Negril Trip Report 1999

I found this old trip report in my files and I still have the photos too! This was originally posted on this board in February of 1999

Mon.Feb. 15th
We drove from Lincoln to Omaha in the afternoon. Checked into the Sleep Inn so we didn't have to drive the 60 miles in the

morning for our 5:30 flight out of Omaha on the first leg of our trip to Negril. Went to Bluffs Run Casino for the rest of

the afternoon and an early dinner. Yahoo! Kay won $600 on the slot machines! Now we have more walk-around money in Negril.
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Day1 Tues.Feb. 16th.
Woke up at 3:00 AM. (Kay likes to get an early start.) The shuttle to the airport picked us up at 4:00. When we arrive at

the airport we are the only ones around. After a 1 1/2 hr. wait we finally take off. Flight and connections are great all

the way to Montego Bay. The stop in Tampa is a nice break. Just time to run up stairs for a couple of drinks and back on

the plane. We landed at MoBay about 2:30. The feeling you get when you're finally on the ground and the warm humid air of

Jamaica starts filtering into the cabin is indescribable. Everyone is charged with anticipation for their upcoming

vacation in paradise until that terrible line at immigration. However, it was unbelievable how quickly we got through. 5

minutes!! No kidding, 5 minutes!!!
Our driver Munroe was not outside the door when we got downstairs. One guy said he was Munroe's son and he would drive

us to Negril. He produced identification as Milton Munroe so we said lets go. When I saw Munroe's Toyota I knew everything

was cool. Munroe is 71 yrs. old so I guess it's time for him to slow down a little. Milton is doing the largest share of

the driving, but Munroe still handles all the finances.
Lots of people on the board complain about "The Road" but to us it's one of the most enjoyable parts of our trip to

Negril. The new road has progressed, a little, since last year but there still seems to be a lot of work to be done yet.

Zipping down a super hiway just won't be the same as that twisty, bumpy old road. Our first stop was in Hopewell for

Stripes and a Ting for Milton. We stopped at a local grocery store in Lucea for supplies. Case of Red Stripe, Rum, soda,

stuff like that. Didn’t have any Sangster’s Rum Cream so I got a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream for coffee on the patio in

the morning.. Cost thirty bucks U.S.!! Got into Negril about 4:30, checked into Charela Inn and hit the beach for sunset.

I didn't even bring my camera down from the room. Just sat there and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets we've seen.

Turned out to be the best sunset for the whole ten days. Oh well, we were finally back in Negril!!
Ate jerk Chicken that night up the beach at Dr. Bill's. It was just so so. Back to the room and fell asleep listening to

the tree frogs and the surf gently lapping on the beach. Ahhhhhh!! We ARE Back!!!!


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Day 2 Wed. Feb. 17th
Breakfast at Sonia's at Freedom village. Located on the beach road right across from the entrance to Maraposa. The $200

J Breakfast is a killer. Veggie omelet, hash browns and toast. YUM YUM!! The patties are huge. Veggie patty for $160 j.

Got a bottle of fresh squeezed orange juice in an old Estate overproof bottle. Great! Great! Food. Sonia is a

sweetheart. Fun to just sit and talk to. Sonia was on the beach last year but she had to move. The Englishman who owns

Freedom village gave her a spot just inside the gate. Sonia says she doesn’t make as much money but she enjoys being in

this location more.
Beach Time at Charela!! Kay got impatient and had to drag her own chair up when she didn't see Cedric or Wayne on the

beach. Just as she got it in position here comes Cedric with the admonition "dat my job mon..you no memba how it works?"

All the time with a big smile on his face. Cedric and Wayne run the beach at Charela. They are both very engaging young

men and have become good friends over the past two years.
Nothin' finer in the world than grabbin' a beach chair, cocktail in hand and just kickin' back and watching the world go

by. The world on the beach in Negril includes the Air Time Parachute boat, Lots of glass bottom reef boats, that strange

banana thing towed behind ski boats and the never ending flow of tourists and higglers walking up and down the beach. One

of my favorite higgler lines of the whole trip was "Hey mon, mi farmer in de mountains…got nice ganga!" The old standard

"first time in Negril?"..if your reply is negative you get "I remember you for last year mon." The rest of the morning

was spent just lounging on the beach, with the occasional dip in the Ocean. Negril really is Paradise!
In the afternoon we thought we would look up "Fatfish" a fellow negril.com boarder who was staying just down the beach

at White Sands. Off we went in search of Fatfish. When we got to White Sands we asked the first person we saw if they

knew Fatfish. "Sure, he's right over there asleep in that beach chair." Kay goes right over and wakes him up. "Are you

Fatfish?" Sheeesh! I was just glad he has a good sense of humor. After all he is a big man! Fatfish "Jeff" introduced us

to his wife Carol and all the people they had been partying with the last week. We had a few drinks, well quite a few

drinks, and everyone had a good time. We got the tour of White Sands. Nice place! We told Fatfish we were heading over

to the Yacht Club and they where welcome to come along but they already had plans for that evening.
Off to the Negril Yacht Club. The Yacht Club is in a great spot just where the Beach meets the cliffs. The grounds of

the club are on cliffs about 4 or 5 feet high and the surf is always lapping at the shore. Just past the Yacht Club is a

nice little beach, so you really do have the best of both worlds. The Ivo Wiser Airwave Musicians were already into their

first set and the place was beginning to rock. (Or is that Reggae). Got to meet a LOT of people from the board. Chuck (the

owner) Donna, Rasta John, Blondie, Thongman, Parrotmon, Ivo Wiser, Stretch (the drummer for the band), Dick, Estelle, Funny

Face, Lucky Lady, John Wayne and a lot of others. (Sorry if I missed anyone.) Well, everyone had a great time just

listening to the band, drinkin' and smokin'. We got to see Rasta John & Blondie's Wedding Video. WOW!! Now that looked like

a good party!!
Had just a little problem on the way home. Hailed a cab and settled on the price back to Charela but when he took off

he turned around and headed back up the cliff road toward the far West End. I told him "wrong way" about 3 times before I

had to yell "Dude, turn around right now and head the other way." When we got to the beach road he pretended he didn't know

where Charela was until we pulled up outside. Hmmmmmmmm.

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Enjoying your report! My husband and I went to Negril for the first time in 1999. Looking forward to the rest of your report!:)

Day 3 Thur. 2-18
@#!%*@!!$ automatic camera went long on us so I had to find a replacement. Put it back in the suitcase and it just kept windin’ and flashin’ and making all kinds of camera type noises!!! Walked up the beach to Tree House and found a $19 plastic camera. One f-stop, one speed and no flash… sheeesh! Met Coinmon doin' his thing out by the bar. He really has a lot of nice coins. We looked them all over and Kay bought a 20 J coin. Real nice stuff!! On the way back Kay got her first look at "Naked Mon" at Firefly. Wow! Should have seen that double take!! The guy was laying on his side with everything hangin’ out the back! Geeez! Bought 4 pipes for gifts from a vendor and when we paid for them he asked, "ya wan dem pipes loaded or unloaded". We laughed all the way back to Charela.
Back to White Sands to see Fatfish and Carol and sip on a few 2-fer Mudslides. The bartender at White Sands (Dennis) really makes good blender drinks. After we polished off a good number of Mudslides we all headed to Alfred's to look up Detroit Jim. He was still sleeping when we got there but he showed up in a while and we all had a few cocktails just to celebrate being in Negril. Walked down to Bar-B-Barn but no jerk Pork. Bummer!! Back on the beach and to Debuss for a jerk pork dinner. It was great but watch the sauce. It does have some warmth! You might experience the “Ring of Fire” the next day! Kay asked for silverware but our waitress just laughed and told her she could have more napkins if she wanted. The french fries at DeBuss are the best! We got back to Charela about 8:30 and Kay couldn't find the safe key until she looked in her hand!! Hehe And she thinks I’m spacey! Too many Appleton's and Diet coke? Another evening sitting on the porch and listening to the surf before we went to bed.


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Thanks Husker brings back memories.I miss the Yatch Club and charactersPirate,Rasta John,Blondie, and the old boardies.Carry-on my friend !

Day 4 Fri. 2-19
After a breakfast of Ackee and Saltfish we found our driver Munroe and headed to the Lighthouse. Just as we were going over the bridge before the roundabout a goat ran out in front of the car. Munroe swerved, but he did clip it a little. He looked in the rearview mirror and said "him ok". (Kay said it looked like it was limping pretty badly.) I told Munroe that the owner should have tied up the goat better. Munroe said "him no wan dat go-at".
Lighthouse Park is quite at bit larger than we expected. The area to the north of the Lighthouse would make a great place for a picnic. Must be two or three acres of grass. An old canon sets in the middle of this large clearing. We found the seawall to be great place to sit and watch the waves plow into the cliffs. There is ladder down to the cliffs so you can get all the way to the water. Looks like the perfect spot to snorkel! All in all, a very peaceful setting. The huge tree just inside the gate to the lighthouse grounds impressed me. Looks like a Cyclops, with a big knot for an eye! The trunk was covered with huge termite trails.
After we left the Lighthouse we walked down West-end road to Sir D's Lookout and had a drink. Nice spot! We continued walking down the road and a Rasta with a huge spliff in his mouth introduced himself as Farmer Pat. He wanted to know if we would like to visit his fields and see everything he grew. I said "sure why not." Kay kept muttering something about "what are you getting us into now." Farmer Pat's place was just a little bit off the road. We walked into a clearing behind the low huts close to the road. There was a Rasta with a machete, a BIG MACHETE, busily chopping up something on a table. Chunks and pieces seemed to be flying everywhere! Farmer Pat had to get the ok from him before we could visit the fields. All this time Kay is still muttering and looking around nervously. I probably didn’t help matters when I told her not to worry, “there aren’t any poisonous snake in Jamaica”.
It was a great tour! He showed us all the vegetables they grew. Even gave us some Okra and Bean (Red Pea) seeds for our garden back home. Of course we had to go way back in the bush to see the Ganja field. The trail wound through the bush and in some places you couldn’t tell it was a trail at all. We would cut through sticker bushes and back on a trail again. We finally came to a small clearing with Ganja plants in various stages of development. I asked if I could take a picture. “Yah Mon” and struck a pose with one of the plants and the super-spliff he had been smoking since we met him on the road. I think maybe Farmer Pat had done this a time or two. hehe. He even offered us a big bud right off a living plant but we told him he had better keep it. Didn't think I needed to be wandering around the West End with plants hanging out of my pockets. We tipped him 100j and hit the road again.
Caught a cab and stopped at Pirate's Cave (Joseph’s Cave) for a drink. Great view of all the action at Pickled Parrot. The cave is a really cool place. Will definitely have to snorkel there sometime. Stopped at Hi-Lo on the way back to Charela for some more goodies. (Kay loves to grocery shop.) I just love to eat!
Dinner and drinks at the Negril Yacht club with Fatfish, Carol, Rasta John and Blondie. I had the curried chicken…. Yum! Yum! Detroit Jim stopped by and met everyone at NYC. Met Rob at the bar. He was trying to get the NEN up and running. The phone company guys had stopped for drinks earlier and said they could fix the phones but guess not. Thong man, Len (from nothin but net) and Chuck worked on the lines too but no NEN when we left. Oh well, soon come!

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What a great trip report! I wish more people would put old ones back on. My first reach was in 2000 - things sure have changed. Love the pictures.

I hear ab the Yacht Club a lot! What happened to it?

thanks for the great memories. Fondly remember Cedric and Wayne.
happy new year to you!
nori

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Originally Posted by Biggs of the week

Thanks Husker brings back memories.I miss the Yatch Club and charactersPirate,Rasta John,Blondie, and the old boardies.Carry-on my friend !

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We too miss the Yacht Club. We stayed there for 18 days in 2000. Very interesting.........

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Originally Posted by gluecipher

What a great trip report! I wish more people would put old ones back on. My first reach was in 2000 - things sure have changed. Love the pictures.

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Thanks gluecipher. Trying to match the report with the pics was the most time consuming. The report was just cut and paste. Trouble is, most of the reports are just written on the board and not save in a file anywhere.

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Originally Posted by garysteph1018

I hear ab the Yacht Club a lot! What happened to it?

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The Yacht Club just slowly went downhill. Lots of structural problems that would just cost too much to repair I guess. I think that big square bar was one of the biggest in Negril. Had a bike rental out front. They rented Sea Kayaks as well. Always had a house band playing and lots of action. Since it closed there has been talk of new owners from time to time. A great piece of land but the best thing to do would be tear it down and start all over.

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Originally Posted by Dconkle

Enjoying your report! My husband and I went to Negril for the first time in 1999. Looking forward to the rest of your report!:)

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Thanks Dconkle! Things have changed in Negril over the past 15 years, but lots of thing stay the same.......

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Originally Posted by nori

thanks for the great memories. Fondly remember Cedric and Wayne.
happy new year to you!
nori

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Those two were very good a what they did! Took great care of everything on the beach. I loaned my camera to Cedric once overnight. He got some great shots of his home in the hills and kids.

Yatch club,Pickled Parrot,& Kaiser's had it going on back then.

Wish i had been around back then....LOVE hearing about it, so thank you thank you thank you HuskerJohn :)

Great report I have a few photo I can add if you don,t mind.

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Originally Posted by Biggs of the week

Yatch club,Pickled Parrot,& Kaiser's had it going on back then.

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All good times but I like to think there are lots more good times to come in Negril.

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Originally Posted by TizzyATX

Wish i had been around back then....LOVE hearing about it, so thank you thank you thank you HuskerJohn :)

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Thanks Miz Tiz!

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Originally Posted by lane

Great report I have a few photo I can add if you don,t mind.

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Sure lane. Are they from the same time? Er..... Ah......I'm not in them am I? LOL!

Day 5 Sat. 2-20
Woke up to another beautiful morning in Negril. Actually had a fairly good stream of hot water this morning for our showers! After a couple of cups of coffee w/Bailey's we headed up the beach to find breakfast. Ate at Sun Beach. Good food at a reasonable price and a great sound system too. Off to the Craft Market by the bridge. Bought some nice little dolls for the granddaughters, got some coffee for $10 a pound, carvings and stuff. Walk out the beach side of the market and down the beach to the mouth of the Negril River. Lots of sand crabs on this part of the beach! Had fun just sitting on the seawall along the river and watching all the comings and goings.
Took a cab back to Charela and put in some serious beach time. Wanted to try a Sunfish sailboat but the wind was too low. Settled for a Sea Kayak, just for something to do. Even got Kay to go out with me for a while! Incredible how clear the ocean is in Negril! You can see the bottom all the way to the reef! Spent the rest of the afternoon floating in the Kayak and sitting in a beach chair.
Ate the five course meal at Le Vendome @ Charela. We both had steaks. Yea, I know, but we just had to have our fatty meat injection. The food, service and presentation were excellent! The red pea soup is the best soup I've ever had! Charela is a great place to eat, but it is expensive.
Took a cab to the Negril Yacht Club for a few drinks and reggae. Rob had the NEN up and running. Kinda' cool watching a show from the other end for once. Met Jacksprat and partied with Blondie and Rasta John. The band and all the soloists who stepped up to the microphone were great as usual. Another fun time at the Yacht Club. Blondie hailed us a cab and negotiated a $100J trip back to Charela. This time the driver missed Charela and I didn't get them turned around until Tree House! We sure had a couple of wild rides from the Yacht Club to Charela!! (The first night the driver took off the wrong way, toward the Light House?!?)

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lost my photos for 73 but have the ones form 82 check to see if you are at Rick's in 82 in the 40 years ago post.

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Originally Posted by lane

lost my photos for 73 but have the ones form 82 check to see if you are at Rick's in 82 in the 40 years ago post.

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Won't be there in any 82 shots. Our first year was 1998. :)

Husker John, you are so right about the lighthouse ground and rocks. That was the place Daisy told us we could get down in the water and was very private, but was not much on comfort, plus you might meet some happy faces.
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What a way to get a day started.
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Sitting like King Neptune's grandson.
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There is a great small cave that has a fine little tidal pool that you can get out off the hot sun and cool off for bite.
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The Sun Deck was not built for comfort but Mother Nature gave you the straw and sea grass to pad your ass for sit and a strip and smoke.
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If anyone has not been you there they should take a walk around, I am sure it has changed but you might get a good picture.
I think that you may even be able to get up into the Lighthouse if the caretaker is around, I think someone on here has a photo from the top.
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Thanks lane! Some Kool pics!

Day 6 Sun. 2-21-99
Got up late this morning after a heavy night at NYC. Breakfast at Sonia's again! Hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, bread/w guava jelly, oj and coffee. $820J for both of us. Nothin’ special on the agenda, so we thought we would head to Bloody Bay. Ten minutes later we’re walking down the path to the “Office of Nature” on Bloody Bay. We walked right by and headed north up the beach. The farther we walked, the less people. Kay finally picked a nice spot under some overhanging trees. I brought my snorkel gear and already had my swimsuit on, so I took off my shoes and shirt grabbed my mask and I was ready! But wait!…..I was at Bloody Bay! I didn’t really need the suit. So I took it off and walked into the water. Naked snorkeling, it’s great! Kay was worried I would sunburn something that never sees the light of day but I said, “no I’ll be alright”. Cheeks were a little red when we got back to Charela but not too bad.
Bloody Bay is mostly sand bottom with some nice beds of sea grass. Just gliding around with a snorkel and mask is a joy. Saw a few fish but nothing like the reef. The only downer was the ski boats from the all inclusives. They damn near ran me over a couple of times. At least from the water it seemed like they came way too close. Only a few fruit vendors and the ice cream mon riding an ancient Honda motorcycle came by. A Jamaican couple pulled up in a nice Toyota, left the radio on and went in the water for a swim so we had the music goin’ too. The Jamaican couple stayed in the water for a long time and it was plain to see what they were doin’ locked in that embrace for such a long time. All in all it was an Irie day on the beach at Bloody Bay.
We didn’t bring anything to drink but a bottle of water. When that was gone we headed back to the office or Nature for some Red Stripes. The “Office of Nature” is a huge tent fly strung between the trees, with picnic tables and a rasta guy cookin’ up all kinds of great stuff. Jerk chicken, fish, lobster and served with all the trimmings. There were probably 30 people under and around the tent fly. Jamaicans talking politics, tourist families eating and quite a few just partying and enjoying a great Sunday afternoon. We sat down at one of the tables with an Italian couple from Rome and had a nice conversation. They had traveled all over the World and found Negril to be one of their favorites. After a few more Stripes a couple from California sat down and ordered the fish. The California dude was a fireman in San Francisco. Said he brought down all his own spliffs from home. “Wow” I said, “isn’t that kind of dangerous gettin’ through customs”? “Naw” he said, “I do it every trip and no problem so far”. He lit one up and passed it around. When the Jamaican who was sitting with us got hold of it he passed it to one of his friends at another table and we never saw that spliff again! The fireman said “that happens all the time, they love good old Californian”. One of his Rasta friends came up and asks for another Cal. spliff and off he goes. “See, they really do love it but I’m almost out and I’ve only been here 3 days!” We sampled the Ganga Tea and it was pretty good. Kay said she didn’t feel anything but she sure was doing a lot of talking. Hehe
It was getting close to sunset so we headed back to Charela. Thought we would take a likkle nap before watching the sunset from the porch but didn’t wake up until 9:30!! Oh well, we had another great day in paradise so we hung-out on the porch and listened to West 104 before we turned in for bed.

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Day 7 Mon. 2-22
Woke up before dawn. (We got plenty of sleep the night before after the ganja tea experience at bloody bay. Sheesh! Slept through the sunset and the whole evening!) What a quiet, peaceful time on the beach! The only living soul we saw on the beach from our room at Charela Inn was the night security man and an occasional cat slinking through the shrubbery. Kind of nice to just sit back, with a cup of coffee (laced with Baileys) and watch the beach wake up. The sea was so calm when the sun came up it looked like a mirror stretching to the horizon. The sounds of the tree frogs are slowly replaced by the singing of the birds. The fishermen in their dugout canoes are paddling out to the reef and an occasional walker or jogger passes by. Then the fruit and oj vendors start to pass by, followed by other vendors on their way to set up their beach stands.
Hung out on the beach most of the morning and then wandered over to White Sands where Fatfish (aka Jeff) and Carol were staying. We went next door to Nirvana to see if Lonnie was around and check out the property. WOW! What a cool place! Lonnie gave us the grand tour and was very helpful with any questions we had about the property and Negril. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and the cabins and villas are something to see. Lonnie and her husband Stanley, started building Nirvana in 1983 and just kept adding cottages and villas ever since. Definitely want to stay there sometime! While we were sitting under the shelter in the middle of the grounds Dr. Kamayani walked through and Lonnie introduced us. A very interesting lady. She has an organization to help the children of Negril and also is a practicing chiropractor. She was carrying a little fold-up table and was off to give someone a massage.
Spent the rest of the day on the beach. Charela has Sunfish, a Catamaran, Sailboards and Sea Kayaks for its guests. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of sailing on the ocean. However, I have no real sailing skills whatsoever! But it didn’t look so hard to sail. I’d been watching boats for the last two days and I thought I could handle it. WRONG!! Everything went fine until I was about 30 feet from shore. Then the boat just stopped and wouldn’t go anywhere. Fatfish and Ray from next door at White Sands were takin’ a dip when they saw me in the stalled sailboat. "How come you’re not moving?” “I’m just waitin’ for a puff” was my answer. I’ve heard sailors talk about puffs of wind so I thought that would sound like I knew what I was doing. NOT!! All in all I think I dumped the Sunfish 4 times. Once while trying to light a cigarette, twice on the ropes around the swimming area and the last when I was almost back to shore. I was just sure everyone on shore had a good laugh while this fiasco unfolded in front of them! The last time the boat flipped over I couldn’t get it righted. Had to have Cedric swim out and help me back to shore. How embarrassing! However, no one on the beach seemed to be looking at me when I finally made it back to shore. They were all just staring out at the ocean with wry little smiles on their faces. Fatfish, Carol and Kay watched the whole thing. When we walked over to White Sands Fatfish wanted to know what it was that I stuck in my mouth just as the boat went over for the third time. (It was a $500J bill that was floating in the bottom of the boat from the time I dumped it while trying to light a cigarette.) I didn’t loose my Red Stripe hat and sunglasses so that was a small victory. Cigarettes and lighter were never seen again. Guess I’ll just stick to sunset cruises for my sailboating.

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Kay and Starfish Mon.
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Been following along...loving your "vintage" report and pictures.
Thank you for sharing!!
And enjoy your upcoming trip to the max...

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Originally Posted by papamark

Been following along...loving your "vintage" report and pictures.
Thank you for sharing!!
And enjoy your upcoming trip to the max...

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Thanks papamark!

Day 8 Tues. 2-23

Wanted to go snorkeling at Bloody bay in the morning but the seas were too rough. Met a young man, last Sunday at

Bloody Bay, who had nice looking glass bottom boat. Said he is always at the beach across from Negril Cabins. We had

planning on going around the north point of Bloody Bay and up to Orange Bay. Oh well, it is something to look forward to

next time.

We were scheduled to go on a sunset cruise with all the other guests at Charela at 3:00 so we couldn’t plan an all day

trip. Finally decided to take a likkle trip up to White Hall Great House and kind of cruise through the hills above

Negril. Went out front of Charela to find our driver Munroe or his son Milton who has been doing a lot of the driving for

Munroe. Just as we came out of the door we saw Munroe’s Toyota heading out the gate. Milton was driving and Munroe said

he would be right back. He had to take a couple up to Bloody Bay.

Milton didn’t return for almost two hours, to the total consternation of Munroe. “Dat bwoy, im no have no bisnes sents.”

I told Munroe that he was probably just out hustling fares and he would back back after he made a bunch of money. Which is

exactly what he was doing. The wait turned out to be great. We sat out front and talked to Munroe the whole time. Munroe

has been to Florida 4 or 5 times to cut sugar cane and lived in England for two years while working in a brick plant. He

couldn’t stand the weather in England. “Too cold Mon.” When he went back and forth to England he took a ship. Says that

is the only way he would travel again. Guess he had quite a scare once while coming into Kingston on a plane. He has

friends all over the world who call him. One man in Germany always wants Munroe to visit him. Will pay for a airline

ticket and everything but Munroe says he will never fly again. Musta been a really bad flight!

Munroe got his Toyota from the States. Seems he has an uncle in New York that backed him. They shipped the car down by

boat. My! oh My! Does that Toyota looks great for a ’88. I am always amazed how sharp most cab drivers keep their

vehicles looking. The Russian Ladas are another story. Most of them seem to be rode hard and put up wet.

East from the round-about, stop for gas at the Shell station, a left turn and up into the hills. The turn into White Hall

Great House looks like a cow trail from the road. After a quarter mile or more, through a meadow with grazing goats and

cattle, a one lane red dirt trail leads to the ruins of the great house on the hill. The final 100 yds. or so are just

jagged rock. A pack of Jamaican yellow dogs will meet you as soon as you get out of the car. A small shack to the north

of the ruins sells paintings, wood carvings and other tourist items. The great house stood high on this rocky outcrop until

it was destroyed by fire in the mid 1980s.

The scenic vistas are amazing! To the North are the Great Morass, the Seven-Mile Beach of Negril, and the Fish River Hills

that stretch all the way to Hanover Parish. To the East you see the Negril River valley and eastern tip of the Negril

Hills. In the immediate area of the great house are some very large trees. One Cottonwood tree is said to be the oldest

(900 yrs.) and largest tree in Jamaica. At least that is what our guide Roger said. Roger gave us a tour of the ruins and

the surrounding area. Pointing out the old irrigation system, the huge “elephant tree”, the grave of Robert Parkinson

(died Dec. 24, 1796), a Slave tree (large thorns on the trunk which slaves were tied to and beaten by their masters as

punishment for disobedience), assorted goats, cattle, chickens and one beautiful green lizard.

White Hall was an Allspice plantation it’s heyday. Mr. Parkinson’s gravestone says he was a “friendly and honest man”. The

grave has been looted more than once but Roger said the body of Robert Parkinson is still down there. He died of (you

guessed it) Parkinson’s Disease! The ailment was named after him. So say Roger! Kay bought a carved wall plaque and we

hit the road again.

Further up the mountain, past an occasional house, we came to Mt. Airy and then down through Mister Hoggs property. (some

really fine villas in this area.) Back down to W. End Road, past the Lighthouse and stopped at Sir D’s Lookout for a

Stripe. Nice likkle trip!

The sunset cruise was canceled so the owners of Charela had a party with free drinks for all the guests that would have

gone. We had our share before we walked down the beach to DeBuss for dinner! Met Lonnie from Nirvana and she walked with

us for a while. She sure is a wealth of information about the Negril area!
Saw Rob at DeBuss and he joined us for a dinner of Jerk Chicken and a few stripes. (Warm Guinness for Rob.) Had a nice

conversation about everything that was going on with Beingees and the trials and tribulations encountered while trying to

run a web-site in Negril. When we left DeBuss I walked off barefooted. Tia Maria, one of the waitresses, came running out

with my shoes. Guess it had been a long day! Time to walk up the beach and go to bed!!


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A few more pics from the hills with Munroe.


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More pics..........
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great reports.........we first went in mid 80's..Negril seemed to be so different....it wasnt just days, but adventures
back then.........everything changes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rambo

great reports.........we first went in mid 80's..Negril seemed to be so different....it wasnt just days, but adventures
back then.........everything changes

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Thanks Rambo!

Day 9 Wed. 2-24
Over a couple of stripes one afternoon with Cedric, The beach master at Charela, and his good buddy Hundley, we expressed an interest in going on a road trip somewhere in the country. We talked about Mayfield Falls or Roaring River but Hundley suggested a trip to Belvidere Estate south of Montego Bay. We arranged for Milton, one of the drivers at Charela, to take us to the Estate. Hundley would be our guide as Milton had never been there.

Hundley’s mom lives a couple of miles from Belvidere so we could also drop off some honey that Hundley had for her. We had to pick up Hundley in the area East of the roundabout before you get to the Shell station. Hundley explained that the resorts kind of frowned on guests and employees leaving in the same taxi. Hmmmm.  Off we went, down the road to Sav. Just after we passed the golf course we ran into road construction. When the flagman let everyone ahead of us go and stopped us, I thought Milton was going to loose it. Big argument ensued with the flagman and things kind of got heated for a while. The whole exchange was in patois and all of it rapid fire so I didn’t understand a lot of what transpired. Did hear a couple of “bumb*****s” thrown both ways though. When the flagman finally let us pass, Milton and Hundley started laughing and slappin’ hands. I looked back as we drove off and the flagman was laughing too! Jamaicans love to argue. It’s kind of an art form.

Down the road through Savanna-La-Ma and on East to Ferris Cross. At Ferris Cross we turned North on B8 and started to climb up into the mountains. There are some beautiful vistas and interesting towns along this road. On we drove through Galloway, Haddo, Mackfield, Ramble and Shettlewood. Four or five miles past Shettlewood B6 branches off B8. Belvedere Estate is just a short way down B6.

Belvedere is a family-owned estate set on one thousand acres. It was one of the first sugar cane plantations in Jamaica and is still a working estate. They raise every kind of plant and flower you can think of, from sugar cane to coffee and pineapple to oranges. The owner, Mr. Pat McGann, has opened it up so that visitors can share the natural beauty of its rivers and waterfalls, its ruins and exotic plants and birds. Really an amazing place. We were almost the only ones there and had our own guide for just the four of us.

We got a great history lesson, (all but two of the 122 great houses in Jamaica, including Belvedere, were burned in the slave rebellion of 1831) and a tour of the sugar mill, bakery, jerk house and blacksmith shop in the Jamaican village. Half way through the tour we came to a guesthouse where we sampled a lot of the fruits and listened to a to a small band composed of some really old men. Milton and Hundley enjoyed it as much as we did! We could have stayed all day but we still had to stop at Hundley's Mom's house and deliver the honey and go on a raft trip.

Hundley's mom live just across the road from Belvedere so off we went up this one lane road that parallels the main road for a while and then veers up a valley for a mile or so. Milton stopped the car and we all got out and walked down a path, through a bottom and up the hill to Mom's house. Mom wasn't home. She had an appointment with the doctor in Montego Bay. But we did get to meet Hundley's sister and her little boy. The house has only two rooms but it was immaculate. Hundley had it all painted just so. Nice carpet and a beautiful formal dining room set in the kitchen/dining room.

Hundley had also started a house for himself not far down the hill. Looked like a lot of work! Poured cement house and all of it had to be carried in. All the water has to be carried in also but they had electricity and a TV antenna on a tall bamboo pole. Very, Very peaceful place!

Hundley said he knew a shortcut through the hills to Lethe where we would raft down the Great River. We started down the main road and ever so often Hundley would make Milton slow down for a crossroad and check if it was the right one. We finally found it and off we went over hill and dale. A really good road. Single lane blacktop but in really good condition. Didn't see another vehicle the whole five miles or so to the main road to Lethe.

The raft trip cost us $40 but was well worth it. At the start of the trip the river goes under a really cool stone bridge in Lethe. About 10 minutes into the ride we heard music as we were coming around a bend and there was a Red Stripe stop. Perfect! Our boatman was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna along the river. Saw a Mongoose scampering along the bank and into the bush! Saw and heard a lot of birds including Vultures and Blue Herons.

The river has some minor rapids (enough to keep things interesting) and in some places is very calm, almost still. I was amazed how they got the raft back up the river. No truck, no trailer, they simply wade in the water and drag them back up the river! The trip took about 1 1/2 hours so they had to pull them back up the river 3 or 4 miles!! All in all a very pleasant experience!

It was after 4:00 and we wanted to make it back to Negril for sunset so we headed down the road. Hundley brought a sack of oranges and pineapples for snacks so he peeled them in the back seat and we all gobbled them down on the way. Ran into a whale of a rainstorm around Sav! Could hardly see out the windshield and the road looked like we were floating down the river again. Wow!! By the time we got to Likkle London the rain had let up and when we arrived in Negril it was dry and sunny.

After sunset we took a short nap and walked down the beach to the Yellowman concert at Roots Bamboo. When we got to Roots the tin fence was up and all the usual "vendors" where hanging around outside ready to sell anything you might want/need for the evening. We paid at the gate and in we went. The place was really starting to fill up and it was only 10pm. Rob had the laptop set up at the back of the stage on the bar side and everything was lookin', soundin' and smellin' good!
Inside we had all kinds of offers to buy the same goodies they were selling outside. As soon as they all saw we knew Rob and were some of the Internet people dem, they quit higgling and we were kind of, like accepted. Rob was alone and couldn't run the remote video cam and host the chat room at the same time. Sooooo I wound up doin the chat room and he went out into the crowd with the camera. Wow! Here I am bein' a Cyber Host at a Yellowman concert at Roots Bamboo, headphones and all!
I had plenty of help from From Funny Face and Shelley B. the Cyber DJs and all the Rastas that hang out behind the stage. They kept me hooked up all night. Kay supplied me with Red Stripes so every ting was Irie! Only likkle problem was when I had to go to the boys room we lost the signal for a while (sorry Rob!)

Shalom led off the show and Yellowman came on about 12:30 or 1:00. Wow! He really puts on a show. Just keep prowlin back and forth across the stage and gittin down! By this time the crowd was really into it and people were getting up on the stage and dancing with the band. At one point I looked up and there was Kay skankin with the Yellow Man. We had a really good time. Yah Mon!

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A few more pics.
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oh, dem HuskerJohn and Kay, u bring back such memories of dem times and dem people... Rasta John, Blondie, Chuck, when Sonia had to move across de road, Ivo Wiser (i still have an old cassette tape of his), Donna, John Wayne... mi want the NYC to reopen wid di old gang.. i know it's times past, but wid mi still. and thanks for photo of Timmy, hope we can meet up some day...

Saw Rasta John last time, 2011. Blondie, not since 2010? She's back in the states. Chuck still lives there. John Wayne is always around. Pirate is down there now. Ivo Wiser and Donna, don't know.
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Irie!

The old stuff is the best!

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1989