Thursday Feb 25 - beach browsing

This morning we walked next door to Coco La Palm for breakfast. Last year we had a dinner there that was among the worst of our meals, but we were there on a dead night in the off season, so we thought we'd give it another shot when it was busier. I'm glad we did, breakfast was actually quite good.

I veered away from my usual porridge and opted instead for the vegetarian plate - ackee, calaloo, boiled veggies, tomatoes. The ackee is prepared with some peppers and onion and spices, the calaloo has some onion diced into it. Everything had a great flavor, with just enough spice to make it interesting, but not so much that I needed to drown myself in water to eat my food.


My breakfast - D took the photo upside down :)

During breakfast our regular juice vendor, Tony, walked by and D got his attention. Here he is with D on the beach.


The thunder storm the night before kicked up the winds harder than we've seen here before. Though the sky seemed relatively clear, the sea had moved up high and the wind whipped the dry sand so hard it stung a bit. The waves were crashing too hard for G to swim, so we opted for a stroll down the beach on the wet stand instead, heading towards the Waves market area down the beach.


Walking in the wind - the temperature was perfect, but the sea was too strong for swimming this morning.


Inside one of the shops in the market area, after D bought a necklace the vendor gave G a key fob she had been admiring on the shelf - it looks like a little rasta man.


Here I am taking a photo of the little market area. There is a larger one further up the beach, but it's a long walk that we opted not to take.

We've discovered that the vendors who are directly on the beach seem a lot more aggressive than the ones inside the market areas. The beach vendors will walk right up and talk you into coming in to their booth to see what they make, whereas the ones in the market sit and wait for you to walk up, then talk to you and ask you if you like anything you see. I felt far more relaxed and able to browse inside the market area.


Standing on the beach end, looking down the market these are the store fronts. Almost all of them have a second half to them (what you see is the front half, then walk inside and they are twice the size, with a second little room of shelves)



There are a few tables outside - this is D negotiating the price of his necklace. I'm still on the lookout for a carving I like.


Here is the shot of the market area I was taking in the photo above. I love how it's among all the little palm trees. On the beach the wind kept us nice and cool, but the moment we stepped off the sand we felt the heat of the sun directly, and the breeze was blocked by the surrounding buildings.

After some browsing and talking with some of the crafters in the market, we walked to the end to Niah's Patties for a mid-day snack.


This is the exterior of Niah's Patties - looks like it is all made from bamboo.


D took these shots of our patties being prepared. They keep sheets over the table of food - I think to keep debris from blowing onto it, or to keep the sun off of it (or both) They prepare the patties to order, so it takes about 10 or so minutes to receive your food once you order.


Here is the area where they cook the patties. They keep the wood fire fueled all day long and a pan of hot oil going. Once the patties are assembled on the table, they are dropped into the oil for a quick frying before being packed in small paper bags and served up.

We decided this would be lunch, so we ordered 4 different patties - banana, ackee, Irish, and chicken. ("Irish" is another word for potato) D's favorite was the Irish, which had some kind of spice and onion and pumpkin inside... my favorite was the ackee.

Clearly I'm really enjoying the ackee while on the island :)

After lunch on our patio, we cleaned up and rested inside the room out of the wind... reading, napping, and playing games. The wind had died down a bit, but the sea was still rough so we decided to take a taxi down the street for dinner at Canoe.

Canoe was one of our favorite restaurants on the last trip - they have a killer jerk shrimp that we've been craving since we got here. We arrived shortly before dark, and the winds were blowing pretty hard in the unprotected area, so we opted for a seat inside instead of on the patio.


Here we are tucked into the corner bench.

After ordering our food, D stepped outside to take photos of the exterior.


Canoe is literally on the water, though the sea is not usually this high. If you look in the right side of the shot you can see how the water had lapped up over the street the night before.

There was supposed to be a webcast tonight, however just a short while before we arrived the power had gone out. They cook over grills and fires, so they were still open for business, but the busy little place became a romantic getaway as the sun went down and the candles were lit.



We ordered a couple of appetizers of jerk shrimp - which is served with a diced melon salad. The salad is an absolute necessity given the spiciness of the shrimp dish.



I had grilled mahi-mahi for my dinner - served with pasta, and grilled vegetables (that's the chunk of fish in the upper left corner of the plate) It was very well prepared - perfectly cooked and seasoned with grilled onions on top for extra flavor.


Just as we began to eat, power was restored to the restaurant and we were able to enjoy our meals and see them too.

After dinner we asked for a taxi, and the chef of the restaurant called up Tyrone to come grab us. G was feeling chilled wearing just her bathing suit, but still wanted dessert, so we stopped at a little place on the way back to get something for her to eat back in the room.

Tonight the hotel next door had live music, so I settled into the hammock on the porch to swing in the breeze, enjoy the music, and go through my photos from yesterday.