You are not the kind of person who would be in a place like this at this time of the morning. Not back home, anyway. But today is different. Today you’re on a paddleboard. In a cove. Under an ascendant Caribbean sun. Today is a good day.
You woke up at sunrise, slipped on a swimsuit, then walked 30 paces from your villa at Rockhouse to the edge of a 15-foot cliff and threw yourself right off it. Today is a good day! you thought as you plunged into the cool, clear waters of Pristine Cove.
Way out here on Jamaica’s westernmost shore, just south of Negril, the seas are calm, the cove even calmer. You swam a few laps across the bay, eyes open, among schools of parrotfish, trumpet fish, angelfish, and damselfish. Circling a sculpture garden of coral you saw two spotted eagle rays, three wildly blue starfish, and one skittish octopus (“sea puss,” Jamaicans call it).
Then you commandeered a paddleboard to explore the craggy limestone coast of West End, until the sun grew hot and you retreated to the cove. Now you’ve worked up a legitimate appetite, which is convenient, because breakfast is your favorite time of day at Rockhouse, possibly your favorite thing at Rockhouse, along with the swimming and the paddleboarding and the starfish and the sea puss.
So now you’ll climb the bright red ladder out of the sea and drip-dry your way to your villa, where you’ll shower and dress down for breakfast. You’ll think, Today I’ll have ackee and saltfish — which, let’s not kid ourselves, is what you have every day here, with a side of callaloo and a pot of strong Blue Mountain coffee. You’ll linger late into the morning, watching the bay sparkle. Perhaps then you’ll go snorkeling, or book an outdoor massage with Joy, or take Vincent’s glass-bottom boat out to the reef. Or perhaps you’ll just doze off by the pool, lulled by Althea & Donna singing “Uptown Top Ranking.” Doesn’t matter where you end up. Today, after all, is a good day.
Link copied!