Newbie Trip Report - 4-15 Feb, 2013

After a fairly quick flight from Toronto we arrived at Montego Bay airport on Mon, Feb 4th... a little tired, but very excited to be on vacation!

As recommended by Marley, we booked Chicken for all our transportation. Inside the airport we were asked by many people if we needed a ride. Just like Marley told me, we said “We’re looking for Chicken” and everyone pointed to the exit we needed. We went outside into the hot, sunny day and there he was with a sign that said “Chicken’s Magic Bus”. I was so excited to see him! He gave me a big hug like a long lost old friend, packed our bags into his car, and we were off.

We stopped in Hopewell for some much needed Ital food. Veggie chunks, rice & peas, and cabbage. It was absolutely delicious. Then we hit the Cambio for cash and the "Chinaman’s" place for beer. The drive was amazing. So many things to see and Chicken was telling us all about the different areas, a little bit of history, etc.

Our room at Rockhouse was fantastic. At first I was worried because the restaurant was right next door, but we never heard any noise from there and we totally forgot about them by the following day. The view from our cliff patio was unreal. We were officially in paradise.

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Nice!!!

Wonderful, we stopped at Rockhouse while in Negril and it is a beautiful place. Love your photos. More please!

Great start to the report, and yours pics are amazing!

Woo Hoo! I've been waiting for your report!
Great so far.....love the views at Rockhouse....was that villa 17?

More more more please :)

Great pics! Can't wait to hear more ............

We were in villa # 11, beside the Rockhouse restaurant at the main entrance (not Push Cart).
Here's a view of our patio:

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That's our red umbrella to the left.

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Me and the hubs on our little bridge.

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The only complaint I have about Rockhouse is that people were constantly walking down onto our private patio to get to that bridge. I mean, they would almost be stepping over us in our lounge chairs to see that bridge, or to jump off it. They seemed to have no idea that the bridge was connecting rooms 11 and 10 and was not a communal area. Luckily I was usually enjoying a large sub on the lounge chairs at the time, so I was able to shrug it off. Several times when we came out of our room in the morning (or evening) there were people sprawled out on our lounge chairs to watch the amazing view we had. Again, totally ignoring the sign on the gates that said "Rooms 9 -11 Only". One night there were people who weren't even staying at Rockhouse who came trotting down the path and gave themselves a tour of our patio area while we were trying to have a quiet moment after dinner. For that reason I felt we lacked the privacy I was expecting. Not the hotel's fault, just guests who do not pay attention.

Day 2

We woke up refreshed, grabbed some breakfast, and headed out to St. Anthony's Kitchen to meet Father Jim and drop off some donations we brought along (flip flops and clothing) and some small gifts for the ladies who work in the kitchen.
Next up was walk along West End Road for the infamous Ras Rody! I'd read a lot of good things about this food stand so I was very excited to try it out. Not realizing how early it was, we got there before the lunch spread was ready so we walked back a bit to Allie's for some nice cold juice.

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After the juice it was back to Ras Rody for an absolutely fantastic lunch! Rice & peas, curried pumpkin stew, callaloo, cabbage, curried okra, veggie chunks, and a pumpkin soup too!

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Our walk to and from Ras Rody (which became a daily event) was always interesting. There was never a shortage of people offering us various cold cuts on the street. Luckily, we had already been taken care of and were set for the entire trip. We would not go hungry in Jamaica.

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Back at the Rockhouse, we settled in on our lounge chairs with some cold Red Stripe and an extra large sub. Our afternoon entertainment was the naked Hedonism boat that anchored in the bay right in front of our villa. Let me tell you, that was one hilarious afternoon. After that, a bunch of local kids were cliff jumping for other boats that had come into our little bay.

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There was also lots of snorkeling that afternoon! There was a little cave down a few sets of stairs next to our villa. You climb into the water and swim out of the cave into the open bay. I saw some really beautiful fish there. Next time i'll have to get an underwater camera.

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I wondered how your trip went. We met you on the one love pub crawl! We had so much fun on Bob Marleys Birthday

Really enjoying your report!! Great pictures and I am with you...Ras Rody's rocks some good Ital food! Anxious to hear more!