Pelican Bar

I tried to get out early on Friday morning but only arrived downtown before 9am at the buspark. Today it would be a minibus taking us for the first leg of the journey. As I sat in the bus waiting for it to fill up there was the usual bickering of sellers and other usuals. A muscled young man pulled a knife on a woman seller in an argument but the other men nearby held him back as he feigned a struggle against them. The knife seems to just be there to prove manhood and I have seen it so much now that I believe most do not plan to use it but just want the other to back down. Yes, there are still plenty that do use it but seeing one is really not such a big deal anymore provided I am not seeing the tip of it pointing in my direction.

After about an hour in the bus and we were on our way. After leaving the downtown buspark as full as possible, we went on to Santa Cruz which is about a two to three hour drive. After I had to remind the driver that he owed me change, he could not find all the change so I heard the familiar words "mi owe you". Now, of course he was in a hurry to go because he still had more stops to go and he wouldn't want to keep the other passengers waiting. It wasn't much money at all but it reminds me why I prefer to just stay in my home - no one to deal with. From Santa Cruz I got a route taxi (with 4 other passengers) and headed to Black River. Fairly uneventful so far, I arrived in Black River and found the taxi stand for Parroty. Once in the taxi, I called Jeff to ask where I should come out and he told me to just ask the taxi driver if he knew where Jeff lived. Gotta love small communities for knowing everybody - sure enough the driver knew Jeff and knew right where to drop me. Walking down the short lane to Jeff's place we were ambushed by several children hiding behind the bushes to scare us. The main reason Jeff locks his doors is so they don't hide inside the house!

That afternoon we went out to the Pelican Bar for the first time and just relaxed for a couple hours. We swam a little and then came back to the shore around sunset. We walked back to Jeff's to clean up then had some sliced fish and bammy at Basil's - a restaurant on the beach. I don't eat fish all that much but I enjoy the sliced fish more because I can get more meat and eat around the bones easily. The bammy is difficult for me to describe but it's nice and filling.

There's something about being in the country with no tv that makes me tired earlier than normal. I still didn't retire until after 10pm but I was ready for a good night's sleep. I was looking forward to a quiet evening, but it wasn't quite as I had imagined. There were no dogs barking as I am used to at my house in Kingston, but there were roosters. I guess the sun doesn't have to be coming up for the roosters to crow to each other. Hours before sunrise they started and it was a little difficult for me to get back to sleep. I'm sure if I was there a week I would have been accustomed though.

The next day I lazily awoke to the aroma of omelettes. I'd have to say Jeff is a much better host than I tend to be. Sure is a good way to get me out of bed too! After breakfast we headed into Black River for some shopping. I mainly walked around, had some ice cream and shook my head no to the taxis going to Treasure Beach.

Diving

This time Floyd was out at the bar and he cooked some lobster that I had pre-ordered the day before. I don't remember having tried lobster ever before so I treated myself. I was quite pleased! Sliced with vegetables in a garlic sauce had me wishing I could afford more! This time I walked around the reef out a ways beyond the bar. I was really amazed on arrival how shallow the water is out there! I rarely went beyond my waist. We stayed a little longer and took a group photo then went back in to shore again.

Another early bedtime and I left the next morning around 10. It's difficult to get transportation on Sundays so Jeff asked two of his friends to drive me out a little further to get a taxi. When the taxi got to Santa Cruz I found a nearly empty bus waiting to go to Kingston. It took over 2 hours for it to fill up this time but we finally got underway. Got home Sunday afternoon to my clean clothes waiting to be pressed. The start of another week....