DAY FIVE: Sunday, 28
October 2007
When I went out to the beach, it
waves rolling into shore were white-caps. It was a very different sound
than the gentle rolling the waves had been earlier. That made the morning
frolic more fun. I’d wade out to a point where the water was up to my
shoulders, and jump over the wave when it came in. Because my feet could
still touch the sandy bottom, I could get some decent high weight I’d leap over
the waves. Not all were ones I could hurdle, and it was fun when they’d
crash into me.
Lee was a little disappointed that
the glow worm tour had been cancelled due to the rough weather. Since
these guys only were active during a few nights after the full moon, that would’ve
been only one day that we might’ve been able to see them. She commented
that now I could finally go parasailing. When I checked to make
arrangements, I learned that too was cancelled due to the weather. The
same rough waters which made it difficult to see the worms was fueled by the
high winds which made parasailing extremely more difficult.
We’d be on the beach until the late
morning, as that’s when others would start to come out (and thus it would start
to get more crowded). Since we were
heading out to dinner later, there was no reason to head over to one of the
shopping establishments again. We
decided to walk a ways down the beach.
I’d taken some strolls by myself on the beach, so it was nice to walk
together. The weather was overcast, but
warm, so there was no need to have jackets.
The winds on the beach didn’t feel that bad to us. Figure the people who live here know if the
conditions warrant cancelling tours and things.
Heading westward down the beach, we
noticed the section of the beach started to get narrower, but nowhere to the
extent we’d seen over in the Blue Hills.
The section of beach in front of RWI had enough room for chairs and for
people to wander by, without the feeling of invading personal space. As he headed towards Point Grace, we noted
we’d chosen the best place for the beach.
We’d had gone that far down the beach, perhaps walking for fifteen or
twenty minutes, when the weather looked like it was going to turn nasty very
quickly. The most prudent action would
be to turn around and head back to RWI before the sky opened up on us.
During the walk back, the wind that
had been to our backs was now obviously coming to our front. Walking into the wind wasn’t an issue, even
though the intensity had increased. It
was the sand which had been kicked up by the wind which was the problem. Hundreds of tiny grains were impacting us as
we went down the beach. It was like we
were walking through a sand-blaster.
Running would not have made any difference, so we trudged at the best
pace we could. I guess you could so it
was a free exfoliation. At one point, I
walked in front of Lee in order to take brunt of it. Since I had glasses, I was able to keep my
eyes open. During that time, Lee just
placed her hands on my shoulders, and looked down or kept her eyes closed. But we were able to make it back to our room
with only the loss of one layer of skin.
The storm clouds made things dark
earlier than normal. When we were heading out for our early dinner about
4pm, it was almost as dark as it was just after sunset. There’d been a
place I’d wanted to go simply because of the name: Hemingway’s.
According to the information we had, it was only a short distance down
Governor’s Road past where the Saltmills were.
It would’ve been easy to find if
we’d paid attention to two important things. One, Hemingway’s was the
restaurant at the Sands At Grace Bay resort. And Two, the road actually
made a T-intersection, not just the hard left which it appeared. We saw
the sign for the Sands, and didn’t realize that if we’d made a right turn and
gone about 500 feet or so, we would’ve seen the sign for Hemingway’s. We
thought we hadn’t gotten to where it was yet, and we just had to follow the
road down a bit further. We made a left turn that brought us into another
world.
In the dusk-like overcast light,
this area appeared darker than normal because there were no street lights.
What surprised us was what appeared to be a true slum which we’d driven
in to. Not “salt-weathered buildings” here, but actual run-down places,
with a bunch of dirty-looking people hanging about. We’d stumbled into
Little Jamaica. There was a gas station at a corner which looked like it
had been abandoned. Since that corner was also a T-intersection, and it
had a sign pointing to the left which said “Kingston ,” we made the quick decision to turn
right.
Soon we were out of this blatantly
poorer section, and found ourselves passing the Beaches resort. We got a
little chuckle about that. We figured due to the proximity to this
location, the people at the all-inclusive Beaches probably didn’t want to
leave, thinking that the entire island was like that small section. Once
we’d made that turn by the pseudo-gas station in Little Jamaica, the road we
were on was officially called Lower
Bight Road . There were a lot of trees, and
some high walls of the resorts, so we couldn’t see the beach at all on the
drive. By that time we knew we’d missed Hemingway’s, and figured the sign
wasn’t out because it could’ve been closed during the off-season (which was not
uncommon here).
We didn’t see any place which
jumped out to us as a place to eat, and when we saw a sign to bring us back to
the Leeward Highway ,
we just headed back to RWI for dinner at Mango Reef. We had the conch
fritters, which Lee thought was okay, but I didn’t think was any better.
I was able to get a chicken breast seasoned with Jamaican Jerk spices,
and it was fabulous. All the tables had candles on them, so we
essentially had a candle-lit dinner under the open sky. That was very
nice.
DAY SIX: Monday, 29
October 2007
We woke to rain. Dark clouds
filled the sky, making it a grey landscape out over the ocean. This was
not going to be a day to sit out on the beach. We couldn’t sit out on the
patio, because being on the third floor, it didn’t have an actual roof, just a
veranda which let in the rain quite well. We soon realized the cause of
all this crappy weather was Hurricane Noel, and it was bearing down on the
island. It’s path was projected to hit TCI tomorrow, right when we’d be
trying to fly out.
Being stranded on a tropical island
is a dream, but not when it’s about to have its ass kicked by what was shaping up
to be a pretty major storm. We looked at our choices. Option one
was we could attempt to stay past our normal planned time, and catch a flight
once the hurricane passes. Chances were that anyone coming to our room
would be delayed arriving at Providenciales, so it wasn’t like they’d be likely
to kick us out. So what if they charge us for the extra days, RWI would
be making money off the room no matter who was in it. The same would be
true for the car rental, and more than likely we’d just be eating at Mango Reef
a couple more times (as our groceries were nearly used up). That would
require a lot of juggling of airline costs, which probably wouldn’t be cheap.
And that also added the reality of being home a bit later than intended,
and thus losing work days. We were on our “scheduled vacation time,” so
I’m sure our jobs would understand if we got back a day or two later.
Option two was that we stay right
where we are, and leave at our planned time, with the hope that the delays
wouldn’t be too bad. It wouldn’t cost us anything extra in hotel or car
rental, but there’s potential we’d get stuck at an airport. Since the
storm was moving westward, getting stuck in Miami was the most likely possibility.
Even if our flight got diverted to another American city, we’d still be
on the mainland where our phones and credit cards would be fully active again
(no roaming fees or international charges).
Option three was that we check out
early today, and try to get on the next available flight. Sure we’d still
probably get charged for the last day of the room, and might cost extra to swap
the airline tickets, if we could outrun the hurricane it would ultimately be
worth the cost. Using the phone in the room, Lee called the airline to
make the arrangements. I trucked down to the front desk to let them know
of our intent. I’m sure we wouldn’t be only guests trying to do this, and
this wasn’t the first time they’d seen this (and wouldn’t be the last).
The people behind the front desk were very helpful in checking on this,
and allowed me to speak to the manager about this. (As the resort
arrangements had been made in Lee’s name, the hotel kept referring to me as
“Mr. Leibee.” I wasn’t going to spend the time to correct them, because
it wasn’t worth the time to do so, and it wouldn’t make any difference to them
anyways. Besides, I found it mildly amusing, so it didn’t bug me.)
The manager told me if we checked
out early, we’d be charged for the room, and I let him know I understood that.
I explained to him that we were even trying to see if we _could_ get a
flight out in the first place, and if we did, then we’d proceed with that plan.
This was a good instance of customer service I wanted to point out.
The manager was very clear with letting me know the resort’s policy on
guests leaving early, and I was clear as to letting them know our intent.
We were both calm, and took the time to explain our positions to each
other. While the manager wouldn’t change his mind (or couldn’t because
the policy was decided by someone above him), he was very understanding about
the situation. I appreciated that.
Once I trekked back to our room,
Lee let me know what she’d found out from talking to American Airlines.
Because there were so many people trying to leave early, flights today
were over-booked, and many people were hanging out at the airport on standby.
Any flights out would depend on any flights which arrived. Since
there was no guarantee we could get a flight today, there was no reason to
check out early and hang around bored in the airport. Lee said the
airlines had told her that at this point no flights for the next day had been
cancelled yet, but if that happened, they would be obligated to find us a
flight. The situation dictated that we go with Option Two. We
didn’t have any other choice. Might as well enjoy the last day we have
here.
The clouds were dark and
threatening, but there were brave souls still hanging out on the beach. It made the most sense to join them, and get
in much beach time as possible. We
weren’t going to catch too many tanning rays, but just being on the beach was a
pleasure in itself. I didn’t go
swimming, only so we wouldn’t have wet clothes to deal with, not because the
waves were too rough.
It did try to rain, many times during
that time. It would start to sprinkle,
and we’d all start heading for the cover of the bar at Mango Reef. After a few moments, the sprinkling would
taper off, so many would return back to the beach. The beach chairs might be a little wet, so
you just wiped it off with the towel you had with you. (See, towels have other uses than when you’re
hitchhiking across the galaxy.) This
sequence was repeated, and each time Lee and I headed for Mango Reef, and then
a little bit later went back to the beach.
It was a Pavlov response in a way, I guess. Some people did decide to remain at the bar
and have drinks.
We did enjoy our last drinks of the
trip, and the last dinner at the Mango Reef, but didn’t quite have the sunset
we’d been hoping for. But being able to
dine at a location next to where we’re staying is a bonus when going to an
unfamiliar place, especially for the fact that we didn’t have to fight traffic
or find a parking space. Normally, Mango
Reef would have tables set up outside, but because of the weather we were all
packed in the interior dinning room.
Didn’t change the atmosphere of the place at all, just made it more
cozy.
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