First time Negril Trip report

I'll add more posts to the thread as I have time and/or remember things about our awesome vacation this past week.

First of all, Club Mobay is a good deal. For two people, cost $160 for both ways, but saved us at least 4-5 hours upon arrival. The line was brutal, and we just zipped right by it.

Patrick Granderson was our driver both ways between the airport and Negril. We paid in advance for both ways so we wouldn't have to keep money in reserve at the end of our vacation. Patrick was highly recommended, and even hooked us up with a local phone to use on our visit. Good value. He also clued us in on what the phrase "cold beer joint" actually means in Jamaica.

Kuyaba was amazing. Really felt like we we in the tropics. Not a 4 star resort, but thsts not what we were looking for, and it was plenty good enough. Loved the fact it was right next to the best spot on the beach, IMO, for live music, Burbon Beach. Food was good, but about twice as expensive as it should ave been. We walked to Burbon Beach or elsewhere for almost every meal.

Arrival day was cut short due to poor planning and thinking we could stay up all nite partying the night before our flight and sleep on the plane. Wrong. I think it might just be impossible to sleep on a plane, no matter how tired, lol. We ended up turning in early, which is highly unusual for us.

We had just enough time to hit the local grocery and stock up on plenty of red stripe and water. I really like the fact that you can take your own beer into just about any restaurant or club. Saved a fair amount of cash doing this.

More to follow.

Nice info waiting for the other installments:cool:

What exactly is a cold beer joint if not a place to get cold beer?

Bringing your own beers to a restaurant or bar where they sell beer? Hmm...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HarryS

What exactly is a cold beer joint if not a place to get cold beer?

Bringing your own beers to a restaurant or bar where they sell beer? Hmm...

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In this case, the term "joint" is not synonymous with "place", lol. I was wondering why there was like 20 different places called "Cole Beer Joint" on the way in.

waiting for more:cool:

OK, full day 1.

Of course, the first day we wanted to hit the beach for a little. Paul, the security guard at Kuyaba, found us a nice shady spot under a palm tree and we set up camp there for a couple of hours.
Attachment 36910

As others have said in previous trip reports, the security guard does a pretty good job of limiting the vendors to 0 rebuttals. They can ask if you want to see their goods, but if you so no thanks, they must move on. That made it pretty enjoyable to see all of the various things they sold. We ended up getting fresh juice every day for $5 per bottle. I forget the guys name, but I think there was only one guy selling it the whole time we were there. He never failed to find us tho, lol. Each day was a different flavor, my favorite being pineapple and ginger, and my wife's was sour sop (?). Great mixers or just nice at breakfast.

Around noon it started to cloud up. As it turned out, it rains nearly every day during this time of year. The rain can be anything from a few sprinkles to a couple hour downpour.

We didn't want to be on the beach for the rain so we packed up and looked for a place to grab some lunch. Right next door was an empty lot, they were setting up some live music so we headed there. Live music is a big reason we decided to go to Negril. The right music at the right volume can make any event a memorable one. We were told by some of the locals that this was unusual to have live music during the daytime. We were also told that the lead singer was the son of one of the guys from the reggae band culture, who we are fans of. They set up and played through a light shower, and it was a good time.

Attachment 36912

During the show, one of the local guys we were with told me "Put your sub away, quickly! Hard hats are here." I looked over, and the police had shown up in force, maybe 6-8 of them wearing round, hard hats. They apprehended one of the "promoters" of them band and after quite of bit of excitement and verbal exchange, took him away with his hands bound. The locals were all shouting "Mafia, mafia" at the police as they left. I didn't understand at the time, but later it was explained to me that it meant that the locals felt that this was just a shakedown, that the venue was a new start up and had not paid off the appropriate officials to have such an event.

Some police stayed behind and did a couple of laps around the place before they left. They were definitely more interested in locals than they were tourists, which I'm told is pretty common. The locals feel that the tourists can basically get away with anything while they are often under heavy scrutiny.

We decided to go to "three dives" on the cliffs for dinner and the sunset, and the view was spectacular.
Attachment 36913
Three dives was nothing like I expected. I had heard so much about it, I was expecting something fancy. This was a very rustic spot with gorgeous views, decent food and fair prices. We prefer local spots and enjoy local people, and try to soak in some of the culture. After sunset they had a fire dancer. While he was entertaining, the locals thought he was a little bit of a joke, since his show has a decidedly African flair, the locals don't see what that has to do with Jamaica. Tehy do seem to appraciate that he found a niche and a way to make some a few dollars. They tourists liked it, for sure.

After dinner, on the way home, I asked if there were any local bars with pool tables. The locals were a little hesitant to take us there because they said not many tourists go there. I insisted though, so off we went.

The first one, I forget the name, it was like Taylor's, or Tavon's or something. It was right next door to the place that sells "sub" cakes, brownies, etc. It had one small pool table, and an extremely attractive bartender named Roccelle. They also had very good, slow cooked chicken. The local there we surprised to see us, and were friendly, but not very talkative, so we didn't stay very long, although we would come back to visit Roccelle again before leaving ;-)

The next one was the Corner Bar. This was was I was looking for. Very local spot with some gambling on the pool table as well as the machines. We met Monique, one of the bartenders there. There was actually a line of locals there to get food, so I knew it was probably both good and affordable. There were a few shooters there, and while none of them were quite as good as I was, I was impressed by how seriously they took the game. I won a drinks, and earned a bit of a reputation. On the way out, Monique whispered in my ear that if I wanted to come back, I would be welcome to use her stick. I thanked her, and said i would be back.

We finished at burbon beach. I don't remember if it was a live band or a DJ, but it was good either way. That was where we met Bernard and Veronica. Bernard is a rasta about my age (40ish) with a youthful, confident stride. Veronica was georgous, and of Norwegian decent, but had lived with Bernard in Jamaica for the last few years. My sister, who has beein coming to Negril for 10+ years, highly recommended Bernard, saying he was trustworthy, and of a similar mind. We talked to Bernard about being our "night life" guide for the rest of the vacation, and he happily agreed.

Tomorrow night, we were going to Las Vegas.

Great stuff, man. Keep it coming please, just a note though; your attachments aren't showing up :)

OK, thanks. The uploader must not be working here?

I'll try dropbox.

Loving it so far. Can't wait to see your pics, soon as you sort out the issue.

Ok, lets see if this works.

Here's Kuyaba, where we stayed.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-F...512/kuyaba.jpg

Here's the balcony of Kuyaba
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-X...9_resized1.jpg

On the beach, under the palm tree. My wife in the green bikini
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q...3_resized1.jpg

Live music in the empty lot next to us where one of the promoters got busted by the cops. My wife with my sister and her husband.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-b...streetband.jpg

My wife an supposedly the son of one of the guys in the reggae band Culture.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-i...4_resized1.jpg

Sunset at Three Dives
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-W...7_resized1.jpg

My wife at Three Dives
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d...threedives.jpg

i have had the sam e issue several times on my report...great start..i love it!!!

Day 2 - After staying up until ~2am partying on the Kuyaba porch, I was surprised that we were up around 9:30 am and ready to roll. Once again we hit the beach.

Gratuitous pic of wife in bikini on the beach. ;-)
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...5_resized1.jpg

I became familiar with some of the locals, and started to work on my negotiating skills. I was able to get a couple of "subs" for $5 which I felt like was a fair price. I know you can find them for as little as $1, but I don't mind paying a little more if I think it's going to be good. I could have purchased enough subs for the whole week all at once, but we kind of prefer to just pick up a sub or two when we need it, so we don't have to carry it around with us. Plus, this way we could sample different types. Variety is the spice of life, after all. ;-)

I also took notice of the places the local guys went to drink and eat. This is how I found out that you can get coconut juice for as little as $1 just about anywhere on the beach. Sure beats the $5 they charge at Kuyaba for a non-alcoholic drink.

We decided no to stray drinking until around 5 pm so that we'd be able to stay up late enough to absorb the night life. I think we made it until about 2 before the call of the red stripe became too strong for us to fight.

My sister took us across the street to the Time Square, showed us where the ATM machine was, etc. On the way over, we met a jerk cook named Michael out front of time square. I didnt' know it at the time, but it turned out that this guy actually had the best jerk chicken we had all week. I really like the very slow cooked chicken that has plenty of time to soak up the smokey flavor of the wood they use ( I forget the name), and the meat just falls right off the bone. While most people are more concerned with the jerk sauce, I'm really more concerned with the temperature the chicken was cooked at.

For lunch, we went to a little place my sister knows of called Coconuts on the beach. Miss Angie was very nice, and was well respected by all the locals. Very friendly folks there, that made us feel very much at home. We would be back throughout the week.

Taking a break. I'll fill in the rest of day two and add some pictures in a bit.

Little surprised they were hesitant to take you to tayons and corner bar. It's definitely more of a local scene, but o have never felt like they al were surprised to see us

Went up to the cliffs again that night, like we did every night we were there. I forget the place we originally went but it was closed. We ended up goign to another place, which wasn't on the water, but was owned by the brother of someone important. I forget who. Think it was called Mi Yard. Another rustic, backyard feel with chicken coops, and a bunch of dogs. Friendly folks there, with some terrific food.

Afterwards we headed back to the beach. On the way, stopped at the Corner Bar again. This time the players were waiting for me, lol. Played a guy who only played one handed. He played pretty well, but lost the game. Another friendly, very tall fellow with a white girlfriend/wife stepped up next, and everyone in the place lined up to watch us play. I really like how seriously they take the game. The spectators were knowledgeable and the players were courteous and skilled. I don't remember if I won or not, but it was a good match.

Afterward, against all odds, I actually ran into someone in Jamaica that was almost my twin!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D...0_resized1.jpg

Oneee was an awesome guy, who was surprised by my mobility, and who seems to be a little bit inspired by my spirit. It felt like some of the locals probably don't treat him all that well, and he swelled with pride during the time we spent together. It's too bad he wasn't missing his right leg, we could have gone in on a pair of flip flops together! LOL

Very nice report!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Flipadelphia26

Little surprised they were hesitant to take you to tayons and corner bar. It's definitely more of a local scene, but o have never felt like they al were surprised to see us

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Maybe hesitant was too strong a word. They wanted us to know that there wouldn't be other tourists there, and that we should be cautious in dealing with locals. We were fine with that. We actually didn't meet anyone there that wasn't extremely helpful or friendly, tho.

Thanks. Much, much more to come. Some was pretty crazy. I'm pacing myself. :-)

Good stuff! Love that pic of you Onee!

Nice job, Select..You are a very good writer ...Very interesting content. Sounds like fun...Keep up the good work!

Loving this report. Keep it up.

This is great stuff! Some real interesting prospective man.
Gone in on a pair of flip-flops? Freeking hilarious!!!

Nice report! Always good to see Negril thru fresh eyes....


Happy Travels,

Skb

Select,
Nice one, keep up the good work!! I will watch out for you next monday when I arrive thats if you have not already left
Cheers
Hugh

Full Day 2 (cont.)

After leaving the Corner Bar, we headed back down to Burbon Beach to meet up with Bernard. He showed up around 9pm and told us that the live music that night was at Alfred's.

They had advertised a party there during the day over a megaphone from a guy walking along the beach and handed out little post cards. I saved the post card each day. The megaphone guys were funny, and many of them would use the same catch phrase, shouting, "Ah Ha, Ah Ha. It's going to be HAWT!" in a high pitched voice. Bernard told me that they were mimicking a famous Jamaican DJ who had made the phrase popular but was recently sentenced to serving a life sentence in jail.

Anyways, I don't remember Alfred's at all, which is probably less a statement about the place a more a statement about my state of mind at the time. At about 11pm, though, Bernard let us know that it was late enough for us to go to Las Vegas now. So, off we went.

During this time, Bernard told me that there are usually two prices for everything, the local price and the tourist price. he told me that if I gave him the money to buy the rounds, taxi's etc... he would generally be able to get a better price than me, and he would always tell me what the actual price was, and that he wouldn't skim off the top. I was skeptical, but over them course of the week he proved himself time and time again, often paying about half of what I would have paid.

Once we got to Las Vegas, it was apparent that there was a party there too. We walked in, and the place was packed. Unfortunately, the DJ there was terrible. Not only did he scream into the mic the whole time so you couldn't hear the music, but his mic was up way way WAY too loud, so no one in the place could hear each other, even when screaming directly into one another's ears. To make matters worse, for some reason, they decided not to open the upstairs that night, I guess because of the party downstairs. That's the part we really wanted to see, so we only hung around for an hour or so, and then went back to Burbon Beach, where they still had live music at a much more reasonable volume, lol.

We had a few more beers and called it a night.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hughjarse

Select,
Nice one, keep up the good work!! I will watch out for you next monday when I arrive thats if you have not already left
Cheers
Hugh

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Thanks, but yeah, we're already home. The plan is to visit again next spring break.

Great stuff! Keep it coming!

Delroy at Mi Yard is top notch!

Day 3

This day caught up with us a bit, and we ended up sleeping in a little more. We were still up before the afternoon shower, though. We went to the beach for a bit, but it was pretty overcast, as you can see.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-T...7_resized1.jpg

It also ended up lightly sprinkling for a good part of the day, so we had to find other things to aumuse us. Here's one of my wife playing with her coconuts.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R...9_resized1.jpg

We ended up doing a little shopping on the beach, and at times square. I really liked the coconut jewelry, and we bought some bracelets and earrings. We ended up taking a couple of hours for a nap.

We woke about an hour before sunset, and had to scramble a bit to meet my sister and husband and get up to the cliffs for dinner. After going to Three Dives, which is right next door, for dinner the night before, I really wanted to check out Xtabi.

Xtabi is more of a traditional sit down restaurant, while 3 dives is more of a take out with picnic tables. The patio/deck area a Xtabi was fantastic, and they had steps down into the caves that was really awesome. The Xtabi also has a large indoor round bar and really nice ambiance. A little more pricey, but still a little less than Kuyaba, especially drinks.

My wife overlooking the cliffs at Xtabi
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-F...9_resized1.jpg

Patio seating
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...2_resized1.jpg

After dinner, we stopped a Corner Bar for a game of pool, then headed back down to the beach. We met up with Bernard around 10, had a drink or two, then tried a second attempt at Las Vegas.

Next Installment.... our night at the Las Vegas strip club.

Great job reporting , keeper going !!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by select

My wife an supposedly the son of one of the guys in the reggae band Culture.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-i...4_resized1.jpg

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That's either Kenyatta Hill or a look-alike. Had the pleasure of meeting him last summer when he played a local show.

Nice reporting!! Anxious to hear more...............:)

Nice coconuts.
Enjoying your trip report.

Lovely pair of coconuts your wife has! Lol!

She enjoyed the coconuts comments, and said, "Thanks! Tell them they are all natural!" ;-)

Day 3 (cont.) - Las Vegas Strip club

One of our most highly anticipated excursions was to go to the Las Vegas strip club. We arrived around 11pm. They essentially have one stage, which looked like and was about the same size as a boxing ring, with 4 girls dancing in it in various forms of undress, none of which were nude. there were couches and seats all around the outside.

Bernard escorted us to what he called the "king vip" seating. He told us to tell him specifically which girls we wanted to invite to sit with us and he would invite them over and keep the others we didn't care for at bay. We probably bought a dozen different girls drinks at different times throughout the night.

The girls there were about the same in looks as the girls in our hometown, with about half being attractive, and maybe 3 or 4 were really exceptional. Two girls in particular caught our interest, China and Jade. We sat on the couch and chatted with both of them for a good amount of time, buying them each about a drink per half hour. I was very impressed that neither of them asked if we wanted them to go home with us. While my wife an I are both beautiful girl enthusiasts, we're not into prostitutes.

When China took the stage, I called her over to the stage side seats where I had relocated my wife with a fist full of dollars. She put on a pretty darn good show, including climbing down from the stage and giving my wife a nice little innocent lapdance.

I really wasn't sure how Jamaicans were going to take this. I know they frown upon "battymen" etc, but in all my research, I didn't see anything regarding girls who appreciate other girls. Well, the locals reacted well, yelling some encouragement and howling in delight. Good to see I'm not the only one who appreciates this type of show. China was a little more reserved with me, which was perfectly fine. She seemed like she expected me to be a little more aggressive with her, but that's just not my style, so we had a rather tame little dance (at the encouragement of my wife) and she climbed back on stage.

We went back to our "king vip" seats, and bought a couple more drinks. One girl we were talking to and bought a drink for became a little too attached to us. At one point she whispered in my ear that she wanted to go home with us. We declined... just not our thing. She then said she needed money for a cab to get home and started to get pretty insistent about it. We let Bernard know and he whisked her away. however, a little later, my wife was trying to watch one of the girls dance up by the stage, and this guy kept getting in her way. She moved to a different spot and he moved with her. It turned out the guy was apparently the pimp of the girl who wanted cab fare home, and he was trying to keep my wife's attention away from the girl on stage so maybe she would go back to her girl. At this point, I got a little upset, and placed myself between him and my wife. Bernard saw what I was going and immediately went to talk to him.

Apparently, I had made a mistake by "buffering" my wife from him and not going to him directly and telling him what my grievance was. He got a little excited, Bernard was trying to calm everyone down, security got involved and it was a bit of a mess. But Bernard finally got it settled and all was good. We stayed for a couple more drinks, picked up numbers for China and Jade and left around 3am.

In all, it was a terrific time, and it was a cool place. The girls and locals there were mostly friendly and welcoming. I would, however, highly advise tourists to take a "nightlife guide" with you to make sure they can navigate your way though any disagreements.

We didn't attempt to go to any other the other strip clubs this vacation because we heard they were all a little seedy, and would have a little more rougher crowd.

In upcoming installments - Ladies Night at the Jungle, One Love Pub Crawl, Our Encounter with the Hedo party.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by select

She enjoyed the coconuts comments, and said, "Thanks! Tell them they are all natural!" ;-)

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No doubt!:)

Las Vegas is definitely on my to do list next week!

Thanks for the report. We finally have someone giving a report on the Las Vegas Club.

Liking your report....

Select,

It was a pleasure to meet you, your wife, and reconnect with your sister and brother in law on the one love tour. Hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did. good luck and hope to see you again in the future in Negril!

Day 4

As you can imagine, after such a fantastic night, we slept in pretty late. I think we got up around 11:30am, and were still pretty tired. We decided that this night we wouldn't be up as late so that we would be well rested for Thursday night, otherwise known as "Ladies Night at the Jungle!"

We decided to skip the overpriced Kuyaba breakfast, and instead head down the beach to our friends at Coconuts. Miss Angie fixed us two nice plates of eggs, bacon and toast with coffee for under $10. About that time my sister and husband (_N5 from this board) had returned from the farmers market with a bunch of stuff for our planned excursion to what they called "the island". We were planning on taking a small group of friends to the island, and they brought back crabs, fish and various vegetables for a lunch on the island.

I personally LOVE crabs. Blue crabs, snow crabs, king crabs, stone crabs, all of them are delicious. But I had never seen crabs like this before...
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-i...0_resized1.jpg

Anyways, the way they described the farmers market made us really want to check it out. So, we hooked up with Bernard, grabbed a taxi and headed that direction, to come up with our own contribution to the feast.

The farmers was cool. I'm reasonably sure we were the only tourists in the entire area. Tons of different types of vegetables and fruits. Some we had never seen before. Benard took the time to explain what many of them were that we had never seen before, if they grew in the ground like a root, or on a tree, what they tasted like, etc.

As we were going through the various vendors, all of a sudden, Bernard eyes went wide with surprise. he said, "Wait here", and rushed off into a throng of people in front a a particular vendor. About 10 minutes later he returns with a large bag of some sort of fruit I've never seen before and tell us, "Veronica is a little upset with me that I was out all night. I'm sure this will make up for it." When we asked what it was, he explained that they were "Chiny Ginips" and that they were only in season about 2 weeks per year and were a Jamaican favorite. Turns out, they are sorta like giant grapes with a hard skin that yoe peel off with your teeth. They were delicious. They were so good we got an extra bag.

As we continued to walk through the farmers market, we were asked at least half a dozen time where we had gotten those Chiny ginips. Even on the way back the cab driver asked where we had gotten them from. It wasn't' long before the vendor was out of them.

We also picked up some pinneapple, green beans and oakra to contribute to the feast.

As we we nearly done shopping it began to rain. We thought it was just going to be another light shower, but soon it began to pour. Bernard guided us to a nearby vendors tent for shelter. Amazingly everyone in the entire farmer's market fit under the little bit of shelter there was, although we all stood shoulder to shoulder. We stood next to a mother and her little girl, and older rasta, a drink vendor and several others. The rain turned into a torrential downpour, and everyone worked together to keep the inside of the tent dry with umbrellas, towels, etc, laughing a joking around the entire time. It was one of my favorite moments of my entire trip, seeing the smiles of all those locals, including us in their jokes as if we were neighbors, as the rain fell from the sky in buckets for about an hour and a half. I'm reasonably sure we cleaned the drink guy out of his red stripe.

One of the younger guys lit up a "sub", and the stood up and chewed him out for lighting up so close to her child. Looking a little ashamed and apologetic, he put it out, and she thanked him.

The rain eventually lessened, and then stopped and we were once again free to roam the market. There was only one problem...the ditch beside the road was flooded, and there was not getting in or out. We waited another half an hour, and then called our driver Lenny, who's truck stood a little higher, and who could make it through the high waters.

We took out haul back to coconuts to put with the rest of the feast.

At around 8pm, we went to Roots Bamboo to have dinner and live music, but we were apparently the first ones there, so we decided to go elsewhere for dinner instead. Lenny suggested a place called Sweet Spice so we went there instead. no live music, but I think it's the only restaurant in Negril that we went to that was actually indoors with AC, which was a nice change of pace. it was also the only place I saw that actually had steak on the menu. Not having red meat all week, I was craving it, and ordered a t-bone. It came out a little thin, but had a delicious marinade, and was tender.

Once we got back, we were exhausted, and decided to crash early. We knew that the next day was going to be a long one, and that the next night was going to be a late one. this would be a good opportunity to rest up a bit. I think we shocked my sister and her husband, as we are normally night owls, but by 9:30, we were asleep.

Next Installment - Day 5: The Island, Ladies Night at the Jungle.