Small computer glitch, and much time in the water and sand, kept me from updating the last couple days... so I'm playing catch up with a 3 day post.

Monday dawned with puffy clouds in the sky, a bit of wind, and wavy water. We made our way next door to Coco La Palm for breakfast... the vegetarian plate again for me, and fresh squeezed orange juice. After a good breakfast and a bit of wandering through the gift shop, we settled into our chairs. The waves didn't look too bad from shore so I attempted to get myself out past the breaking point... however my timing was off. Logically I know when a wall of water comes at me I'm supposed to dive *into* it, and I tried, but I unfortunately leaned back to launch forward too late, and the wave managed a good smack in the face hard enough to shove the mask right off. I did recover my mask, but that was it for the water for me that day.

As I emerged from the water one of the beach vendors was passing by and asked me if I wanted to try a jet ski... I laughed out loud and said "oh HELL no!" He laughed back "waves to big for you today?" I nodded, still sputtering.

D was fearless, swimming straight out to the buoy line and floating along with the current, while I stayed busy on the shore jumping over incoming waves with G. We jumped for a solid hour, if not longer, which was great fun for us (though tiring)

The morning passed to lunch time, which had us wander down to Niah's again - this time I tried the ackee and calaloo patty, which was excellent and filling. I also glanced over the tables of crafts again, determined to find some kind of crocodile carving. As luck would have it, D found a necklace with a crocodile carved out of shell which was absolutely perfect for me.

As the day progressed the waves calmed enough to play in the water a bit more, and we decided to stay on the property and have dinner at Chill Awhile. I had what is called a "Shrimp Rundown" - which is shrimp in a papaya cream sauce. Excellent - amazing flavor. I'm not a fan of papaya by itself, but blended with other ingredients it really adds a great element of flavor.

A family from New York checked in late Monday evening, two kids ages 4 and 10, staying right below us. The kids bonded immediately and decided the had to sit at the bar together for dinner.




Here I am with my new crocodile necklace.


Tuesday morning we woke to blue skies, sunshine, and calm water. We spent literally all day on the beach, either in the water or snacking by the chairs. After a quick breakfast at Chill Awhile we just parked ourselves in the water, with the kids flipping and snorkeling and buzzing about.

About mid-morning I bought a "jelly" at the bar - which is a big chilled coconut with a straw in it - incredibly refreshing cold coconut milk. When you're done drinking the inside, they'll split it open so you can scrape out the coconut as a snack. It's called a jelly because the coconut on the inside is still soft, like jelly, as opposed to the hard dry stuff we get in the states.

In addition to that, I picked up some hard coconut from one of the beach vendors. Hard and broken into pieces, the coconut is similar to eating a very large almond.



For lunch we headed up the beach to Chances again for a quick pizza lunch. About mid afternoon we walked back down to Waves to check out the vendors. D started talking to one of the woodcarvers.





Later in the afternoon the tide began to shift and pull seaweed up the coast - the water was still calm enough to play in, but we had to run through about 2 feet of seaweed to get to the clear part. We heard great things about Charela (the hotel on the other side of ours) so after getting our complete fill of sun and salt water, we cleaned up and slipped next door for some dinner.

D and I shared an appetizer of shrimp natural - which is extremely peppery peel-and-eat shrimp... and for dinner I ordered shrimp in garlic sauce (I know... I'm eating my weight in shrimp on this trip, hu?)



Sometime around 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday we were woken by the pitter-patter sound of an incoming rain storm. The wind picked up and we listened to the wooshing rain and water hitting the roof. The skies were dark as we made our way down to the deck for breakfast, and we figured today would probably be a day for finishing up our shopping agendas. Walking up the beach one direction we found some guys working on fixing the buoy line in the high waves.



We also ran into a vendor selling independently roasted coffee on the beach. It smelled really good, so we decided to sample some and get a picture with him.



The clouds had burned off quickly, and the temperature was really nice, but the waves were still too big for me to play in. I was content to wander the property a bit and look for photo ops.

Just off the deck here at Chill Awhile there's a hole in the wooden step. Most of the holes are filled with sand, however this one is hollow and is the home to a giant crab. I've seen him poke himself out just to the edge of the hole, and then scurry back into the depths of his caves whenever I aim the lens at him. Today a much smaller crab was hanging out (literally) on the little hole, while the larger guy tried to play peek-a-boo with us. I managed to lay on the deck and get right up close to the little critters.
(you can see the giant claws of Mr. Crabby in the background if you look closely)



For lunch we took a cab into town and picked up some Juici Patties and brought them back to our porch for lunch. For the afternoon we wandered up and down the beach, checking out some tables and visiting gift shops along the way. The wind still had some good gusts now and then, which allowed for some nice pictures.



For dinner we joined the neighboring family for a trip back to the cliffs to try Xtabi. I had... (wait for it... wait for it...) Shrimp! This time shrimp scampi, which was prepared with onions and those Jamaican green peppers that are nowhere near as vile as the ones we have in the states. D had some grouper that was described by our waiter as "blackened, but not the way you think of it in the US". The coating on the grouper was more like a BBQ sauce than the blackened rub we'd get in the states, and had kind of a sweet smoky flavor that went very well with the fish.

Here's a shot of my shrimp - with potatoes and veggies.


Though we have another day at the beach, we knew the next day was Needle's day off, so we hung out at the bar until closing, chatting and getting a few pictures.

Here I am with Needle (on the left) and Kingsly (on the right)


I really don't understand why Needle insists on crouching, I assured him that everyone knows I'm short. :)