You got it, Tjack. The island in the distance, about 3 miles away, is Booby Cay. I was standing waist deep in the water off Negril's 7 mile beach when I snapped that shot. There was only one hotel on the entire 7 mile beach back then, the small exclusive Sundowner. Jackie Kennedy spent a couple of weeks there after her brother in law Bobby was killed. I used to bicycle up there for the saturday buffet when I had some extra money. Because I lived in Negril with an old local family they charged me Jamaica prices. Big difference. I still remember Rita Hojan, the owner, vividly.
Off to the right of the photo all that vegetation is now Sandals. The entire beach is now built on. It's impossible to walk onto the beach without going through a hotel or restaurant. It's wall to wall concrete. The natural sand beach, one of the most beautiful in the world, was washed away years ago, after construction siltation killed the offshore reefs that protected it. The hotel owners truck in new sand every few months, and dump it in the water. You can imagine the consequences. All that pristine green and blue beauty is gone. It wasn't dive travel that killed Negril. it was mass tourism and unrestricted development, the invincible combination of greed and stupidity. I've traveld to many places. Negril was the best.
