June 16, 2011
When Lee and I decided to return to Tensing Pen in Negril, Jamaica for our 10th anniversary trip, I wondered if the resort would really be as great as I remembered. When we arrived here two years ago, I was shocked. The setting was more beautiful than I had imagined, the cottages rustic in appearance yet well-appointed, the atmosphere just right for doing absolutely nothing. The pictures I’d seen online had not done it justice.

But having already been here once before, would it really seem so sweet a second time?

Thankfully, my memories were not flawed.

We booked the same cottage we had on our first trip – Rock Cottage I, but there was a mix-up with the reservation and that cottage was occupied when we arrived. It turned out to be a happy mistake. We got to see inside some of the other available cottages and ended up choosing the Pine Pillar Suite.

It’s like a tree house by the ocean, and because of the height, all you can see from the the room is the sea. At times, sitting on the bed looking out the french doors, I feel like I’m on a boat because I seem to be surrounded by water.

I won’t post this for several days, not until I’m back home and can get the photos off my camera. But as I write this I’m sitting on our expansive balcony staring at a sea so blue it’s hard to look away. When the mid-day sun shines down on the coves around our resort, the water simultaneously shimmers in every shade of blue from a light aqua to a deep navy, depending on what’s below – whether white sand, reef or just more depth.

The sounds I hear are of the water lapping the sides of the cliffs and Lee playing his ukulele beside me. My skin is salty from when I went snorkeling this morning, with white salt crystals still visibly clinging to my arms. I had a stare-down with a fish this morning, a garfish I think. He wasn’t afraid of me, which made me afraid of him. I finally decided to climb out of his water, but there were so many yellow and black striped angel fish around the ladder and I didn’t want to disturb them.

These are the decisions we make here. To disturb the fish or keep swimming? To play the ukulele or paint? The lounge chairs or the hammock hut? To read or, as I’m doing now, to write?

I’ll be so glad to see Camille tomorrow, although it’s always hard to leave this place. But it helps that I know we can come back some day, God willing, and it will be as wonderful as I remembered.

A few favorite pictures:

Lee painting on our balcony

A pic of me snorkeling and a pic of me on a float – I look like such a small, lonesome speck in the sea!

Razor the bartender left for a few minutes and asked me to cover the bar for him. Thankfully no one needed any drinks, because I intended to charge triple.

Fabulous sunsets over the hammock hut.