STILL JAMMIN' IN JAMAICA

We were sitting at "our" table at lunch one day when a beautiful woman and her equally beautiful daughter came in holding drinks with little umbrellas in them.

Since we knew those were the "welcome cocktails", we said, "Hi. Welcome to Jamaica."

Bert and her college bound daughter, Maria were celebrating Maria's next step in life by spending a few days in Jamaica. They weren't staying a full week because they had to leave Thursday to go home and pack for Maria's Saturday departure to college. We talked with them a little, found out they were from Philly, and that Bert works in the HR department for the city. Both were excited but apprehensive about Maria going off to school.

At dinner a couple of nights later I went to the bar to get drinks. I was wearing one of my Penn State shirts and the bartender read, very slowly, "Peeennnnn State. Where is that?" I said, Pennsylvania - in the US." He said, "Oh. Is it a company or something."

AARRRGGGGHHHH "No, it's a university."

I came back to the table with the drinks. Carol took one look at my face and said, "Honey, what's wrong." When I told her what had happened, she said, "Well, you can't expect everyone in the world to know about Penn State."

"Oh yeah? Why not?"

She suggested that I get over it and enjoy Jamaica.

When all else fails, there's always chocolate. So I went to the dessert buffet. Bert and Maria were there. When Maria saw my shirt, she squealed, "Penn State! That's where I'm going Saturday." and gave me a big hug. Take THAT, clueless barkeep !

We were having way too much fun to spend time taking pictures. Fortunately, some of the other new friends that Bert and Maria made took some of them. And Bert allowed me to take a couple from her Facebook pages.

Here's one.


and another


Our last night there they joined us for dinner along with another student they had made friends with. See a trend here? "..friends who took pictures; another friend; us; These two captured the hearts of everyone they encountered. What a GREAT pair ! And we were lucky enough to be included in their circle.

We've exchanged email and Facebook addresses and we look forward to keeping up with their lives - AND Maria's conquest of PSU !

Tinkerbell strikes again. What a wonderful "inbetween."

We got up in the middle of the night to make our 7:00am flight. Jamaica immigration people require that you arrive at the airport 2 1/2 hours before departure. Uneventful connection in Miami and on to Charlotte, followed by the drive home.

We saw a bunch of thunderstorms on approach to Charlotte but the pilot did an excellent job of twisting and turning around them.

We also saw a bunch more on the drive home, but missed driving through any. As we were headed up the mountain on I-77, we saw a big rainbow off to the side. Since we were on the side of the mountain looking out over the lower plain, we could clearly see the entire rainbow. Including where both ends hit the ground. Cool.

Then, all of a sudden, one of the ends shifted and came down in the mist to end on the highway right in front of us. And it stayed with us as we drove for a couple of miles. Magical. Of course, all the cameras were packed in the luggage.

But it was a great return to Virginia.

Great trip. Great place. Really great people.

Wonderful honeymoon.

But it's good to be home.

Life is good - here in Virginia!

SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS

Our major event - and expenditure - in Jamaica was a trip to Dolphin Cove.

Great photo ops all over the place and your camera is welcome everywhere

EXCEPT in the dolphin area. There the staff takes videos and still shots to sell to you later. Actually we couldn't have taken pictures anyway. We were too close to the dolphins.

Our group consisted of only the two of us and one other couple. Usually there are 4 couples so we got to do a lot of the stuff twice. Great fun.

Unfortunately the video is of all 4 of us, a little over 8 minutes long. I've tried to edit it but can't seem to make anything work. So until I come up with a better solution than playing it on the TV and videoing it with my camera, I guess I'm stuck with still shots.

We started by getting acquainted with our two new friends.








Then we each got taken for a ride











Then we got personal







TA DA - TA DA - TA DA - DRUM ROLL, PLEASE

For the grand finale, Beta and Cometta put their noses on the arches of our feet and pushed us through the water until we went fast enough to come completely out of the water. Then they carried us across the lagoon and ended the ride by tossing us in the air.

I went first,


Then Carol,


Since we went first, we didn't know that it might be difficult. Then the other couple followed. She planed along the water like a surf board and never got in the air at all. He lifted into the air and immediately fell off. Later in the day we watched a group of 8 and none of them got out of the water.

We've watched the video many times now and have a couple of theories.

1. We're just fit and athletic.
NOPE, That ain't it.
2. Our youthful enthusiasm.
NOT THAT either. Most of the others were younger than Carol. And all were less than half my age.
3. We REALLY LIKED the dolphins, were completely comfortable with them and THEY KNEW IT. So they gave us a better ride.
THAT'S GOTTA BE IT.

What an incredible day.

Life is Good !