Murph's Trip Report

We landed in Mobay and were off to find Tropical Tours, the company SeaSplash arranged for us as part of their living social rebooking dealio. We never stayed on the beach before and figured for that price it's worth a shot- free shuttle and breakfasts to boot. Not all was smooth at the kiosk but after a couple calls and an Abraham Lincoln- all was good. I take pride in my ability to hand of money off in my palm without anyone knowing. This one was smooth, he didnt even know it was coming, wifey never knew either. All wheels were greased and we were off on the family filled RIU shuttle bus. A little different than we are normally used to- zooming down roads with Alfred bumping new beats and talking about life- instead this was a bus filled with kids, no opening windows, no music, no stopping- did I say a little different- it was actually the exact opposite of any other visit.

All is good though and we arrive at SeaSplash around sunset. Complimentary drink options are offered and I say "two rum punches", wifey later tells me that she only offered us juices and I opted for rum punches, if that's true-Halarious- I must've heard what I wanted to hear! Still not sure about that one...


Anyway, off to room 6- and I am in awe. We're used to small rooms and this room was spectacular.

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After spending some time at Norma's sucking down dirtys and eating jerk chicken, we call it a night.

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Here is our lonely fridge, we didn't even make it to a store that day- but we have night caps!

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Long day and can't wait until tomorrow... The beach, the hustle, music, the people, the vibes- bring it on!!!

This is gonna be good, keep going please!

Thats all you need for breakfast!!

Really interested to hear about your experience at Seasplash...

Right on Murph!! Really lookin forward to this :)

Me too! My daughter is there right now. Sea Splash I mean....

Hey Murph, nice start. Trail of the lonely bottle caps. Hope those walked out of the fridge before bed!

Wakey wakey- I gots a whole lot of nothing to get done today- better get a good start just to make sure there's enough time!

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We set up our chairs and get straight to bronzing!

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Red stripes start around 9am with 1/2 jerk chicken from Auntie's soon to follow.

One thing you can count on with the beach- is being entertained!!!

No sir I don't need a shell...

Sure I'd love some fruit...

No sir I still really don't want the shell...

No thank you...

No jet skiis today sir....

hells no- no parasailing...

Sure I'd love some coconut water straight out of the coconut...

no sir still don't want the same shell...

No rasta bracelet today...

Cooked lobster in a box, I'm from Maine- "to each his own", but to me that just ain't right...

No I don't want to see fields in the hills...

No thank you, still don't want your shell...

Play me a song though- and you got me! I love music but more so, I love live music. Day was slipping away and this gentleman played to our souls...

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Looky looky... it's almost Saturday night!!! Time to regroup and set off to the best end (I mean the west end)....

I agree Murph i love when they play to you on the beach. One of my favorite things!! Keep up the reports.

Your re-cap of the beach if Spot on! Loved it made me LOL
and I agree w you about the west end ;)

Spectacular .... I think I would've ended up with a shell though. :)

Lol!

Thanks for the righteous report! Looking forward to hearing your reflections on Sea Splash....

Lol, I laughed at your recounting of all the people hitting on you,lol...

I can alllllmost see that sea shell you kept turning down....

Happy Travels...

Skb

I hope you have a good time! And I look forward to hearing more! No one has ever asked me to buy a shell on the beach. Only been to Negril three times, though. We just spend our time sitting in the shade on the beach and walk and walk. No one seems to bother us. We love the beach in Negril, any time. Guess we have the hand wave of no down pat. But then my husband travels all over the world, and he says Negril is nothing compared to other places. When I visited him in Hong Kong this past March, man the hawkers were relentless. And I paid them no mind. I love the shore in Negril. And I don't let the passers-by interrupt my time. Although this last time, I did flag down the bread and juice guys and the fruit lady. I loved that we were able to get what we wanted, when we wanted while we were sitting in our spot on the beach. I found the roving vendors to be respectful. I hope I returned the sentiment. It is all good.

Things get familiar for us as we reach the west end and arrive at the castle. We make our rounds, say hi to everyone and put in our order, lobster thermodore and cooly tsing ting. Teddy got a new bike so you know I had to ride this bad boy around!

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I look up and see a man in a crown- just in time to head up to the castle's penthouse for King Rich's happy hour. Good group hanging out- laughs were shared as well as a beautiful sunset.

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Thanks for having us Rich and company!

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The waitress comes up and lets us know our dinner is ready- perfect!

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We head down to the yard for a great dinner, then cab it over to seastar.

Wifey and I love us some Stephen west. We've been watching the webcasts and really love how he is performing lately- playing lots of his originals and minimal "start & stops", he's just been sounding really tight. He didn't let us down and put on a fun set- right after we high tailed it out down the lane > bang a right. Recognize this place?

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Keeping north- right in front of Erica's- wifey lets off a blood curdling scream. I immediately pull out my machete and.... jk, Poor thing steps ankle deep in mud! A man watering plants at Erica's comes over and washes off her feet. So nice. We chat for a bit & he gets another special thank you handshake, fist bump, head nod, respect- weez out tanks boss!

Aww... the glowing sign of DeBar- just love this place. Spent a little while by the bar chatting, checked out the new rooms and Trevor offered us to join him by the bonfire out back. We accepted and just had one of those conversations that in 100 years- you could never have at any bar or restaurant in the states. Just deep, inspiring, kind hearted conversation- new bud... Trevor.

Mid chop! chop chop chop chop chop!!!!

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We cab it home and the night comes to an end.

What an absolutely perfect day in Jamaica. It's good to be back... No it's really good to be back.

Loving the Report Murph! Keep it coming!

Good stuff, keep it coming.

Thanks,

VVHT

Murph you didn't mention the Cig guy, "CIGGGGGGGGGS, Fine Cuban Cigars, rolling papers" he must have been on a break! We wanted to tape him and I was going to make it my ring tone on my phone, when I asked him to do it for me, I offered to pay him, he asked for $50.00 and wouldn't budge. He is usually 2 minutes behind the "Shell Guy" on the beach.

I might actually pay $50 to have that as my ringtone lol

Keep it comin Murph!!!

Did you specify USD or JD? He probably thought you meant 50 jamaican- or maybe thats what you meant! And yes... CIGGGGGGS was there every day walking the beat. I can hear it now... hahaha!

Is this the guy?
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T&A thats the guy, I loved talking with him. He sounds as though he smokes a few cartons everyday with the gravel in his voice!

"smokey" has a gravelly voice too but that is not him in the pic above. Fun report Murph, keep going

Excellent report, Murph. I like hangin' at Debars, too -- it's the best late-night jerk chicken, the other late night sitdown restaurant being MiYard, which is open 24 hours I think ....

I can totally relate to nearly everything in this great Blog, keep it going my friend ....

Mi soon come.

The next couple days were spent relaxing on the beach.

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Bronze...
Stripe...
Swim...
Bronze with stripe...
Stripe...
Swim...
Stripe...
Swim...
Swim with stripe...
Lunch...
Repeat (only upgrade to rum or dirtys, or rum & dirtys)

We're starting to get to know the people working the beach by name, hanging out and sharing our time and stripes together. One night we were all hanging out and Kenny the CD guy was offering to take us to the hills ,"you come and I will show you the fields" I reply ever so seriously, "is that where you grow your CDs?" hahaha everyone burst into laughter- got him good!

Wifey gets a coral bracelet and matching earings while hanging at a bar- they look great, I love the coral jewelry. After the transaction, we look in the sand and find a matching necklace that the man had dropped. Hours go by and he walks by again. We hand him his necklace back and he was so happy. "Why didnt you leave it with the lady at the bar?" I reply, "because I wanted to know that you got it back, not just hope" He appreciated that.

One people- One love, these men and women working the beach arent higglers, hagglers or hawkers- they are just trying to do their best with the situation they're in, this is "their office". Im not above them nor vise versa. We dont ignore them as we would not want to be ignored and we are not disrespectful, as we would not want to be disrespected. Of course- here comes that shell guy again! "No thank you, no shell today!" hahaha

For meals-we had lunch one day at Niahs, I've yet to find a better patty in Negril. Has anybody?...

And another lunch at Best in the West- not really the best and they're also not really in the west!

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Here is a wonderful little snacker... Almond butter & banana sandwich from Eco- which also turned into the perfect late night munchie!

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For supper- we did The Cool Spot just a short walk from Seasplash as well as Ivan's. Both places are very similar in the fact that they both serve food- other than that- complete opposites.

Tomorrow we leave seasplash and head to Home Sweet Home. It's also my birthday tomorrow- and wifey is hinting at some sort of surprise... Day pass to Hedonism?... Hmmmm.... Maybe... Probably not hahaha!

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What is Eco? Thanks for taking the time to do a trip report

That last sunset pic is a dandy! Love the way you roll and the respect, mon, it comes through.

Loving the report, did you enjoy your stay at Seasplash. What are the pros & cons?

Good stuff, Murph! Looking forward to the next installment.

I really enjoy all the sellers on the beach. I ask to see pics of their children and I bring photos I have taken of them. And they LOVE having a photo instead of a pic just on their cell. Amazing what 21 cents can do

Pros n cons of SeaSplash...

Pros:

Staff is great
The room was great
The room was 40 steps from the bar
The bar was 4 steps from the beach
And that beach is one step to the water... Everytime!

Cons:

Wifey got nomped by the sand fleas bad- while I never got a single bite
Small beach front- just fine for our trip, but I wondered if it gets jammed up with chairs during high season
Jazucci- would've been soooo nice if it was hot... I know it's a rarity on the rock, but hey maybe theyll read this and consider it!

Would we go back- absolutely... maybe february

dwest- I think it's Eco Villas... Next to seasplash- they have a lil food stand out by the road. We chatted with a nice Canadian woman who seems to be runnin the show there.

Another beautiful morning waking up in Jamaica. OH sizzlesnap it's my bday, you know it's gonna be a good day! Early rise and down to the beach, we figured we'd get another good beach day in before heading over to HSH.

I started handing out some gifts to all the people we've connected with over the past few days. We brought down about 30 brand new shrink wrapped NFL and other sport Tshirts- we usually bring a boat load of shoes down but I had access to these from my last fundraiser and they made some smiles for sure.

Well... I guess its time to pack up the room and make the switch- bittersweet!

We cab it over and walk through the gates of Home Sweet Home... Lots of fixing up going on... The fences out front and the gate is all bamboo now- its going to look real nice when they're done. The construction gave us some concern initially... we sat down to have a stripe and all we heard was buzz saws RRRRRrrrrrrrR.....RRRRRRRRRrrrrrr.... I couldn't even hear the bartender. So we talk to the manager and she assures us if guests are here no loud construction. We took that at her word and she was dead on. I hate to get in the way of production- but I also do not want to be woken up to RRRrrrrrrrr.... RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.... All is good and we head to our room.

Wifey's birthday surprise for me... instead of the cost friendly Deluxe Room we reserved, she upgraded us to the Seaview Suite! What a sweet suite surprise this is.

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This suite has a large (sun facing) deck area, which was super awesome both for sun catching as well as star gazing at night.

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Here's a pic of the new suites they are constructing (for Mike_D)

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Pretty cool outdoor shower in the cliffs at HSH

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Choppppppy....

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West end adventure time... We head out the gates of HSH and bang a left.

First stop- go say hi to Connie at the Country Western Bar and check out the new setup. Looks good! I like the sit down area now by the road- makes for some good entertainment value! We order up some dirtys, fried chicken and wifey gets her favorite- garlic grilled cheese. Its not really on the menu, but it's sooooo gooood.

I noticed back in the room that one of the tees I had was a Texans shirt, so of course - that was Connie's. It was a medium though, so I told her she could hang it on the wall. 'Nope' she said, she will do what it takes to make that fit... I told her daughter to make sure she's around if she tries it on, just to minimize casualties... We all laughed.

Out to the road and bang a right...

whats your thoughts on HSH we stayed there last year befor it was sold liked it ok. Great pics Murph!

Great update, Murph! LOL, thanks for the pic of the new rooms. I was hoping the construction would be finished by the time you got there, but it looks like they did make some progress since I was there in October. As you said, they do keep the noise to a minimum, when there are guests.



Oh, and an upgrade to the Seaview Suite? I can't think of a better birthday gift. Your wife is awesome!

Thanks Murph, couple of my favorite places, Seasplash and HSH! The roof of the Seaview Suite is an awesome spot for catching the sunrise! Thanks for the pics of the progress.

Hmmmmmmmmm....

I think you just sold me on HSH for one reason alone....

the bamboo gates?... hahaha... watch out for them fisherman and famous vincent! hahaha

Hahahahaha NO.....

The outdoor shower. hehe That thing looks sick....one of those times when less is more

Hahahahaha!

When we stayed there in October, some of the construction workers would use the outdoor shower - in all their glory - after a long day of working in the sun. Staying in the Penthouse, we had a full view and Mrs. D. was appalled by the sight (yeah, right!).

Here is one of my construction pics:
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LMAO!!!

I'm sure Mrs. D is still recovering from the trauma :eek: