Mr and Mrs Sandman go to Port Antonio

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What a beautiful place, it was well worth the drive to get there. Besides us there were 2 other small groups of people there, no crowds at all...


This was the first set of small falls, a good place to get your hair wet....

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How would you like a pool like this in your back yard...



If you're still sleepy from the night before this will wake you up...



Here's my style of a cliff jump..

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The current was very strong here, it was a tough swim to get to the next spot where we would climb to the next level....



This is the same pool, you can see the water flow....

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Sorry, my camera was starting to fog up so my already mediocre pictures are getting worse....

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Our first view of the actual Reach Falls....





Thru this wall of water is a small "cave". It's a struggle to fight the gushing water but pretty cool once you get into the cave...

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Inside....

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One last picture, you can get a picture idea how tall they are...

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I am just going to ramble for a bit, adding thoughts and reflections as I go. Starting with my first experience renting and driving a car in Jamaica. Now I have rented scooters and motorbikes several times in Negril, so I had a bit of experience driving on the left as well as sharing the road with others, including the over aggressive drivers that are so common on the island. The actual rental process was painless. I chose to not buy the cwd insurance and put my trust in my world mastercard. We ended up with a Toyota Corolla. It wasn`t exactly new, it had a little over 100K kms on it, with a few minor scrapes and scratches. But it drove OK and we never had any problems. I would guess we put around 7-800 kms total. Thankfully the AC worked well. The actual driving wasn`t bad, the biggest challenges were driving thru some of the towns where the streets were very busy with other cars and lots of people. Being in Port Antonio it would have been tough not having a car, we drove every day, not always far but even the closest beach, Frenchmans cove, was far beyond walking distance, and in Negril we walk almost everywhere. I suppose we could have taken cabs or hired a driver but it was nice to be in control of our own destiny. We also had a good private parking lot at our hotel so I never stressed too much about leaving it overnight, not that there was anything inside to steal.

This was my 6th trip to Jamaica, but the first time not going to Negril. There are definitely differences in the 2 areas. I guess the biggest difference when it comes to the people around Port Antonio, we were mostly ignored with far less offers to sell us anything. This is not to say it didn’t happen, but in Negril I am accustomed to being offered the chance to buy weed more times in a couple hours than I did in 2 weeks in and around Port Antonio. There were a few hustlers, one guy (Noel), we ran into on several occasions but when I think about it he wanted to sell us CD’s, he never asked us to give him anything. There was another guy (John). He is the guy that I ran into on our 2nd night (I think) while walking back to the hotel from downtown. He pretty much asked for a handout, I never gave him any money but I let him supply me with a little greenery a couple times in exchange for some cash. I got a bit annoyed one evening when we walked down the hotel stairs into the lobby and he was there waiting for us. I told him clearly I never needed anything and that if I did I would track him down. That was the last time I saw him but I know he also hassled another guy (Roger) from the hotel. This guy had come from Ontario with plans on staying in PA for at least a month before travelling elsewhere in Jamaica. He arrived about the same time as we did. We talked several times while hanging out on the roof of our hotel. Roger did a couple transactions with John as well but the last time they talked John demanded that he be given money. Roger told me he gave him 500J and told him he never wanted to talk to him again. The next day Roger told me he was catching a ride to Ocho Rios and looking for a place there. I am pretty sure John was a major reason he left, Roger was a pretty frail looking guy and I think he wanted to avoid another confrontation. Something tells me things won’t be a lot better for him in Ocho.
We also befriended an older man, Andy. He was the guy that drank rum and milk, still have to try that one. Andy was a really nice person and I wish we could have spent some for conversation time together.
With the exception of Long beach, the beaches in the area are pretty small, but not crowded, at least when we were there. The busiest would have been frenchmans cove, the beach we spent the most time at. It was worth the money to get in there, will servers there to bring food and drink. After the first time there we ended up bringing our own beer in a small cooler, but we usually ordered a bit of food. They would keep a tab for you all day, no problem. The water at frenchmans was cooler than the other beaches as there is a cool freshwater stream entering right there. But the little river was good for a bit of snorkelling, lots of fish.
There is very little in the way of small bars geared towards tourists, or where tourists would mix with locals. Any time we went into a bar, we were the only “whiteys”. Not that it was a big deal, but its always nice to have a friendly bartender to chat with. Same with food, pretty limited choices in town, although it wasn’t an issue, especially after hooking up with TJ. Breakfast was included at the hotel, but it wasn’t great. For the first week we were able to pick off the menu (order the night before), second week it was buffet. The menu breakfasts were OK, but buffets really limited. One morning it looked like brown stew chicken, but turned out it was kidney (yuck). I slid it into a napkin, a local dog decided it was fine to eat.
There were 2 Scotia bank atm’s, and even through Christmas there was never a lineup, never had to waste time just to get cash.
There seemed to be a large police presence, walking and driving. Lots of checkstops, but we were never pulled over.
After my last cup of conch soup ended up being doused on the thief that stole my wife’s purse in Negril a few years back, I was finally able to enjoy some. And it was damn good. Only had one chance, the place we got it never had it again, I know because we walked by it regularly.
Probably the biggest negative when comparing it to Negril was the amount of cloudy and rainy weather. From what I have read it sounds like it has actually been wetter than usual around Negril lately but in my experience most days are mostly sunny. Can’t complain about the temperature though, was around 30C every day.

I am going to stray here a bit and mention a place before I forget. On our drive back to MoBay we decided to stop for a bite . And speaking of eating, I don’t remember exactly where but at one point before Ocho Rios we drove past a guy waving a small baggie with some kind of reddish orange contents. As we blew by I mentioned to Rosie that I think he had shrimp in the bag. I drove another km before I made a u-turn to check it out. Sure enough it was peppered shrimp. The only time I had these before was at Middle Quarters, and they were just as good as I remembered. OK, back to the drive…..We were approaching Ocho and decided we should stop for something a bit more substantial to eat. Not long after that we spotted the Scotchies on the left side of the hwy. We had ate at Scotchies at MoBay and it was pretty good. (I never knew there was more than one, I guess they could be all over Jamaica). Anyways we pulled in and right away it looked busy, could hardly find a parking spot in a pretty big lot. Sure enough there was a huge lineup, and I hate lineups. So back in the car and we kept driving. Not too much further we spotted a place on the seaside, I am pretty sure its called Roxboroughs. It was a pretty big place, kind of a big gazebo shape with a bar in the centre. They had a menu of the day posted but nothing really interested me. I suggested to Rosie maybe we should just order a burger and fries each, which she agreed (kind off). We weren’t in a big hurry but I didn’t want to be late dropping off the rental car. There was only 1 other table occupied, it was 3 Jamaicans dressed in “business casual”. They were still waiting for their meal. So we sat and drank a nice cold red stripe and waited for our burgers. We were on our 2nd beer when they waitress brought out the other tables food. I was in awe. Now I rarely order fish in Jamaica, not because I don’t like it but because I am usually disappointed in the small size of the fish you get. I watched these huge platters go by with fish bigger than the plates! First thing I barked to the waitress - “I want to change my order!!!” Of course I was kidding but I have to say those 3 guys had by far the biggest plate of fish each I have ever witnessed in Jamaica. Our burgers came and they were Ok but once we finished and got up to leave these guys were still enjoying their feast.

Back to Port Antonio.. Something we both enjoy is copious amounts of coffee in the morning. Our included breakfast only gave us a small pot with enough for 2 small cups each. We ended up going to Dekal, a place up on the 2nd floor in small shopping complex near the police station. They also sell pastries (which Rosie sampled regularly), and pizza, but we never tried it. Its funny how Jamaica is famous for its coffee yet there are so few places to get a takeout cup.
We never went to Folly Ruins, although we got pretty close. One day we walked by the sports field down the road that leads to it, just wandering, we didn’t have any idea where the road went, thought it would end up at the point of the bay. We walked by a little “bar”, with several locals hanging out, some were playing dominos. They pretty much ignored us but these days I am a little more leery. About then a small car came by full of people, looked like a family. So we kept walking and pretty soon came upon a house, I guess the people in the car lived there. It looked like the end of the road so back we went. At the time I had no idea we walked right by the turn off the trail that led to Folly. Then we walked to the same area a few days later. Once again there was a fairly large group of guys hanging at this bar. We didn’t go much further when my paranoia got the best of me. I didn’t want to get too far off the beaten path where we would be all alone. I guess I still have concerns since our Negril incident.
To be continued, more pictures as well….