We awoke on our last full day to the sound of rain pounding down on the roof of the cottage. {sigh} So we were not destined to frollick in the sun. Okay, we’ll manage. I hit the gym for a run while Frank slept in. We staggered down to breakfast late and as we sat slumped over our coffee bemoaning our bad luck with the weather, we noticed that the rain had stopped. A few minutes later, the sky began to brighten. Could it be? Were we really going to get a decent last day in paradise?

YES! The sky cleared, we slathered untold layers of sunscreen on and tried to squeeze as much sun soaked activities into one day as possible. We walked on he beach, played pool volleyball, did shots with the bar tender at the swim up bar, and generally had the kind of day we had hoped for during our stay. I finished another book and got all the vitamin D and sun burn I could stand before we wandered off to see he sunset (there wasn’t one – too cloudy) and then showered and changed for the manager’s cocktail party. We had lovely conversations with folks from northern England we had met during the disastrous Gala Dinner and then headed to the beach bar for more conversations with lovely English strangers before having our final dinner on the beach. We stayed through most of the “cultural event” before heading back to the cottage to pack.

And so today is the lost travel day. Two hours by bus to the airport where I get “randomly selected” for secondary screening which turned out to be nothing but still scared the poo out of me. We did get to hang out in the VIP lounge (we bought passes in advance) so we had plenty of snacks and an open bar to help us while away the time. Both flights boarded promptly and took off and landed early (love Southwest Airlines) and now we are back to our cold reality.

All in all, it was a good trip. We managed to try curried conch and jerk chicken; we had fresh snapper nearly every day. We tasted just about every cocktail on the bar list, and some that weren’t on the list. We met most of Michigan and a large portion of England. We didn’t get in any good snorkeling but did relax and get plenty of sleep.

We weren’t particularly enamoured of the north coast or this particular resort – too laid back, too old (we were definitely in the younger tail of the age distribution), too  many naked people (the au natural beach was the most popular part of the resort and had the nicest beach), and not enough variety in clothed activities for our taste.

So we will head back to Negril next time – probably late next year. We’re thinking of ringing in 2018 in the islands. Want to join us?