Our first trip to Jamaica 2/7/16 - 2/17/16

[VVHT]

Very Very Nice!

Thanks for posting!

VVHT

[MikeyNYC]

Great job. Glad you loved it.

[zeppman]

Baileysmom,

Great pics, we go in a few weeks and I think you just made the wait feel longer! I was just skimming through some old posts on the boards last night, and (I think it was you) was reading some posts about your hesitance to go to Negril after reading about the hustlers. Now that you've gone, can you comment on that at all?

[billndonna]

Excellent pictures,thanks for sharing and glad you fell in love with our 2nd home!!

[SoCal_dan]

Great pics! Glad you had a wonderful time. We are nine weeks away from trip number 12. Staying at Catcha Falliing Star for the first time.

[BaileysMom]

@ Zeppman, we stayed on the west end where we didn't feel hustled at all. We walked from Catcha up past the lighthouse and on to Out of Town Pastry one day, stopping for a drink at Sir D's which has an amazing view. No hustlers at all... Another time we walked down from Catcha as far as Xtabi, stopping in at Push Cart, and Three Dives... again no hustlers. Twice we took a taxi to the beach. Both times, we walked from the roundabout up to Couples Swept Away and back. We would walk up the beach and back we walked on the street side, on the sidewalk. Sure there were vendors trying to sell whatever they were selling, but a polite "no thank you" always seemed to suffice. Only one time did a vendor refuse to take a simple "no thank you" for an answer, he tried to put a bracelet on my husbands wrist, and my husband pulled his hand away and said "no man... no thanks", and that was was the end of that.

What I found to be true was that most people were really friendly and we struck up conversations with a variety of people who were pretty fascinating. Most memorable in addition to the 5 or 6 different drivers we had, were a young artist who was selling prints at Sir D's (yes, I couldn't resist, I bought one)- a musician named Iyakasha who we met at Three Dives one night- one of the jerk chicken barrel guys on Norman Manley Blvd., and the owner of AhhBee's. I never felt afraid while in Jamaica, except when we were walking around downtown MoBay- and that was fine, but I wouldn't have walked around down there at night.

Some of my favorite memories involved music- dancing to the band at Three Dives, listening to the Mento Band "Overtakers" at Canoe Bar, and listening/dancing to live music at AhhBee's one night, including special appearances by an African Steel Drum band and also a singer from Chicago who had an amazing set of pipes. She could sing!

I would not hesitate to go back to Negril. I might try splitting a visit up between the west side and the beach side, but I would probably not bother with MoBay next time. Although the bed and breakfast we stayed at was beautiful- clean, safe, great breakfasts and gracious hosts... we enjoyed Negril much more.

Baileysmom,

Great pics, we go in a few weeks and I think you just made the wait feel longer! I was just skimming through some old posts on the boards last night, and (I think it was you) was reading some posts about your hesitance to go to Negril after reading about the hustlers. Now that you've gone, can you comment on that at all?

[groove16]

awesome pics....so glad u figured it out.....and you DID figure it out...way to go...

[TAH]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your trip. Nice report.

[msbaltimore]

Lovely lovely pictures. Once you go, you know.

[zeppman]

Baileysmom, thanks for taking the time to respond. Happy for you that you had such a great time. Our trip can't come soon enough.