It was a short drive to Rick's Cafe from Margritaville.  When we got there we walked around and looked at the views and took photos.  It wasn't busy at all.  It was actually the first time we'd been bored doing nothing lol  We got a drink and sat down.  We thought there would be cliff divers or something visible to draw a daytime crowd.  Nope, nadda.  Apparently a minimal number of divers don't show up until 5:30 or so.  They want the sunset crowds for an audience and to get money from them.  We hadn't planned on staying long enough to watch the "famous Sunsets of Rick's Café".  Why would we?  Wait til you see the sunsets we had from our balcony at the Resort.  We were told the divers off the high platforms are getting $20 a pop from the crowd.  What a scam, though I'm sure there were enough willing to part with their money.  There was one guy that "jumped" off.  No biggie!  You can sign your life away in waivers and jump from the lower platforms.  Without the divers, it was just another pricey bar with a view.  Nice view, but not why we went here.  We'd had enough.  We finished our drinks and went and found Wayne and left.  You can see how impressed Mike was in one of our photos lol.  We told Wayne what we thought of Rick's Café.  I don't think he was used to negative comments about the place, but he got it.

 

Our conversation turned more to our personal lives and it was nice to hear about Wayne's life and family.  On route, he told us he had to make a quick stop.  He pulled over and 3 young boys ran to the van.  He introduced us to his oldest son and told us he was just touching base with him.  Nice!!

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Wayne's banter and information was enjoyable and put a perspective on Jamaica's history that made it an exceptional trip.  We discussed everything from Jamaican wildlife to the school and health systems.  We discussed wages, job opportunities and the justice system.  He explained how simple possession of weed used to carry a lifetime barrier for advancement.  If you have "a bad thumb picture" you basically carry that with you for life.  Being arrested and "fingerprinted" pretty much eliminated any chance of entering any jobs in the tourism industry or in the majority of positions that could advance them in life.  There would be no employees at our resort that had a "past".  I'd been told they all go through several levels of background checks before they can even apply there and the majority must complete prerequisite courses.  Some staff go through an additional course at the Palladium Group's academy.  All paid for, but they have to excel in all the prior requirements.  This education pretty much guarantees them a bright future in the travel and tourism industry.  We were very impressed by the number of staff our resort employs.

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We had another great ride back "home" as we fondly referred to our Suite and made arrangements to leave Wayne a bag full of baseball caps for his sons that we'd brought with us.  We left them at the Bellhop's desk and they knew exactly who Wayne was.  He's apparently quite well known in the resort and tourist attraction community.  Super nice guy that I'm sure we'll connect with again.