Reggae reigns supreme

 In my book, the 1st Palm Beach Reggae and Arts Festival at Old School Square in Delray Beach was so successful, I hope it will become an annual affair.

 This after I only attended 1 of what is a 3 day affair (Friday to Sunday). 

Saturday night featured the dynamic Inner Circle band.

Despite driving to West Palm often, I had never been to Delray Beach before although having lived in nearby Tamarac for 10 years.

Barry (right) with one of his band members.

So have to big up my cuz Barry, (Colin), leader of the popular Tallawah Mento Band for not only telling me about the festival but also transporting me.😊

You know Jamaica has birthed so many fantastic musicians of every genre over the years that I can never stop feeling super proud to be a Jamaican.

Soaking up the fun with Caroline 

One of my top favorite dance bands in the 1980's was Inner Circle with the unstoppable Jacob Miller. I still get goose bumps remembering that terrible Sunday afternoon when he crashed around 3 pm and died on Hope Road.

For weeks every radio station was playing his monster hit "Dreadlocks nuh live inna tenament yard," as we mourned.

Although I collected many Inner Circle tapes and cd's over the years, I lost track of this dynamic band decades ago, thinking they had disbanded. (Pun intended😁).

Thanks to my cuz Barry, I learned this week  that not only were they still around but also, they had built a virtual musical empire in Miami. 

Naturally most of the original members are no longer around but last night's lead singer, Trevor 'skatta' Bonnick, and the fantastic musicians had us out of our seats for over an hour last night. Skatta belted out hit after hit

and would you believe he never took a break to even drink  water!

They were fantastic.

Carolyn in the groove

Inner Circle in action last night

Before Inner Circle came on, there were three earlier bands kicking off the entertainment at 6pm.

My next favorite was a latin band called Xpermento with members drawn from Argentina, Colombia Cuba Puerto Rica.

Xpermento in action

They delivered not only great latin music but also, good reggae and pop. I suspect we will be hearing a lot more about them.

Ojay and Sahara.

Two performers Ojay and Sahara, are children of the great reggae artist Ernie Smith. They performed with 'The Resolvers'. Ojay has a wonderful voice like his father and Sahara is full of stage vibes.

The first band that got things moving was Yvan& Legal Roots. They were pretty good too.

A small crowd kicked off with them at 6 pm, but the crowd blossomed as things proceeded.

It was a great afternoon and hopefully this will really become an annual affair.

On

Congratulations and thanks to Atty. Lloyd Stanbury for conceptualizing and producing this excellent event👍.

Inner Circle's amazing upcoming world tour!

Tranquility

I am happy that in the middle of the hassle of moving, getting people to clean and paint today (3rd December 2022, my Guatamalan, nature loving friend Rosa, called to tell me she was going to Wakodahatchee Park to look at the birds.

You know me. Just say outdoors and I am there!

So, I told her give me two hours. 

Thankfully she did and it was a really a great afternoon. 

The Wakodahachee Wetlands, opened in 1996 are in Delroy Beach, Florida. 

It has a three-quarter mile boardw​alk that crosses between open water areas and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting.

 This site is part of the Great Florida Birding Trail and offers many opportunities to observe birds in their natural habitats. 

Over 178 bird species have been identified there, along with turtles, alligators, rabbits, fish, frogs and raccoons and the words that come to mind are peace, beauty and tranquility. 

 I had the feeling I might have been there before with a Meet Up group, but nothing quite rung a bell. But I did, for I found the blog I did on that visit. 

Joan, my views: Alligator mating call (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

Anyway this is the type of place you visit over and over again if you can. 

In fact we met a retired federal officer who is an amateur photographer and he admitted he had been visiting this park for 47 years! 

We thought this stork was a dried branch! Great camoflage

I suspect he is not the only one, since all around you see dozens of photographers, amateur and professional, toting huge expensive cameras,  just hoping to get that special shot!

This is not just a place for leisure seekers and bird watchers though, for it is reported that each day, the Southern Region Water Reclamation Facility pumps approximately two million gallons of highly treated wastewater into the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, which in turn acts as a percolation pond, returning billions of gallons of fresh water back into the water table.

For us though, it is a place to enjoy nature and find peace and tranquility.

A colorful iguana

A tree covered with storks

George, the Park's mascot!

 

Alligator mating call

I heard an alligator mating call and believe me it was the most bone chilling sound I ever heard.

Storks all over the trees

 It was almost, I imagine, how it sometimes sounded when disnosaurs were roaming!

We were walking in Wakodahatchee Wetlands. This is a park in  Palm  Beach County on Jog Road close to Delray Beach and it is managed by the water resources people. I had gone there with our fearless Meet Up leader, Jennifer Weise in late May or early June.

At this reserve you find a wide variety of Florida's flora and fauna. However, it is best known for the proliferation of birds and you see bird watchers with their cameras prowling as they wait patiently for the shot of a lifetime.

We went there a bit late that day so the only birds that were still around in their numbers were storks, mostly white and of every size.

They literally took over every tree from top to middle and really made a literal mess for the other birds or anything that must survive on the bottom branches and under those trees!

The only animals we saw that day were a few rabbits, a couple of iguanas and as we approached the boardwalk, we saw a lone alligator lurking among some trees.

We did not pay him much attention but after we had passed the area and gone about 100 feet, we heard a loud blood-curdling sound and lots of action in the water. I had no idea what was happening but although Jennifer said she had never heard the mating call in real life, she recognized it from what others had told her.

We went back to watch him for a while and like this photo I found on the wetland's fb page, it was as if he half rose out of the water and was just shouting or shrilly growling and splashing in the water with his huge tail, for quite some time.

Even after we walked away, he could still hear the eerie noise, though fading, thank heavens, as we got further away.

It was not the type of sound I liked hearing and for his sake, I hope he found a wife, for if he didn't, maybe he is still there creating a racket. 

Worse yet, he could have died from a heart attack for the way he was exciting up himself, he must have been putting quite a strain on his heart!