# Negril.com Message Board Forums > Port Antonio Message Board >  Trip Report:  Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston

## mwenvlay

i figured an actual trip report would be nice after i spent weeks spamming this forum with my endless "trip inspiration" thread!

after 12 hours(!!!) of travel from nyc, we got to strawberry hill at around 4pm yesterday.  internet is completely down, which sucks, because i have about 4 hours of work to do each day, the rest of this week (yay, i can earn money while on vacation).  after waking up at 3am, i sucked it up and turned on my hotspot, churned out 2 hours of work and figured i'd start my trip report thread.

i'm traveling with my husband and our 12 year old son, ti boss.

we did jfk>mia>kingston.  no big issues, really.  



we did the admirals club, because i had to put in 2 hours of work during our miami layover, and figured we may as well be comfortable as i typed away.   we did a little shopping in miami- a bottle of champagne (my birthday is next week), a bottle of hennessy and an overpriced bathing suit, because our son, ti boss, refuses to pack properly.

the plane rides were annoying- ZERO legroom.



we landed on time.

immigrations/customs forms were annoying- we were told by the stewardesses that we just needed to fill out one form for the family.  i filled out one form.  we got to the immigration line and the attendant there told me we needed to fill out forms for each member of the family.  i grumbled, sat down, and scribbled out two additional forms.  we got through immigration (the kingston airport also has kiosks, by the way), got to customs and the lady there told me we should have only filled out one form and that it had to be completed by "the huzzzzzzzbind," and listing "the wife" and "the son" as family members on the back.  whatevzzzzzz.  she was nice, though.

after the usual confusion and hassle (american had changed our flights months ago and strawberry hill didn't bother to look up our info day of travel, like they'd told me they would) we eventually found our driver and were off.  he, of course, has worked for chris blackwell for over 20 years and we knew a bunch of the same old school music industry people, so we chit chatted about that, while my husband bugged out (like he always does) about HOW MUCH jamaica looks like haiti.  ti boss played with his ipod and got excited when his favorite "litty" mumble rap songs came on the car radio.

i asked to make a quick stop at a supermarket, where i picked up some bottles of soda, a few six packs of red stripe and guinness and a few packages of biscuits.

we made it to the hotel around 4, were offered soothing, mint infused washcloths and rum punches and our luggage was brought up to our cottage, which is ridiculously beautiful.

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## mwenvlay

our accommodations, BAMBOO COTTAGE,  is ridiculously, insanely, overwhelmingly beautiful.

it's a 2 story cottage with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom downstairs and a big living/dining area upstairs.  both bedrooms have small porches and the 2nd floor has a really big porch.  there's also a large picture window upstairs, with a nice built in bench, where you can just chill out and enjoy the view of kingston city and the port.  



*looking at the upstairs porch from living/dining room*




*view from the picture window*



*view of the living area from the porch*


we didn't do very much our first night.  i took a shower (they used to have a really deep old bathtub in this cottage, but they've renovated the bathroom with a big walk-in shower), and changed while my guys went to take a quick walk around.  

we strolled to the bar at a few minutes to 6, ordered drinks and sat by the fire for a few minutes, then had a nice leisurely dinner, where we saw a bunch of brown lizards chilling on the chandelier right above our heads.  


*there are 3 of them in this photo, but they're impossible to spot*


after dinner, we went back to the cottage, climbed into bed and watched harry potter and the chamber of secrets on the laptop (no tv i the cottage, yay!)  ti boss went into his room around 8pm and we all fell asleep.

i woke up at 3am, eventually managed to get myself online, did my work and now i'm listening to dogs bark and crickets chirp.  

we have no plans for tomorrow, other than to chill.  i'm sure ti boss wants to get some swimming in.

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## Ever72

Looks amazing!  Will def have to get up there with V someday!  Have fun.  Keep the Trip Reports comin!  Say hi
To A and A.

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

day 2, which will officially end in 11 minutes, was an extreme case of milding.  

i was up from 3am until 1pm.  ti boss came out of his room at 6:30 and watched the sun rise with me.

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## mwenvlay

ti boss spotted the cat that i'd heard in the middle of the night.




i'm such a crazy cat lady.  


we went to breakfast at around 9am.  it was good.  ti boss didn't like the carrot/ginger/coconut milk smoothie, but my husband loved it.  

next stop:  chilling at the pool.

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## mwenvlay

we spent about 3 hours chilling at the pool.  hennessey and red stripe (brought from our room) for the adults, malta (brought from our room) and a virgin colada (from the bar) for ti boss.  

my husband asked if we could have plastic cupss and the folks who were manning the pool and bar areas told us it was no problem to bring our own drinks and that they would be happy to give us glasses.  they told us to rearrange the furniture any way we liked and that the only thing we had to do was make sure we enjoyed ourselves.  

we rearranged the furniture to suit our domino playing needs, covered the slatted table with a table cloth i'd brought from home, put some chill music (at very low volume) on the iphone and got busy.  

















back when ti boss was a ti baby, i started a tradition of bringing a big package of punch balloons with me (the kind with the thick rubber band at the end, for "punching") on all of our trips to haiti and jamaica-  and, over the years, ti boss has grown obsessed.  he fills a balloon with water and drags it around the pool for hours. 

i knew it was time to leave when a) heavy grey clouds rolled in and b) my husband started a long, very serious conversation about naps and the necessity of them and how he probably needs to sleep more.  i asked him, also very seriously, if he thought he'd be happier if he went to take a nap right away and woke up starving or if we went to eat lunch and then napped on full stomachs.

we dropped our poolside chilling items back at the cottage, then headed out for a stroll down the mountain to crystal edge cafe.

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## mwenvlay

we dropped our poolside chilling items back at the cottage, then headed out for a stroll down the mountain to crystal edge cafe.



i am out of shape and in no condition to handle walking uphill 3,000+ feet above sea level, so i had to stop several times to rest on our way back, which is when i snapped this picture.  i love the way clothing smells after it's dried on the line.

so, after lunch it was back to the cottage for a napathon.  ti boss slept from 6pm straight through until the morning, pretty much.  i did a few hours' worth of work and husband took a stroll back down to crystal edge while i was occupied.

that was day 2.

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## mwenvlay

today (day 3, and our final full day at strawberry hill) was more of the same, but in a good way.

we all woke up around 6:30 and watched the morning dawn.  i went back to sleep while the guys watched another harry potter movie that's downloaded to the laptop- still no wifi, and our movie options are limited to 3 harry potter films and an austin powers.  i finally roused myself around 8:30 and we headed down to breakfast.







after that, we went back and did a puzzle for a few hours, while watching austin powers.

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

day 3 poolside activities centered around eating (all 3 of us), napping (husband), swimming (ti boss) and yahtzee (me n ti boss).












husband and i took a walk around the property in the afternoon.

we had dinner at the restaurant around 9pm.

went to sleep around 11.  

nice day.

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## mwenvlay

day 4, and off to boston bay- eventually.

woke up a little after 6:30am.

started packing while the kid slept and husband watched austin powers for the 3rd time.

breakfast at 9am.

came back to the cottage, finished packing, stopped off at gift shop/spa.  i had $ for our housekeeper, who'd told me she'd be at the spa.  we ran into her right away.  ti boss got a free 15 minute massage at the spa and i got a cute bob marley vintage style t-shirt (50% off!).  back to the room.

warren, who's supposed to be here at 12pm, whatsapped me and told me he's running late.  so we should be out of here at around 1pm, as opposed to 12 noon.

so now we're packed and chilling, waiting for our 12pm check-out.




*luggage ready, aside from ti papa's big suitcase*



i guess once we're checked out we'll hang by the bar until warren shows up.

our housekeeper gave me the scoop on david, the man who took us on a hike when we were here for our honeymoon.  he no longer works at strawberry hill, but has a small shop in red light, which we'll pass on our way to great huts.  she said if we ask for "allen," someone will definitely be able to get us to him.

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## mwenvlay

we checked out at around 12:30pm- our food and drinks tab was more than $300 LESS than i’d expected.  i am not complaining.  for some reason we have really good luck with this type of thing.




*ti papa, checked out*

warren showed up before 1pm and we hit the road.  he’s an excellent driver and an extremely nice person.  he also knows david, and actually wanted to check him about something, but alas, david was not around when we got to red light.  

the drive through the mountains was far, far less scary than i remembered it.  

we only made one more stop after red light, to get some hand roasted coffee beans for my sister. 









duggy, the coffee guy, also had a roadside outdoor restaurant that was surprisingly filled with tourists.  i mean, we really were in the middle of nowhere!  duggy told us they were all day trippers who wanted an off the beaten path tour of his coffee farm.  he also has rooms to rent- i would totally want to stay up there next time i’m back in ja.  stay up in the blue mountains, bathe in the river and chill.

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

we stopped to get food in buff bay- really delicious soup with river snail, red pea, dumpling and potato.  

it was really, really, really nice to finally not have to eat hotel food.

the drive from buff bay to great huts was exceedingly pleasant.  warren pointed out where he grew up and other local spots of interest.  

we stopped at woody's to place an order for jamaican food for monday at 6pm.  if you're not wanting hamburgers you have to order the food at least a day in advance and pay up front (a minimum of 2 orders), so i handed over enough money for 2 orders of curry goat.  monday, 6pm.  ti boss will be happy with hamburger.  warren is going to drive us around for a full day on monday, with woody's to be the last stop.  mooretown/nanny falls, long bay, blue hole and whatever we come up with.  10am pick-up time.

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## mwenvlay

backtracking a bit, here's a walk-through of bamboo cottage...

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

boston bay, great huts and fig tree house (the unit we're staying in) are as incredibly gorgeous as irish town, strawberry hill and bamboo cottage.




*view of entrance from upstairs bed*



*view of boston bay from upstairs bed*



we arrived around 5:30pm, received a complimentary rum punch, settled the balance of our bill (you have to pay half up front and half upon arrival), were given a very quick rundown of property FAQs and taken to our room by a very nice guy named fisher. ti boss discovered that fisher is 25 and unmarried, currently.

husband immediately went out to the jerk stands and got 2 half chickens and 3 festival.

ti boss immediately went to explore the 2 pools.

i immediately went and ran a bath in that massive bathtub overlooking the water.

the bath was incredible.

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## mwenvlay

oh, yeah- we drove past about 4 funeral processions yesterday.  3 of them were extremely hoochie.  the 4th was lynval bloomfield's.

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## mwenvlay

day 5- first full day at great huts.

6:39 is the time my body wants to wake up whenever i’m in ja.













woke up at 6:39am, watched the sea for a while, husband went out for a quick jog and was back within half an hour.  ti boss came upstairs at 7am, ready to get going.

i took a walk with ti boss, who already knew the lay of the land due to his pool expeditions of the day before.  we walked the wooden snake walk that hugs the cliff and visited both pools.  we were back in the room by 8am.  breakfast starts at 8:30 every morning.

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## VVHT

Very Very Nice!!!

More please!

Enjoy,

VVVHT

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## mwenvlay

> Very Very Nice!!!
> 
> More please!
> 
> Enjoy,
> 
> VVVHT


 :Smile: thank you :Smile: 

i wasn’t sure if i was being boring!

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## mwenvlay

day 5, continued...

we spent the majority of the day outside.  in the morning we hung out at the pool at the africana house (gotta take some pictures there) and split the afternoon between boston jerk center and boston beach.

husband had made friends with a bunch of the jerk stand folks the night before, so he knew which spot to hit up.  i followed a pair of jamaican ladies over to the smoothie stand, where the guy gave me the tourist price.  the ladies scolded him and made him give me what was closer to the local price.  the thing is, i have a good idea of what the local price should be, but it’s annoying to always have to negotiate a price that works out to be 2 bucks less.

i also gave a man i met on the beach a good deal of money to deliver fish dinners to us, which he did, which was nice, but the fish wasn’t very good and didn’t come with any sides.  in that case, i got “ripped off,” aka paid far too much, but meh.  it’s vacation and our next good meal is always around the corner.  plus, i came out so far ahead at strawberry hill (our food/drinks tab was several hundred less than it should’ve been), so the balance is still in our favor.

i didn’t take any pictures yesterday, because i wanted to just chill and enjoy.

today (day 6) is our all day excursion with warren, and i will be taking a lot of photos.

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## FarOutWestEnder

very much enjoying your writings -- all places look wonderful.  Now I'm going to go back and watch all of the videos.

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## jojo p

mwenvlay..
Excellent, great pics, wow, what a pool !!!  I bet you are not missing Negril !!  :Smile:

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## mwenvlay

> very much enjoying your writings -- all places look wonderful.  Now I'm going to go back and watch all of the videos.





> mwenvlay..
> Excellent, great pics, wow, what a pool !!!  I bet you are not missing Negril !!


thanks, guys!  i'm having a lot of fun taking photos and videos when chilling at the hotel(s).  it's much harder for me to break out of the moment and capture things while i'm out and about, but i tried to make an effort during our big excursion today.

and i have to say, i do not miss negril.  but i've always been a fan of traveling the island, and not limiting myself to one part only.  my husband and son love it so much better out here in kingston and portland and i'm glad i FINALLY got to spend time out here (portland) and make the time count.  all of my other visits were such a blur.

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## mwenvlay

day 6:  long bay (briefly), moore town/nanny falls, rock bottom wood carving (at the crafts center), winnifred beach (briefly) and dinner at woody's.

today was our big day out in porty.  warren showed up 5 minutes early and we hit the road by 10am.

first stop was long bay, which i was happy to see but didn't want to spend much time at, since i was very eager to get to moore town and spend as much time at nanny falls as possible.










so, we stood for about ten minutes, looked and left.

except for the fact that it looks like the beach has shrunk a lot over the past years, long bay reminds me a lot of the east coast beaches of my childhood.  i still live on the east coast, but don't bother with the beaches there anywhere as much as i did as a kid.

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## mwenvlay

the ride up to moore town was scarier than the ride through the blue mountains to port antonio.  i was actually surprised by that!

the scenery was, of course, exceedingly breathtaking.  i was too busy enjoying it to actually snap any photos, but i did force myself to record things once we got close to moore town.

here is a photo of bananas in protective plastic bags, used to keep bugs out:




and a view of the road that runs between the banana crops:

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## mwenvlay

at the base of moore town there was a really nice lady selling jelly coconuts (100j each- cannot beat that!) and a few men sitting on a low wall.  warren asked the men what the protocol was and we learned that nanny falls is gated now and that we should first check in with the colonel to ask for the key/ask for permission to visit the falls.  we told the men that i was looking to get a history lesson for my kid and the guy who took the lead on filling us in said the colonel would be happy to do that.  he then pitched his guide services to the falls and quoted a pretty high fee.  warren told him, "they're not tourist-tourists, they're haitian and came here to pay respect and learn our history.  you can't give them a tourist price!"  the fee came down to 6000j for the 3 of us, plus warren.  

we stopped off at a store to get a bunch of beer and soda and wound up acquiring another guide.  husband, who is good at getting to the bottom of this type of thing, asked why the first guy thought we needed two guides ("for safety," by which he meant if someone gets hurt one person could stay with us and the other could run and get someone) and if the price was gonna go up from what we agreed on ("no, same price!").  so, we were now a party of 6.

we got back in the car after the bevvy and guide stuff was sorted, and rode up to nanny's grave, which is located across the street from the moore town primary school.




*i caught this little girl in mid-twirl*

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## mwenvlay

here are some photos of nanny's official grave:

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## nickib983

Amazing trip report so far.  I have a definite thing for Negril, but have always checked out Strawberry Hill and Porty in the past to see if Id want to switch it up, someday.  I definitely do, even more so now.

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## mwenvlay

> Amazing trip report so far.  I have a definite thing for Negril, but have always checked out Strawberry Hill and Porty in the past to see if Id want to switch it up, someday.  I definitely do, even more so now.


yay, that’s what i want to hear!

we have 2 days left at great huts, then the last leg of this trip is 2 days in kingston, so stay tuned for another hotel and some city sightseeing.

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## mwenvlay

here are some photos of the spot that people say nanny is really buried.

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## mwenvlay

ti boss got invited to play a pickup game of football during the local children's recess!

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## mwenvlay

once we peeled ti boss away from the game, it was time to head up to the falls.

let me backtrack to speak about the colonel for a moment...  we really wanted to meet him, so we could pay our respects and so we could ask him to give ti boss a brief history lesson, but by the time we got up to his house he'd already left.  we were told he was headed up to some land they owned, where they're setting up a new tourist stop- a parrot sanctuary and fruit orchard.  sounds pretty rad to me!

so, we missed the colonel but got a key from someone else...

getting to the waterfall consisted of a 30 minute trek up a wide forest path.  it was a gently uphill walk, but even so i needed to stop a few times because i have issues with shortness of breath in high altitudes (that, and i am incredibly out of shape, tbh).  but i managed it!  it wasn't hard, honestly.  




*guide #2 (i'll ask ti boss what his name was, i forget), warren, husband on the walk up*



the "hard" part was an EXTREMELY steep stone staircase leading down to the falls.  the railing had worn away and pvc piping had been added in parts, to form a makeshift rail.  so again, this was a slightly rigorous exercise, but not that bad.  i didn't take any photos because i was too busy concentrating on getting down without slipping.

once down, there was a minimal section where we had to climb over rocks and down some banks to get to the actual river area.  but if i managed it, most people should be able to.  





after we got down to the river, we waded a VERY short distance (a matter of feet) in waist deep water, and then we were directly facing the falls.  warren, who was dressed very nicely, scrambled over rocks and thus managed to stay dry.

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## mwenvlay



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## 68Stang

Fantastic photos!

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## mwenvlay

> Fantastic photos!


thank you!

i recently re-fell in love with my hipstamatic app, and the artsy fartsy goodness it provides.  

i'm using my iphone, shooting a combo of hipsta photos and photos with an app called camera+.

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## FarOutWestEnder

I am totally enjoying  your reports and pictures !

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## mwenvlay

ti boss confirmed that guide #2 is named Garnett.  our original guide is named theodore.  he has an instagram- @t bone.

we spent about an hour and a half at the falls, swimming, skipping rocks, drinking beers, talking and laughing.  






*warren, keeping dry*



*theodore, husband, ti boss*




*ti boss and garnett, looking for rocks to skip*

the water was cool and refreshing or freezing and refreshing, depending on who you asked.  i found it cool.

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## mwenvlay

we only saw two other groups at the falls- one local couple came up, popped their heads in and left.  and then, right before we were about to head back down, a tourist girl and her guide came in to go swimming.  they'd taken a motorcycle up to as far as they could and then hiked the rest of the way.  we saw her helmet right outside the falls area and his bike on the road, as we walked down.

of course, the walk back was so much easier.  ti boss managed to get cow sht on his sneakers and was wondering why the smell of poop was so much stronger on the way down than it was on the way up.

theodore wanted to take us to the barracks and a rope swing area, but that woulda eaten up almost a full hour of our already dwindling day, so we got them paid, got their contact info and headed back down towards port antonio.

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## mwenvlay

down in port antonio we stopped for patties at around 4- our first food since our 8:30am breakfast!

after that, we had 2 hours remaining until warren was off the clock and my family had their dinner reservations at woody's (for our prepaid curry goat dinner).

next stop after patties was rock bottom's wood carving shop.










ti boss had found a gigantic seed (similar to a horse chestnut- i used to have a pair of earrings similar that i bought in barbados, back in 1990) and wanted someone to bore a hole in it so he could make a necklace.  i really needed a functional mortar and pestle (or as we call it in kreyol, yon pilon), becase the one we have has a large split down the middle.

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## mwenvlay

see the picture above?  with the canes in the right-hand corner?  ti boss decided he wanted the 6th walking stick from the left.  i said okay.  







he got his self-appointed nickname carved on it.



ti boss is VERY obsessed with carving.

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

> Fantastic photos!


thank you!  jamaica makes it easy.  and my family is photogenic.

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## mwenvlay

next stop, winifred beach!!!

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## mwenvlay

i meant to add this photo when i was giving my moore town rundown:





*font zion church, moore town*

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## mwenvlay

okay, back to winifred beach...  

winifred beach was, unfortunately, another quick stop.  we got there around 5:30pm and it was still crowded, but winding down.  warren bantered with the woman who tried to get him to give a donation.  he told her he'd donate next time and that we were really only just passing through so he could show us the lay of the land- they knew each other, so it was no big deal.  he told us that if we took a route taxi and walked down they wouldn't even ask for a donation- it's just when cars pull in that they ask.

winifred beach was surprisingly crowded for 5:30pm on a monday.




*this photo is boring, but i wanted to post something that shows a goodly part of the beach*


in a perfect world, we'd take a route taxi over to there tomorrow (today, really), but ti boss wants to do a surf lesson at boston beach at 10am, then husband and ti boss are going to a gun range at around 3pm- husband wants to shoot and ti boss wants to hang with his father and do guy things.  i'm not extremely pressed that we're not going to get to spend any great amount of time at winifred beach, but i would really like to come back and hang there.

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## mwenvlay

we got to woody's low bridge restaurant at exactly 6pm.  warren didn't want to just leave us there to figure out how to make our way home without him, but we INSISTED that he let us take care of ourselves.  i put it this way, "you're off the clock with us at 6pm.  i know you have stuff to do.  unless you really want to have dinner with us we do not need you to wait for us! it's business!"  we knew we'd be fine getting a route taxi back.  

i'm pretty much always a freelance worker, and i take the hourly rate very seriously- we booked warren for x amount of dollars for 8 hours, and any time he spends with us in addition to those 8 hours brings his hourly rate down!!!!  plus, i'm sure he had stuff to take care of at home.  regardless, he still wound up spending 15 minutes discussing something with my husband (i think they were arranging details about the gun range visit) and i had to stomp back to the car and pull my husband out.

on to the more interesting part of this section of our epic day:  the meal!

we were led to a table scattered with flowers and a cute, hand-written reserved sign.




*there were so many nice, little touches*



first course was a creamy vegetable soup.









even though i didn't pre-order a special meal for ti boss (i told him he'd be perfectly fine with a cheeseburger), they were so sweet and gave him a bowl of soup.

then we were given a large bowl of salad (shredded lettuce and cabbage with tomatoes and a very light caribbean vinagrette dressing) that i kept for myself.

the main course was curry goat and steamed vegetables with the most delicious pumpkin rice.

and dessert was homemade cake with rum raisin ice cream- again, even though we hadn't ordered a special dinner for ti boss, they kindly served him dessert.  miss cherry (the chef/owner) told me the name of the cake- it's an old school jamaican staple, but i unfortunately forgot it.  it was a nutmeggy cake with a grated coconut batter- totally the type of cake i obsessively research recipes for looking for the most old school and authentic version.  miss cherry is obviously well-schooled in the classics.  

oh, and i ordered us all glasses of their celebrated homemade ginger beer.  it was, of course, amazing.  i would love to go back there tomorrow for lunch, if only for the salad and ginger beer.  i'm sure ti boss would be perfectly happy to get another cheeseburger.  i also feel like i didn't tip them well enough for the dinner.  i'd paid a lot up front on monday, and kind of spazzed out on leaving a big tip because i couldn't do the math quickly enough.

so, that was dinner at woody's.  delicious and chill.  there were two other tables of tourists- both couples, both had obviously eaten there before.

we waited a while for an available route taxi and wound up sharing it with an australian tourist couple, who crammed in the back with husband and ti boss.  the driver was very nice to us (my family), but kind of made fun of the aussies- the girl's accent, in particular.  oh, well.

we paid $250j for the 3 of us to get to the boston jerk center.  

we were home by 8:30pm.

that was a lonnnnnnnnng day.

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## mwenvlay

day 7:  taxi to run vacation errands in port antonio, beach with ti boss, lobster and chicken dinner at boston jerk center.

details to come.

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## Maralunatic

I'm loving your report, but it makes me miss Portland!  I'm stuck up here in the snow so it's nice to see the places we visited when we were there!

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## mwenvlay

> I'm loving your report, but it makes me miss Portland!  I'm stuck up here in the snow so it's nice to see the places we visited when we were there!


thank you!

it's 24 degrees in ny right now. 

are you planning a trip back to ja any time soon?

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## mwenvlay

yesterday (day 7) husband found a taxi driver to take us to the atm, the patty shop and the supermarket.

here is a view from the atm line:






i bought a bunch of patties, including one beef patty for the driver and 3 chicken patties for ti boss, who probably coulda eaten 7, if i'd indulged him.

then we went to ramtula's where i bought 2 sixes of red stripe, 2 sixes of guinness, a 2 liter bottle of fruit punch soda, 2 liters of spring water and a bottle of rum cream (my fave).  husband (in a grouchy mood because i am annoying) sat in the car, but the driver came in to see if ti boss and i needed help carrying anything out.  very nice.

he dropped us back to the hotel in a little under an hour.

husband (still grouchy) told us he wasn't going to the beach with us, so ti boss and i said whatevzzzzzzz and went to boston beach by ourselves, stopping on the way to pick up a bottle of soursop juice.

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

i’ve been extremely low-key this trip, keeping my drinking down to a bare minimum.  i don’t smoke weed anymore, because i don’t feel i’d be able to function properly enough to give my kid the focus he needs/deserves.  husband, on the other hand, binges on weed and booze when he’s here.  honestly, i feel one of us needs to remain relatively sober...

(oh, i meant to add that when i’m in negril i will buy a single slice of space cake and eat it before i go to sleep each night, but i’m not on the hunt for it in porty.)

yesterday i decided to switch it up a little, and brought the bottle of rum cream to the beach.  after i drank about half of it i decided a glass of soursop juice with some overproof rum would taste just dandy.  swiveling my head, i spotted this hut:



there were a ton of people hanging out inside and it was obvious the drinks were flowing.  it was 50/50 if they were vendors just getting crunk or a private party.

----------


## Maralunatic

I don't think I'll be able to go until next year.  We went in December and it kind of messed up our normal routine.  And I left everything to the last minute, so no room at the inn for us.  Although with the never ending rounds of snow we've been getting I'm kicking myself and keep threatening to just go to the airport and jump the next available flight. Why do I live in this state? *sigh*
But I'm enjoying this through your trip report, so keep it up!

----------


## Ever72

Great report.  I feel like I'm there with you.  I can't wait for that coffee. dude! Thanks. and Happy Birthday!!!!

----------


## mwenvlay

> Great report.  I feel like I'm there with you.  I can't wait for that coffee. dude! Thanks. and Happy Birthday!!!!



you caught up on my trip report??????  it’s a bday miracle!!!!!!

----------


## msbaltimore

Love this report with the great pics and cool videos!

----------


## mwenvlay

i spotted that party hut and figured i could roll over and see if they were selling rum.

so, i grabbed my cup, rolled over and asked (in ann obnoxious ny accent), "do you guys have rum?"  this guy standing right next to where i rolled up said, "sure, we have rum.  would you like some?"  

me:  "oh, you guys aren't vendors?  you're just hanging?"

guy (in an east coast-ish accent):  "yeah, it's my birthday and we're celebrating, but we can give you some rum!"

me:  "are you from ny?"

guy:  "philly."

me:  "even better!  but you're jamaican?"

guy:  "yeah, i'm jamaican."

me:  "i'm from brooklyn!  growing up all my friends were jamaican, african, indian- that's how i wound up traveling so much!" 

i pointed to the other guy he's with and asked if he's jamaican.  first guy said no, that's his best friend and he's been trying to get him to come to ja with him for years.

me (to best friend):  "you love it, right?"

best friend laughed and confirmed.

i then apologized for being a party crasher and they told me it's all good and gave me a huge shot of wray and nephew.  one of the relatives (an older jamaican man) asked me if i needed any mixer and i explain that i'd actually been on the hunt for rum because i wanted to mix it with my soursop juice.  birthday guy said to his friend, "yeah!  remember that crazy fruit i showed you and said the juice is so good???  that's what she's talking about!"  i told them i'd be happy to get my bottle, if they'd like to share with me and they gave the assent.  so, i rolled back over to where ti boss and i had our set-up and got the bottle of soursop juice and the bottle of rum cream.

----------


## mwenvlay

ti boss and i started to head back to the hotel after kicking it on the beach for a few hours, but we ran into husband, who was coming to loo for us.  a multi-hour nap had dispelled his bad mood.  he said he wanted to go swimming, so we headed back to boston beach.

i introduced him to the philly/ja people i'd met and we kicked it for a few minutes.  one guy told us he knew one phrase in kreyol.  i was expecting it to be something that everyone knows, like "n'ap boule" or "sak pase," but what he said translates into "i don't want to hear that sht."  we were dying!

after the beach we went over to the jerk spot and split 2 lobsters, some chicken and some yummy fish soup.  they tried to convince us to commit to spending the equivalent of $92 on a big lobster birthday dinner today (it's my birthday today).  i asked husband to go back this morning and tell them we changed our mind.  unless it's unlimited lobster, i am NOT spending that much $ at a jerk hut.

i went back to the room and was knocked out by 7pm (rum n sun).  ti boss and husband hung out in the front area of the hotel, where wifi is better, and played games on their phones.

end of day 7.

----------


## mwenvlay

day 8- today is my birthday.  i love being away for my birthday!  last time we were in ja was for my birthday in 2017.

and here we are again, in a beautiful tree house in a beautiful town.  i got a cliffside version of sand gravity and had less than zero desire to leave the property today.  this was actually the first time we've spent all day here.  it was great.

breakfast at 9am.  back to room.

ti boss was supposed to take a surfing lesson at 10 (he missed it yesterday, because we needed to get money in town).  he was feeling lazy, so no surfing lesson.

warren called during breakfast to let us know that it was raining in the town where the outdoor gun range is located and they weren't going to open up at all today.  so, husband's grand scheme to go shoot a big weapon was derailed.  warren said he felt bad.  i told him i was SO HAPPY.

so, then i was like, "hmmmm, should we go to the blue lagoon?"  nah.

we went back to the lobby area where the wifi is good, and sat there for an hour or so, playing on our phones.  





then i decided i was gonna order lunch and ask them if we could get it to go.  there are a few outdoor dining areas that don't seem to get much use.  i thought it would be nice to sit at the one located close to the cliffside pool, have lunch and then spend some time in the pool.

it took them over an hour to get the food together, but they were so nice and set up a gorgeous table setting for us to enjoy our lunch.



*we brought the champagne and bamboo goblets*




the food (curry chicken for me and husband, jerk chicken wrap for ti boss) was served in paper takeout boxes.  no muss, no fuss.

----------


## mwenvlay

after we finished our meal, i watched my guys search for and throw rocks over the cliff, into the sea.

----------


## mwenvlay

then we went to the cliff pool.

----------


## mwenvlay

> Love this report with the great pics and cool videos!



awwww, thank you!

----------


## mwenvlay

yesterday (day 8) was the first day we got any rain.  

there was a very quick sunshower when we first got to the cliff pool- we ducked into the african sunrise hut.  i felt bad about that, because it was occupied, but it's 3 levels and we were just briefly huddled in the bottom, which is a dirt floor area, with a ladder that leads to the living area.






*african sunrise hut (the top 2 levels are visible, the bottom one is not)*




when it rained much harder a few hours later, we packed up, huddled in african sunrise for a few minutes then dashed to our tree house.

there are all of these really beautiful, huge black sea birds that spend the day gliding in the sky.  i haven't seen a one of them actually flap their wings.

----------


## mwenvlay

*this is the little lounge bench placed in the shade, at the end of the pool*






*view over the edge*






the rest of my birthday day was spent chilling in the royal lounge (videos of the lounge below)- husband went out twice and got food from the jerk center for us.  i didn't have to lift a finger and was asleep by 9pm.  

it was a perfect birtday day.

----------


## mwenvlay



----------


## mwenvlay

today we head to kingston.

we've completed packing.  








check-out is at 11, but they said we could stay in the treehouse until 11:30.  

warren is collecting us at 12pm.

we're driving the coastal road to our hotel in new kingston.  i'm so excited for my guys to do that route.  it's so pretty.

----------


## johng

mwenvlay thanks so much for your awesome trip report and photos. Your tour of Portland has been fantastic and I hope that you will follow up when you get home with additional pictures that you didn't post so far. Did you take any on your way from Strawberry Hill to Port Antonio through the mountains. Newcastle??? Hardware Gap?? Beautiful ride through there. Once again great job on your Portland postings!! Enjoy the ride around the east coast to Kingston. Unbelievable scenery!! johng

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## mwenvlay

> mwenvlay thanks so much for your awesome trip report and photos. Your tour of Portland has been fantastic and I hope that you will follow up when you get home with additional pictures that you didn't post so far. Did you take any on your way from Strawberry Hill to Port Antonio through the mountains. Newcastle??? Hardware Gap?? Beautiful ride through there. Once again great job on your Portland postings!! Enjoy the ride around the east coast to Kingston. Unbelievable scenery!! johng


i was terrible and took no photos while driving!!!

we passed holywell on our way to great huts and didn’t stop, because we had to choose our battles and needed some extra time to track down coffee for my sister.

next time we’ll stay maaaaaybe 2 days at strawberry hill and 2 days at duggy’s cabins on his coffee farm.  we will DEFINITELY spend the day at holywell that trip.

----------


## mwenvlay

here’s a photo of the reception/lobby at great huts.









warren showed up on time, of course.

----------


## mwenvlay

husband was in his extra crazy caribbean mode and started talking about how he realllllly wished he had some henny, how he really wanted to get drunk, so we stopped in long bay and bought a pint of brandy at a beach bar.  they put it in a rum bottle.

i took a picture of the beach from the inside of the car.  






does that count as a photo from the road?

----------


## mwenvlay

husband piped down once he had his brandy and we all settled in for the ride.  i was stuck on the right-hand side of the car, so i couldn’t really take any photos if i’d wanted to.

here’s a photo i took of the sign of the restaurant we stopped at for lunch in morant bay.






$500j per person for fried chicken, rice, stew pea and some shredded cabbage and carrot.  ti boss and i wanted curry goat but the menu was a liar.



here’s a shot of the dining room.








and here’s a shot of the toilet in the ladies room.







when i got out, warren was like, “was it clean?” and i was like, “hellllllllllllllllllllz no.”  and he said, “ i figured not.  i will use the side of the road once we leave.”

----------


## mwenvlay

the rest of the ride went quick-ish.  we kept getting stuck behind gigantic, slow moving trucks and drivers who weren’t confident enough to pull past the trucks.  the funny thing is that’s what i figured woulda happened on the trip through the blue mountains, not on the trip through st. thomas.

we got to the terra nova around 4:30 (seems to be a theme this trip).  

check-in was easy.  room is fine in an upscale yet understated way.  the bed is EXTREMELY comfortable.

ti boss went swimming ( i chilled at the pool area) and husband took a walk over to devon house.

when it got dark, husband and i took a 6 minute walk up the road to mega mart, on an unsuccessful mission to replace the tweezers i’d misplaced during our stay at strawberry hill.

husband and i got back fairly quickly and we all had dinner at the hotel.






the verandah restaurant is really pretty, with formal settings.  the food and cocktails were cheaper than at strawberry hill.  the food was better, but the cocktails were not.

----------


## mwenvlay

we went back to the pool after dinner.  








ti boss splashed around, husband watched movies on the laptop and i played around on my phone.

i crpped out at 10:30 and went to the room to sleep.  my guys came in around midnight.

----------


## mwenvlay

today (day 10) is our final full day.

we're being picked up at 11 to spend the day touring around kingston.

here is my list:

----------


## mwenvlay

okey doke, we hit everything on my list except devon house and megamart.  i think i'll try to rally my guys to walk to megamart this evening.

----------


## mwenvlay



----------


## mwenvlay

our guide at the bob marley museum was very charmless, but husband enjoyed the tour.

last time i went i don't remember it being so packed with tour groups, but i also was there on a random day in april.  maybe it was just less busy then.


we passed through stand pipe after we left the museum.














michael,our driver/guide, stopped to top up his cellphone.  when he came back he said, "they just killed someone two minutes ago."  we drove  for about 5 seconds and saw a crowd of people leaning over railing, looking down into a gully.  "there.  the body's there."  we didn't see it.

----------


## mwenvlay

michael drove us through trench town and showed us first street and second street, where many of the most famous jamaican musicians originated.

i spotted an older dread standing just outside his yard with a big pot of something for sale and i just knew it was gonna be good, whatever was in that pot.




*$150j per ear*

----------


## mwenvlay

we drove through jungle and denham town.

----------


## mwenvlay

we did a quick-ish pass through the kingston craft market, where husband bought 3 football jerseys, then we headed over to the culinary highlight of our trip, MOBY DICK RESTAURANT.

----------


## mwenvlay

moby dick is located at the base of orange street, on the corner of port royal.  the block is quiet.

the restaurant is halal.  run by a really beautiful older muslim woman who may be pakistani, i couldn't really tell.  she didn't ~look~ indian to me, but that doesn't mean anything. 

the food was the best i ate in ja this trip.  ti boss and i got curry goat with white rice, michael got curry chicken and husband got curry shrimp.  each plate came with home made roti (omg, sooooooooooooo good), plaintains (dry fried) and shredded cabbage and carrots.  i also ordered lemonade for all of us- it was homemade, with the little limes, you could tell.  it tasted exactly like the jus citron we make in haiti.





*before*






*after*



picture #2 isn't really "after," because ti boss took my plate and dumped everything onto his own.

----------


## mwenvlay

*our server was very, very, very nice!*

----------


## mwenvlay

final stop on our downtown swing:  



*container hotspot!*

----------


## mwenvlay

container hotspot is a combo car wash, restaurant bar and lounge (with little private VIP rooms).  everything is made out of shipping containers, even the bars (like, where you place your drinks).  it's pretty cool, the way it's all put together.

aside from the car wash, the only part that was open while we were there (at around 3pm) was the little bar on the first floor.  the outdoor restaurant (which was closed) is adjacent to it.  the upstairs lounge was closed and i didn't ask if i could snoop around.  






that's the front door to the bar.  the glass door has tinting on it and the room has no windows, so it's permanently twilight time in there.  every single one of the walls is wrapped, so you feel like you're inside a gigantic hood party flyer.  





*ian miles is the container boss*



here's the VIP lounge.  it obviously is not ready for VIPs yet- the workers were using it as an office space.








this is the outdoor restaurant area, directly accessible from the bar we were in.








i really wish we woulda been able to go there when it was full of people- the bartendress told me they just started running sunday brunch and that it's really popular.  i told her i knew that, because i'd seen a video on youtube and it looked off the hook.  i asked her if they often get rando tourists just walking in and she said yes, especially for the brunch.  good for them!!!  i love it.

----------


## mwenvlay

i was so excited to describe our visit to container hotspot that i forgot to post these photos first...

leaving from moby dick, we drove up orange street...








and completely around the parade street roundabout









we also passed by the national heroes circle and its crab vendors, but i didn't manage to snap any photos around there.

----------


## mwenvlay

we spent exactly 5 hours driving around kingston with michael.

got back to the hotel at 4:11pm.

went immediately to the pool, where we were, again, the only people.  i put on some haitian music (via youtube), ti boss went to the front desk to ask them to give us some towels and send someone to skim leaves out of the pool and husband settled in for a nap.








the guy who skimmed leaves did a very thorough job.  once he was done, i got in and did a little swimming with ti boss, then let him jump around by himself while i watched.



















we stayed at the pool until around 6:45pm, then went to the room to get ready to go out to eat.

----------


## mwenvlay

here is some of the music i played at the pool:

----------


## mwenvlay

we walked 1 minute down the road and had dinner at jojo's jerk pit, which was a big outdoor complex that looks like it caters to afterwork gatherings and large groups.  to get to the restaurant, you have to walk through a rocky, unpaved parking lot filled with ancient construction equipment and old buses.  there are a lot of restaurants like this in petionville (the upscale area of port au prince), so we felt at home immediately.













husband and i had the janga (crayfish soup) and one rum drink each and ti boss had buffalo chicken wings and a virgin colada.  the bill, which included a 10% gratuity, came to the equivalent of $35us.  i kicked in an extra $4.50us tip and we went back to the hotel.

basically, that was the end of our last full day in jamaica.

----------


## mwenvlay

the room rate at the terra nova hotel includes a free breakfast buffet.

----------


## mwenvlay

we're doing final packing now.  









2 red stripes and 2 guinness to finish.

----------


## mwenvlay

> I don't think I'll be able to go until next year.  We went in December and it kind of messed up our normal routine.  And I left everything to the last minute, so no room at the inn for us.  Although with the never ending rounds of snow we've been getting I'm kicking myself and keep threatening to just go to the airport and jump the next available flight. Why do I live in this state? *sigh*
> But I'm enjoying this through your trip report, so keep it up!



we're heading back to snow today :Concern: 

 we tend to average 2 trips a year.  one is usually to visit family in haiti. 

when i was single and childless (a state that lasted through my early 40s) i would travel whenever i was able, but now that i have a kid i find it's easiest to travel in february (my birthday + spring break for kids) and then some time between july and september.  sometimes it works out to be easter break and thanksgiving.  

i want to get my guys to new orleans or california and do a trip to a few places in europe.  those are on my short list.

----------


## mwenvlay

ti boss slept on this couch both nights that we were here.










he just noticed this morning that it pulls out into a mini bed.

i'm annoyed that no one at reception reminded us when we checked in that the room has a pull-out couch.

----------


## mwenvlay

we stopped at tastee patty on the way to the airport.









we got through security at the airport and had about an hour to kill.  after i did a little bit of liquor shopping, husband and i sucked down a pretty yucchy rum and pepsi (with bottled lemon juice) at a very charmless bar near the gate. 

the flight to miami was annoying, because i was trying to sleep, but husband took the window seat and kept climbing over us to get to the bathroom and kept raising the window shade to look out.

getting through immigration, grabbing our bags and re-checking them in miami was annoying, but we got through it.  

the flight from miami to ny was pretty good, because i'd booked us into a main cabin extra seat, row 12, front/center aisle, so there was no one in front of us, we had a lot of leg room and both husband and i were on the aisle, so there was no climbing over anyone.  on the negative side, they didn't bother with beverage service and we were supposed to get a free cocktail with our main cabin booking.  husband kept asking me when they were going to come around with the drinks.  i told him to ask a stewardess but we never saw one- they were all too busy serving the first class cabin.  for an expensive airline, american is so erratic with their service.





*jfk- other people's boring luggage*




back at jfk there was the usual cab annoyingness- we were the first people on the cab line, but we had so many bags that we needed to take one of those suv cabs.  the dispatch guy made us walk all the way to the back and the first suv can guy refused to go to brooklyn and then some d!ck with one small suitcase cut in front of us and grabbed the next suv cab.  and then there were no more cabs and we had to wait 15 minutes until the next set up cabs rolled through.

we got home around 11:15pm.  an almost 12 hour day of travel.  the cats were happy to see us.

----------


## FarOutWestEnder

I have been following your report & loving it.  You stayed in some great places, I loved the pictures and videos too - I'm also in NY (Hudson River Valley area) - the weather seriously sucks big time.  I was in JA for a couple of weeks in early February.

----------


## mwenvlay

> I have been following your report & loving it.  You stayed in some great places, I loved the pictures and videos too - I'm also in NY (Hudson River Valley area) - the weather seriously sucks big time.  I was in JA for a couple of weeks in early February.


i'm glad you enjoyed my trip report- it's the first one i've ever done!

i can't believe i came back to a snowstorm.

----------


## mwenvlay

here are some photos from strawberry hill that i forgot to post during my trip report.





*morning view from the main bedroom*






*this is gong, a studio unit to the right of bamboo cottage.  
thankfully it was empty for 2 out of the 3 days of our stay.  
the first day it contained a screaming, whining baby and its loud parents.*






*bamboo cottage has one bathroom, with a walk-in shower*





*this is the second bedroom at bamboo cottage*

----------


## mwenvlay

*strawberry hill hosts an annual backgammon tournament*

----------


## mwenvlay

my thoughts on strawberry hill:

i love it there.  it's expensive and the lack of food options can be annoying, but it's incredibly beautiful up there, the accommodations are comfortable, the cocktails are top notch (the best i've ever had at any hotel, bar or restaurant in jamaica) and the staff is there to make sure you are happy and comfortable and doing what you want to be doing.  also, during the week it seems very quiet and peaceful even when it's pretty full up.

on our first full day there, we went to the pool with a small cooler bag full of beers and sodas and a bottle of hennessey that we brought with us and they gave us glasses and told us to enjoy ourselves.  we asked them if it was okay for us to rearrange the furniture so we could play dominoes comfortably and they said yes, of course and that they'd do it for us.  "all you need to do is relax and enjoy yourselves."  we told them not to bother and we moved it ourselves, but i'm sure they would've completely rearranged everything to our specifications had we let them. 

our cottage was definitely on the much higher end of our normal hotel room budget, but it was totally worth it.  we spent a lot of time hanging out there- it was designed for relaxation, and with so many open windows and porches and whatnot, we never really felt like we were locked up inside.

on the negative side, our cottage was located right next to one of the studio rooms, gong, and privacy could've been an issue.  

studio rooms are the second tier of room, basically a slightly larger single unit (we stayed in the entry level room for our honeymoon and the studio rooms are really not much bigger).  

the day we got there there was a couple with a baby- the baby whined and cried nonstop and the couple talked really loudly.  i mentioned it to one of the security guards and he told me i should talk to the front desk, but i didn't feel like being a dick the second i got onto the property.  they checked out the next afternoon, thankfully.  the baby started screaming at 4am, so i think i would've had to say something if they hadn't left.  also, the porch at gong is so close to the bedroom porch of bamboo cottage.  it would've been weird if there was someone there and we all were just sitting on our porches watching each other.  but if you're traveling with a larger group, it would be cool to rent bamboo and gong and have all that space for your people.  the two units share a really nice, large poured concrete patio that could be used as a place to have a nice outdoor dinner.

another negative is that the hotel gets a LOT of daytrippers and all of them are obsessed with taking a million and one photos at the pool.  it's kind of funny, but can be jarring.  both times i've stayed there (that's a 7 year gap between visits), a crew of asian camera people with professional equipment descended on the pool area and did what looked to be an almost formal photo shoot.  i say almost formal because they didn't bring any lighting or a make-up artist with them, but aside from that, they looked like they were doing something for a legit media outlet.





*taken during our 2012 honeymoon*





and i also haven't been there for sunday brunch, but i can imagine that's another time it can get busy with non-guests.

an unavoidable big negative during our stay was that the internet was COMPLETELY out of commission all 3 days that we were there.  we were told there was a fire that knocked out all service in the area.  i had a lot of work to do and i had no choice but to burn through my data, using my cellphone's hotspot to connect my laptop to the internet.  i wound up having to use an additional $30 of data on top of the $10 a day for my at&t caribbean package.

husband really likes strawberry hill too, for all the same reasons as me.  it's just a great place to be for a few days- just go there to do nothing but relax, recharge, unwind, regroup and all those other "mindful" things you head up to the mountains to do.

ti boss, our 12 year old son, who has the fortune/misfortune of being an only child, told me he LOVED strawberry hill.  3 days there was "perfection!"  i was surprised that he felt that way, since he spent 3 days without any interaction with people his age, there was no tv and no internet.  still and all, he loved it.

here are the things i would do i were to do this trip again...

strawberry hill's rates decrease significantly during the low season, plus they run "pay for 2/stay for 3" or "pay for 3/stay for 4" specials all the time.

i would plan our next visit for some time after may, when the rates go down.

i'd want to stay in bamboo cottage again.  they have a 2-bedroom villa (which is bigger and obvs. more expensive than bamboo cottage) called highgate- it's really pretty, but it's located at the back of the property and really only has views of the mountains.  we don't need anything so grand, and it's really the view of kingston that does it for me.  

i'd aim for the free night's stay special- if we could get the 3 for 2 i'd book for 3 days but if we could get the 4 for 3, i'd probably book for 4 days.

if we stayed 4 days, i'd call someone and arrange a full day trip to holywell park.

i'd also like to spend 2 days at the coffee farm that we bought coffee beans from.  the guy's name is duggy.  he said rooms start at around $25 a night.  we could hang out there for 2 days and swim in the river.  they have a restaurant, so we could get decent, inexpensive food.

so, if we ever take another trip to jamaica i'd like to start out with 2 to 4 days at strawberry hill, followed by 2 days in the blue mountains at duggy's coffee farm.  a total of 4 to 6 days in the mountains.

----------


## mwenvlay

bathroom signs at woody's lowbridge restaurant in port antonio.





















i'm trying to get ti boss to develop his eye, so i asked him to take a photo of the ladies' sign (my sister's name is eve and i wanted to send it to her).  he was astute enough to grab a snap of the mens' one, as well.

----------


## mwenvlay

random observation: i see such sad parallels between the latest wave of gentrification of brooklyn and the state of tourism marketing in jamaica.  to me, what's going on in bed stuy and negril is the exact same thing.  i should probably elaborate on it, but no one wants to hear a bitter new yorker's railing against getting pushed out of her long-time neighborhood and i KNOW no one wants to hear why i'm finding it harder and harder to seek out the things i once found so easily in jamaica/how intolerable i find a lot of my fellow tourists to be (but if you're interested, i could tell you the story about the german lady who was pissed off that she was a- unable to get a steamed milk latte at great huts and b- unable to make the poor, overworked waitress understand wtf she was asking for, and how wack it was that the fancy jamaican dread who was traveling with her and her friends didn't bother to step in/step up and tell the german lady she was SOL and to stop giving the waitress a hard time).

a corollary (sort of):  i barely heard any new/current music being played anywhere.  it was ALL old school stuff.  i heard that song "toast" by koffee 3x in 10 days (that song sounds like a tropical dancehall combo of "bam bam" and "workworkworkworkwork," so i'm not really a fan) and maybe a konshens song or two, but other than that it was stuff from my now-dinosauric era (mid 80s to late 90s).  

it made me kinda sad- i mean, i love gregory issacs and an always happy to hear supercat but is that really what the kidz today want to hear?  i want ja to step up its tourism plan and find a way to keep things current for the youth them.  i don't want an entire country to be a nostalgia trip for old hippies or an all-inclusive paradise for the medicore.

----------


## mwenvlay

here's the mortar and pestle (pilon) i bought from rock bottom to replace the cracked, soft wood one my husband bought in port au prince several years ago.















*i placed it next to the salt container to show scale- it looked so miniature in the first photo.*

----------


## agregory

Yay!!! I was so happy to see your wonderful report, photos and videos after I returned home to -24F in Bumb@clot Wisconsin!  This a great trip report!  Thanks for writing  :Excitement: 

I am so jealous you were in the Portland/Kingston/Blue Mountain area while I was in Negril.  Not to complain about Negril, but I really want to get back to the eastern part of Jamaica again!  We meet our east coast friends in Negril every year now, so it's tough to go to Jamaica and skip Negril.

----------


## mwenvlay

> Yay!!! I was so happy to see your wonderful report, photos and videos after I returned home to -24F in Bumb@clot Wisconsin!  This a great trip report!  Thanks for writing 
> 
> I am so jealous you were in the Portland/Kingston/Blue Mountain area while I was in Negril.  Not to complain about Negril, but I really want to get back to the eastern part of Jamaica again!  We meet our east coast friends in Negril every year now, so it's tough to go to Jamaica and skip Negril.


a) -24 degrees???????????  holy crap, that is cold!!!!!!!!!

b) couldn't you convince your east coast friends to switch it up?  my brother in law is obsessed with going to negril because he likes the easiness of vacationing there, but my sister (who first went to negril in 1990) is bored.  she showed him my trip report and now he wants me to sit them down and give them a walk-through of my entire trip so he can decide if maybe he wants to switch it up and do something similar.

and i'm glad you liked my long-azz trip report.  i've never done one before!

i think we're going back to haiti in july (trying to wait out the political unrest)- i really wish there was a similar website/messageboard that i could post a trip report to.

----------


## Odinson

Great trip report, thanks!  Did you happen to meet a nice French Canadian couple at Great Huts?  Good friends, paranoid about their first trip to JA.  Based on their personalities I suggested Port Antonio and Great Huts - they may have been checking in around when you were checking out...






> a) -24 degrees???????????  holy crap, that is cold!!!!!!!!!
> 
> b) couldn't you convince your east coast friends to switch it up?  my brother in law is obsessed with going to negril because he likes the easiness of vacationing there, but my sister (who first went to negril in 1990) is bored.  she showed him my trip report and now he wants me to sit them down and give them a walk-through of my entire trip so he can decide if maybe he wants to switch it up and do something similar.
> 
> and i'm glad you liked my long-azz trip report.  i've never done one before!
> 
> i think we're going back to haiti in july (trying to wait out the political unrest)- i really wish there was a similar website/messageboard that i could post a trip report to.

----------


## agregory

> a) -24 degrees???????????  holy crap, that is cold!!!!!!!!!
> 
> b) couldn't you convince your east coast friends to switch it up?  my brother in law is obsessed with going to negril because he likes the easiness of vacationing there, but my sister (who first went to negril in 1990) is bored.  she showed him my trip report and now he wants me to sit them down and give them a walk-through of my entire trip so he can decide if maybe he wants to switch it up and do something similar.


Yes!  This weather is ridiculous!  We could have added 3 days onto our trip by paying $0.63 each to change our flights and avoid this awful weather.  But husband said "no, too much work to do at home"  :Frown:   Obviously we would have had to pay to stay for those 3 days, but changing the flight for that little seemed like a no brainer to me.  We were in Little Bay for our last few nights at a lovely villa with an awesome pool and no other guests on the property.  I def could have stayed for 3 more days!  Boo hoo.  I joked with him that I could easily find a Jamaican to shack up with so he could go home alone to his work  :Biggrin New: 

Our east coast friends will not switch it up  :Frown:   They have a great spot they go back to each year and aren't as interested in the exploring as I am.  They're more into the "party" aspect of Negril, which I love too but I like to change it up.  We have never stayed at the same hotel or rental more than once and we always change locations at least once.  Husband likes the ease of Negril too, but he is always happy with other areas.  I get bored going to the same place each year.  We do travel to new places throughout the year too, but Jamaica is our winter getaway we just can't quit.

I hope you make it to Haiti and things settle down there.  You should start a blog with your trip reports and send me the link!  I'd love to read about your experiences in Haiti  :Encouragement:

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## Ever72

B I just finished reading your trip report.  AMAZING JOB!  I'm gonna read it again and watch all the videos sometime soon from home.  Thank you for making my coffee a priority in your trip!  I can't wait to taste it!  I have been dissatisfied with the JBM we've brought home the past few trips.  The one you got me looks legit!  Well you certainly have inspired me to consider dragging V outta Negril next time we wanna go to Jamaica!  And like you, I have already decided I want to travel only in LOW season from now on.  It's just too crowded in High season and you know how we feel about that  :Smile:   Love ya!

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## mwenvlay

> Yes!  This weather is ridiculous!  We could have added 3 days onto our trip by paying $0.63 each to change our flights and avoid this awful weather.  But husband said "no, too much work to do at home"   Obviously we would have had to pay to stay for those 3 days, but changing the flight for that little seemed like a no brainer to me.  We were in Little Bay for our last few nights at a lovely villa with an awesome pool and no other guests on the property.  I def could have stayed for 3 more days!  Boo hoo.  I joked with him that I could easily find a Jamaican to shack up with so he could go home alone to his work 
> 
> Our east coast friends will not switch it up   They have a great spot they go back to each year and aren't as interested in the exploring as I am.  They're more into the "party" aspect of Negril, which I love too but I like to change it up.  We have never stayed at the same hotel or rental more than once and we always change locations at least once.  Husband likes the ease of Negril too, but he is always happy with other areas.  I get bored going to the same place each year.  We do travel to new places throughout the year too, but Jamaica is our winter getaway we just can't quit.
> 
> I hope you make it to Haiti and things settle down there.  You should start a blog with your trip reports and send me the link!  I'd love to read about your experiences in Haiti


oooh, how was whistling bird?????????????

and how was little bay?????????????

please give me details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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## mwenvlay

> Great trip report, thanks!  Did you happen to meet a nice French Canadian couple at Great Huts?  Good friends, paranoid about their first trip to JA.  Based on their personalities I suggested Port Antonio and Great Huts - they may have been checking in around when you were checking out...


i didn't run into them, no.  have you spoken to them?  did they enjoy it?  let me know what they say!!!

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## Odinson

I should be spending a few days next week with them in Baltimore.  I told them to not wear green and go see the PNP rally - I'm a fan of Damion Crawford.  I'll post their reactions.




> i didn't run into them, no.  have you spoken to them?  did they enjoy it?  let me know what they say!!!

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## mwenvlay

> I should be spending a few days next week with them in Baltimore.  *I told them to not wear green* and go see the PNP rally - I'm a fan of Damion Crawford.  I'll post their reactions.


lolololol.  i'm pretty sure he's going to win.

we passed by the funeral of lynvale bloomfield on our way into town.

please don't forget to come bck and let me know what they thought of ja/porty/great huts.

i'm going to start on my trip report thoughts on great huts in a bit.

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## agregory

> oooh, how was whistling bird?????????????
> 
> and how was little bay?????????????
> 
> please give me details!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Whistling Bird was great!  The location, beach and all of the staff are awesome!  We ate more breakfasts and dinners onsite than we ever have on past trips and were very happy with the food there.  The room was perfect for us, except it did not have a private balcony or patio.  We stayed in one of the smaller rooms on the property, which has no private outdoor space.  It really wasn't too big of a problem, but I love to sit outside in the early mornings and late evenings.  I'm pretty sure it was at 100% capacity and it didn't ever seem crowded or busy.  We actually both said we'd be back and I hope we are... Maybe in a larger room with a veranda if we can get a deal  :Smile:   The water pressure is horrible however, which can be a deal breaker for others. 

Little Bay was great!  I came to the conclusion on this trip that I am a country girl in Jamaica and I could stay there always.  I love being in a place with more goats than people.  Smiling and saying hello to others without someone trying to sell or hustle us is so nice too.  I feel calm and peaceful both when I'm walking along the road or sitting on the deck looking out at the sea.  I felt the same way on previous stays in Billy's Bay and Long Bay in Portland.  I sleep really well listening to the goats, chickens, dogs and the waves crashing.  

I don't want to bomb your wonderful report with my Little Bay details, so maybe I'll get to putting up a small report of my own soon with pics.  We stayed in Coral Cottage and LOVED it!  We had our breakfasts and dinners prepared for us onsite by their cooks.  Yum yum yum!  Sooo good  :Beguiled:

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## mwenvlay

> Whistling Bird was great!  The location, beach and all of the staff are awesome!  We ate more breakfasts and dinners onsite than we ever have on past trips and were very happy with the food there.  The room was perfect for us, except it did not have a private balcony or patio.  We stayed in one of the smaller rooms on the property, which has no private outdoor space.  It really wasn't too big of a problem, but I love to sit outside in the early mornings and late evenings.  I'm pretty sure it was at 100% capacity and it didn't ever seem crowded or busy.  We actually both said we'd be back and I hope we are... Maybe in a larger room with a veranda if we can get a deal   The water pressure is horrible however, which can be a deal breaker for others. 
> 
> Little Bay was great!  I came to the conclusion on this trip that I am a country girl in Jamaica and I could stay there always.  I love being in a place with more goats than people.  Smiling and saying hello to others without someone trying to sell or hustle us is so nice too.  I feel calm and peaceful both when I'm walking along the road or sitting on the deck looking out at the sea.  I felt the same way on previous stays in Billy's Bay and Long Bay in Portland.  I sleep really well listening to the goats, chickens, dogs and the waves crashing.  
> 
> I don't want to bomb your wonderful report with my Little Bay details, so maybe I'll get to putting up a small report of my own soon with pics.  We stayed in Coral Cottage and LOVED it!  We had our breakfasts and dinners prepared for us onsite by their cooks.  Yum yum yum!  Sooo good


please, bomb away if you have the time.

i was actually going to ask you if you had any photos.

if you do a trip report i'm gonna be all up in it- i want all the details!!!!!!!!

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## mwenvlay

here are some photos i forgot to post of our stay in boston bay.





*the first day we went to boston beach, the water was CRYSTAL clear and there was no seaweed anywhere.  
2 days later there was a ton of seaweed in the water and washed ashore.*

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## mwenvlay

here are some photos of the royal lounge at great huts.  it's a public space that connects to the fig tree house (where we stayed).  it's private to the fig tree house from 6:30pm on, even though the door to the lounge stays open 24/7.





*the hand carved door to the right is the one that leads from the grounds.  it's open 24/7.*











*and that hand carved door is the door that leads from fig tree house to the lounge.  
it has a deadbolt lock.*

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

my thoughts on great huts:

being at great huts is like being at a sleepaway camp for hippie/bohemian grownups.  like hogwarts summercamp or a caribbean camp half-blood.  it's a really beautiful place and it's well maintained.  our room, the fig tree house, was cleaned every day and i had no issues with the condition of anything in the room.

i'm going to preface this next part by saying i'm not a fan of people in general, so these comments are mainly because i'm a jerk who prefers to be alone.  i was not a fan of the clientele at the hotel.  it was extremely european- german, swiss, french and italian seemed to be the main demographic.  

i just got a bad vibe every morning, having breakfast- that's the time i saw the most of my fellow guests.  the incident with the woman giving the waitress a hard time about lattes and the jamaican guy with her who did not run interference is the kind of thing i'm talking about.  i mean, who goes to a treehouse hotel outside of port antonio and expects to be able to get a latte at breakfast?  i don't have time for that type of sh!t.  again- i am SURE this is just me being a curmudgeonly d!ck.  and it didn't ruin my stay there or anything.  it just made me not want to eat on the property.

in general, i think i'd prefer staying at great huts during the off season.

another thing about guests- the fig tree house is RIGHT next to another tree house.  i think it's called the almond tree house.  they have a big porch that faces the entrance to fig tree hut.  3 days into our stay, a couple checked into the almond tree house.  they, unfortunately, were chain smokers who loved to spend hours each morning and night on their porch, and of course all of their smoke wafted directly into our bamboo-walled hut.  i probably could've gone and complained at the front desk, but i was on a "no complaining" bent this trip (my husband was impressed).  

sidenote 1:  i know there are allegedly strict (cigarette) smoking laws in jamaica, but i've NEVER seen them enforced.

back to my thoughts on great huts.  loved-loved-loved the grounds and accommodations.  LOVED all of that.  the staff was very nice and VERY patient with all of the guests.  clientele was way too euro for me.  i'm also not used to staying at a place where there were pretty much no jamaican guests.  aside from that fancy dread traveling with the german ladies, i did not see a one.

sidenote 2:  the guests at strawberry hill were predominately a mix of south american, irish, and aussie.  a lot of the day trippers were jamaican and asian.  great huts doesn't have day trippers, i don't think.

great huts has a very tiny, very cute beach area, but it was extremely crowded with people laying out and people jumping from the diving platform (by extremely crowded, i mean there were about 7 people there- it's that small).  we went down there during the morning of our first full day, spent about 20 minutes climbing around the rocks and never went back.  even though we had to pay to get into boston beach (a whopping 200j per person), i much preferred to hang out there.  that beach is gorgeous and it has a really good vibe. 

the two pools (the cliff pool and the larger pool at the africana house) were both equally nice.

the snake walk was really cool.

there were a lot of concrete thrones, mesh hammocks and porch swing thingies to lamp out on scattered throughout the property.

my birthday lunch at the sankofa dining area was very special.

i would say that great huts (especially the fig tree house) was worth the cost, but if we went back to boston bay, i'd probably just say "f it" and book us into the boston beach guest house.  it's rundown and probably has terrible water pressure, but it's cheap enough and it has a staircase that leads directly to boston beach.

i would also consider the winifred breeze guest house.  it might be nice to spend a little time in that area, which is closer to port antonio.

but i would most definitely stay at great huts again.

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## mwenvlay

more photos of fig tree house.





















*ugh, i LOVE that bathtub!!!!!!*

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## mwenvlay

husband thought great huts was ok.  he liked the room and enjoyed the fact that he could walk right out the gate and have street food and a few bars at his disposal.

ti boss's opinion surprised me!  he said 5 days was way too long to spend at that place when we coulda spent some of that time at our next hotel in kingston.  the specifics of his dissatisfaction were that the internet was garbage, the africana house pool water was cloudy and the cliff pool was too shallow.  boston beach, he conceded, was "fire," the bathtub in our tree house was "lit," and he really enjoyed our day out to nanny falls and rock bottom's carving shop, but all in all he felt 3 days woulda been enough at great huts.

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## agregory

I love your reviews and honest opinions on the places you stayed and visited!  Especially ti boss's comments  :Biggrin New: 

Your thoughts and comments sound very similar to what I think about places, so I feel like I get it.  I really wanted to stay at Great Huts during our Portland visit, but I was honestly a bit unsure about the openness of them.  I feel like I could handle it now though.  I was surprised you didn't mention creepy crawly critters and mosquitoes in your review.  Are the toilets in each unit on the ground level?  I feel like they are, which is why we didn't end up there... but I could be confusing it with another property?   

The cig smoke would have been very annoying!  I probably would have handled it the same way you did though and not said anything.  I also get what you mean about the types of guests affecting your stay.  The types of people you describe can really bring the vibe down  :Frown:

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## agregory

BTW - We really loved staying in the Fairy Hill neighborhood!  We were on the side road leading down to Winnifred Beach, so it was an easy walk to it.

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## mwenvlay

> I love your reviews and honest opinions on the places you stayed and visited!  Especially ti boss's comments 
> 
> Your thoughts and comments sound very similar to what I think about places, so I feel like I get it.  I really wanted to stay at Great Huts during our Portland visit, but I was honestly a bit unsure about the openness of them.  I feel like I could handle it now though.  I was surprised you didn't mention creepy crawly critters and mosquitoes in your review.  Are the toilets in each unit on the ground level?  I feel like they are, which is why we didn't end up there... but I could be confusing it with another property?   
> 
> The cig smoke would have been very annoying!  I probably would have handled it the same way you did though and not said anything.  I also get what you mean about the types of guests affecting your stay.  The types of people you describe can really bring the vibe down





> BTW - We really loved staying in the Fairy Hill neighborhood!  We were on the side road leading down to Winnifred Beach, so it was an easy walk to it.




oh yeah, i totally forgot to comment on the bugs!

mosquitos were very minimal at strawberry hill.  i don't even remember using bug spray when there.  strawberry hill has a few very friendly dogs who hang out at the reception cottage and a few cats- we only saw 2 by our cottage.  i looooooooove dogs and cats, so i was happy to see them all.

mosquitos were much more noticeable at great huts.  i definitely used bug spray there, especially at night.  i only saw one (very gigantic) palmetto bug- those cockroach looking things- in the room.  it was on the dresser and i ignored it and it went away.  there are a couple of dogs on the property, but same as strawberry hill- they chill by the reception area.  and there are a lot of cats on property and they will come into your hut looking for food.  again, i am a crazy cat lady, so it was all good to me, but i'm sure a lot of people would not be as excited about that.

and the toilet bowls and bathub/showers are on the bottom floor.  but our treehouse also had a sink on the top floor (where we slept).

did you stay at winifred breeze?  that's a guesthouse located on that side road you're talking about.  i think i'd like to stay there next time.

and i'm glad you get what i was saying about the other guests.  i feel like a jerk for writing it out, but hey- it's a trip report, so i thought i should comment on my experience with my fellow tourists.  

i have a feeling i'd have fun meeting up with you!

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## agregory

Thanks for the extra info on Great Huts.  I don't know how I'd feel about walking downstairs to the bathroom 1-2 times during the night, in an open-to-the-jungle house.  But the set-up is very intriguing, so maybe I could do it for 3 nights? lol.  I seem to be getting used to those Jamaican cockroaches now too because I encountered one in Little Bay and I stayed very calm and collected!  They seem to really like to hide in bath towels  :EEK!: 

I'm sure we'd have fun sharing our travel experiences  :Smile:   Jamaica is such a fascinating and amazing country!  You really make me want to get to Kingston.  I was there on Christmas Day in 1998 or 99 for the day.  I honestly don't remember what we did there at that time, but I clearly remember the beautiful drive from Ochi, thru the Blue Mountains and into Kingston.  I wish it was easier/quicker to get there and didn't require a layover.  Hopefully someday we will decide to do that trip  :Smile:

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## mwenvlay

> Thanks for the extra info on Great Huts.  I don't know how I'd feel about walking downstairs to the bathroom 1-2 times during the night, in an open-to-the-jungle house.  But the set-up is very intriguing, so maybe I could do it for 3 nights? lol.  I seem to be getting used to those Jamaican cockroaches now too because I encountered one in Little Bay and I stayed very calm and collected!  They seem to really like to hide in bath towels 
> 
> I'm sure we'd have fun sharing our travel experiences   Jamaica is such a fascinating and amazing country!  You really make me want to get to Kingston.  I was there on Christmas Day in 1998 or 99 for the day.  I honestly don't remember what we did there at that time, but I clearly remember the beautiful drive from Ochi, thru the Blue Mountains and into Kingston.  I wish it was easier/quicker to get there and didn't require a layover.  Hopefully someday we will decide to do that trip


great huts has a gorgeous building called africana house that has proper rooms in them.  go onto the website and take a look.  i would consider staying there if it were just me and my husband.  but the treehouse aspect was fun, plus we were RIGHT on the water.

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## johng

mwenvlay, awesome reports and beautiful photos and video's. You have a very sharp artistic eye for things!!! BTW they offer cabins for rent at Hollywell, inexpensive, safe and clean. Also there are a few people up in the mountain top who offer their property on AirBnB. They vary from really nice to rustic and priced accordingly. Out of curiosity what were you using for a camera for your stills and video?? Some very interesting effects that you captured!!! The absolute beauty of the Jamaicans that you meet along the way is worth the trip itself!! Thanks again for your wonderful trip reports and pics!!

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## mwenvlay

gxb


> mwenvlay, awesome reports and beautiful photos and video's. You have a very sharp artistic eye for things!!! BTW they offer cabins for rent at Hollywell, inexpensive, safe and clean. Also there are a few people up in the mountain top who offer their property on AirBnB. They vary from really nice to rustic and priced accordingly. Out of curiosity what were you using for a camera for your stills and video?? Some very interesting effects that you captured!!! The absolute beauty of the Jamaicans that you meet along the way is worth the trip itself!! Thanks again for your wonderful trip reports and pics!!


you know, i really would love to spend a couple of days in a cabin in holywell.  i need to make a plan with my husband to do that.  we used to do a lot of tent camping in an area outside of port au prince that is identical to that part of the blue mountains.  now that he’s comfortable in jamaica and now that ti boss is now a teen (13 in june!!!) i think we can take our focus away from hotel life and do stuff like stay in a cabin in holywell.  i know they’d love it.  years ago, i stayed at the starlight inn, which is alllllll the way near the top of the mountain, but i think i’d prefer to stay in that cabin.

re: my photo equipment, i have an iphone xr (finally upgraded from a 5s) and i utilize the camera+ app (it’s around $2.99 in the app store) and hipstamatic (which i’ve recently fallen back in love with, after years of neglect).  my videos are completely unedited and no manipulation to picture.

jamaica makes it hard to take a bad photo and my guys are photogenic.

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## johng

mwenvlay, You would have a blast up at Hollywell, lots of hiking trails and bird watching, waterfalls, etc... Amazing photos from an iphone!!! Hipstamatic seems like an Irie app. Nice job with your reporting!!! Keep posting a montage after you get settled back in at home. Best johng

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## johng

Hollywell

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## mwenvlay

> Hollywell
> 
> Attachment 52745
> 
> Attachment 52746
> 
> Attachment 52747
> 
> Attachment 52748


those photos are the epitome of post-vacation regret.

we shoulda gone there.

we need to sleep there.

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## johng

No regrets, you now have another option for your next trip. For $70 USD a night you can get a two bedroom cabin with bathroom and kitchen. So if a budget is an issue think about how many nights you can afford to stay!!

https://www.blueandjohncrowmountains...olywell-cabins

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## mwenvlay

> No regrets, you now have another option for your next trip. For $70 USD a night you can get a two bedroom cabin with bathroom and kitchen. So if a budget is an issue think about how many nights you can afford to stay!!
> 
> https://www.blueandjohncrowmountains...olywell-cabins


dude, i'm already ahead of you!

when i was in ja someone told me a one room cabin was, like, $50usd a night.  

i did the math in my head 2 hours ago- a month's rent on one of those cabins is almost $1,000 a month cheaper than my apartment in brooklyn.  

i should just move up there and become a hermit!  

$70 a night for a 2-bedroom and my entire family of 3 is good to go!

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## mwenvlay

i have to add additional photos of nanny falls!
























EVERYONE NEEEEEEEEEEEDS TO VISIT NANNY FALLS.

i could've spent all day there.

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay



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## agregory

> did you stay at winifred breeze?  that's a guesthouse located on that side road you're talking about.  i think i'd like to stay there next time.


I forgot to answer your question.  We didn't stay at Winnifred Breeze.  We stayed at the Fairy Hill Palms Airbnb.  It looks like they changed the listing on Airbnb to divide it into seperate listings with one queen bedroom and a shared bathroom.  When we stayed we rented the entire 2 bedroom house and they kept one of the bedrooms locked.  So we had the entire place to ourselves.  I would imagine that's still an option.  It's on the upper floor with a covered veranda looking out towards the road to Winnifred Beach.  The home owner lives right next door and runs a convenience store out of his garage.

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## mwenvlay

> I forgot to answer your question.  We didn't stay at Winnifred Breeze.  We stayed at the Fairy Hill Palms Airbnb.  It looks like they changed the listing on Airbnb to divide it into seperate listings with one queen bedroom and a shared bathroom.  When we stayed we rented the entire 2 bedroom house and they kept one of the bedrooms locked.  So we had the entire place to ourselves.  I would imagine that's still an option.  It's on the upper floor with a covered veranda looking out towards the road to Winnifred Beach.  The home owner lives right next door and runs a convenience store out of his garage.


i found it on airbnb.  

i wonder if you need air conditioning in the summer.  we were fine at great huts, but feb. temperature is still not that hot.

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## agregory

> i found it on airbnb.  
> 
> i wonder if you need air conditioning in the summer.  we were fine at great huts, but feb. temperature is still not that hot.


AC may be needed in the summer. The house was very hot midday during Feb, but cooled off enough at night for us.

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## mwenvlay

> AC may be needed in the summer. The house was very hot midday during Feb, but cooled off enough at night for us.


that's one good thing about great huts, especially with the cliff-side treehouse- in feb. it got slightly warmish (never hot) during the day and cool at night.  we never even bothered with the fans.

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## mwenvlay

i need to write my thoughts on the terra nova hotel.

in the meantime, here's a picture of the salad i got my first night there.








(ti boss took it)


the interesting thing about this salad is- see that cucumber in the left side of the bowl?  it's actually one long piece of cucumber, all connected, like a giant necklace!  i'm not sure how it was cut, but it was paper thin and unbroken.

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## mwenvlay

here's audio i recorded at night in our room at great huts.















here's a link to the same file, saved on my dropbox.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8s8wvw5u11...maica.mp3?dl=0

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## mwenvlay

my thoughts on the terra nova:

terra nova was fine.  i only have 2 complaints to register- my main complaint is that they put us in a room in a really mediocre part of the hotel.  it was on the first floor in a side wing that was just past the bar and some room called the club room, which was used as a staging area for a conference they had going on.  the conference was held in an area right next to our wing.  we had to suffer through some horrendous daytime karaoke one day (a screechy rendition of "on the wings of love" and some other song).  we were only there for 2 nights and were out and about during the day, so i didn't bother asking them if we could move rooms.  

(i really was on my "no complaining" p's n q's this trip.)  

the room itself was fine.  the bed was comfortable, linens substantial, towels were huge and thick.  there was an empty mini fridge that we used to stock our beer and water and a huge walk-in closet that we didn't utilize.

our first day we couldn't figure out how to use the tv (channels were screwed up), but ti boss called the front desk and they sent someone over to straighten it out.  the same thing happened the second day but we were too tired to call the front desk again.

complaint 2 is that there was NO hot water when i finally got around to taking a shower (the morning of check-out).  i mean NO hot water.  the water was FREEZING.  normally, stuff like that doesn't bother me, but i was super grimy from running around the city and was flying back home that afternoon and i just wanted one nice, hot shower to finish off my trip.  and the hotel is supposed to be an upscale business hotel, so there should be no reason for there to be no hot water.

other than that, we all really liked the hotel.  the guest clientele was a nice mix of (what appeared to be) foreign business travelers and visiting caribbean diaspora folks.  the restaurant, bar and casino were patronized mainly by locals, which is always my favorite.  the food at the restaurant was good and ti boss loved the patisserie counter in the lobby.  the pool was simple but pretty and ti boss said the gym (in a building next to the pool) was good.  

i'd stay there again, but would be more selective about my room location.  not sure if we would really need to move up to the next category of room (we had the basic jr. suite), but would definitely try to score a room on a higher floor, with a view and away from the bar and conference center area.

when we first got there, husband grumbled that i purposely picked a hotel in the middle of nowhere (to keep him from going out and exploring the city) but once he figured out what i meant when i said, "there are really no decent hotels in kingston that are located 'in the middle of everything!'" he was cool with my selection.  we drove up knutsford boulevard the next day, and i said, "this is the only area in kingston that has tourist hotels that are 'in the middle of' anything, and you wouldn't really want to stay in any of these hotels anymore."  i used to stay at the courtleigh years ago, but i heard it's overdue for a renovation.  the guy who was driving said i was pretty much correct.

ti boss LOVED the terra nova, because it had excellent wifi, 24 hour pool access and that awesome patisserie.

we drove by the spanish court while we were there and i dunno- it just doesn't do it for me.  it's in an awkward location and maybe the grounds are pretty in the back part of the hotel, but the front entrance reminds me of a springhill suites in suburban maryland.  and the photos of the rooms that i saw online gave me bad late 80s flashbacks.

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## mwenvlay

here's a list of things we brought with us that were useful or that we used a lot:

cooler bag (i always bring one whenever i travel)

inflatable beach ball

binoculars (we totally used them!!!)

incense (i brought hem's black magic this time)

citronella candles in travel tins (not really necessary, but they smell great and were nice to have at strawberry hill)

dry roasted peanuts  (we ate 'em)

assorted games (dominos, yahtzee, uno, old maid and bananagrams)

hydrocortisone creme (i always bring this plus bacitracin. ti boss got a small rash from a prickly plant, so they came in handy this trip)

tums (i always need tums)

flat metal bottle cap opener (so i can stick it in my carry-on without worrying about it getting confiscated)

pocket knife (packed in a checked bag)

audiobooks (for me and for ti boss, downloaded to our ipods)

a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle

a tablecloth (we used it as a table cloth at strawberry hill and something to lie out on at the beach in boston bay)

a bottle of champagne

a bottle of hennessey

needle to inflate/deflate soccer ball

flashlights

water shoes (the guys used theirs when we went to nanny falls, but i just stuck with my teva sandals)

lysol disinfectant wipes (got in the habit of carrying them around after the earthquake.  they're really good for when you're driving around a lot and find yourself eating sticky stuff like fruit and patties)




things we brought and didn't use:

an inflatable pool raft and an inflatable inner tube (brand new, bought specially for the trip.  they never even made it out of the backpack)

a soccer ball  (ti boss got pool gravity at strawberry hill, where there was a perfect lawn available to kick the ball around)

antibiotics (i always carry them with me)

several paperbacks i thought i might want to re-read

a book of mazes

an umbrella

make-up (lol, who was i kidding???)

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## mwenvlay

> I should be spending a few days next week with them in Baltimore.  I told them to not wear green and go see the PNP rally - I'm a fan of Damion Crawford.  I'll post their reactions.


hey!!!

how did your friends like jamaica/boston bay/great huts?????

come back and tell me, please!

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## mwenvlay

this probably won't be of interest to most folks, but there may be a few who are curious about this...

this was my husband's 4th trip to jamaica.  on our honeymoon we spent 4 days at strawberry hill and 10 days at xtabi.  the other 3 trips were in negril with ti boss.  husband wasn't crazy about negril, because the jamaicans there were kinda rude about him being haitian.  he kept getting asked if he was a drug dealer and other dumb stuff.  this didn't happen in irish town at strawberry hill, where he felt way more comfortable and like he was in a familiar environment.

the other night, after we'd been back about a week, i asked him if people in port antonio asked him if he was a drug dealer or other dumb stuff like that.  he told me, "no.  people there were much more..."  he hesitated, trying to think of the correct adjective.  "... civilized," we both said at the exact same time.  

and he said he liked kingston, because he enjoyed talking with returning jamaicans at the hotel (which is always one of my favorite parts of my visits).  

"you know, we had a really good trip."

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## sammyb

I am so loving your report and photos!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Thank you for taking the time to post...just LOVELY!  OKAY back to reading!

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## mwenvlay

> I am so loving your report and photos!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Thank you for taking the time to post...just LOVELY!  OKAY back to reading!


awwwwww, i'm so glad you like it!  i know you're an old hand expert when it comes to porty.  


i'm so happy i finally had a trip that i will remember and SO pleased that husband and son enjoyed themselves.

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## sammyb

> awwwwww, i'm so glad you like it!  i know you're an old hand expert when it comes to porty.  
> 
> 
> i'm so happy i finally had a trip that i will remember and SO pleased that husband and son enjoyed themselves.


SOOOOOO happy to hear ALL went well!!!!!!!!  This report and photos are medicine to my soul!

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## sammyb

> i spotted that party hut and figured i could roll over and see if they were selling rum.
> 
> so, i grabbed my cup, rolled over and asked (in ann obnoxious ny accent), "do you guys have rum?"  this guy standing right next to where i rolled up said, "sure, we have rum.  would you like some?"  
> 
> me:  "oh, you guys aren't vendors?  you're just hanging?"
> 
> guy (in an east coast-ish accent):  "yeah, it's my birthday and we're celebrating, but we can give you some rum!"
> 
> me:  "are you from ny?"
> ...


I love how you roll....love your vibe!

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## sammyb

> we're heading back to snow today
> 
>  we tend to average 2 trips a year.  one is usually to visit family in haiti. 
> 
> when i was single and childless (a state that lasted through my early 40s) i would travel whenever i was able, but now that i have a kid i find it's easiest to travel in february (my birthday + spring break for kids) and then some time between july and september.  sometimes it works out to be easter break and thanksgiving.  
> 
> i want to get my guys to new orleans or california and do a trip to a few places in europe.  those are on my short list.


holla when you are ready to plan your new orleans trip, that is where I am originally from.

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## sammyb

> here's the mortar and pestle (pilon) i bought from rock bottom to replace the cracked, soft wood one my husband bought in port au prince several years ago.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ...


This is beautiful!

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## sammyb

GREAT report!!! and awesome photos!  Very informative love the details.  So I have considered Strawberry Hill for a long while.  What are your thoughts of no a/c in August.  I am an A/C girl and I know august is HOT and humid.  Wondering if I can manage.  Is it really that cool in the Blue Mtns?

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## mwenvlay

> This is beautiful!


isn't it?

it's iron wood, which means it's extra-extra hard wood.  should last forever.

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## mwenvlay

> holla when you are ready to plan your new orleans trip, that is where I am originally from.


ooooh, great to know!

i think my husband's gonna LOVE new orleans, because it will remind him of parts of haiti.

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## mwenvlay

> GREAT report!!! and awesome photos!  Very informative love the details.  So I have considered Strawberry Hill for a long while.  What are your thoughts of no a/c in August.  I am an A/C girl and I know august is HOT and humid.  Wondering if I can manage.  Is it really that cool in the Blue Mtns?


i think you would be slightly warm during the day and would need to utilize the fan- but you would most likely not be in your room much during sunlight hours.  it would most definitely be cool up there during the night.

i really love strawberry hill.  it's a really special place.  even if you only stay there once and then move on to something less expensive in the area it's worth the experience.

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## sammyb

Thanks for the info on Strawberry Hill!  New Orleans is a special city...so much history and culture.  Didn't realize how "strange" we were until I moved away.  Love being strange lol!  Thanks again for a very insightful report and such a good review of Warren.  He and his brother work hard to do a good job.

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## mwenvlay

> Thanks for the info on Strawberry Hill!  New Orleans is a special city...so much history and culture.  Didn't realize how "strange" we were until I moved away.  Love being strange lol!  Thanks again for a very insightful report and such a good review of Warren.  He and his brother work hard to do a good job.


i loooooove new orleans.  you guys really are ~strange,~ and it's great!  like a combo of brooklyn and port au prince folks, so i totally get along with all of you!

and i would not be surprised if warren winds up visiting us in nyc at some point  :Smile:

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## johng

Hey mwenvlay, How are you gonna livestream the Buju concert tonight?? Should be Epic!! I know that you've only been home 2 weeks but when you find the time can you please post a trip summery with whatever photos and video that you haven't yet dropped!! Thanks in advance!!

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## mwenvlay

> Hey mwenvlay, How are you gonna livestream the Buju concert tonight?? Should be Epic!! I know that you've only been home 2 weeks but when you find the time can you please post a trip summery with whatever photos and video that you haven't yet dropped!! Thanks in advance!!


i missed it!!!

i am coming down with the flu and have a crazy week at work ahead of me (i work in advertising and we're about to launch a new campaign and i'm working 11 hour days), so i went to bed last night at 9pm.  i'mma try to catch as much of it as possible via youtube videos.  cannot wait to see beres!

and re:  my trip report- i totally thought i'd posted every single thing about my trip but realized i forgot to mention we stopped by the folly mansion in port antonio (no photos, boo)!

and i also forgot to post the two cute birthday mementos i got from great huts hotel folks and the server at terra nova!


*birthday swans at great huts!  the woman who made up my room also left me a really sweet birthday card!*




*day after my birthday @ terra nova hotel (taken by ti boss)*

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## mwenvlay



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## mwenvlay

i found more photos i meant to upload!

these were taken at great huts's minuscule beach area!



*rock throne*

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## mwenvlay

and another video.

of rain!!!

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## JitterBug

what a great trip report, thank you!
you covered all the important stuff!

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## mwenvlay

> what a great trip report, thank you!
> you covered all the important stuff!


thank you!  so glad you liked it!

we have a friend from port au prince who's dying to go to ja with us, so i have a feeling we'll be doing a similar trip next summer or maybe next thanksgiving.

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## JitterBug

> thank you!  so glad you liked it!
> 
> we have a friend from port au prince who's dying to go to ja with us, so i have a feeling we'll be doing a similar trip next summer or maybe next thanksgiving.


rent a car next time, more freedom

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## mwenvlay

> rent a car next time, more freedom


my husband says he now feels comfortable enough to drive in ja next time we go-  he wanted to get a lay of the land before he took the wheel himself. 

 the driving landscape in ja is exactly the same as in haiti (mountains, city, coastal, lot of blind spots, random animals, big trucks, crazy drivers, etc.) but the roads are a million times better.  and you have to drive on the left.  i think it's the "driving on the left" thing that made my husband want to be overly cautious.

i don't drive at all, so someone's gonna be driving me somewhere, regardless.

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