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Jamaica mon is back…… ====
Larry Goolsby
11/13/05 #772
Dudes……Got in late last night after spending the last week in
Jamaica. My trip there was quite eventful starting with an offer
from U.S. Airways (while we were in Charlotte, N.C.)to fly an
alternate route to Jamaica and they would reward us with 2 roundtrip
tickets anywhere in the U.S. or Caribbean, plus a $20 lunch voucher.
This would have put us in Montego Bay 1.5 hours after our scheduled
arrival. We took the offer and were sent to Miami to catch an
American flight from there. About halfway to Miami, we saw a woman
run down the isle of the plane and say something to the stewardess.
The stewardess grabbed an oxygen tank and ran to the back of the
plane. She then ran back to the front and grabbed a fire
extinguisher. What kind of emergency uses both an oxygen tank and a
fire extinguisher? Anyway, while we were trying to figure out what
was happening, the plane went into a dive and they announced that we
were going to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville, Fla. Turned
out to be a fire in one of the bathrooms caused by an electrical
short. We now were stuck in Jacksonville and had to wait for a plane
to come and get us to take us to Miami. This meant that we would
miss our connection in Miami. U.S Airways was pretty good about
resheduling us again and rewarded us with another $20 voucher. Once
we did make it to Miami, we were blessed with having to go back
through ticketing and having someone stamp out ticket with “SSSS”
which labeled us as a security risk. We did not realize this until
they sent us through a special line in security where they checked
every square inch of our bags and bodies. This used up over an hour
and we almost missed our re-rescheduled flight. Got into Montego Bay
only about 4 hours late but now had to endure a 2 hour ride on rough
roads to Ocho Rios.
I was looking forward to doing some paddling at this resort but
their idea of kayaking was different than mine. They had these short
plastic sit-on-tops made by Hobie that had a beam width that was
about half the length. The paddles had huge fat blades, a 90 degree
right-hand feather (I use left hand), and weighed over 5 lbs. each.
These paddles were really uncomfortable to paddle and I gave it a
good hour before I said screw this and headed back in (my arms were
getting painful). I asked for a different paddle but the local
native said that it was a perfect paddle and that I was the one with
a problem.
The resort was all inclusive with a liquor dispenser in each room
(gin, vodka, rum, and brandy) and 7 restuarants. We found that
because of the 90 degree heat, it was good to start drinking at
about 9 am. Food was great and plentiful. The cool thing about all
of this was that the resort had a fleet of Hobie cat sailboats that
were free to use as long as you knew how to sail. Of course, I told
them that I was a great sailor and knew all about harnessing the
wind in 2-3 foots seas (in truth, I had never even set foot a
sailboat before). After a couple more drinks we launched our cat and
spent the next 10 minutes trying to figure out how to go upwind
while the entire beach crew watched and waited for any sign that I
might have a clue as to what I was doing. I finally figured out that
I could move to either side easily and since the dock was on my
right, I cut over the ropes of the swimming area and yelled for
people to get the hell out of my way. Once in motion, this sailing
thing was easy to master and soon I was able to head out to the open
water and out of the sight of the hotel staff. For the next 3 days,
I would drink, snorkel, drink, read, drink, sail, eat jerk chicken,
drink some more, sail again, and then retire to my room to get
cleaned up for more drinking and eating. I really enjoyed my time on
the water while learning how to sail. My only disappointment about
this trip was that it took 4 days before someone offered to sell me
some pot and we were both standing in neck deep water at the time. I
pictured soggy pot, matches and papers so I declined the offer. The
pot could have added a new twist to my sailing skills.
Our return trip was uneventful and I am ready to head back out into
the bay just as soon as I lose this extra 10 lbs. I gained in just
one week.
Larry G.
