Trip Report - February 1-8, 2013

[Monty&Melo]

Monday..essentially the halfway day of our trip, except for our friends who actually have to leave on Wednesday morning (YIKES!!!!)

After staying out as late as we did on Sunday, I didn’t get up for my normal walk on Monday morning, although I did walk up to CSA and back, only about 3 miles total. Breakfast at the hotel this morning, and it was very good (more Ackee and Saltfish for me). The restaurant at Rondel has improved 100% since they took it back over from the lease deal that was in place earlier. I would not hesitate to recommend any meal there now, before that was not the case.

Soon enough we hit the beach and we got out a few floats and we floated for a while. Today was the first day that it was really calm, previously on this trip the wind had been up and the waves were more active than usual. We played around in the water with some Rays that happened to swim by, not really playing just swimming in the same water as them. Real cool though, I had not seen them that close to the beach on previous trips.

A quick funny story about our room safes and the feeling that we had that we were the first people to ever stay in the rooms we were in on the morass side of Rondel….

We rented the safes as we always do, but instead of the safes being the ones with the removable lock and key system, these safes were the fancy ones that required a key and then a keypad that you entered as a password to keep the safe locked. Now I have admitted to heavy imbibing on this trip earlier in my report and it seemed like every time we were ready to figure out the safe we were too far gone to mess with it, so I just kept saying “we’ll figure it out tomorrow.” Well, tomorrow finally came and I set about trying to figure it out. I punched buttons, I turned the key, but nothing happened. I turned the key again and bam…it broke off. Damn, I guess it is not going to work now. I tried our friends safe but was careful with the key this time and still didn’t get anything. Anyway, I went to the Rondel front desk to tell them to just cancel it (we figured out a good place to hide our valuables and besides cash we don’t take anything to Negril that we can’t live without so it wasn’t a big deal).

When I reported that our safes did not work they immediately sent someone back to the rooms with me to check them out. I told them the key was broken off in mine so they checked mine first. Didn’t take them long to dig the key out and then they started inspecting the safe door and realized that they hadn’t installed the batteries in the safe so of course it didn’t work. Hmmmm, batteries, I never thought of that, I was used to the “low tech” ones we had always used. Oh well, I’ll know next time to look for the batteries!!!!

This was the day we decided to do the Ricks, Catcha and Bentleys experience. First to Ricks…..

Now I know it’s a trap, I know the beers are expensive, I have never eaten there so I can’t really comment on the food, but I never see anyone eating real Jamaican food there, so I figure it is not worth even considering. You really can’t beat the experience there though, especially if you have newbies with you. I kept telling them it was like the bar scene in Star Wars…..all kinds of people, acting all kinds of ways and that is just the tourists, not even talking about the locals. I figured our friends would love it, so we went. Our plan was to arrive at Ricks about 4pm, knowing we would stay there for one hour and then go to Catcha right at 5 when they started allowing outsiders in.

Our driver picked us up at 330pm, we stopped briefly at Chineymon store to pick up a bottle of Appleton for the Bentleys trip. Arrived at Ricks right on time,
bought a beer on the way in and found a spot on the steps to watch the show. Our friend R had some experience from the Navy with jumping off of aircraft carriers, so the cliffs at Ricks were nothing for him. Almost immediately he began jumping off, almost faster than we could snap pictures, but we finally got one of him as well as one of the locals jumping from their spot:







I’ve also been trying to get a good picture of the huge Jamaican flag that is at Ricks, but even though I took about 15 pictures this time, this is the best one that I got.



After R jumped about 5 times and we watched others jump (including one girl that landed flat on her back, I am sure she was sore the next day) we decided we would retire to the pool at Ricks and sit at the tables that are in shallow water and take in the sights. Here are a couple of pics from there.





Pretty soon it was just after 5pm and time to head to Catcha, I told our friends that if they liked Ricks they were going to Love!!!! Catcha, I am not sure they believed me when I said that, but you’ll have to check out the next installment to see if they did (what do you think?!?!?!)….

[OAngie]

More please I am loving your report!

[Rasta Stan]

great report, thanks for sharing.

[Lady Jane]

ACK, you left us hanging. I think they will love Catcha.
In 2002 we stayed at CountryCountry. My husband and I were the oldest ones there, the rest were Spring Break kids. A bunch of them went on a booze cruise to Ricks and then did some jumping. The next day they were in bad physical shape. One guy had landed face first. The sea water went through his sinus cavities. As soon as he blew his nose both of his eyes turned black and blue and his nose. A girl had landed butt first with her legs extended out from her waist. her thighs and butt were black and blue. Needless to say, I became the Mother and helped nurse them back. The biggest fight was getting them to go back to their cottage at night instead of sleeping on the beach in their bikinis. Ugh

[Monty&Melo]

OK…you were right, our friends D&R, who loved Ricks, thought Catcha was the coolest place on earth, because, well…..it is (or at least it is in the top 10!!!). We arrived at the big green door (I always feel like we are going to see the great and powerful Oz when we show up and Catcha and knock on the door, hoping to be let in), knocked and were pointed towards the bar (if you get wet you have gone too far!!!) and pretty soon we were sitting down perusing the drink menu. I am not one for fruity, frizzy, chocolaty, blended drinks, but there is something about Ivans that makes me want to hear the whirr of the blender. We order drinks and decide to explore the place a little while we are waiting.

We walk around and D&R are just amazed at every little nook and cranny that they see, the idea of having almost a private sun-tanning spot nestled among the rocks really appeals to them. They just keep going on and on about the place. Pretty soon we go back to the bar to retrieve our drinks and walk back out to the water’s edge to take more pictures and enjoy the view. As fate would have it, the sunset this night was probably the best one of the trip. So we took plenty of pictures of the sunset, of the grounds and of each other. Here are a few (we are the happy couple in the last picture, see how lucky I am to have such a beautiful specimen to accompany on all my journeys!!!)







We finally made it up to the bar to sit and relax, but as much fun as we were having at Ivans, our reservation for Bentley’s was at 630pm and the sunset occurred at 608pm, so the clock was ticking and I was excited to get them to Bentley’s so they could have yet another great experience. We pay our check at the bar (or rather they paid the check, gotta love friends that pick up a check every now and then!!!!), and walk towards the gate, our taxi driver meets us about half way up the path, he had parked just inside the gate and we hopped in his car, the gate opened and we were on our way to Bentleys…bye to Catcha until next time!!!!

Of course the ride to Bentley’s only takes a few minutes but the whole time we were travelling the road we all just kept talking about what a great time that was at Ivans. I kept telling our friends that the fun was just beginning, they were about to meet one of the true characters (again, character is a good thing!!!) of all of Negril.

We pull up the lane and pretty soon arrive at Bentley’s, as soon as I get out of the car I yell for Bentley and he greets us with his infectious laugh. As we approach the 13 steps to his “restaurant” I see him at the top of the steps ready to welcome us. Our other friends that were meeting us were already there, so we walked over to the table, exchanged hugs all around and sat down. I had the fresh bottle of Appleton for the fruit juice that Bentley said he would provide. I poured 5 glasses of juice with a nice portion of rum, on top, so that first drink is a killer. Melo drinks her Red Stripe, other than an Angry at Café Goa or a Caesar at Canoe (occasionally), she drinks nothing but Red Stripe the entire trip.

After just a few minutes, Bentley comes out with the “5 tings on the plate.” We all selected crab and crab, which is a crab cake and a crab back (what I would call “deviled crab” or stuffed crab). All the crab is served with plenty of vegetables and of course his “magic sauce.” Pretty soon the conversation ends and the only thing coming out of our mouths are moans and groans of pleasure as we all devour the food. To say our friends were impressed would be an understatement. As impressed as they were with Catcha and Ivans, they were just as impressed with the food at Bentley’s. We all cleaned our plates, almost finished off the entire bottle of rum and took in the view from the deck as we let our meal settle. Soon it was time to settle up with Bentley (I was already paid up since I put up the deposit for the meal) so my friends paid off the rest of the bill and we were ready to go. We all said our goodbyes to Bentley and we were on our way back to Rondel. Bentley provided a nice “to go” box of food for our driver.

There are cheaper meals in Negril than Bentley’s. If you are going to get upset about spending a few extra $$ on dinner then don’t go. If you don’t care about every penny that you spend while you are in Negril, go see Bentley. You will not regret it and you may end up with a memory that will last a life-time. I only discovered Bentley on my last trip (Oct 2012), but I will not go to Negril and not go by and see him and have a meal at his place. It’s these kinds of people (I realize there are a few of them) that make Negril. To me the beach, the water and the sun are great, but you can get a great beach in a lot of places, but you don’t get guys like Bentley just anywhere and it is folks like him that keep us coming back to Negril time after time. I am really glad we were able to show our friends what this is all about because a lot of folks in our subdivision always ask us “don’t you want to go somewhere else besides Jamaica?” and quite frankly we do, but with two jobs and two kids at home our time away from all of that is extremely valuable to us and the thought of going somewhere else and waking up on the third day and looking at each other and saying “We should have gone to Jamaica” just scares us to death. So in several years when the kids are grown and time is less valuable, we will see other places, but we will also continue to visit Jamaica because it means that much to us.

Safely back at Rondel, we decided to hit the hot-tub for a while and after all we had packed in to the last 4 or so hours it was nice to sit there and relax, look up at the stars and contemplate the greater meaning of life.

More report soon come…….

[booger]

We share similar thoughts on Bentley. While not cheap, you are not just paying for his amazing food. The man is a character and is fun to reason with. I cannot imagine flying all the way to Jamaica and not spending a night with him.

[Jaherring]

This has been one of my favorite reports so far. We were there the week after you and enjoyed alot of the same things. We still havent made it to 3 dives or Bentleys or red Dragon. maybe next trip.

[MoFromMonroe]

I dream of Bentley's rice. I have never had white rice that tasted sooooo delicious. There is nothing we didn't love about Bentley's and will go there every time we are in Negril. Thank you Gerryg for turning us on to Bentley's.

[MoFromMonroe]

Got so sidetracked with Bentley's I forgot to say This is a Great Report. Thanks for taking the time.

[marley9808]

Woo Hoo! Loving this so far! We like a LOT of the same things my friend so I was all in on this report!
Love the photos too, you guys look so happy.....but how can you not be?

This quote is just about perfect.....explains so perfectly exactly how we feel too!

I am really glad we were able to show our friends what this is all about because a lot of folks in our subdivision always ask us “don’t you want to go somewhere else besides Jamaica?” and quite frankly we do, but with two jobs and two kids at home our time away from all of that is extremely valuable to us and the thought of going somewhere else and waking up on the third day and looking at each other and saying “We should have gone to Jamaica” just scares us to death. So in several years when the kids are grown and time is less valuable, we will see other places, but we will also continue to visit Jamaica because it means that much to us.

Thanks for sharing this with us! Loving every second of it!