With so many new folks experiencing Negril for the first time this year, we thought we might give a report.

Negril as our destination since the early 80's, we have seen much change over the years. As expected, we saw the current State of Emergency to have very positive effects overall. A few road blocks on our drive from MoBay (we rent a car each year) but nothing of concern, they know who/what they are looking for. A few 2 or 3 man LE patrols walking the beach during day and night, all delightful folks. The vibe was better than we had felt in recent years and it had no negative effects from what we experienced.

Driving in Jamaica is not for the timid but it is getting better over the last few years. With the increased police presence now, its better yet but still far from recommended. This year it amounted to a significant waste of money as we spent most of our time beach based and the rental sat static in the parking lot. Some times it works out better for us, some times not.

Jerk Chicken, Bourbon Beach is as close to the 'Jerk of old' that we could find and even that is tempered down from what it used to be. The pendulum swings both ways, one day we will see another street vendor with his own smoker drum, rise up to the level that made Best of the West a must stop in years past. Now, most are just grilled chicken, at least to us.

T-Water is now a memory that will be cherished... even as foggy as that is.

3-Dives, this year we made it a late afternoon, early dinner. Driving the cliffs area is an experience but ahead of the Rick's traffic rush, it was wonderful. Quite time before the evening rush allowed us to just sit and share a red stripe with the staff, a very memorable dinner!

Our first stay at CoCo, a delightful place with a wonderful staff. In the past we have stayed at the smaller and simpler places like Nirvana (and a few no longer around) but I have to say by the end of the trip, Coco had grown on us a great deal.

We found little use in exchanging money this year but we did do it for the first half of our visit. Everything is based on the US dollar, paying with J had little positive effects that I could see for us.

Most are now adding a 10% gratuity charge and another 10% tax charge to any bar order at the larger establishments. There is a "cost" to sitting at their bar, but it is a cost we save for each year and it didn't push us away in the least. Same great dear friends we long to see again each year, Georgia, Clive, Delroy, Yovan, Negril can still be done on a tighter budget but it isn't near as easy as in years past.

We met so many new friends this year, simply terrific folks who we now look forward to seeing again next year... same time, same place... Negril!