Trip Report - October 19 - November 4, 2013

My apologies, I started a trip report but first day back to work I suffered a knee injury and have been unable to update until today.

What a difference 15 years makes! Our first trip to Negril was 15 years ago when there was nothing but sun, sand and waves on Bloody Bay. Of course now Bloody Bay is teeming with resorts and visitors – we stayed at the RIU Palace Tropical Bay and we absolutely loved the location and the resort.

We are from Calgary, Canada – myself, husband and our 15 year old daughter and we were so excited to be heading to Jamaica for 16 glorious days of sun, fun, visiting and exploring. We have a dear friend we made on our first trip who was looking forward to meeting our made in Jamaica daughter – Irie - that’s her middle name and the Jamaicans thought that was so neat!

Lindsay MacFarlane – SNL Jamaican Tours – was waiting for us upon arrival at the Montego Bay airport. The immigration line was insane, while waiting for at least an hour there were 6 other flights that came in. Man I wish I had booked Club Mobay for our arrival, not just departure. Our luggage was all pushed together once we finally got out of Immigration and Customs and into the van and on our way to Negril!

The trip seemed shorter than it did 15 years ago, the road to Negril was horrendous at that time, pot holes everywhere, dodging goats, and chickens, but this trip the road was fantastic, lots to see and Lindsay filled us in on what was new, what wasn’t. We didn’t even need to stop for a bathroom or Red Stripe break; we had beverages in the van.

We arrived at the RIU Palace at about 2:30, check in was a total of 3 minutes, got all our room information, resort information, the bellboy loaded up our luggage and we were off to our rooms. Building #1, right by the Scuba Shack, 2nd floor, rooms together. Rooms were fantastic, the view of the beach was excellent, a very quiet building. We loved sitting on our balcony in the evening listening to the waves crashing into the shore, the symphony of the tree frogs and crickets. I miss that the most ☹ . Quickly got our bearings and started to explore the resort. Found all the important things – like the beach (haha), the dive shack, the Jerk Chicken shack, restaurants and pools. We are beach people so the pools really didn’t interest us too much, except of course for the bar! While walking the beach we were approached by some of the local vendors while walking the beach, the Office of Nature rep who wanted us to come right now for lobster, thanks but we’d just arrived! Was asked within 2 minutes on our beach walk if we wanted any ingredients for subs, which we did.

We settled right into our vacation, hubby and I looked at each other and said, “we’re home”. It was the most comfortable 1st day on vacation, ever. It’s true, “once you go, you know” – we were experiencing part 2 of that – we knew for sure!

We had the pleasure of meeting up with our Rastafarian friend whom we hadn’t seen for 15 years – we kept in touch for years but life and new cell numbers split us up for about 6 years. Once we booked our trip we knew we had to find him, I emailed the hotel that he used to sell his carvings from and they were happy to provide us with his new cell #. He was so thrilled that we were coming back and he so looked forward to meeting our daughter, whom he treated like his own. We met up with him at The Charela Inn and it was quite the reunion! We spent a couple of days with him, in-between beach days and excursion days. We took him for lunch 3 times and we thoroughly enjoyed our food at Colette’s, Sweet Spice and the Sweet Spot. He took us on a private tour of a sub plantation which was an amazing (and extremely hot) day.

Did a couple of excursions – Rocklands Bird Sanctuary – a long drive but very worthwhile. Loved the location of the sanctuary and the peacefulness. I think we expected a lot more than what we got for the $$ we paid but we did get to feed the Doctor Birds which was amazing, saw many other birds feeding around the grounds and we had a little nature walk that was very informative.

Mayfield Falls – are amazing, the water is very cold and refreshing and surprisingly, the rocks aren’t slippery but bring your water shoes for all the rocks you have to walk on. The guides were excellent, the photographer took many great shots but we weren’t prepared to pay over $100 for all the photos, we did purchase one for $10 but we discovered when we returned home that the photo isn’t on the disk. Shame on them. Unfortunately the review for Mayfield will reflect that. Enjoyed lunch there as well.

Nine Mile – very, very long drive but the countryside and driving through the small towns and villages was very educational. We arrived at Nine Mile and the Bob Marley Mausoleum it was evident that Mr. Marley’s name is overused for monetary purposes. As much as we enjoyed meeting Captain Crazy – ha ha ha – and our tour around the property, we thought it was very intrusive and disrespectful to Mr. Marley that people were allowed to view his tomb. Seeing his house, his bed and sitting room was enough for us, we didn’t need to see where he’s laid to rest for eternity. We also thought it was in bad taste that none of the revenue from Nine Mile or purchasing any of the overpriced “Bob Marley” paraphernalia was going towards a Bob Marley Foundation or to his family. But that’s our opinion for what it’s worth. We took a whole bunch of made up gift bags for the children in Nine Mile who greeted us with lots of smiles, especially when they got their goodie bags.

Spent many days on the beach, brought our snorkel gear with us, the water is so clear and warm. But unfortunately, overfishing has depleted any of the colorful reef creatures we’re used to seeing in other Caribbean countries so the snorkel didn’t leave the room. That goes for diving as well, yes, hubby enjoyed diving at the plane crash and seeing some of the big coral reefs but realistically he was only keeping his certification up to date because there’s just nothing to see (he’s dived in Cuba, Curacao, Costa Rica and most recently Cozumel). The dive master (who coincidentally is our friend the Rastafarian’s son) was excited to see a seahorse – hubby told him many stories of the things he’s seen while diving. Once he’s achieved his Dive Master Certification he’s going to dive in other countries to see what Negril is missing. If the reefs came back and the fish and sea life returned, this could potentially be a multi million-dollar industry.

We walked the beach in both directions, to the Grand Lido and then to ClubRIU, past the vendors on the beach. Visited them about 3 times, once so see what they had, once to buy a couple of things and the last time to get last minute items. We enjoyed conversing with all of them.

We had amazing weather the whole time, the first week it was hot, humid and we enjoyed the ocean to the fullest. The second week it rained – actually it poured – a couple of times but we only really missed one beach day because the other days we were shopping at Time Square or the Vendors Market and the rain didn’t bother us there. Another day it poured while we were at our friends house – it was a deluge for about an hour, then it stopped, the sun came out and the humidity did it’s thing to my naturally curly hair! The only drawback with the rain was the mosquitos came out in full force after that – I’m a magnet – but I was prepared and brought my repellant everywhere we went so I was armed! Only got about a half dozen bites in total, other trips I’ve been covered with bites as well as sand flea bites but not this time. I found that OFF or Deep Woods OFF didn’t help one but, but the Avon brand of repellant did so I think I’ve found what works for me.

Shopped at Time Square and loved it. They had quality products and very reasonable prices. Did two trips to the Vendors Market, we went into every little shop and we found many treasures to purchase. Some of the carvings and paintings are amazing and we brought back many memories of Jamaica. Spent time in the old Hi-Lo grocery store, it was Hi-Lo when we were there last in exactly the spot we remembered it too! It’s now called something else, sorry I forget – but we enjoyed walking around and picked up spices, coffee, rum and some fruit. We were very disappointed not to see any fresh pineapple or passion fruit at our resort and the watermelon they served was tasteless and cut so thin… We love our tropical fruit and had our little fridge in our room been bigger, we’d have purchased some to nibble on in the evenings. I guess we could have taken out the Red Stripe and Coke but we didn’t.

The 16 nights passed far too quickly and we vowed to ourselves and to our friend that we wouldn’t wait another 15 years to come back to Jamaica. We’re hoping to see him again in 2 years, if we can wait that long. We love Jamaica and now our daughter does too, and we now all have a new respect for everything Jamaica.

Respect, Irie