First Time Trip Report from a Long Timer, Base Camp - Treehouse

As many times as I have been to Negril, I have never written a trip report. What do you call one of these, when a long timer writes their virgin report? Gotta be a name for it… Anyway – I’ve been going down since 2000 and this is approximately my 23rd trip. In previous trips my traveling companion has kept a journal to keep track of all the things we did and all the people we meet but on this trip, unfortunately, she was sick in bed the first 4 days of our trip so I am going to try to re-create this from a very fuzzy memory.

I left San Diego on the AA 10:30 pm overnight flight to Miami. Smooth sailing so far. I landed in Miami and had a 3 hour layover. Flight is under 5 hours long so barely enough time to even doze off after take off/ landing time. I’m an Admiral Club member so I made my way to the Club. Guess what? Not the closest one to my gate so they have me go to the OTHER Admiral Club. No problem. Club is very nice – pretty busy for 6:00 am. Have a great shower room set up. Sign up at front desk and when it is your turn, they announce your name. Only complaint is that you only get 20 minutes for your shower. How can a chick be ready in 20 minutes? It still felt great to clean up after flying overnight.

Another smooth, on-time flight into MBJ. It was so great to see the Club MoBay rep waiting for me at the end of the walk-way. A couple of planes were coming in at the same time –it turns out my friends’ JetBlue flight from New York was late and got there just as we did. I was getting ready to walk-up to the Immigration Booth when I hear my name being shrieked at a very high decibel – Tom & Geri (yes-male/female, non-mouse, human couple with those names) have arrived with their Club MoBay rep. After a stern talking to from the very serious Immigration Agent about Silence being required in the area, I swore to her that those people were crazy and I’d never seen them before in my life! She didn’t buy it but let me through anyway – with a smile. Down to baggage claim where the rep grabbed my 70 pound bag as if it were nothing and brought it over to the Customs Agent. One question and I was through. Yay! In the past, when I have brought such heavy bags down, I have had to go over to the “dreaded tables” where they have unpacked everything, asking who I had brought down things for. I only bring extras down for kids (toys, shoes, clothes, toothbrushes, backpacks) so they have never charged me duty for anything. Hint- to help avoid the whole search in the past, I have taken off the tags marking my bags as “heavy” before I even get near the Agents.

Off to the Arrival Lounge to hang out until Tom & Geri make it through and to wait for my friend to arrive to pick me up. I will call him JoJo to protect the innocent (and not so innocent further along in the TR). I thought it was pretty funny when they called him to see if he was at the Airport and he said he was in Redding, I responded that it meant he had just left Green Island probably – knowing him. The ladies at Club MoBay thought it was hilarious that I was calling him out on his tardiness. Tom and Geri arrive and we enjoyed a couple beverages and a bite to eat before we headed out to our separate cars. They had made other arrangements because I was scheduled to get in after them. Off to Treehouse for both of us. Always love the ride to Negril – makes me nostalgic. The sights, the smells, the air…Everything about it makes me smile.

When we arrive at Treehouse, it is just like returning home – but better! Wow, all the upgrades look great! The front office people –all of them come over to say welcome back. Jermaine is there with that great smile to take me to my regular spot. We drop off the luggage and then I have JoJo run me to Hi-Lo. Even there, all faces are familiar. Andre and Omar run off to get my usual cases of everything. It seems like I buy a lot of booze for a non-drinker. LOL! Store seems a lot bigger with all the alcohol now conveniently located right near the door now that the Western Union is no longer inside. Genius marketing at work here…
I then head back to the hotel to unpack, unwind, and decorate while waiting for 2 of the roommates (JK and JY) that are arriving later in the afternoon. So this is the deal with our decorations (we get asked a lot about them). We are old and cannot remember any of our trips from any of our other trips (we stay in the same room every time also) so every reach we pick a “theme” such as butterflies or luau and decorate the walls of our porch with the theme. This time it was “Vacation Princesses” and we had all sort of Disney Princess stuff hanging everywhere. Oh, and don’t forget the x-mas lights. Yes, we are truly running out of theme ideas. The fourth roommate was arriving the next day and since the day after that was her birthday we crowned her the “birthday princess” for the trip. Again, we are in our 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Not exactly the most mature group of people for this age range, I must admit… I am out enjoying the beautiful sunshine, saying hello to all of my much missed friends at the hotel – Moses, Budda, Dawn when I hear the voices of my friends just arriving! Yay! Let’s get the party started. They took a look around and were very surprised to see the “Adults Only” hot tub! My friend JK loves to hot tub so she was thrilled with the addition. We were all starving by this time so I decided to treat everyone to a delicious chicken from Chicken Lavish. A quick call to Doc, he heard my voice and started to repeat my usual order – everyone cracked up! I told him I had a few more people to feed and the order was in! We were all enjoying the start of the sunset when Doc shows up with more food than I’ve ever seen him deliver. It was also the quickest delivery I have ever had in JA. It was piping hot and wonderful! Doc hung around and we got caught up on all the things that had gone on since I’d seen him. As other people have mentioned, Doc ALWAYS has an opinion on everything and is not shy about sharing them! We love it! Eventually, maybe 2 hours later – we had finished eating and he got a call that he needed to head back to the restaurant. Best fried chicken I’ve ever had in my life. Sorry mom and grandma. JK was feeling worse and worse as the evening wore on so even though she is usually the night owl, she went in early too. We were all tired that evening but I still managed to stay up until midnight (that’s late for me!). Please don't do the math because it's only 10 pm in San Diego so I shouldn't be too impressed with myself! It's hell getting old...

Looks like I didn’t take any pictures the first two days (duh!) so I promise to have some from after that in the report.

great start on the trip report

More please!

Fried Chicken from Chicken Lavish ROCKS!

Thanks,

VVHT

great start! Now I gots to try the fried chicken at Lavish!

Very nice! :) ready for more!

Does Chicken Lavish normally deliver or is that special for long time repeat guests??

I'm not entirely sure of the answer, the # is 957-4410. Can't hurt to call and ask. Doc or his son have always brought us our food personally but I bet, for the cost of the route taxi, he would have it delivered for anyone. He likes the business. As a side note, during the time he was visiting us he mentioned that he is now raising his own chickens and he has over 400 +. Now that is farm to table. They sure taste fresher than any of the chicken I get at home. I'm sure he will get a laugh out of me giving him a free commercial! I swear I am not a paid endorser. I always pay full price for my food! LOL!

Thank you for sharing your trip...sounds like a lot of fun good for you.

Fried Chicken from Chicken Lavish circa 2006

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Hey mm ... Can't believe you packed all those activities into 1 day !
Am sure you will figure out a different theme for you next adventure
at the Treehouse. My wife & I met a very similar group of women at Treehouse,
but I think it was a Chippendale's theme (lol).
I have to agree that NEGRIL Treehouse is awesome ... Great staff & guests.
Can't wait for more memories from the "deck"
Very Canadian friendly place!

Thanks for the info mmtripoli! I am taking a similar flight and was considering getting a day pass in Miami just so I can take a shower!

What an awesome feeling waking up in Jamaica on Thursday morning! On last year’s reach I had met a couple of sisters (mid 70’s maybe) that have been coming to Negril every year for 5 weeks for the last 25 years (they are timeshare owners). They walk every morning at 7:00 from their end of the beach and by 7:30 they are going by Treehouse. Today they have a bunch of family with them. I am excited to join them again and to catch up with everything going on in each of our lives. I want to BE these ladies when (IF) I grow up! What great attitudes. They are from Michigan and truly enjoy their time in Negril each year. I love knowing that I can count on them to get some exercise every day. They are as consistent as the sun rising. I drop them at Alfred’s (that’s there breakfast spot) and head back to my end of the beach. I really love these walks every morning. Fewer people on the beach, a lot of runners it seems at this time. There are slightly fewer hustlers to fend off. I just tell all of them that I got to keep walking and to have a blessed day – that seemed to work for most.

Today I managed to attract a guy in all white with dreads that claimed to be a High Priest. Could not seem to shake him but was pleasant enough until I stopped to hug one of the “Captains” that run a boat out of a hotel. This angered Mr. High Priest who told me that this Captain was a batty boy and I should not have anything to do with him. I told him that I believed he was wrong about him but that he was being “Gascist” and I wouldn’t tolerate that among my “friends” which he had been telling me he wanted to be. Now, I have been on the Rock enough times to know their views regarding homosexuality but this guy was being a total a*s*s. I ended up telling him that until he opened up his mind I couldn’t speak to him again and to leave me alone unless he did this. Because of this, the walk was a little rough but the water was even rougher this morning. Someone said there was a storm near Cuba that we were getting some waves from. The waves were so big that I joked that I had gone to bed in Negril but woke up back in San Diego (where is my surf board?)

Then back to the hotel for a lovely breakfast with that picturesque view from the upper deck. Today the Birthday Princess arrived early in the day (JD) along with a friend of Tom & Geri’s, Marv, later in the evening. We decide to assume the position – lay flat on a lounge chair – for the day. JK had a rough night and her coughing was a little tough on everyone. We did manage to get a cake ordered for JD’s birthday (carrot cake – always better in JA it seems) and jello shots made for tomorrow’s birthday party at some point during this day. We bring the jello and plastic condiment containers down with us so we just have to ask someone in the kitchen to store them for us in their refrigerator. That’s never a problem either – another reason I love Treehouse. This won’t even be an issue in future trips because of the new full-size refrigerators that the Ocean front Suites are being upgraded with (more on that later!) We can keep the shot in our own refrigerator then.

During this day we managed to meet a lot of great people – Steve & Susan from Calgary, Stuart from Chicago, ex-pat Steve w/ dog Kia, Kristen and friend from CT? (damn memory), Lisa & Laura from NY & CT. Most of our group ate food from Allan- Treehouse’s “Rockstar” Chef. He has very good jerk and was entertaining as usual. About 10 of us ended up on the porch for sunset and by the time we knew it we had kind of missed the dinner hour so instead of going out I ordered a large ham, pepperoni, and pineapple pizza and a medium vegetarian pizza and salads from the hotel. They were a huge hit. I don’t remember their pizza being this good previously but we were all truly impressed and really enjoyed them. We kept the porch party going until about 11ish and then called it a night. We may have had a little rain this day – seems like I remember some vaguely.

The guy in white is John Wayne, that is what he calls himself

If it was John Wayne I did not recognize him. I thought that John Wayne had longer dreads. I had an unfortunate run in with him about 7 years ago when he terrorized a couple of older ladies from Alabama. He had put ganga in their hands and told them that they "owed" him $20. They told him they didn't smoke or want the stuff but he insisted on it. They were then afraid to leave the CCLP beach because he was hanging around on the edges of the property at all times. When they mentioned to me what was going on I marched over and gave him his "stuff" back and told him that he was scaring the crap out of people and to knock it off. He started in on me and then the argument was on. Was he ever surprised when the "bumb*****s" started flying out of my mouth. He got up in my face and I thought the Security Guard was going to come over and knock him out. I handled it myself and I then loudly re-named him "Wayne John" because he is the opposite of a good guy. I went down the beach later to where Jah B - Herbie use to stay by the old Cigar King near Roots and was relaying the story to them when who should walk by? Wayne John. When he saw me talking to his friends he did not look happy. After hearing what he had done they offered up some "local" justice and gave him an earful about messing with me or my friends or any tourist women for that matter. Herbie "reminded" him that he never knows when he is ripping off "one of their women" (didn't know I was one of those-hee hee!) Wayne had been staying in that area with them for awhile but they "banished" him for his bad behavior. As was said at the time "you scare away the tourist, you scare away the money!"

Nice

Sweet! please continue

Woke up early again on Friday and did my morning walk with my “Aunties”. That is what I had taken to calling the ladies as every morning on our walk someone asked me if they were my aunties. To be so lucky! What a beautiful day but apparently a storm had come in overnight and the whole beach was filled with kelp and starfish. Hundreds of them (maybe thousands.) I hope they survived. Not sure if this was a frequent occurrence or not but kind of startling to see. Some tourists were trying to throw them back in the surf other locals told me that they are all “too weak” and they were going to die. Does anyone know anything about this? The funniest thing that happened with the starfish was that a young policeman was walking a long and a family of tourist asked him about the starfish. He was telling them how they have stingers on the bottom that come out of the “mouth” area and you have to be careful picking them up. He as attempting to pick one up but was so scared he kept dropping it. I didn’t want to embarrass him by correcting him (I don’t know of any species that have stingers…) but I picked it up and handed it to him carefully while making him promise to put it right back without hurting it. I teased him by reading his name and badge number, telling him that I would find him if something bad came to that particular starfish and continued on my way. Man, I wish I had a picture of that kid cop holding that starfish all scared! At least I have my memory of it (well for now, at least!)

We had a great day and met a lot more guests - Will and Marissa from NY, Terri & Elliot from Chicago, Ritchie from FL. Invited everyone we had met to stop by for the birthday party later. I believe we got patties from Norman and Jerk pork from Dean on this day for lunch. Norman had shrimp curry patties this time. Yum if your a fan of curry. Dean’s pork was delicious but as previously mentioned, the spicy pork was a little too hot for most. I loved it. The regular pork was perfect for all. We decided we should start the jello shots early in the afternoon (don’t remember why we decided this???) and everyone enjoyed both mango and pineapple jello shots. Delicious, but dangerous – you can’t taste the alcohol if you use mango rum for the mango jello and pineapple rum for the pineapple jello.

JD otherwise known as Birthday Princess wanted Norma’s at Sea Splash for dinner so 7 of us headed over. It did rain during dinner but we just scooted our table over away from the where the rain was blowing in. The smoked Marlin served like sashimi was absolutely incredible! Why hasn’t anyone ever mentioned this before – or did I just miss it? How did I not get a picture of this masterpiece? Everything from the snapper to the coconut chicken was scrumptious. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how Geri had all of us absolutely dying laughing. She told a story of how her husband had missed THE shot when her daughter was born by c-section. The story went on and on, getting funnier and funnier as it went along (probably had to be there) and ended a ½ an hour later with the fact that this had all happened 27 years ago and it was a good thing she was completely over it! Yes, what a good thing – she SEEMED completely over it. She could be a comedian. Her timing was absolutely perfect. Turns out that sums up the whole experience - perfect service, perfect meal, perfect company! I did get a picture or two.
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It was then back to the porch for birthday cake. Fake mustaches and tiara’s/crowns for everyone. Why? Who knows, it seemed necessary at the time. Everyone did seem to be having a great time even though we looked ridiculous. Also, the cake that Treehouse had made for the occasion was unbelievable! (There was only one tiny piece left and Birthday Princess ate it the next morning.) We danced, sang and told funny stories for a couple of hours. About 11:30 JK came out and let us know (not so subtly) that it was time for everyone to go – she had skipped dinner and she seemed to be feeling even worse than before.

Fun :)

Missed one last picture!
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It's actually my favorite.

fun!

ya'll know how to have a good time!

Saturday I managed to get up late (well, 8 am) and miss my walk with the Aunties. Disappointing but I blame it on the jello shots. Since I am generally a non-drinker, even something as benign as 5-6 jello shots can cause a wicked head-ache. NOW I remember why I am a non-drinker. This day is somewhat blurry but I do remember having a porch full of people for lunch and ordering a bunch of lobsters and other food. All around a perfect day – minus the headache.
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One of the best parts of our trip was having Kia the dog be our porch mascot (see picture) every day. After the first day (Thursday) they visited, she sensed (via the leftover Doc’s chicken) that we loved her and she was always welcome. Steve and her would stop every day and visit us while they were on their beach walk- apparently she insisted on it (see note about Doc’s chicken). She is one smart dog and quite the Ambassador. Everyone would stop by and see her every day she visited. She’s irresistible. It made us dog owners feel a little bit guilty about cheating on our dogs back at home, but again, she IS irresistible. We teased her owner Steve about how he was just the avenue of transportation for the true star. You should see her riding on his motorbike! That is one cool cocker spaniel/Dachshund mix.
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Tonight was the Guest Appreciation Party in the lobby and they had drinks, appetizers and a band. It looked like a lot of new people had checked in. The lobby was completely full. Everyone seemed to enjoy the food and the punch was very potent (I was told.) We only stayed for a short time but the band played for a while and we even enjoyed it more from our own perches on the porch until it was time to go to dinner. That evening we headed over to the German Bar for dinner. The sausages with sauerkraut and the pizza were delicious. Also, the side of fried potatoes that they serve were so simple but yet so yummy. Reminded us of the pan fried potatoes we had as kids. Friendly service along with a reasonable wait time for our food made for a good dinner all around.

Later that evening we ended up having quite a crowd on the porch and it ended up part dance party, part comedy club again. Too funny for words. I believe this is the night that TogaNY came by and introduced himself and said hello. I just had to give him a shout out because he has the most incredible family. I had a chance to talk to his wife at the pool and she is as young looking in real life as in the pictures on his TR (someone commented on how it was hard to tell the teens from the mom!) We had an “all teen boys ARE the same” moment about our kids at the pool that left me grinning. I really enjoyed watching all of them having a lovely time all week. What great parents with great kids. Tonight I was extra careful to not stay up too late in order to not repeat my laziness from this morning, I was fast asleep by midnight.

Sunday I was up early for my walk and had a great time sharing the previous two nights exploits with my “Aunties”. Calm seas were back and I really enjoyed our walk this morning EXCEPT for on my way back, Mr. High Priest tried to speak to me again. I asked if he had become enlightened over the past couple days and if not, than not to bother me. He was not happy with this response at all but left me alone after I made it clear he was not to speak with me. On all subsequent walks, he just glared at me from a distance. In no way did I ever feel threatened by him – only a minor annoyance.

I believe this is the day that I met Michelle and Courtney from Virginia Beach and also Tony from Detroit with his friend and Aunt. Both groups are frequent visitors. I swear all the coolest people hang out in Negril, and specifically Treehouse. I spent half the day almost every day just listening to people’s interesting tales of how they ended up there. Better than anything on tv or radio for sure! I think we must have had lunch at the hotel or not at all because I have absolutely no memory of it whatsoever. Kia, again, was star of the porch. I swear I have more pictures of her than sunsets or food this trip.

Based on how the clouds were, we decided that this would be a great 3 Dives night. We all managed to get ready in time and get a ride up there. All the way up the sunset was awesome and I swear, just as we walked out to the cliff area, it went behind a cloud and was gone for good! Lucky for us that 3 Dives has such great food, worth the trip even without a sunset. The wait wasn’t too terribly long (probably just seemed longer because of the “fire eater” guy who kept trying to put his hands all over me.) Really annoying. He then tried to convince me (to no avail – I would have hitchhiked alone on the West End Road first) to get a ride back to the hotel with him after the show. Apparently, he is a regular fixture here and I was told that Pauline uses him as a driver but I would NOT get in a car with this guy. I felt molested by the time we were done talking to him. Then while we were eating dinner he started to bother 2 other women tourists sitting at tables closest to the cliffs and they moved to a table by the road to get away from him. This was right before he changed into a leopard loin cloth and started screaming like a banshee. We did our best to just eat and not encourage him too much because there were only 2 or 3 other tables filled and he seemed to focus on us A LOT! I have seen several of these type of performances down here and I must say that this was the saddest of all. His entire act consisted of only 3 different “moves” and a lot of screaming. After his 3-5 minutes “show” he came over and was collecting tips. I gave him 4 dollars US and asked him to move on - the smell of kerosene from him was unpleasant while trying to eat. (He would just stand there and stare at us while we were eating with his tip jar.) Thankfully a bus load of people showed up with several kids and he started his “show” all over using the new people as his foils. In his defense, these people really seemed to enjoy his act and participated fully with him. In my defense, he hadn’t tried to accost all of them over by the cliffs earlier like he had me. He just wanted to “feel” me he said…LOL!

What an awesome dinner though. JY ordered lobster and for about $30 got 2 whole split lobsters. They were huge. The chicken portions were large also. We all had leftovers. Kia was going to be happy the next day! I must mention that I love the callaloo here too. Back “home” for another night of porch dancing, the last call was around 11:30 or 12:00 as usual.

thanks for this report :cool:

Monday was a “normal” Negril morning, up for my walk and then breakfast with the rest of the group. Guests were coming and going and it seems like every morning we were seeing someone off that we had partied with. Noone wanted to go – EVER. LOL! We were really sad to see our neighbors Will and Marissa go (they had been frequent porch guests) and we were hoping we would get new neighbors that were cool with our parties. I warned them it was there fault for leaving if we got un-fun people next door.

After checking on supplies, I decided that another run to Hi-Lo was in order to get us through the week. Wow – did we go through the Red Stripe, Guinness, Heineken, Tings, and Watta! We must have set a new personal record. It was another lovely day at the beach. Our new neighbors moved in and they had the cutest toddler. I know, not very conducive to the party scene but the young couple from San Francisco who were traveling with the Mom of the man were very cool and fun. The daughter was a little princess in her own right. She was always prancing around in her sunglasses and fancy shoes. We told them from the beginning to let us know if we were too loud or disturbing them in any way. They assured us that they appreciated us having fun on vacation and we weren’t a problem for them. The Grandma has a house in MoBay so they were only staying a couple nights at the beach.

Everyone just hung out and took it easy most of the day and – not sure why- but I cannot ever recall what we did for lunch – almost any day! Most days it was a combination of Allan’s jerk, Norman’s patties, etc. I do remember that something made me think of Ice Cream and the fact that I hadn’t noticed the Ice Cream Guy on the beach at all this trip. I inquired around and was told he still does work the beach but I was much too impatient to wait so my friend Gesla who had stopped by to visit was enlisted to drive JD and myself to Devon House. Not sure why ice cream tastes so much better in JA, maybe it’s the unusual flavors – grapenut, crunchie munchie, peanut – or the fact that you have to eat it so d*a*m*n* fast or it will melt all over you, but I always enjoy it like a child here. Everyone, including Gesla, who had the Stout ice cream (???who knew??- Is this popular with Canadians? Lol) agreed that the ice cream run had been a great call.

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We had decided earlier that tonight would be the night that 8 of us would go to Kuyaba for dinner. After a very nice sunset, we called the shuttle at Kuyaba. I couldn’t get a straight answer as to how long it would be before we would be picked up so after we waited for a while, Gesla insisted on driving us over in 2 groups. All of us made it over and all the Kuyaba 1st timers loved the grounds and the setting. Since we have so many animal lovers in our group, everyone went nuts over the kitties. I know that some people complain, and the staff are NOT FANS of the cats – but we love them and are just trying to figure out how to help them get fixed so they don’t keep procreating. I realize that the best thing for the cats would be if there weren’t so many of them. If someone has the answer, let me know how to help because I would like to be part of the solution. We ordered a bunch of appetizer’s to share, and as always, the sesame camembert and the bacon wrapped shrimp were standouts. I always order the Mountain Pepper shrimp (an appetizer) with a side of jasmine rice. See picture! Everyone else loved their pork kebobs, chicken kebobs, seafood pasta and salads. Best meal of the reach although on this trip it was a very difficult award to give – SO MANY GOOD MEALS! Negril has upped their game in the food department. I live in San Diego and travel to many top food destinations but I have to say that between the ambiance and the flavors of the food, Negril has moved closer to the top of my list than ever in the dining department. First time ever I can honestly say – not a bad meal the entire trip.

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This evening was much of a re-play of the previous nights, 8 to 10 people hanging out, listening to music and laughing. Even our new neighbors from 2 doors down – Bob & Nancy from North Carolina (?) stopped by for a few drinks and dances. We ended up naming them Mr. and Mrs. Mensa because they could sing all of Bohemian Rhapsody – every word. Our threshold for being Mensa members may seem a little low, but YOU weren’t there at the time. It seemed absolutely brilliant. Especially since Geri and I had been humming (not singing) about 2/3rds of every song that came on for the entire trip. (Well, not me really – just Geri but I was trying to make her feel better by saying that.) A couple of days later we had to re-evaluate Mrs. Mensa’s Mensa membership when she jumped off the cliffs at Rick’s. Not sure those two items are conducive with each other.

Also, a lunar eclipse happened tonight (Tuesday morning) at about 2:30ish but darned if I didn’t fall asleep around 1:00. I was SO close! It was much talked about the next day and I was bummed that I missed it. Luckily since it is part of a tetrad of lunar eclipses over the next 2 years, I’ll have another chance in August. At least that is how I consoled myself about the whole thing.

What a brilliant report.
It seems you have created your own home away from home, and adopted plenty of new family lol

Glad you didn't jump off the cliffs!!

FYI - I would NEVER, ever jump at Rick's, or off anything else for that matter! I am afraid of heights..

It never fails that on every trip - this trip is not an exception - there are multiple other guests that are walking around with huge red/blue/purple welts and bruises that they earned jumping from even the lowest spot at Rick's. This trip not only the former Mrs. Mensa sported one but also another female neighbor had a sizable one. This in addition to the guy who was beaten up pretty good and told the story about how he had jumped the first time and his wife had missed the "shot" so he went up and did jumped again and - you guessed it - she missed the shot AGAIN! At least he was laughing about it!

This is something that, in my observation, appeals mostly to either young people or drunk people (or a combination of both.) I am seldom either of these things anymore. LOL

Enjoying every word & picture - keep it coming :)

PS - haven't seen the ice cream man since Dec 2012, but we've been further down the beach since then...

I hear you on the heights thing. Wading is much more fun.

I always enjoy watching the jumps though, just because it's so terrifying to me that people dare to do it lol!!

Mu hubby has done it many time, more fool him!

Fun report.

Great report so far! Love the food pics ....

Tuesday morning, got up and did the morning walk. I was really proud of myself by now – I had only missed one morning all week! We discussed how this was the last year of their 25 year contract for the timeshare and they were deciding whether or not to come back next year. I am alarmed at the possibility of them not being here next April and know that Negril won’t be the same for me without them and I’ve only known them for 2 reaches.

Since it is JD’s last day she wants to go do a little shopping at Bloody Bay where we have some friends who are vendors. JD, JY and I ride over and the girl’s do some shopping while I confirm with my local friends that I will be “borrowing” their teen girls for a pool/hotel day on Wednesday (this is a tradition that has been going on since they were very little.) I’m not sure who loves it more, us or them. It’s probably a toss-up.

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We head back “home” and I drop off the JD and JY and jump on the motorbike with Steve and Kia and head up to see the Guest House (Jah Freedom) he has on Westland Mountain Road. What a cool place, I obviously didn’t stay there, but the grounds were beautiful and the house was very nice. It’s kind of a B & B set-up. I took some awesome pictures here. I couldn’t believe the vegetable garden on the property – they grow everything you’d ever want to eat there. We headed back and I have to admit it was pretty funny watching people’s reactions when they see Kia riding the motorbike.

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That night we had one of the best sunsets of the trip. I also managed to get pictures of this! Now I have multiple reasons to be proud of myself today. The 4 roomies head off to Swordfish for JD’s final dinner. Another local friend joins us for dinner and I even got pictures of our food this evening – Snapper, shrimp, lobster mac & cheese, and chicken. I did miss a picture of the garlic cheese bread – delicious but very garlicky! (who cares – I’m not kissing anybody here!) Now I know I am setting myself for a huge failure the rest of the trip with all my picture taking today…

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It was another typical evening but tonight we enjoyed the beautiful full moon on our porch and JK felt well enough to try the new hot tub. Unfortunately it wasn’t working yet but all was not lost - she just got into the other one at the pool. Another after midnight bedtime. I’m turning into quite a night owl myself these days.

Sorry about the double pictures in two places - I didn't add them twice so i'm not sure what happened???

the views from Jah Freedom look awesome- Ill have to check that place out!

And that feeesh... oh man that looks SO good!!!

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Wednesday morning – Marv and JD’s last morning! Before my walk - I see Marv off and after my walk (yes-made it again!) all of us roomies had our final breakfast together and hung out for a while. One last group shot of the 4 roomies and JD is off to the airport.

Also this morning, our neighbor’s next door move out and they start doing an upgrade to the kitchenette in that Suite! Boy, did I have refrigerator envy! The new cabinet unit was gorgeous and I had to ask Ms. Jackson when “my” unit would be getting the same treatment. She assured me it was coming soon. This seemed like a sign that I should book an August trip in Ste “B”! Sometimes my “signs” are a little questionable but, please, just go with it. I see Cynthia in Reservations (wonderful, professional lady) on the way out.

I get a taxi and head off to Bloody Bay to get the girls for our day together. They are so happy to see me! Unfortunately, the little brother of one wasn’t old enough to understand the concept of a girl’s day but old enough to realize he wasn’t going and no matter how many treats I gave him, he knew he was being ditched for the day. Poor little guy. We promised to bring him more treats when we returned but still left with him crying and chasing after us.

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We returned to the Treehouse and everyone is always so wonderful about making the girl’s feel special and remembered from year to year. Moses just cracks me up with the kids. He tries to be such a tough guy all the time but as soon as you seem him with children you see how big his heart really is. We ordered food for everyone from the restaurant – the girls are a huge fan of the chicken fingers and fries and I had a Chef salad that was very good. We all swam in the pool and hung out all day. The girls decided about a half an hour before it was time to head home that they wanted to jump on the trampoline at Margaritaville. I had to be the bad guy and say no for this trip but promises were made for the next trip so remember if I do a TR next time and I DO go to Margaritaville – you know that it was a long-held promise that drove me there! I ran the girl’s back to Bloody Bay (a little late as it was brutal dragging them out of the pool – Moses finally came over and ordered them out – LOL.) Again, Gesla had arrived for a visit so he ended up doing me the favor and running us down there.

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I had mentioned to him earlier that day that Ms. Jackson had said that the Farmer’s Market was today because of the Easter holiday and how I had always wanted to go. So, after dropping the kids off we were off to the Market. See pictures. I loved the smell as you walked up – a combination of garlic and onion and every other vegetable imaginable. All the people and colorful wares were a sight to see. We only bought a few ears of corn (and Gesla was offered a decent price – so he says - for me from this old Rasta, lol!) and we left. I was so glad we had stopped by there.

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By the time we made it back it was starting to get late. Met a group of 4 from Wisconsin who were telling me how awful the weather was STILL back home (Detroit had gotten snow the night before!) As I got cleaned up for sunset, this information just made me more grateful to be in Negril. Tonight it was cloudy so not much of a sunset but at least we weren’t in Detroit! We headed off to Best in the West for dinner. This is always a favorite and we really like the new seating area and menu with side dishes. The drink menu always brings a giggle. Chicken was as great as I remembered. Kia is going to be happy tomorrow with these leftovers! Also, it was very nice to visit Mikey’s shop next door (in front of Green Leaf). He looked great – is working out and is transformed. Way to go Mikey! I’m very proud of him for making such healthy changes. If you are staying at or near CoCo LePalm or are eating at Best in the West, stop by and get supplies at his little shop. He always has a smile for everyone. We walk back to the hotel and have our usual party.

As a side note, JK had reported the hot tub not working this morning and there was a repairman working on it off and on all day long.

Thursday I’m up for my walk and, as usual, I decide to pretend like it’s not my last day – really just ignore the whole situation entirely. Breakfast as usual, beach as usual.

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Kia and Steve visit and we laughed at JK trying to wash Kia off in the poolside shower (see picture!) As soon as she was washed she would just run over and roll in the sand on the concrete near our porch (Kia not JK.). JK was getting more than a little frustrated.

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Just another day in paradise. Someone please tell me why I don’t do this full-time? No – please don’t tell me – I’m not ready for reality to come rushing back. We relax all day, doing as little as possible. I did call a driver I know to help the WI foursome get some provisions from Hi-Lo but beyond that, I don’t even think I ate lunch today. It seems like we snacked all day trying to get rid of all the food we had accumulated. We hung out in front of the neighbor’s porch in the afternoon, enjoying the shade that the tree near their room provides. Kia got lots of snacks and attention from everyone today. We KNOW we are going to miss her (and her owner!)

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A lovely sunset, one of the best, this evening and then we called the shuttle for Push Cart.

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On the way to catch the shuttle we witnessed one of the sweetest scenes ever. It was one Treehouse’s longest employees 72nd Birthday and Ms. Jackson had a cake for her and was fussing over her and making her feel special on her big day. We found the Birthday Tiara and Boa from JD’s birthday and “crowned” her the Birthday Queen! You can see in the picture how surprised she was that everyone was making such a big deal out of her Day. What a couple of beautiful ladies!

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Off to Push Cart. This was my first visit there and the setting was very nice. Gary waited on us and was very professional. He even warned one of our party when he ordered the fried chicken that it takes about ½ an hour to get it. This is so much better than just sitting and wondering why it is taking so long. Everyone enjoyed their food and I would say the standouts were the Curry Conch and the sweet potato “fries”. The appetizer shrimp were pretty small (compared to other places nearby) and were very spicy. The shuttle driver who had been arranged by Push Cart to deliver us had agreed to bring us back and he was right on time. There was a charge for the way home but it was around 250J a person so that seemed reasonable. Of course we tipped the courteous, punctual driver (think he was from Kenny’s Tours.)

We got back to the room and it seemed everyone came over for our last night. Epic dance party. We must have looked crazy to anyone walking by on the beach and if you dared come too close, we managed to suck you in. A combination laser light show (well, that was minimal) and Pharell’s song “Happy” proved to be all it takes to get even the non-dancers, up and dancing. It was with much regret that I turned off our party/x-mas lights for the last time and I headed to bed a little after midnight. I remembered that I wanted to check the hot tub AFTER I had already gotten my pajamas on so I still don’t know for sure if they got it fixed (I’m sure it is.)

nice trip report

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Originally Posted by mmtripoli@earthlink.net

Monday was a “normal” Negril morning, up for my walk and then breakfast with the rest of the group. Guests were coming and going and it seems like every morning we were seeing someone off that we had partied with. Noone wanted to go – EVER. LOL! We were really sad to see our neighbors Will and Marissa go (they had been frequent porch guests) and we were hoping we would get new neighbors that were cool with our parties. I warned them it was there fault for leaving if we got un-fun people next door.

After checking on supplies, I decided that another run to Hi-Lo was in order to get us through the week. Wow – did we go through the Red Stripe, Guinness, Heineken, Tings, and Watta! We must have set a new personal record. It was another lovely day at the beach. Our new neighbors moved in and they had the cutest toddler. I know, not very conducive to the party scene but the young couple from San Francisco who were traveling with the Mom of the man were very cool and fun. The daughter was a little princess in her own right. She was always prancing around in her sunglasses and fancy shoes. We told them from the beginning to let us know if we were too loud or disturbing them in any way. They assured us that they appreciated us having fun on vacation and we weren’t a problem for them. The Grandma has a house in MoBay so they were only staying a couple nights at the beach.

Everyone just hung out and took it easy most of the day and – not sure why- but I cannot ever recall what we did for lunch – almost any day! Most days it was a combination of Allan’s jerk, Norman’s patties, etc. I do remember that something made me think of Ice Cream and the fact that I hadn’t noticed the Ice Cream Guy on the beach at all this trip. I inquired around and was told he still does work the beach but I was much too impatient to wait so my friend Gesla who had stopped by to visit was enlisted to drive JD and myself to Devon House. Not sure why ice cream tastes so much better in JA, maybe it’s the unusual flavors – grapenut, crunchie munchie, peanut – or the fact that you have to eat it so d*a*m*n* fast or it will melt all over you, but I always enjoy it like a child here. Everyone, including Gesla, who had the Stout ice cream (???who knew??- Is this popular with Canadians? Lol) agreed that the ice cream run had been a great call.

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We had decided earlier that tonight would be the night that 8 of us would go to Kuyaba for dinner. After a very nice sunset, we called the shuttle at Kuyaba. I couldn’t get a straight answer as to how long it would be before we would be picked up so after we waited for a while, Gesla insisted on driving us over in 2 groups. All of us made it over and all the Kuyaba 1st timers loved the grounds and the setting. Since we have so many animal lovers in our group, everyone went nuts over the kitties. I know that some people complain, and the staff are NOT FANS of the cats – but we love them and are just trying to figure out how to help them get fixed so they don’t keep procreating. I realize that the best thing for the cats would be if there weren’t so many of them. If someone has the answer, let me know how to help because I would like to be part of the solution. We ordered a bunch of appetizer’s to share, and as always, the sesame camembert and the bacon wrapped shrimp were standouts. I always order the Mountain Pepper shrimp (an appetizer) with a side of jasmine rice. See picture! Everyone else loved their pork kebobs, chicken kebobs, seafood pasta and salads. Best meal of the reach although on this trip it was a very difficult award to give – SO MANY GOOD MEALS! Negril has upped their game in the food department. I live in San Diego and travel to many top food destinations but I have to say that between the ambiance and the flavors of the food, Negril has moved closer to the top of my list than ever in the dining department. First time ever I can honestly say – not a bad meal the entire trip.

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This evening was much of a re-play of the previous nights, 8 to 10 people hanging out, listening to music and laughing. Even our new neighbors from 2 doors down – Bob & Nancy from North Carolina (?) stopped by for a few drinks and dances. We ended up naming them Mr. and Mrs. Mensa because they could sing all of Bohemian Rhapsody – every word. Our threshold for being Mensa members may seem a little low, but YOU weren’t there at the time. It seemed absolutely brilliant. Especially since Geri and I had been humming (not singing) about 2/3rds of every song that came on for the entire trip. (Well, not me really – just Geri but I was trying to make her feel better by saying that.) A couple of days later we had to re-evaluate Mrs. Mensa’s Mensa membership when she jumped off the cliffs at Rick’s. Not sure those two items are conducive with each other.

Also, a lunar eclipse happened tonight (Tuesday morning) at about 2:30ish but darned if I didn’t fall asleep around 1:00. I was SO close! It was much talked about the next day and I was bummed that I missed it. Luckily since it is part of a tetrad of lunar eclipses over the next 2 years, I’ll have another chance in August. At least that is how I consoled myself about the whole thing.

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I have a vets name and number from Sav who does cats for 10,000 JA$ and dogs for 12,000 JA$

Great to hear about Mikey. Now that you mention it I think he did look smaller in November, can't wait to see him again next week.

After Alfred Barrett's untimely passing, Mikey became the person I have know longest in Jamaica.

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Originally Posted by davevols

Great to hear about Mikey. Now that you mention it I think he did look smaller in November, can't wait to see him again next week.

After Alfred Barrett's untimely passing, Mikey became the person I have know longest in Jamaica.

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I'm so jealous you will see him again so soon! I've known him about 13 years and have never seen him look so fit! Tell him Michelle from San Diego was talking on the web about how handsome and fit he is looking these days! You know he will love it! Have a great reach and don't forget to tell all of us about it!!!!