Arrived Thursday morning and linked up with my Carnival Ace
Charmaine (we actually met on the road Trinidad Carnival Monday 2011 and been hitting international carnivals together ever since) . For the most part we switched up the fete schedule, but we had so
much fun at AFLOAT boat party last year that we decided to go again. AFLOAT is hosted aboard the Treasure Queen, a
3 floor, 500 person capacity ship… it grew so much in size that they had to add
a 2nd boat. Even with half
the patrons being on a 2nd boat, we still ran into a lot of familiar
faces and had the time of our lives. Can’t
go wrong at a drinks inclusive fete. “Keep
di Wray & Ting coming bar-man” (said in my In Living Color, Hey Mon accent)
Ran into “the fellas” that we met our first year at JA carnival and have been
fete’n with worldwide ever since. Perfect
way to start of the 6 day fete a thon.
 |
| Boat 1 |
 |
| Boat 2 |
 |
| The Fellas!!! |
We had bought tix to a midnight – 6am Silent Party, but the
bed held us hostage and we just slept right thru it. We both actually woke up, but said, “F*ck dat
sh*t” and went right back to sleep. When
we did finally wake up we headed to Hookie breakfast party, we caught the early
portion of the fete because we had another fete in the afternoon. If you know
anything about Caribbean fetes, people always arrive towards the end. But we merrily drank champagne and ate a yummy Caribbean
breakfast while overlooking the beautiful Constant Spring Golf Course.
Saturday morning we usually head to AMBush around 2am, but
this year we skipped it, had a liquid breakfast at the hotel then went to pick our
costumes from the Xaymaca mas camp. Oh I forgot to mention that we switched
from Bacchanal JA to Xaymaca this year. Costume pick up is usually a painful 4 hour
process, but we were in/out in about 30min.
Had so much time to kill, we went back and had a patio lyme at the hotel
*whoop whoop*
Saturday afternoon we headed to Sunkissed beach fete. Sunkissed was a splendiferous catamaran cruise to a magical island called Maiden Cay that I haven’t been on since JA carnival 2014.
Maiden Cay is a small uninhabited island located off the
coast of Port Royal, Kingston, Jamaica. It is little more than an elevated
sandbar with sparse vegetation. It's a popular destination and rest spot for
sunbathers, snorkelers and boaters / yachters, and it is also frequently used
for day time beach parties. (www.maidencay.com)
Maiden Cay reminds me so much of one of my favorite
childhood stories, “The Little Prince” about a boy who lived alone on a tiny asteroid. Being on the tiny island was everything I ever
needed in my life! The girls and I went
straight to work on a photoshoot cause as you know, girls love a
photoshoot!!! We then drank & lyme’d
with friends for who knows how many hours.
Ended the day feeling very satisfied! In past years we would go to the
Frechmen Bazodee fete on Saturday night, but this year we went to bed and
rested up for the road.
Road March Sunday, we normally touch di
road around noon still feeling slightly sluggish from the night before, but
this year we hit the road around 10am feeling fully charged up! Jamaica carnival doesn’t have a 2 hour lunch
like Trinidad, that can be a good and a bad thing. It’s great when you arrived around noon and just
wanna eat & keep it moving, but when you been drinking all morning &
early afternoon in the sun, you could use a liKKle time to recharge. Anyway, we ate and caught a quick powernap
and kept on fete’n until 8pm. I really don’t remember much from the road, but
my photos tell me that I has a BLAST… THANK GOODNESS for photos. I was quite
shocked to still have energy when the road march ended. At the time I kinda missed the years of Bacchanal JA’s
after party, but then I ate and got the ITIS and Carnival Sunday was wrap!!!
 |
| You know you are in the Carib when you mas band has White Henn, but ppl aren't even drinking it cause Rum & Whiskey are the drinks of choice. |
 |
| Xaymaca International |
Monday was the Xaymaca beach cool down
lyme. This was a cooler fete that was
free to Xaymaca masqueraders (this is the reason I stayed till Tuesday). You know
things go downhill quick when you are your own bartender, I think everyone got
extra extra extra LITTY cause they knew the marvelous trip was coming to an end. I probably shoulda packed some snacks cause drunk
me ended up begging Cheetos from the guy next to us! *thanks stranger* No complaints here, free fetes are A-ok with me!
Tuesday was farewell drinks and sadly making our way home!!! As always JA carnival was amazing, two
thumbs up. During Trinidad carnival we didn't do any boat rides or have time to hit the beach so this trip had me on Cloud 9. JA carnival is as much fun as Trinidad
carnival, but half the price. After 6 marvelous years, we are contemplating
trying a different carnival instead next year.
Stay Tuned! I leave you with a
few stolen moments of me in my “Happy Place”
