Independence Day at Kent Village

It was quite by coincidence that we ended up in Kent Village for Independence Day 2015, since that Village is somewhat synonymous with Jamaican Independence. This is because that is where the singer Eric Donaldson who is famous for winning festival songs, hails from.

Donaldson first made his name with the monster hit winner "Cherry Oh Baby" and in other  festival competitions followed up other hits such as "This is the Land of My Birth". In fact, he won four festival song competitions and when I asked two ladies in a shop at Kent Village why he no longer entered the festival song competition, they told me JCDC stopped him as he was winning too often. One then added "Festival nuh nice since im stap enter". I think I concur with that sentiment.

When Donaldson became famous, he named his commercial building in  his home town Cherry Oh Baby and still resides there, I am told.

Simpson  poses in front of Eric Donaldson's building 

Sheriff arranged this ride apparently for sentimental reasons as on her first ride with us she had "discovered" there as a cable car spanning the Rio Cobre River right there.

At the time we had stopped  there to buy snacks and on seeing the cable car, Heather, one of our founding members, had jumped on it and got a ride over the river.

Sheriff  returned to the area a few weeks ago and arranged for breakfast to be cooked on the property on the other side of the river. This meant finding a good cook and introducing herself to the owners, two brothers surnamed Rutty. They operate the farm across the river and the property has many huge hundred year old trees that provide great comfort for picnickers.

On an exploratory trip with the Sheriff  the Sunday before Independence, I learnt that the Ruttys operated a 152 acre orange farm  right there and the back of their farm joins the train line.  It is above the train line that the new highway from Inswood to Linstead is being built and we saw obvious signs of the construction on the hillside to the south. All the material the Rutty's needed to build their home and set up the farm was brought in by rail years ago.

Huge hundred year old trees made it great for picnics 

However to get over to Kent Village required them having to cross the river, so according to one brother, they had to use a bamboo raft when the river got swollen. Soon when they started to sell oranges to higglers, because of the huge rocks in the river they had to come up with a better strategy to transport the goods, so some 25 years ago they set up the cable car.

Richie in red shirt is the cable operator

Richie who is the operator told me he has been operating the cable car for 15 years and made a good living transporting higglers but now that a disease had devastated the orange grove, his income has dwindled to almost nothing.

He was therefore very happy to have Sheriff sweeten up his holiday with the 40 odd  adventurers who rode and walked to the area on independence day.

Alrick at the controls

Everyone had a ball and Alrick re-lived his childhood and got a learner's permit  to operate the cable car. Fortunately for Richie, he did not have the stamina to take everyone across so soon ran out of steam and Richie was able to reclaim his livelihood!

A few people were "fraidy pus" though and did not want to use that mode of transportation until they discovered that if they didn't, they wouldn't be getting any breakfast..

It was an absolutely wonderful day as  the water was nice and fresh due to the fact that it had rained  for a couple days in the gorge. The food too was delicious, ready on time and plenty and Sheriff had even organised a "security chief" to tend to our bicycles while we picnicked and frolicked in the river.

Of course in making the arrangements, she had the assistance of the Ayatollah  who ensured that transportation was adequate and available when we wanted it. Thanks to them, we had a ball and only had to get there by foot or bicycles, eat, pay our dues and have a wonderful time. That is true independence indeed!



Some photos compliments of Julian Dadag

Island Gully Falls

Well it will certainly go down as one of the most interesting marriage rituals I have ever seen. For while we Island Gully Falls on Sunday 28th June 2015, a groom fully decked out in his wedding suit and led by a most competent guide, walked slowly

were at

down the falls  then jumped into the deep, beautiful blue 

pool below. 

Next came his new bride,  also fully  decked out in her lovely white lace wedding dress and she jumped in after him.  The maid of honour and best man then followed in single file. Someone laughingly commented that it was clear that if you couldn't swim, you could not be a part of that bridal party!

The ritual was intriguing and certainly got our attention. The couple were east Indians who live in Virginia, USA and had traveled down to Jamaica for the important event which the bride laughingly told me was her best wedding yet.

The tour guides there are superb swimmers and divers

We had been  at the falls as our riding group had decided to spend the day there. Three courageous riders, Johann, Omar and a new lady named Ann  rode all the way from Kingston, a distance of some 58 miles I hear. Most others rode from Agualta Vale and a few others mounted at Port Maria.

I decided to hike on this trip for when I went to scout out the property with Chuck, Simpson and Ayatollah, I had seen far too many hills to ride over.

We started walking from Prospect in St. Mary and as usual, we initally walked in the wrong direction for about a mile before a local man we met disabused us, so we had to trek back.

It was in Prospect though that I  met the only nice policeman that I can recall ever meeting in my life. His name was Sergeant Hanna and he was in charge of the Prospect Police station. Three of us wanted to use the bathroom facilities and from we walked into the station we were met by his most welcoming  and accommodating smile.

 And would you believe the bathroom had a fresh smell and was spotless too. Really a great experience for me in at a police station!

One of the "Blue Holes" below the Island gully Falls

When we left the police station, we started walking in the wrong direction and only realised this when we met a young man walking in the opposite direction  and prevailed on him to confirm our path. This added an extra mile to our trek which Chuck said was a distance of 6 kms, turned out to be 6 miles  instead. I was disgusted to see that the residents in  the area were using the entire stretch along the river bank as their dumping ground for all the garbage in the area. It is really disgraceful and the St. Mary parish council needs to become more environmentally proactive.

We stopped at Wata World which was not yet open but the very pleasant man in charge of security, cheerfully allowed us to enter and use the bathroom facilities and buy some water. This is a new attraction on the White River where they have water slides etc and the entrance free is Ja$1200. Wata World is on St. Mary side of the river but once you take the bridge going west, you arrive in St. Ann and it is that parish that Island Gully Falls is in as the White River separates both parishes.

To find the falls, after leaving the JPS hydroelectric plant, you pass the two beautiful blue holes and head to Breadfruit Walk. It is wonderful to see how enterprising young people have now discovered this beautiful area and are now renting river shoes and life jackets as well as selling souvenirs, snacks and even "angel" muffins (made from ,ganja)

As my motto is "never pass up an AC vehicle when the sun gets hot,"  when Gail drove up in Simpson's car as I was getting really hot and tired, I jumped in, much to chagrin of my fellow hikers.

We had just barely arrived before Kim came barreling in closely followed by Howie and Bernadette. They had been among the group which  started riding in Agualta Vale.

Once we arrived, it was immediately into
the fabulously, clear, cool water in a pool below.

 That attraction which was developed by a wife and husband team named Hines, is really fabulous and in my book much better than Dunns River Falls.

The entrance fee is $500 but as we had a large group we got it for $250. And they prepared the most delicious breakfast for us and plenty to boot, as ace organiser Ayatollah was loudly inviting everyone to have seconds.

There was a sad aspect to this outing though as it is the last one for one of our dearest riders Pat,  as she is migrating to Sweden next month. I will certainly miss her as she is one of the most pleasant and cheerful persons I have ever met.

Apart from that it was a great day which went off without a hitch as we have now become accustomed to expect from our miserable but competent organiser extraordinaire Ayatollah aka. Charles Williams.

Photos compliments of Bernadette Frankson.

Haywood Hall, St. Mary and River Mummas

Yesterday we had a really nice ride to Haywood Hall in St. Mary which has a really long river with swimming areas above and below the fording. This outing was arranged by one of the the St. Mary men  in F&T, Alrick Rpbinson. He did his part well and the problems which we had with food, was caused by a breakdown at the Haywood Hall end, nothing to do with the planning from his end.

Haywood Hall river is a tributary of the Paget river.

This area is approximately four miles from Port Maria  and 36 miles from Kingston. Trich and I accompanied Alrick when the area was being scouted out for the ride some months ago.

That was when we met Norma, an absolutely beautiful back woman of around 40 years old who said she is a photographic model living in  Germany.

She was born  at Haywood Hall  (as was the film star Ester Anderson who acted for years in the series "The Avengers.")  She is now developing the area where we went as an eco-tourism park.

She has already cleared the section by the river, set up wooden lounge chairs by the river, installed a small stage and a nice clean bathroom. It was on that trip that we learnt the legend of river mummas at Haywood Hall.

Wooden lounge chairs line the river side

RiverMumma is the Jamaican river equivalent of mermaids which are said to live in the oceans.

These are ghost like, beautiful women with long hair who occasionally rise from the deep to sit on the rocks and comb their long tresses. According to folk lore, if you look directly at the river mumma, it can bring all kinds of problems including you falling into the river and drowning.

Since it is a ghostly creature, it is therefore not surprising that only children have ever see one and both Norma and Mr. Ellis, who was supposed to arrange the St. Mary part of things as Norma had to go back to Germany, claim they had actually seen one when they were children.

Mr. Ellis poses with his son and daughter in law

   

These river mummas are said to live in a bottomless area at the eastern side of the fording but as the water was cloudy on that side as they are repairing the fording, we went swimming in the western section.

I guess that is why we never saw any river mummas yesterday!

Brian enjoying the river

I Ireally enjoyed the ride through Junction which has become one of my favourite routes to ride as road is undulating, paved and well shaded. 

I rode with Andrew and Charles the 1st all the away  to Agualta Vale. They are really good company and stayed with me all the way.

At Agualta Vale I decided to drive as I find the north coast highway too void of trees and hot and always shy away from riding in the blaring sun.

 Andrew joined me in the support vehicle being driven by Stanford and Charles went in his own SUV. When we got to the entrance to the destination, we jumped back on to the bicycles for the approximately two mile journey there.

When we got there only a few members of the A team had arrived including Bernadette the only woman who could keep up with with the fast ones.

Alrick consults with Bernadette and Barry

Soon all the other riders filed in  by one.

Apart from some 30 riders, there were approximately 20 hikers, most recruited by Chuck from the outdoor lovers at Stella Maris. The walk  however proved too strenuous for most of them so they gave in to support vehicles one by one.

From we arrived, there was delicious hot chocolate waiting on us as well as potato pudding, cornmeal pudding and blue draws, aka tire leaf. This is a mixture of sweet potato and cornmeal with other ingredients that make up puddings, cooked in coconut milk, then it is tied up in banana leaves and boiled.

It is rarely seen these days as not many modern cooks have acquired the skill to make it. But it was popular in the days of our grandparents when people had lots of time to sit around and make all sorts of delicacies. Unfortunately most of these recipes are lost to the younger generation but I really enjoyed getting this after so many years.

Unfortunately though, the cook  that Mr. Ellis had, got it all wrong for there was the dessert ready from we got there but could we could not get our breakfast! For he kept cooking small amounts of fried  johhny cakes, saltfish and cabbage etc and before you turned around, it was all gone as everyone was starving and wanted their full breakfast. That cook is a disaster, for the food was nice but he had no idea about time, what had to be done first and how to cater for a large group!

What did we do before those smart phones were invented, I wonder lol?

Fact is at noon, he had not even peeled the bananas for the mackerel and bananas which so many people had ordered and the ackee and saltfish, the other popular dish that he had prepared, was so inadequate that not even ten people were able to get any.

This really made a number of people very angry and some even drove to Port Maria to buy KFC .

I had run dung salt fish for the first time and really found it delicious but there was just no food available to go with that small dish either. Although I think I now prefer run dung saltfish to run dung mackrel but that could be causerie I was so hungry !

I left there about 1 pm in Nicole's car,  along with Stewart, my cousin Sheila and Maurice Brown. I suspect all the others left shortly after.

Hanging out with Diana, Carol and cousin Sheila

Luckily I had gone to the river early and had a wonderful swim and  later got in a couple games of dominoes while picking at the food as it was being slowly prepared. Those who came back from the river later had every reason to be angry as the there was no food ready for them at noon after Alrick had even gone to the trouble of printing food tickets with "FNT' on them! Unfortunately the food part was  really a flop because of bad  organisation at the Haywood Hall end.

I told Mr. Ellis that if he keeps that chef, he is going to go into bankruptcy at the get go, for this was the very first group catering session and it went awry. Word of mouth can be great or devastating!

Anyway, I had  a great ride and really enjoyed the desserts, the great country chocolate tea and of course the ride, the river, the camaraderie and dominoes.

Christian

The star of this ride was a little boy named Christian who is only nine years old and I bet that in ten years he going to win Tour De France (if he continues at the rate he is going.)
For not only did he ride up the entire Stony Hill road without stopping but I also hear he never even took a rest stop for the entire 36 mile journey. Wow, am I impressed!

 Another Sunday well spent .

A Refreshing Hike

Sheriff's hike to the mountains yesterday was invigorating, and refreshing and as usual,offered great camaraderie and lots of mangoes but caused a near mutiny, all inputs necessary for a great day with the icing being a wonderful breakfast at Coy's.

I suppose that it is because the dates kept changing, why only nine of us turned up, but Chuck is perfectly correct, the only way we could have completed the proposed trail in three hours, was if we had gone in a straight line!

It was interesting  none the less as it is the first time I had been up Dustry road which we often pass on the was to Maryland.  As it turns out, that road makes the distance to Irish town really short by comparison to the main road. Well actually it is not a road, but really a rough track  with bush growing in the centre in parts and on which, if you are not careful, you could end up twisting your ankle.

When you see arch cyclists like Barber Dean and Barry having to dismount in parts, you know it is really terrible and I am sure even the "off road don" Howie would have found it challenging in parts.  Incidentally, we did pass a few riders out on their way up to Newcastle, then further up we saw Barber Dean riding up with a couple guys but he turned back to join us while Barry, riding on his own,  caught us up just above Cafe Blue.

Anyway we trod on with Maurice and Karen really enjoying the mangoes from the trees all along the way after Maurice, candidate for the Survivor reality show, even got a stick to speed up the process, although he does have a mean right hand when it comes to stoning mango trees!

Not a step further , we decided right  here.

Although the proposed hike was supposed to take us to Newcastle through the shortcut then on to Greenwich and finally Hollywell  with the return journey via Hollywell's back gate down to Woodford and finally Maryland for breakfast at 10 am, shortly after we passed the turnoff to Newcastle, timekeeper Desiree pointed out that there was no way we could be get back to Maryland at 10am if we completed the proposed trail, we then had a democratic meeting and decided to go to Ras Jam instead. However after walking for another half hour and not seeing any sign of the  Ras Jam turnoff, there was a near mutiny as we were tired and hungry. So when we arrived at a little garage where that colourful mini bus that has always been prominent on the road to Newcastle was parked  apparently getting an engine overall, some of us in insisted that it was time to turn back.

The hike back was easy and very pleasant for with the sun now fully out, the mountains simply glistened and the view of the city was really great.

By the time Desiree and I  got to Coy, (we were lagging at the back and Barber Dean stayed to keep our company) we found that a number of riders had come up as well as Betty and others who drove up,  for breakfast. As usual, breakfast was really good and while a few of us left after, some stayed to cool off in the river.

Joan Williams, moderator of the Joan Williams Online broadcast on Power 106, describes herself as an unapologetic addict to the Jamaican outdoors. A foundation member of Fun and Thrills Adventure Club, she explores the island at any given opportunity cycling, hiking or swimming with that group, family, Jah 3 and anyone else who will have her. In 1995, she published the popular 'Tour Jamaica', and the fourth edition is now an ebook available at;

 http://www.amazon.com/Tour-Jamaica-Joan-Williams-ebook/dp/B00EJWCSHS/ref. Contact gratestj@gmail.com.

That Enfield Ride

A few weeks ago, I accompanied Charles 1st, (a St. Mary man, as is Alrick) Fatman and Ayatollah to check out a new outing with a distance of approximately 37 miles, which could accommodate not only riders but hikers as well.

The scouts

This was to Enfield in St. Mary, a district south east of Annotto Bay in St. Mary where around four different rivers converge. We selected as our destination Bridge 41, snugly situaated beneath the mist covered mountains which would also give us access to the Dry  and  May rivers.

I have no idea why it is called the Dry river for as Howie and I reminisced about the hash we did there with Jah 3 a few years ago, I had to laugh remembering how expensive that hash had proven to be for me. For I had slipped on a rock and fell into the "Dry river"  getting my two cell phones wet and both proved to be unfix-able!

The dry river

I recall at that time too, asking several residents why it was called the Dry river and if they had ever seen it dry, but none had. Anyway, yesterday riding along the roadway, we noticed a huge sand mining operation close to the Northcoast highway and have since assumed that they Dry river goes underground thus allowing the sand mining, hence the name. If anyone else has a more logical explanation, I would certainly welcome it!

Anyway, back to the ride.

Lyming at Agualta Vale

The B team left out about 5am and our first stop was at Castleton to guzzle down the delicious janga soup and boiled corn which is always ready, regardless of  what time we get there.

By then we were caught up by all members of the A team, then it was off to Agualta Vale for another gathering.

We then rode east along the northcoast  highway to Annotto Bay then just out of the town, we turned south to Fort Stewart  where the hikers started their 10 k walk.

The most difficult part of the journey in my book was riding by the sea just outside of  Annotto bay, as the wind was very heavy and it was blowing in a westerly direction.

The good part is that the sea was so rough that we were washed by sea spay occasionally and to persons like myself who always welcome water, that enhanced the ride.

Rough seas indicate how breezy it was.

Apart from that, it was a fairly easy ride with good roads and good company.

When we got to Bridge 41, it seems everyone had lost the desire to swim as no one made a move, or maybe we were just too hungry to move, but then Pat saved the day with sandwiches she brought until until the food arrived from Port Maria. While we waited, Michael and Karen Chuck drove in to join us with tall Robert who was visiting from New York..

Champion rider Andrew Smellie added to the niceness by prearranging that water coconuts were picked and iced in time for our arrival.
Pity Andrew rides so infrequently!

Champion hiker Betty arrives in fine style

It is commendable to see that Lisa Williams is beginning to adopt her parents prowess for service as when the food arrived, she did not dive in like the rest of us but joined her parents in ensuring that all were fed and happy before diving in herself.

Shortly after we ate, everyone was ready to head back.

It was a great day of good healthy exercise and camaraderie and the arrangements were seamless, compliments of the Ayatollah and team.

JOAN WILLIAMS, co-host of JUSTICE on POWER 106, describes herself as an unapologetic addict to the Jamaican outdoors. A foundation member of FUN AND THRILLS ADVENTURE CLUB, she explores the island at any given opportunity cycling, hiking or swimming with that group, family, Jah 3 and anyone else who will have her. In 1995, she published the popular TOUR JAMAICA and the 4^th edition is now an ebook available at;

http://www.amazon.com/Tour-Jamaica-Joan-Williams-ebook/dp/B00EJWCSHS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389464644&sr=8-1&keywords=tour+jamaica+by+joan+williams

Contact; gratestj@gmail.com

Alligator Church Ride

I have always heard that there are no alligators in Jamaica, nevertheless, I went off with Fun and Thrills yesterday to see if any had turned up in Portland and and take a look at their church.

While I saw dozens of churches on the way and even a funeral in progress, I never saw any alligators and not even a crocodile (thank God).

Nevertheless it was a great day out organized by the dynamic team of Charles the 1st and the other Charles, aka ayatollah.

While we the lowly pretenders (to riding) drove to Port Antonio, the dynamic trio made up of Terr-Ann, Johann and John decided that it was too dibby dibby a ride for them, so they opted to ride all the way from Kingston, leaving at 3.40 am yet they arrived in Port Antonio minutes after us who  drove out at around 6am.

The folding bike on the left

(Incidentally, John is a British man who is pursuing doctoral studies in the USA and is visiting Jamaica to do some research. He brought along his folding bicycle and since Larry told him about us, he made contact with Howie. )

In Port Antonio, we were treated to 5 star restaurant reception with mento band and all. Not only was the ambiance impressive at Anna Banana, but also, although the breakfast was morish, the mackerel rundung that I had was absolutely delicious.

And this place is on the beach just outside of port Antionio, a lovely little place indeed discovered by Charles 1st.

There we were joined by another Foreigner, this time from Ireland. 

His name is Colin and he is in Jamaica riding around and getting to know the culture. He too was told about us by Larry (Larry seems to be our greatest admirer!)

After breakfast we warmed up with a coast ride to San San, on a suggestion by Howie. On the return journey I told Pat about the  cute little church at Trident hotel and coincidentally, saw the security at the huge closed gate, peeking over the wall. We asked him if we could come in an see the church and not only did he oblige but also he took the picture of us with the church in the background.

On returning to Anna Banana we regrouped and headed toward our destination, Alligator Church Bridge.

It was  a pleasant ride on a reasonably surfaced road until we got to Friendship and made the left turn. The roads in that southern area leave a lot to be desired but the ride was not strenuous and the scenery refreshing.

 When we got to Alligator Church Bridge, some riders opted to continue on  up to Millbank while others waited until after they had  tested the river and eaten . The rest of us just stayed there the entire time swimming, playing dominoes and lyming.

 Of course I had to play dominoes with my now regular partner Chris and we dropped the big one on Carolyn and Fatman. Then Chuck came for his share and but after a few "bruks" (we were  playing bruk an spoil") we were warned by Simpson that the food was being rapidly consumed so we needed to get our share. So Chuck was saved from the same fate that Fatman had suffered with Carolyn!

While we were there, who arrived but the entire Assam family, baby and all and we were told that Penny and Stefan had alternated on the ride up to Alligator Church Bridge!

Monique, Chully, Carol

 The food was absolutely wonderful except they had no ground provisions and just a little green bananas which was all consumed  by the time we arrived. The only alternative was plain rice.

The janga run dung, busu soup and busu and janga stew with pigs tail was out of this world, almost as good as the first time I had maroon food in Milbank. 

The river was warm, deep and inviting although it had a slight current  but we all had a wonderful time and I know this trip will be spoken of for years to come,  as we relive the fund memories.

A Really Great Day

Yesterday was another wonderful day lyming with the Fun and Thrills family as we finally went on the frequently postponed ride to Robins bay which Charles 1st had been proposing for months. (as a good St. Mary man).

I rode out of my home at 5.30 am, assuming I would meet up with other riders at Stony hill, but by the time I reached the intersection of Allerdyce road and Shortwood roads, I saw Pat and Charles 1st. 

Unfortunately in an attempt to hail me up, Pat lost balance and had a slight spill, but only got a small elbow cut  although her bicycle suffered some trauma, but compliments of the experienced "mechanics" who ride with the group, she was soon sorted out.

All went well with me continuing my recent trend of riding non-stop to Stony Hill square but I was unable to catch up Charles 1st and Sheriff flew past me on Long lane, making me the third rider to arrive at the square. Poor Barry who has suffered an elbow damage and has been unable to ride, had wanted to swap that leg with me as he was reduced to driving a support vehicle but badly wanted a little ride,  but I had to inform him  "no way" as keeping my record intact on that stretch was very important.

 Incidentally  Jamie is now in my bad books as I  had asked Chully to load my mountain bike and bring it along to Stony hill where he lives with his grandma Elaine, as he had said he wanted to ride with us.  But would the boy wake up? So we ended up having to transport an unnecessary bicycle. 

Never again.

At Stony hill square we were joined by most of the other riders from both group one and two, and it was an uneventful ride to Castleton, our regular lyming stop, where most people can't wait guzzle down the delicious janga soup and boiled corn.

There Pat presented us with a huge batch of delicious energy cookies which she had made by herself  and I think she needs to patent it as it is not only very delicious but indeed really energy giving too, for when I  got to Robins's Bay I felt like I could have ridden another 40 miles!

At Castleton when we were ready to depart, the Ayatollah declared that we had to wait for Desiree who woke up late and was driving to meet us there. Some rebellious souls rode away but a number of us stayed behind to wait for her. However, when she arrived and we attempted to charge her for having overslept, she disabused us, revealing that she told the Ayatollah that she was not coming as she was late, but he insisted that we had all agreed to wait for her! 

Poor Howie had the shock of his life after Desiree arrived and we prepared to leave, for he was confronted with a puncture which caused  him  to arrive dead last at Robin's Bay.

On the other hand, Grace had been so energized by Pat's biscuits and maybe because she was abandoned by David who had been riding with her, she passed the turn off to Robin's bay and attempted to ride to Port Maria.  Fortunately a rasta man saw her going astray, jumped into his car, chased her down and brought her back to the fold.

Would you believe that shortly after we arrived we were joined by extraordinary riders Johann and Marcus who had ridden together, leaving Kingston at 9 am and proudly telling us they only made one stop and that was a pee stop for Marcus who declared that  he had a small bladder from he was a child! (He volunteered the info publicly). Incidentally, Lisa, who Howie just taught to ride, made a small go of it also on this trip too.

We were also joined by a number of other persons who drove down, among them Stefan and daughters and our visitors from Canada Aunt Gladys, David, Donnie and Diana.

While there, Chris (driver) found some dominoes and summoned me as his great partner to play against Chuck and Neville. We did not disappoint and dropped a six love on them.  Unfortunately, I was so into the domino game that I missed the best part of the breakfast, the mackrel run dung as horror of horrors,  when I went to get some food, only a little gravy was left. Fortunately, Chuck is turning out to be the Robinson Crusoe of the group in terms of showing us how he can live off the land, for not only is he our resident bird shooter/fried bird supplier, but yesterday Karen brought a huge container full of delicious fried fish, enough for everyone. 

When I asked her for one specifically caught by Chuck, his son Marlon informed me indignantly that his father had been the great fisherman who had caught all the fish! So delicious was the fish that I had to apologize to the entire Chuck family for having given the head of the household a 6 love. lol.

After breakfast, Howie, Maurice, (ride back) Michael, Kim , Bernadette, Johann, Marcus, Conrad, all members of the A team, for some inexplicable reason, wanted to do an off road ride into the bushes  to do God knows what, while we the civilized ones went to the beach.

Kim with her beautiful baby Riley, Donovan and his family and a few others headed for Strawberry fields which is really nice and structured, but I don't like the beach there as it has a terrible current and when you float there,  you end  up in all sorts of rocks and strange places. So we rode east to where they once had a nice beach with some bamboo huts and a bamboo fence. We had some difficultly finding it as the last hurricane had blown away everything, but after asking around, the Ayatollah found the right place and in fact they were in  the processes of rebuilding while we were there.

The beach was absolutely wonderful, the water so cool, clear and full of energy. We spent about an  hour there just interacting , swimming and sharing jokes, before I had to beg a lift with the first car going  back to town as I had to make connection with friends at 4 pm. Thanks to the competent driver Carol (Betty White's cousin) I arrived home is good time and boy that  jerk/barbecue pork we had for dinner made it  one of the greatest days of my life.

The only thing that spoiled the wonderful day, was the absence of our dear friend Jordan Hanlan who had not only been a reliable support driver for the group but also such a pleasant and always smiling friend to all of us. She lost her life in an auto accident earlier this month and was buried on the 14th. R.I.P Jordan, we missed you but we know you were with us in spirit.