Negril Trip Report 1999

[HuskerJohn]

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!!!!

[HuskerJohn]

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.

[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!

[HuskerJohn]

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.

[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 !

[HuskerJohn]

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!

[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.

[garysteph1018]

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

[nori]

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

[HuskerJohn]

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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