Negril trip report

[mcamp]

What a nice relaxing week in Negril.
Had little planned; just the way I like it.
We ended up spending most of it on the beach.
We stayed at CocoLaPalm. Great spot on the beach, plenty of good eats close by, and close enough to town where you can walk. I never walked past Margaritaville's in the other direction.
We did the Red Stripe catamaran trip which included snorkeling out by the reef near Booby Caye, from there snorkeling at the caves, dinner, and over to Rick's, and sunset cruise on the way back. Well worth the $60. They go out about a couple hundred yards from Coco La Palm heading towards town. Includes dinner and drinks.
We also did the One Love bus trip; what a fun time. Stopped at No-Name, Shanty Town, Xtabi, Sir D's, Negril Escape, and a couple others.
We ate at Best of the West (jerk chicken), Coletta's (had a nice steamed jack fish), Sweet Spot (curry conch), CocoLaPalm (coconut snapper).
All the food was good.
I found the food at Coco excellent. Had breakfast there every day, dinner one night and lunch one day.
The staff there is also excellent.....no complaints, and would stay there again "no problem man".
Got patty's and coco bread on the beach from the guy with the bicycle.
The stretch of beach at Coco is a nice place to chill. The almond and sea grape trees offer shade....plenty of action on the beach.
What I found; once you got to know the people selling stuff along the beach, and even bought what they are selling, it was much more chill, and you could engage in conversation without being hustled.
My morning routine; rolling some fatties.....they worked as nice tips to the travelling musicians along the beach, and seemed appreciated.
The only unfortunate situation was my ATM card never worked in Jamaica. We had enough USD to get by, but resorted to charging stuff to keep some cash in hand.
I never did figure that one out.....as soon as I got back the card worked no problem.
In the end, I could have easily have set up camp in that spot for a few weeks...no problem man.

[jamaicajeanne]

Great trip report! Thank you!
Regarding the ATM card. Many banks do not allow their cards to work internationally unless you have called them ahead of your trip.

[mcamp]

Great trip report! Thank you!
Regarding the ATM card. Many banks do not allow their cards to work internationally unless you have called them ahead of your trip.

I contacted the bank prior to leaving, and then again when the card didn't work.
They assured me the card was active....tried multiple ATM's to no avail.
Worked when I came home.

[freshmint]

same. didnt work on the trip but the bank said it was active same as well. worked again when i got home. had always done the chore of calling to tell them about a trip which they now said they dont bother with doing that ie., flagging the account based on our phone calls to them anylonger, it's gone into an automated direction.

[mcamp]

I would suggest the One Love pub crawl as a "must do".
I liked going to all the bars, and the people at all of them appreciated the business.
You also get a chance to see the "real Jamaica", and staying at a big AI resort is not it.

I also spent some time talking to Donovan (he does wood carvings at Coco).
He has been at that spot for over twenty years. As nice of an office as they come; on the beach.
Met others who have relocated to Jamaica from the states.
I also met Rasta man Thunder who roasts coffee behind the coffee shop near Colleta's; going to brew some tomorrow.

My only unfortunate confrontation was with a young guy on a scooter.
I was walking back from Mikey's Grocery when the guy on the scooter "helped" me cross the road; i.e. turned around in the direction I was heading.
Mikey's is literally across the street.
Then he was hustling me to give him money for his "help"....when I didn't give him money, he was trying to sell me bracelets....when I didn't buy a bracelet he said I was "full of ****" multiple times. It was totally uncalled for. Many play the "respect" card, but don't practice it. Respect isn't a given, it is earned.

[runningfarmer]

I meet the same guy wanted money for a wrist band and after we declined he started to yell and told us to go back to cuba. Most times I give money away he pissed me off.

[JDd]

next time ask him.... where... he works and.

[RonMon]

Those wrist bands are a pain in the a$$. Many hustlers use them just as intimidation for a buck. Our only bad interaction of last trip was a guy forcibly tying on on the boss lady after she refused and even tried to pull away. We of course just walked away after telling him how rude that was. He came up to us that evening wanting the $$$ we "owed" him. I told him what I thought of his disrespect and that he would never see a dollar out of us and we were overly polite considering his actions. A security guy came over and told him to beat it, security guy said he does it daily, said he is too lazy for real work so he runs with gang and hustles.

[mcamp]

With all that said, I did not let it ruin my mood....I had that brief WTF? moment and moved on.

[Fran Watt]

We were on the beach a month ago - its not a dollar anymore - Chris (probably the same guy - he came running out of the bushes at us ) turned his nose up at $5.00 - but as that was all we had - that's what he got. It was dark and hubby and I had had a few beverages so didn't want to get into a discussion about his disrespectful manner - so left it at that.