We are home!!! We got in at 4:30pm on Saturday. It was an incredible adventure for all of us. Many thanks to our wonderful team: Clay and Elizabeth Knight, Jan Zenner, Linda Burns, Patsy Sheppard, James Auer, TJ Robertson, Sarah Mahaffey, Sarah Melvin, Amanda Collins, and Candice Zegilla. Also a big thanks to our Harrison family for your prayers and support.
Our last full day was Friday, July 16th. We went to Negrille for our day of R&R. Negrille is west of MoBay. It took us about an hour to get there. We passed through a few towns on the way: Lucea and Lollipop. We were pulled over by the Police because they said that the bus exhaust was smoking to much. They were pulling over every bus that passed by, so I think they needed to fill their quota for the month. We sat there for about 20 minutes while they inspected the bus. I felt bad for Peter, our driver. He got a ticket. He was pretty frustrated. We didn’t really see much smoke.
Once we arrived in Negrille, we spent some time on the beach at Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffets place. Negrille has 7 miles of beaches. It’s the largest stretch of beach in Jamaica. It was great to relax and chill out. There were some tiny Jelly Fish swimming around. Some of us got stung a few times, including me, but they were so small that it didn’t really hurt that much. They were about as big as your thumb. We ate lunch at Margaritaville, and then headed to the craft market. The craft market is a fun place, all hand made stuff. They are pretty pushy, but desperate to make a sale, so you can haggle a bit. We didn’t stay there long.
The highlight of the day was going to Rick’s Cafe. We didn’t go there to eat again. Jermaine took us there to jump off a 45 foot cliff into the ocean! Some people tell you not to give into peer pressure, “if your friend jumps off a bridge, would you?” Well in this case they did:) There was also a 30 foot drop and some 15 footers. Several members of our group took the plunge. I guess it was a rite of passage or something. We have a few dare devils at HUMC. I was a wimp though. I didn’t jump. I was very comfortable watching:) There were about 300 people there. All of our folks had successful jumps, no injuries. But there were a few people that didn’t land very well. There were a few back and belly busters, but no serious injuries. There were some lifeguards on hand in case of injury. The lifeguards were all pro divers, so they would show off some too. They collected tips from everyone to see them do tricks. There was a tree that stretched out over the lagoon that had a platform on it. It was probably about 80-90 feet off the water. One of the lifeguards jumped from there. They did dives, back flips, and hand stand dives. It was pretty amazing. They were really great. Rick’s Cafe was a cool place. It was a beautiful lagoon. The water was turquoise. It looked like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean.
After cliff jumping, we went to get dinner and headed back to the base. We finished packing up our stuff, and enjoyed our last moments soaking in the view of the MoBay lights from across the bay. It was raining on Saturday morning as we got ready to go to the airport. Peter and Jermaine dropped us off at the airport. We said our goodbyes and headed for our gate.
Another great trip to see our friends and family in Jamaica. Can’t wait to go back next year! Sign ups and fund-raising will begin this fall! Stay tuned…
