Crashing Waves Make For Very Good Days!!

It was a strange last week in Harmons, Jamaica, but I guess that's only fitting for what has been a summer full of twists and turns. When the group was supposed to get here on Sunday and we had driven to the airport just to find out that their entire flight was cancelled we knew as a staff that it was going to be an interesting week. We found out on Sunday night that the group wouldn't arrive till Tuesday. We modified the week and the group was not able to go to Ocho Rios because they were arriving so late and we had so much work to get done. Josh came up with a great idea to treat the group to a trip to the south coast, since they would be working straight till Saturday afternoon. They wouldn't have the opportunity to stay in the Silver Seas, nor spend the entire day on the beach snorkeling or climbing Dunn's River Falls. At least they would have some beach time, and get the opportunity to do something that no other group had done this summer. The summer staff was extremely excited because only two of us had ever been to the south coast before and it would be a change from the routine of always going to Ocho Rios, even though we wouldn't have any recuperation time. Saturday afternoon we set out on about an hour journey in the two coasters (buses) down roads only fit for a bicycle. We were definitely going deep into the bush to Gutt River, a place where not many non natives had been to before. This wasn't a place you could just be driving down the road to as a tourist and think well this leads to a beach. No these were roads that, as a tourist, if you saw them you would immediately turn around and not want to get lost here. The brush finally let up enough that we could see a road to our left that we took right to the mouth of Gutt River as it met the ocean. Everyone as a group waded across the cold river to get to the beach. The sand was black and the waves were crashing in at about four to five feet high as the undertow matched the intensity of the crashing waves. Along with this being our first trip to the south coast, it was also the summer staff's first opportunity to spend the day with our mento's (Jamaicans that we are mentoring throughout the summer). It was a great experience to able to go to the south coast with the small group of eighteen people and our mento's. After we finished swimming in the ocean we all walked down to a swimming hole and jumped off rocks into the crystal clear water that you could see about eighteen feet to the bottom. Then we bathed in the river with our swimsuits on and got to save water for the Harmony House since water is such a precious commodity here and began to head back. On our way back the staff bus was able to stop at a water hole where Finley, the Medic, said that manatees show up sometimes, and wouldn't you know that a manatee was there to put the icing on the cake. The day went perfectly and was probably one of my favorite days of the summer so far.
Still Much More To Come,
Evan Smith