Rivers, and Crocodiles, and Red Stripe, Oh My…….

Ruthie Lanigan
Feb 4, 2019
4 min read

Day 4 was our excursion day. I was quite excited as I had never been very far outside of Negril. We were going on a trip to the Black River. Anna had arranged for our driver to pick us up at 9:00 am to start our adventure. After a quick breakfast, we met our driver and climbed into the van. Our driver and guide for the day was Samar. It was drizzling a bit when we left and the clouds didn’t look very promising. We figured that if it was too rainy when we got to the river, at least we would have had a nice scenic ride. Samar called a friend of his who told him that it wasn’t raining at our destination. Thank goodness!

The ride was probably around 2 hours to get to the river, but we had a great time. Samar told stories of history as we drove along, keeping us entertained the entire way. As we were driving through Belmont, we drove past the house that Peter Tosh grew up in. Peter was one of the members of Bob Marley’s band. He was also the first person to begin the movement to legalize Marijuana. The history in Jamaica is amazing.

We arrived at the river ready and raring to go! Best of all, there was no rain! We pulled into an old warehouse where we paid our money, and were then led out to a boat. We all piled in, cooler in tow, and headed out on the river. The captain of the boat was a bit cheesy with his stories, but he was fun, and he was very knowledgeable. Within a few minutes of leaving the dock, we saw our very first crocodile. I couldn’t believe it. And then, our captain reached down and splashed some water over the crocodile’s head. And the crocodile loved it! What we learned is that crocodiles are territorial, and stay within a very small area. So the crocodiles that are there have been there for a long time. And they are used to the boats. And the boat captains feed them occasionally. We only saw a few crocs, but it was fun. The views up and down the river were so beautiful and the day was perfect.

Once we left the river, Samar took us to a restaurant for lunch. We ordered food and went to find our table. Our choices were……… Table on the ocean, table on the ocean or ……….. table on the ocean. Life is good! We ate delicious food, drank delicious drinks, and had an amazing view.

Next stop – Floyd’s Pelican Bar. Well this is where I was completely surprised. I was told there was “this bar out in the ocean”. Which is true. But I didn’t expect what we ended up visiting. This story starts as we leave the restaurant we had eaten at. Samar told us it wasn’t far, and we were all excited. We drove down a little road that led to a little driveway that led to a little back yard, with some guys hanging out. Samar walked over to talk with them. He came back and told us to leave our belongings in his van, (he would keep it locked), and we would walk across the street to the ocean where the boats were kept. Interesting. But we did as Samar asked, and headed across the street. We followed the man down the beach and pointed to a boat that was coming in from out in the ocean. It looked pretty small but it was pretty far away. And then I realized the bar we were going to was waaayyyy out in the ocean. And the boat actually was pretty small! We all hopped in though and off headed out to this “bar” in the ocean. Oh my gosh! I have never seen anything like it. The boat pulled up to the steps and we all climbed out and stepped up to the bar. I loved it! You could get Red Stripe or a few different rum drinks. We got drinks and climbed down into the water. The bar is actually on a reef so the water is very shallow there. We stayed out in the water for over an hour just drinking and talking. We met people and shared stories. Finally it was time to go. Back into the boat we go, and head back to shore. Everything was exactly where we left it. We changed into dry clothes and climbed back in the van so Samar could drive us back. The ride home consisted of loud 80’s classic rock. Samar loves this music. Jim knew every song. It was pretty much a big sing a long. Crazy! Below are photos from the Pelican Bar journey (first 3 photos courtesy of Korey Hart)…