Back to the Beach in conclusion

West End Tales: Back to the Beach
Rambling thoughts:

1) Slow season means “times tough”. This theme was present throughout the trip. This was not a negative, but a theme of most interactions during our week outside of Coco La Palm.

2) Surprisingly, Higglers were few and far between.

3) I choose to tip heavy and often, my choice. If we had someone provide good service we tipped well.

4) Snorkeling trip to the Great Reef was amazing. Lots of coral, Fan, Brain and Stag horn. Plentiful fish of many varieties color and sizes. Not a single sighting of a Lion Fish. Tried to order Lion Fish in Restaurants and none of the Restaurants had it available. Most say “Jamaican’s ate dem away”!

5) Mayfield Falls – Road to the Falls is far better shape than I remember from my last visit almost 10 years ago. My humble opinion is that they are developing into a tourist trap. The tourist con is on to extract as many dollars as possible. Even though we had a fabulous trip up the falls and after, in my humble opinion the entrance and exit is becoming more like Dunn’s River in Ocho Rios.

6) The following Drivers get our highest and best recommendation, all were exceptional:
a. Patrick Esperanza Tours – provide transport to/from Airport
b. Steve Positive Tours – great tour of Negril
c. Charter Drivers arranged by Coco La Palm:
i. Antonio took us to Mayfield Falls and did an excellent job.
ii. Jermaine – excellent
iii. Clifton – excellent
iv. Patrick (?) – excellent, introduced us to OMG Ice cream the 1st night.
d. Charter Driver provided by Seastar – Henry
e. Route Taxi Drivers – too many to name, all very good and accommodating.

7) Coco la Palm:
a. Excellent location on the beach, right in the middle and the beach was wide!
b. Staff was very good. Special note to the following:
i. Beach Security: Gibson kept an eye on the girls when Keith and I were off site. He was a wonderful gentleman.
ii. Beach Staff: Alvin and Steve – great job keeping the beach clean and arranging water activities
iii. Wait Staff/Restaurant: Jonathan and Michelle at the beach grill, Shirley, Tamika and Raqueen at the Restaurant. They were all wonderful and very accommodating. Raqueen gets special mention for teaching Diane and Carly the ancient art of napkin folding!
iv. Front desk: very helpful.

8) Restaurants: My opinion and experience:
a. LTU – great location, good service, food was just okay. Chicken Lola was not up to par, but the Pumkin Soup was enjoyed by all.
b. Seastar Inn - We ate dinner one night, lunch a few days later and came back for the Saturday night show and buffet dinner. Hands down the best meals for all. Consistent good quality and service. The Saturday night reggae show was very good. We had to leave early due to an early morning departure on Sunday. It was great to see Chris and Clarol, Delroy and Garrett, plus many old friends.
c. Canoe – great location for sea glass hunting and sunsets, but the food was just okay this time around. Portions were on the small side. The spicy chicken wings weren’t spicy even after we sent them back?
d. 3 Dives – Good Jerk Chicken and Curry Goat. The Band on Tuesday night was excellent, 2nd only to Seastar Saturday night.
e. OMG Ice Cream near Police Station. Police Station may have the coldest beer in Negril, but OMG Ice Cream with Devon House Ice cream rocks!
f. Best in the West – Excellent Jerk Chicken to go. Keith was a bottom less pit when it came to Jerk Chicken!
g. Coco la Palm - Breakfast every morning was wonderful. Banana bread is outstanding. Keith loved the Coco Supreme breakfast sandwich. Two dinners at Coco. Both were better than expected and the service was exceptional. Late Desserts at Coco with Devon House Ice Cream, nuff said!!! :)

9) Rob and Lisa – good friends and a wonderful resource of information. Keith will be forever grateful for arranging the $5 day rate at Travellers for the use of their gym!!!!!!!!! Enjoyed our meals together and look forward to the next time!

10) Boardies – you guys and gals were great with the planning and preparation for this trip. Too many of you to list individually, but thank you for helping us have an awesome trip!

Respect,

VVHT, Diane, Carly and Keith
Attachment 41908

in photo: VVHT, Carly, Diane and Keith

Glad you had a great trip. I hope you get to go again much sooner.

Sweet deal!!- Glad is was another GREAT TRIP!_ Thanks for doing what you did to give us a trip report!

Happy...it was so great to see you again and an absolute pleasure meeting Diane, Carly and Keith. Thank you for everything! You all rock!
Lisa and Rob

Thanks for sharing. That was great.

Nice!

Thank you for the Great trip reports, VVHT.. Glad you had such a good time!... We are Coco regulars 4x year and Shelley was very happy to hear you were taking such good care of her cats-We even brought the mom to the spay/neuter clinic when we were there in April...

That picture says it all!! :) Thanks for taking time to share all your thoughts and pics with everyone.

Positive vibes great round up!

VVHT, if you don't mind me asking, who did you use for the snorkel trip?

Jking,

Coco La Palm Glass bottom boat. Remember to bring a few zip-lock baggies to put some bread (not the banana bread) in to feed the fish as you snorkel. See photo below for the boat tied up at the Coco La Palm beach.

Attachment 42190

We brought our own mask and snorkels, wore water shoes and used the flotation vests provided by the crew. They will wipe your mask with detergent before you go in the water to keep it from fogging. The negotiated fee for a 2 hour trip was US $20 per person. I tipped them US $40 for an excellent job. Absolutely wonderful adventure exploring the reef with two guides.

Enjoy,

VVHT

Thank you! And thanks for the tip about the bread, wasn't sure if we could do that or not!

Please don't feed bread to the fish, it's not good for them...

http://oceancrusaders.org/why-you-sh...-bread-to-fish

I've heard they like bananas, and I don't think those are harmful

They seem to like coconut.

2nutz,

Thank you for posting, I never knew it was harmful to feed the fish bread and I stand corrected!

Here is another link:

https://reefwatch.wordpress.com/2011...eed-wild-fish/

Snorkeling on the reef is a wonderful adventure, in the future I will be more careful.

Regards,

VVHT

It's sad because so many of the people who lead the snorkelling tours (and not just in Jamaica) either bring bread with them or tell people to.

Banana is my preferred choice, they won't disintegrate while diving, expand in a fishes stomach, and if the peel is left behind by accident it will not create toxic environment for other wildlife

2nutz and TAH thanks for the info, will avoid the bread and do banana :)