After a pleasant afternoon that I spent sunning myself (without sunscreen, but it was cloudy and I wasn’t there long) the “gang” went to Rick’s Cafe. (For some reason, I keep calling it Ric’s Grill.)
Rick’s Cafe is a tourist spot that I suppose is famous, but I didn’t really know why. I wasn’t actually looking forward to it, because I assumed it was a bar that would be noisy and crowded; not the kind of place I really want to go to.
But it is famous for a reason: cliff diving. It is built high up and has several places where you can jump into the deep water. The locals show off, of course, by climbing high up on trees that look like they are on their last legs. From there they do several twists before plunging headfirst into the water. The tourists are more likely to use one of the reasonable heights that don’t involve going up the foliage.
Having no interest in drinking or eating there wasn’t much else to do. So I did the plunging from the highest tourist spot, because if you are going to do this, you have to do it right. I looked over the edge, and it suddenly appeared a lot higher than it used to. Still, friends are watching and I’m not going to disappoint them. So, shut off the brain and run forward! Okay, I’m in the air now. Shouldn’t I have hit the water already? Oh, there it is, coming up fast. That doesn’t look good. What position should I be in? I don’t know, my brain turned off several metres ago.
First time I landed on my rear end. It is probably going to bruise badly. There isn’t much to say about my second leap, but I should stress these are leaps/jumps and not dives. By the time the third leap rolled around I had learned to have your body as straight as possible. Unfortunately I have the instinct (from swimming lessons when I was little) to have your arms out so you don’t go deep into the water. My arms will really bruise I’m sure. Some friends were remarking on the loudness of the slap they made.
Then the sun was setting and, although there were lights on the water, they shut it down. For the best I’m sure. I wouldn’t want to leap in the dark. And I wouldn’t want to be in the water when a person diving in can’t see that I’m there. So I mingled with my friends. Thankfully we decided to leave early, because without the diving it is just like the resort, except you have to pay for stuff.
Unfortunately political instability hit Negril while we were out. People were protesting the wrongful death of an innocent businessman shot by the police. And to protest here, they block the road and light it on fire. A couple had tried to leave early by taxi and got stuck in the middle of it when the protesters were attacking a fire truck. They were able to get back to the cafe where they joined us on the bus. When we arrived, the police and army were cleaning up, and we got back safely, although it took quite some time and we contemplated taking a detour through the inland jungle.
Didn’t I have a pair of sunglasses when I left?