MERRI IN Motion on the Ocean lived up to its name on Friday night as those patrons who turned up for the party on the 'Baltimore Patriot', certainly had a merry time as the Merritone family disc jockey kept them dancing until the boat ride ended at shortly after two p.m.
At 10:45 p.m., the boat 'Baltimore Patriot' left the Ocho Rios Pier with it's partying passengers on board. The destination was in and around the Ocho Rios Harbour.
Despite signs of 'sea sickness' in the earlier stages on the part of some of the passengers, all this was soon forgotten as the Merritone selector, Craig Ross, struck up some old tunes which went down well with the fair-sized crowd.
The night progressed with the numbers of dancers growing slowly as the selector started the evening off with some old school tunes. The number of people on the dancefloor continued to grow as those patrons who had been eating on the upper deck, finished, and several who had suffered from initial bouts of sea sickness recovered and made their way to the dancefloor eager to enjoy themselves.
The selector for the evening, recognising the increase in the size of the crowd reached into his record box and produced the music the crowd seemed to have been waiting on. The 'old-school' soca tunes that were selected seemed to energise the couple who were by this time dancing intensely.
With the dancefloor becoming even more crowded, Ross changed the beat of the music and opted for some old-school reggae. The response was just the same. "Half Pint's "Greetings" sparked the crowd who seemed to want to unleash their best dance moves as if attempting to show their approval of the selector's choice of music. And, as they danced many sang along to the tunes of the 80s.
With most of the patrons now on the dance floor, Ross switched to more contemporary soca tunes. When he played Kevin Little's "Turn Me On", and a few other similar tracks, the crowd, especially the more seasoned lot unleashed the very best dance moves.
The deejay then slowed the pace down and began playing popular love songs of the 1960 and 70s causing the couples to 'rent tiles', and sing to their partners song after song after song.
Seeking to please all members of the audience, the deejay then segued into more contemporary tracks. He got the ball rolling with several tunes from the "Nine Night" rhythm which saw both young and not so young wining uncontrollably.
Each tune on the rhythm created a similar response from the patrons who had by this time, forgotten that they were on the high seas.
The deejay was just beginning, however and eased into several tracks on the Liquid rhythm which also had a similar effect. He started off with "Log On" which had the younger members of the crowd "logging on" and then eased into Wayne Marshall's "Feeling It" which had the same response.
The selector, seeing that the crowd was feeling him dipped again into his catalogue and unleashed Danny English and Egg Nog's "Party Time" before segueing into "Wayne Marshall's "Overcome". All this was favourably greeted by patrons.
Some of the older people would not be outdone, however, as they danced and tried to steal a few of the moves being displayed by the 'young pups'.
The deejay then changed tempo again. This time his selection of several Beres Hammond tunes seemed to do the trick as couples came close together again renting tiles and singing and dancing as if they had never danced before.
The deejay kept the dancing going with several Bob Marley selections and some selection from British group "Wham".
By this time, the time had come for the party to end as boat docked. One patron summed up the night's proceedings best as the patrons were leaving the pier.
"Bwoy, if mi dead tomorrow mi would a dead knowing seh me live and enjoy myself," he said.
