Get Lost; our time in Jamaica - Day 3

We slept in a little later today, exhausted from all that happened yesterday.  As we sat down for breakfast and were looking out at the ocean, Rachel came walking down the beach in her floppy green sun hat, accompanied by a couple of Jamaican friends. We motioned for her to come over and join us. She had a few words with the ladies that were walking with her, and then came up the beach and sat down at our table.

Rachel told us that every Wednesday there is a Farmer’s Market in Negril just a little ways down the beach. She was going to pick out her fruits and vegetables for the week and the friends that were with her, evidently the ladies who we had talked to the day before, help take care of her and cook for her.

We thought that a Farmer’s Market would be fun thing to see on our way south to Broughton to the property that we were going to look at this morning.  So, after breakfast, we headed off to find it.

We found the parking lot where all the sellers had set up their goods. Wow. It was quite a sight. I think every kind of fruit and vegetable on the island was represented there, along with a couple other things like jams and honey. We walked around for just a minute when I saw Lynette, the American lady who we had met yesterday at her house in Spring Garden! She turned around and recognized us. We talked for a couple minutes and then, just sort of out of the blue she asked, “You aren’t going to Broughton to see Lost Beach tomorrow, are you?” (Where did that come from?) No, I told her, actually we are going to see it today, right now from here! She gave us directions, which is a good thing because our GPS doesn’t work and I didn’t really know where we were going. As it turns out, Lynette worked at Lost Beach as the bookkeeper and assistant manager for a couple of years and has remained close friends with the manager there.

When we pulled in to Lost Beach we were met by the property manager Jennifer, Ception, the head housekeeper, Lisa, the server and bartender, and Beanie, the groundskeeper. We told Jennifer that we had met a friend of hers, Lynette, yesterday at her house and had just run into her again at the Farmer’s Market on our way here. Jennifer asked if we had looked at property in Spring Garden. (Now why would she ask us that?) Then she described the property next to Lynette, which is not the piece of property that we looked at yesterday but is right next to it! She told us a little bit about it, that the owner was American, that he had 8 children, and that he had just passed away. She said that she had looked at it and thought it was beautiful.

Jennifer showed us all around Lost Beach Resort. We fell in love with the beach and can see how wonderful this place was before it was closed more than 2 years ago.  It is in disrepair and needs a lot of TLC, but could be great for what we want it for. And it’s only about a 20 minute drive from Spring Garden. Maybe?

From Broughton we found our way back to Negril.  We were hungry so we headed straight to 3 Dives Jerk Center. I had seen this place on the way to our hotel and knew that I wanted to eat there. We had wonderful jerk chicken with callaloo and rice and peas. 3 Dives is just down the street from our hotel so we went back to put on swim suits and call Captain Moses.

We met Captain Moses on the beach yesterday and he gave me his business card. I liked him and felt
comfortable with him. So we called him and he came and picked us up. His son who calls himself Captain Papa, took us snorkeling on the reef in Bloody Bay, getting it’s name from the pirates that camped out there in the 1800s and the whalers who butchered their catch there in the 1900s. We saw lots of fish, sting rays, an eel, and an elusive turtle, along with a huge big anchor and a cannon on the bottom of the ocean. We were the only two on this trip so had the whole boat to ourselves. We swam until it was almost dark and watched the sunset on our way back.

When we got back to the hotel we walked across the street to Tony’s One Stop Fruit and Vegetable Stand. Tony peeled a mango and a papaya for us, and cut in half the largest avocado I’ve ever seen. This was our dinner. We took a quick swim in the hotel pool, then had our fruit for dinner on the deck. It seems as if we are the only guests at this hotel and have the whole place to ourselves.