below are two shots from my final stroll on the beach yesterday morning.

    More tomorrow,

        Leta

This one stood still for several photos.

As a fitting end to my Jamaica stay,
the man on the bicycle twice offered
to sell me marijuana 😉😉

December 13--Paradise Ending

Within you there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time.  --Hermann Hesse

    Today is our "return home" day. I will be retreating to that sanctuary often today to bring peace with me as we move through bus travel, airports, customs, flights, etc. 

    Yesterday was our last full day here. After an early breakfast, my roomie and I enjoyed a two-hour vegetation tour of the property. There are 72 different kinds of palm trees alone. I will be sharing photos over the next few days. 

    I did my last lap swim, making for a total of seven miles while I was here. Then it was off to the beach for another wonderful sunny afternoon. Smoke from a local fire gave us the best sunset of the trip. Our final supper together at Lemongrass was yet another blessing of the day. 

    Beam me up, Scottie!

        Leta

        

December 12--Ocean Music

There is no greatness where there is not simplicity.  --Leo Tolstoy

    Life here is great because it is so simple. Swim laps. Drink coffee. Eat. Laze on the beach, cool off floating in the ocean, repeat several times. Shower and dress. Drink. Eat. Sleep. We've thrown in some shopping and a craft here and there, along with a couple of scenic boat rides. 

    Yesterday we had our first significant cloud cover for about 2-3 hours in the afternoon. There was no rain, however, so it was a nice break from the heat. Later in the early evening, we had our first rain shower of the trip.

    Let's talk about beach music. One of the reasons I love this resort so much is there is no blaring music going on constantly. The waves provide the best "music." There are several local musical groups who make their money via tips as they play for folks sunning on the beach. There is a twosome with a stand-up base and snare drum, and they are not bad. The rest range from out-of-tune to me wishing for temporary deafness and escaping into the ocean. Yesterday's musical comedy was a multi-piece "band," I'm not sure how many because I did not want to encourage them by looking at them. They started a number positioned just a few feet away from one of our group. It took quite a few bars for me to figure out that they were attempting "Feliz Navidad." Ironically, our group member that they were "serenading" is Jewish. 

    I would also add that if I never hear "Sweet Caroline" or "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Elvis) again, it will be too soon. 

    Give me the great simplicity of ocean waves breaking any day!

        Leta

A very clever artist makes a different sand person(s) every day. 

December 11--Would Bob Marley even drink that?

I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am. I am. I am. 
--Sylvia Plath 

    I am, I am, I am a doofus. 😉😉 I locked myself out of our room yesterday morning. Fortunately I had enough clothing on to truck up to the lobby and get new keys. My roomie was off having breakfast, so I didn't want to go into the restaurant wearing half-swimsuit, half-nightgown. Geez. 

    Our silly adventure of the day was "Bob Marley shots." This is a red-yellow-green-layered concoction of strawberry, creme de banana and creme de menthe liqueurs. This is a new-to-me Jamaican ritual which had the bartender howling at our reactions. It was a total nose hit for me, like horseradish. As my dad said (originally relative to marriage), "Once is enough for anybody." 

    Otherwise the day included another lovely lap-swim and lazing on the beach and in the ocean. We capped off the day at the martini bar followed by the regular Saturday night lobster tail dinner. 

    When I close my eyes, I can feel myself rocking in the waves. I don't want to forget that heavenly feeling. 

        Leta

December 10--Party On

After a storm comes a calm.  --Proverb

    I hope this doesn't jinx us, but we've hardly even seen clouds, much less had any rain or storm during our time here so far. 

    The big event of yesterday (Friday) was the Reggae Beach Party. It is an amazing effort. Starting mid-afternoon, they take an empty section of beach and turn it into a buffet restaurant. They put up giant poles and string lights, and add smaller poles with tiki torches. They set up at least 50 tables with eight chairs each, along with a stage for the band. There is a huge buffet spread of food and two full bars. There's specialty lighting. Our seating was once again about 20 feet from the ocean. It is such a treat to bury one's feet in the cool, fine-grain sand. And the whole production is all quickly and quietly gone--our room is very close to the party site, and I heard very little disassembly noise. 

    Another day begins with another swim, 

        Leta

December 9--Sea Beauty

It is in the shelter of each other that people live.  --Irish Proverb

    We have a lovely group of six folks on this Jamaica trip, and we have all blended well with each other. We go our separate ways for assorted activities, but hang on the beach, check out the sunset, and eat dinner together. We enjoy the "shelter" of each other's company. 

    Yesterday started with a walk on the beach, followed by a glass-bottom boat ride. The boat motored out to a reef where we saw assorted fish and starfish. Our guide dove in and brought up a starfish for us to pass around, keeping it upside down to hold the water intact to keep it alive. (Photo below.)

    We lazed away another sunny beach day, enjoyed the sunset, then had martinis while awaiting our reservation at Lemongrass, the Asian restaurant here. It was our best meal so far, capped off with excellent Pad Thai. 

    Time to swim,

        Leta

It is spiny, but the spines are rounded, not sharp.
The shell is quite hard. Beautiful!!

 

December 8--Eternal Debate

A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. 
--Maya Angelou

    I'm late today due to internet issues. 

    The tree frogs here sing at night. That's one theory. The other suspicion is that it is a recording with speakers hidden in the trees. No one can find the frogs or the speakers. It's an eternal debate. 

    Yesterday's highlight was the evening sunset catamaran cruise. I learned my lesson about the potency of rum punch last year on this adventure, and I elected to not repeat the lesson. I stayed 100% sober. It was a lovely cruise, but not nearly as rowdy as last year's. It was fun to watch someone else belly-flop off the slide. 

    Just as the sun was setting, the moon was rising opposite it. 

    The evening's entertainment was the Silver Birds steel drum band. Wow, not only is their playing amazing, but the energy with which they dance is astounding. There was, of course, another rendition of "Sweet Caroline." If I believed in hell, I'm sure it would include non-stop playing of that song. 

    More tomorrow, I hope, 

        Leta