As mentioned previously, the first lunch was at the hotel, Travellers Beach Resort. The kids had hamburgers and fries and I shared off their plates and TJ's plate of jerk chicken salad. We hung on the beach and got some fruit from Jem. The weather was fantastic as the hurricane had sucked all the moisture out of the air and a steady 10knot breeze was blowing. So, it was time to head up to the cliffs!
We drove by 3Dives, but they were closed. Closed on Wednesdays in August or something like that. Onward to...Pushcart! Dinner at Pushcart was great. Which is to say, same as always! Probably my 10th time dining here. Fast and friendly table service, strong drinks, cold RS and a great view. I suggest sharing the Ya'Mon jerk platter and the 'Nyammings traditional JA food platter. We ordered those two platters and some curry conch and it was plenty for 4 people. It felt like December on the cliffs, so cool, dry and pleasant.
A quick stop at LTU and there was an old friend waiting, as if he knew we'd be there. It took about an hour to catch up on all the runnings in Negril that I've missed by being gone for 3 years. Sad news on a few fronts. Lots of changes. It was good to see Delbert...
Thursday we ate at lunch at Alfred's Ocean Palace. The fish and chips are still the best on the beach, the service was very friendly and fast and the waitress kept the pipe water coming cold! We hung on the beach there and enjoyed the very very small parade of life going by. The beach was very very quiet!
That night, we decided to do dinner at Canoe. As always, a great meal. Kingfish, butterfish, and lionfish were all perfectly cooked. For most of the dinner, we had the place to ourselves. It was a nice sunset and a great way to wind down the day.
Friday it was off to Half Moon Beach. This "hidden" spot is located just east of Rhodes Hall Plantation. There was an admission fee of $5USD each, but there were no other peeps there, so we had the entire place to ourselves. Very rustic, very peaceful. We ate lunch there, lobster and kingfish, and again, it was very well cooked. Best french fries of the trip, and that is darn hard to do! My daughter loves the dogs, especially the big male who loves to bury things on the beach. Your things! LOL! It was a Nerf football, but we got a kick out of his Herculean efforts to bury that ball. A brief dash under the massage hut during an afternoon gusher then some more swimming and snorkeling. Not great snorkeling from the beach, maybe better off of Calico Jacks...
That night for dinner we stumbled across the street for some great pizza at Sunrise Club. That place has real coffee and we had morning coffee there on a few days! Very reasonable for two pizzas and drinks and those two pizzas easily served four. Bring bug spray.
Saturday( I think it was Saturday...) I drove into town and grabbed patties at Hammonds Bakery for lunch. The best in Negril. Delicious! Saturday night I was feeling exhausted so TJ took the kids to Kenny's Italian...she reports that the place was rocking and the food was good. Easy and safe walk from the hotel.
Sunday was back to Half Moon Beach. This time there was nobody manning the booth, so we passed in for free, but promptly purchased some RS at the bar. We then made arrangements for the tiny boat to shuttle us out to Calico Jack's Island Pirate Bar in a few hours for lunch....Calico Jack's sits on a spit of coral out in the Half Moon bay. Lunch was kingfish and it was GREAT! Not too expensive, either. It was a great afternoon to sit under the thatch and play dominoes while it rained and was generally cloudy and windy. Total relaxation. We had the place to ourselves for most of the afternoon.
For dinner, it was off to 3Dives! 2 for 1 Lobster! Yay Lobster! The RS was cold and the lobsters were very big and came to $15USD per. So, for $60 bucks, we all ate a Lobster! Contrary to rumor, there was no excessive wait. Probably 20 minutes from order to eat! Great sunset that night as well!
Monday was designated beach day where we did nothing. Just lay around. Laid out at Margaritaville from 10 until 1. The kids loved playing on the floating tramp and slide and after buying a couple of RS, nobody hassled us except to come over and see if we needed any food or drink. We than made our way down beach to Sun Beach for lunch. Great lunch, even if it took a bit. Fish all around and it was delicious! Very underrated lunch stop on the beach. There is table service to the side and behind the bar.
For dinner we decided to rest and eat in. Dinner was take away from Best in the West. 2 half jerk chickens and a pound of jerk pork, with rice and peas. Delicious. We had one day left....
Tuesday was another hang around the beach, get your souvenirs and just have a final chill. We ate patties and coco bread and fruit and drank RS and mixers from our cooler. Spent the whole day either on the beach or in the water.
For dinner....back to Pushcart! Almost the same order except TJ ordered a whole steam roast snapper. It was OMG delicious. Kinda bittersweet last dinner...but kinda cool to repeat the first night's dinner. Hadn't done that before. Everyone said it tasted even better, if that was even possible.
So, overall, the food was great everywhere we went. The kids, one of whom can be a fussy eater, had no issues whatsoever and only did cheeseburgers twice! However, they insisted on fries with everything, instead of rice and peas. I can live with that....
