Day by Day Trip Report with Pics - February 6 - 14, 2016

nice . . . thank you

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Originally Posted by Monty&Melo

Vacation Day #1
Sunday, Super-Bowl Sunday,
My day started bright and early and after the early to bed on Travel Day, I awake at 615am ready for my first beach walk of the trip. Out of Rondel, dip toe in water, which seemed to have gotten slightly rougher overnight (but actually it was calm compared to what was coming), turn right and head up the beach. I walk barefoot, so no worries about having to time the waves crashing up on Lazy Dayz. I quickly get into a pretty smooth gait, find a flat spot which isn’t real soft to walk in and step by step the hotels and bars go by. Pretty soon I reach the tree at Barry’s Bar and start the long walk past CSA and Beaches. It’s pretty early and as a result the only Jamaicans on the beach are the beach attendants, raking and cleaning up. Not much hassle yet, that will be on the way back, but fortunately enough of those guys recognize me as a long-timer and non-smoker, so the hassle to me is probably less than some less frequent travelers.

When I reach the part of the beach where you can’t walk on the beach I have to cut through the trail behind the beach and then rejoin the beach just as I reach Dr. Love’s place. I go way back with the Doctor and I stopped to talk. Evidently he had some trouble recently with the police coming in and mashing up his place. I assume he’s squatting and I also assume this has something to do with the “New Sherriff in Town” mentality of the new Chief in Sav, but technically, Dr. Love’s place is in Hanover Parish and not Westmoreland, but who really knows how all of this work. He says he’s working to get things back together, I tell him that I am rooting for him and that I will see him later in the trip and off I go.

Past the house that never seems to have any tenants in it and pretty soon I am up by Sensatori and the construction project going on there. The smell of exhaust from those machines is not nearly as sweet as the smell of exhaust when you first leave the airport. It appears like they are doing some huge work there. I won’t express any opinion on any of that, but it’s not my favorite thing, but also realize that the world does not stand still these days. Through Boardwalk and I reach the end of the walk for me; Sandals Negril. 3 miles from Rondel. I turn around and head back.

Get back to the room just as Melo is finishing up her preparations for the day, pour a rum and ting to drink in the shower (if you’ve never had a cold alcoholic beverage in the shower, try it, you’ll love it). Once I get ready, we head across the street to Montana’s for Breakfast. We sit down, no menus, and we immediately order a bottle of water, a Ting and two Bacon, Egg and Cheese breakfast sandwiches. I’m not a huge breakfast eater, so that sandwich is just perfect. Pay for breakfast and then back to Rondel for the first day on the beach.

We pretty much lay around the beach and play in the surf the rest of the day until it is time to claim our seats at the bar at Rondel for Super-Bowl. About 4pm we head up to the bar. Sit down, have a few drinks, enjoy the appetizers they pass during happy hour from 5-6pm. The sunset from the beach was pretty nice that night, so I took several pictures and have posted a couple below. The game was OK, watching it at the bar at Rondel was really fun, there was enough of a mix of folks that were really in to it and also enough of folks that had no clue and were just there for the event.
Miracle of all Miracles I stayed awake all the way until the end of the game. It was after 10pm, a late night for me in Jamaica. Question is, will I be able to get up early and walk the beach again in the morning??

Rondel, from the sea. We sent this pic to Karl Ricketts and he did a great painting of it for us, I will share that picture near the end of the trip
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First Sunset Pic
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Second Sunset Pic, Sun Finished
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NICE
Great report

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(if you’ve never had a cold alcoholic beverage in the shower, try it, you’ll love it)

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I had to laugh at this because I totally agree! I've got one of these and it works great! Beer bottles, wine glasses, etc. Super sturdy and (knock on wood), it has never come loose! Www.sipcaddy.com
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Damn Sher,

You are my hero!!!!!

Lol! Looking forward to more of your report!

What a great report. You have me back in Negril. We stay at CSA but walk down to Rondel to visit our buddy Ozzy who sells his wares near Rondel. December here we come lol.

love the report....didnt know i could change money with the chinaman....we call the black bags, scandal bags....never know what one may carry in there....gotta do the walk to boardwalk once....always turn around at barrys tree...lol

Nice TR, we left the day before you got on the rock. I took this photo on the cliffs the week before.



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Vacation Day #2

Monday

I did manage to get myself out of bed and make it down to the beach by 630am for my morning walk. I actually felt much better than I thought I would. I made it from Rondel to Cosmos in 25 minutes, which is actually a pretty fair pace. I continued the walk all the way up to Sandals Negril. I turned around and headed back for Rondel. Stopped and chatted up Tony, the juice guy. Gave him $1000JA for a bottle of Pineapple Juice that I took with me today and for an Orange I would get later in the trip. No messing with change that way.

Back to Montana’s for breakfast, this time I had the Jamaican, Ackee and Saltfish breakfast. It was yummy as usual. Melo had her standard sandwich and of course we washed it down with a Wata and a Ting. $1200JA. Another bargain that is hard to beat anywhere.

We decide that today is going to be another beach day, so we hit the beach and set about relaxing and watching the world walk by. I have to make a quick call home to take care of some business. The call ended up taking about half an hour, so I am always glad that we buy the Digicel International Plan for our JA phone. $1250JA for it and you can pretty much talk all you want. We also use the International plan to call home to talk to the kids as well as “drunk dial” our friends from Happy Hour to tell them what a terrible time we are having ☺

The seas were pretty rough on Monday, but we did a little swimming and playing in the surf and pretty soon the sun began its descent and it was time for happy hour once again. Off to Canoe for the standard Rum Punch and Red Stripe. A band was setting up to play, but the waves were really crashing up and we actually had to move back against the wall at Canoe instead of hanging out at the tables out closer to the sea. We headed out of Canoe just as the band started, leaving virtually no one there to listen to the band, but we felt bad for them, so we left them a little tip in their bucket, but we were off to try a new place for dinner and I was really looking forward to it.

A very quick walk down the street and we were there. Quality’s Sea Breeze Restaurant. Wow. What a cozy establishment. Little tables out front and no one sitting at them. We were the only ones there. Melo was not impressed. We thought for a moment about leaving, but I pressed on. “People on the board say this guy can cook, I think we should stay.” So we did. We looked over the menu, ordered a couple Red Stripes (decently cold) and we were ready to order. Melo got the Pan-fried Lionfish and I got the Snapper Escovietch. Pretty soon we hear chopping and mixing and frying in the background and soon enough our meals were delivered. Sorry no pictures of the food, but trust me when I say the guy knows how to decorate a plate. It was some of the best food presentation I have ever seen. I like presentation as much as the next guy but the real question is, “Can the guy cook?”
The answer is yes, hell yes, F@#$ yes, however you want to say it. Best. Fish. Ever. I fancy myself as a decent cook and a pretty good judge of a good meal and let me tell you, I was speechless (unless you count oohs and aahhs as speech). The fish was as flaky and as well prepared as any I had ever had. The mixture of vinegar, peppers and onions in the Escovietch sauce was sublime. Melo loved her Lionfish too and proclaimed how glad she was that we decided to stay. He was a little short of a full portion of Lionfish, so he added a little piece of snapper to hers too. The surprise meal of the trip by far. The place does not look like much on the outside and he doesn’t appear to be real busy, but trust me. Do not let that scare you off. The food is incredible. After the meal we took some time to talk to the chef and he was a great conversationalist, telling us how his mother taught him to cook from a young age. We also found out later in the trip that he is also a master with wood and we would stop in later at his shop on the west end and check out his handiwork there as well.

Back to Rondel, down to the bar for a few drinks with Delroy and then off to bed. A great day at the beach, a fabulous meal and some great conversation with a master chef. All and all a great vacation day #2

View walking towards the beach at Rondel
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The sea is a little angry, but not too bad
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We were at Canoe Monday night- the band was great. You're right though- it was so windy! We sat against the wall, right in front of the band. The first song or two it felt kind of like a private concert. :-) I about froze the first hour or so, but then (I'm not sure whether it actually warmed up or if the rum punches warmed me up!) it didn't seem so bad.