Another year, another visit!

This trip report will likely seem rather tame compared to some that are posted to this board. We are two couple that have been travelling to Negril for a number of years. At our ages, we don't go as much for the excitement as we do for the relaxation and the chillin'. Instead of subs, we have what we call church meetings where we meditate and give thanks. We flew out of Orlando on Jetblue and arrived in Montego Bay to a light rain shower. Our trip through immigration was all of about 5 minutes, one of the great advantages of travelling in the off-season.

Rocky of Rocky's Tours & Taxi was there to greet us. Over the years Rocky has become a good friend of ours taking us on a number of great adventures. It's always good to see him. We get loaded up and we're off to Negril with a cold Red Stripe in hand. Along the way we make a stop at Bigga's for a snack. We have tried to stop Bigga's for several years, but either we were running late or he was closed so this is our first oppotunity to sample his chicken and pork. We ordered a half chicken and Rocky had some seapuss soup and jerk pork. It was all good as were the cold Red Stripes.

We had hoped to stop at a cambio to exchange some dollars but Rocky informed us that the cambios would be closed as we had arrived on a national holiday. Instead, we stop at Jenny's Cakes for some special pastry for meditating upon the porch later. This trip we had opted for a cliffs and beach stay. Our first stop would be Catcha Falling Star.

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We are staying in Gemini I while ours friends are next door in Gemini II. The rooms are quite adequate with a nice porch. The only hitch we had was with the air conditioner in our room. After many drinks at the bar and much meditation upon the porch we discover our air conditioner is barely doing its job of keeping the room cool. We do manage to get a good nights rest and in the morning we let the front desk know of our air conditioning problem. A little later while having breakfast at Ivan's, the manager came to advise us that a new air conditioner unit woulld be installed in the next two hours. Now that is incredible service!

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Through the course of the evening we manage to sample the libations and get to know some of the great staff. The drinks, the staff, the food were all incredible as was the meditation upon the porch.

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Thank you Leslie.

We did enjoy our food and drink as well as meditating upon da porch. Kevin took excellent care of us in the bar and we had an incredible Negril sunset.

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Chuck do you remember a few years back at Seastar we had church service at the bar with some pastries?

Sweet!! Keep them coming! :)

Love the fact that you have church meetings.... myself and some friends have been having our "safety meetings" for years..... nice pics

Lol! Funny about everyone's "code words." Ours is "decaf."

Angie, as I remember you brought the whole damn cake.

Scott, later in the week we were getting pretty churched out so had to revert to safety meetings!

After a night of partying we awaken to our first full day in Negril. Fortunately coffee is available early so we sit pon da porch with our coffee and have a little morning meditation. The grounds and landscaping at Catcha are wonderful and there is a great sea view no matter where you are. It turns out to be a bit of a chill day with a little snorkelling which while it was cool and refreshing there weren't many fish to be seen.

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Yes Chuck it was the whole cake and it was fun! Your pictures are great!

Catcha is one of the places in Negril that to me exemplifies what Jamaica is to those of us who are lucky enough to experience it. We will be there in four weeks and the time is slow! Enjoying your trip report!

We did have a variety of meals at Catcha and they were all delicious and well presented. During the day the restaurant was not busy as only guests of the resort are there for dining, however in the evenings they open to retaurant to non guests and it could get quite busy.

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Thank you for inviting me to this forum. I loved your review and the pictures. I'm getting so excited for June 29th.
Carolyn

Nice to see a pic of Carol serving you. She is so peaceful and adds so much to the relaxing atmosphere of Catcha Falling Star and Ivan's for us. We look forward to seeing her every year.

Any pictures of Ben by chance?

Beautiful pictures!

From the cliffs at Catcha we could clearly see Ricks Cafe and every afternoon brought a bunch of boats loaded with tourists to watch the divers and catch the sunset. I remember first visiting Rick's back in 1990 and at that time there was little if any concrete. There was a grassy area for parking and one very small bar. I know some are not too fond of Rick's, but I have visited on many occaions. To me, it's a great people watching place. and there are lots of people. Boatloads and busloads are brought in daily in a very organized effort.

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LOL at that last picture - but since it's Jamaica should it not say "soon come"??

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Originally Posted by 2nutz4travel

LOL at that last picture - but since it's Jamaica should it not say "soon come"??

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Obviously...NO pun intended.....LOL..:)

Saturday morning evolved rather slowly as we had all had two days and nights of relaxing and partying. The coffee helped to get the day rolling and we ventured down for breakfast. Ben the dog decided to hang with us during breakfast, and we all being animal lovers gave him lots of attention. I tried to get a nice picture of him but in true Jamaican fashion he was not really a willing model. After breakfast I wondered around the grounds takling a few pictures and then decided to take a walk to the lighthouse. I would be alone as everyone one else had other less strenuous plans.

On my walk to the lighthouse I happened to see Sexy Rexy fishing. I have shared a few drinks with Sexy in the past so I did take a picture of him, but he looked so intent on what he was doing that I didn't stop to chat. Besides, I was enjoying the walk and the peace and solitude. Arriving at the lighthouse I was sorry to see the gates were still closed and locked. I had hoped to wonder around the grounds for a few pictures but all I could get had to be taken from a gate.

I ventured a little further to Out of Town Pastry where I picked up a variety of patties for lunch and then took a route taxi back to Catcha.

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Beautiful pics!

Love your photos.. thanks for sharing

Absolutely lovely!!!

JustChuck, these pictures are fantastic. Thanks, what a fun time you're having. This is a great report.

Really enjoying your report! I find the Lighthouse a magical place....especially at night. True simplistic beauty fi sure. I'm surprised it was locked up. However, the patties at Out of Town Pastries surely made up for the loss. Colin has some great patties there.

OK, I have to ask. What kind of camera do you use? The picture clarity is amazing.

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Originally Posted by Johio

OK, I have to ask. What kind of camera do you use? The picture clarity is amazing.

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Thanks Johio and everyone! I'm glad you enjoy the pictures, I enjoy taking them and sharing them. On this trip I used two cameras, the Sony Nex 6 was used on most of the images and I also used the Sony a700. If anyone wants a great travel camera I would suggest the Nex 6 with 16-50 lens. It's quite small in size and definitely an upgrade from Point & Shoot cameras but it has the features to match most DSLR cameras as well as a viewfinder. And I need a viewfinder.

When I returned from my walk to the lighthouse, the rest of the group were at the snorkel cove. The rest of the day was pretty much vacation mode. Snorkel, drink, nap, repeat. We didn't venture too far that day as we had plans to go to the buffet at Seastar that evening. Of course we did dine on the patties pon da porch with a cold Red Stripe.

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Wonderful report and superb photos. I hope you have tons more to share. If I could afford that Sony it would just be wasted because I don't an amazing eye that captures a perfect scene like yours. Brilliant talent Chuck

As day rolled into evening we decided to venture down the lane to the Seastar Inn for the Saturday nite buffett and the Seastar Drummers show. Naturally Rob was there and I had something for him. It was a picture I had taken a couple of trips ago of him doing the webcast from the Yellowbird. I had always liked the picture and wanted to share it with him in appreciation of all the webcasts I have tuned into over the years. The buffett was good as was the entertainment. And the service at Seastar was typically exceptional, Chris has assembled some great staff.

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We decided to take a taxi back to Catcha after leaving Seastar. Arriving back to the resort we had cocktails pon da porch along with a little meditation. We could hear music somewhere in the distance as we sat upon the porch and I think it may have been coming from seastar.

On Sunday we awoke to nice clear skys. Today was moving day and we were going to the beach for the remainder of our vacation. We had a leisurely breakfast and took a little stroll around the neighborhood as well as a final stroll around the grounds of Catcha. Then it was time to pack up and catch a taxi to the beach. Seasplash would be our next stop.

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Chuck...the photo you gave Rob is fantastic...already on the wall here at home!

Please keep it up! Great pics narration. Thanks

Sweet report. Love the wonderful pics

Absolutely stunning pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Chuck have enjoyed your talent for many years always a pleasure veiwing.Makes me home sick.

Thanks Bnewb and everyone, glad your enjoyimg the pics!

We arrived early at Seasplash knowing full well that our rooms wouldn't likely be ready yet, and they weren't. We said we would like to leave our luggage at the office and we would go to the bar until the rooms were ready. They wanted to know what we would like to drink and they would call the order to the bar and it would be complimentary. Hey, we were starting to like Seasplash already and we just got here.

Now, I should mention how it is we booked at Seasplash. For some reason none of us had ever been to Seasplash although over the years we had all walked by it a number of times but it was never really on our radar. Well, the notorious Jim Hurt changed all that a year or so ago with all the publicity he was garnering for the property, be it good or bad. We also wanted to stay further north on the beach than we normally stayed. We thought it would be nice to see a new neighborhood. I am happy to report that Seasplash is a great place to stay. The staff were all wonderful, the food was good and the place is very clean.

After some lunch, a few drinks and a little meditation we were informed that our rooms were ready. We went to the front desk to get our keys and this is where we met Diana Marley, the new General Manager of Seasplash. We were informed that even though we had booked the junior suites we were being upgraded to the one bedroom suites at no extra charge because we had waited so long. WOW, we were really starting to like Seasplash. Diana proved to be a great manager during our stay.

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For many years we stayed further down the beach and each year when we would visit there would be many familiar faces. This year we were in a new neighborhood so we didn't see those familiar faces. But somehow the vendors knew we were the fresh meat on the beach. We managed to find pretty much anything we were or weren't looking for. And for the most part it found us.

Vendor next door at Aunty's Thrill Corner

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Cigarettes

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Aloe Vera Lady

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Lots of hats

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Jerk Pork

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Love the photos, and travelogue. Can't wait to be back. In the meantime, this will have to suffice!

This guy was selling the rings made from telephone wire, but he was very proud and wanted to show the diamonds in his teeth.

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Someone was trying to sell us shells.

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Fish for sale on the beach.

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Carvings on the go.

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Coconuts on the beach.

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This guy wasn't selling anything but he was fun to watch and very adept at digging his humble abode.

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