Negril/Montego Bay vacation (4/26 - 5/4 '08)

 Day 1

Arrived in Montego Bay Jamaica at 11:15 am local time. Immigration was a breeze to get through. Orel (driver)was not there to pick us up but a substitute driver (Mack) was.  He drove us close to an hour and a half to our hotel (Negril beach house condos). We checked in and were given one of their better rooms overlooking the swimming pool and next to the beach on the second floor with a nice big patio.  We went looking for a place to eat along the beach and after initially wanting to eat at Bakuba we walked down 7-mile road to eat at Ms Sonia’s, close to the Jungle club. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the food to be cooked and by no less her 15 year old nephew. I ordered curry chicken and shared it with Kofi. Carol ordered a tomato  and cheese sandwich. The food was not that good but since I was starving, I made do. Ms Sonia recommended a driver (Delmar) who was next door to take us to the supermarket. He took us to Ricks café, the Lighthouse, and then to the Hi-Lo supermarket to get water, juice, milk and red-stripe beer. We were tired after that so we retired early.

Day 2

After making breakfast (pancackes and oatmeal) Carol and Kofi headed to the beach while I stayed back for about 30 minutes catching up on news online since I had my laptop with me. I met Carol and Kofi at the beach and after playing with Kofi in the water, I rented a jet-ski for $35 for a half hour and gave first Carol and Kofi and then Kofi by himself a ride. It was a blast. We came back to the room about 12:30 pm to eat lunch (canned spaghetti meat balls, chips and grilled cheese sandwiches. We each took a nap and then headed back to the beach with our scuba gear. At about 5:00pm, we took a glass bottom boat (cost us $20 each) a half hour to a reef where we saw different colored fish. I snorkeled for about 10 minutes but gave up because I was nervous seeing as we were so far out and this was my first time. We got back and took a shower and then took a cab (driver Dave) to Sweet Spice to eat, which close to the west end. I had pepper steak with rice and beans, Carol had curried goat and Kofi had fried chicken. The food was very good but expensive because it is frequented by tourists a lot

Day 3

Woke up about 7:30am, watched a little bit of tv and then came out on the patio to use my laptop. We walked along the beach to the West end. We cut through the marketplace on the end and went to Juicy J's to eat. It was located in Negril Square behind the Scotia Bank. The service was bad as usual but the food was okay..a bit heavy for breakfast. On our way back to the hotel, we walked through the souvenir market place and bought a few things (wooden carving, gifts for Kofi's friends etc). I called our driver (Delmar) when we got to the hotel and he came and picked us up and we drove to Roaring River falls. On the way there, we stopped at a school (Gordons) where there were children (ages 3 – 6) playing in te schoolyard. We distributed candy and gave away some hats. We also stopped and bought some good Jamaican patties, some coco bread (butter bread) and some juice. Our guide for the falls was Vasser Lloyd who was able to explain and name every single plant and tree on the tour. We entered the caves where we saw a healing spring, a meditation chamber and various figures that were carved in the rocks. we left him a $10 tip. On the way back, we stopped to pick up Delmar's 4 year old daughter (Jahan). Kofi took a long nap and I took a stroll down the beach on the west side and stopped at a hotel to grab a beer while I watched part of the Atlanta Hawks / Celtics playoff game 4. When I got back to the hotel, Kofi had woken up and Carol had fed him so we took a stroll to Bourbon Beach hotel to listen to some live Reggae. After about an hour and a half, I took Kofi and Carol back to the hotel and later went back there. The music had picked up a bit but the crowd was boring.

Day 4

We left the hotel at about 11am, caught a taxi to Hi-Lo supermarket. The cab driver (Dave) happened to be the guy who took us to eat at Sweet Spice the other night. We bought some juice and the driver suggested we go eat where he lives, with a restaurant on the premises on the West End called Mi Yard. It was a disappointment. We sat out for about 10 minutes without even being offered a menu. When we finally caught the server’s attention, they didn’t have most of what was listed on the menu so we called for the driver to come pick us up. He took us to a decent restaurant (very affordable, quick service, clean and nice looking) on 7 mile road called Cool Spot.We called for the driver when we were done and on the way back to the hotel, we had him drop us at Times Square duty free marketplace (right across from Bourbon Beach place) . It had a lot of souvenir shops which was nice. We spent time shopping. We walked back to the hotel by cutting through Bourbon Beach Place and walked on the beach back to the hotel. We all took a nap with Kofi sleeping for over 4 hours so we didn’t go back out.

Day 5

I woke up about 1:30am because I couldn’t sleep and got on the computer. I went back to bed about 5:30 and got awokened by Kofi about 7am since he was up. We got up and packed our clothes and our suitcases since we were leaving for the Holiday Inn Sunspree in Montego Bay . We called Orel the driver who had Mack come and pick us up with his mini bus. We had him take us to Ricks café just to take a picture. On our way to Mo’ Bay we witnessed an accident. We were 2 cars behind a car that swerved and hit an oncoming police car and then skidded against a guard rail narrowly missing the car in front of us. As the car in front of us tried to avoid the skidding car in front of him, our driver slammed on his brakes just in time to avoid hitting the car in front of him. We arrived at the resort and it was a pleasant surprise. We checked in about 1pm and hit the beach. Drinks of every kind were being served (I had a Miami Vice and then a dacquiri). We had a burger and then spent all afternoon at the beach. We did tok a sailboat ride and did the paddle boat thing. I also snorkeled. Since we had reserved the Capuccino restaurant for 6:30pm, we left the beach abut 5:30 to go and take a shower and then went to dinner. I had a very good ceasars salad, and some roasted lamb. We went and listened to the band after dinner and Kofi and I retried early.

 Day 6

Woke up real early and went to do laundry on the first floor. Later we had a good filling breakfast. Instead of paying the $40 it would take to take the clothes and school supplies we brought for the orphanage we talked to Alexcia in guest relations who arranged for her friend to come pick us up for $25. After waiting for the guy in the lobby for about 40 minutes, I got frustrated so I flagged down a cabby who had just dropped of a couple at the resort. He agreed to take us to Blossom Garden ’s Child Care Centre in Montego Bay . When we got to the gates, the administrator sent someone to ask what we were bringing. She was rude and only seemed interested in some of the items so we went down the street to Christ Chapel and gave the supplies to the principal to be distributed to the needy kids. The driver then took us on a mini tour of downtown Montego Bay , We stopped at an open ptark where they were prepping for a gospel concert and also to watch some BMX motorcycle display show.  On our return to the resort, I spent time with Kofi swimming in the pool. For lunch, I had some jerk chicken and countless Pina Coladas. After that, we got ready for dinner. Dinner was outside of the Seabreezes restaurant. It was outside  seating and they had all sorts of good food. They had a show afterwards (crab race gambling and the usually dancing. At 11:00pm that night I boarded the bus taking people to a club called Pier 1. It started off nice but then it got really crowded so I took the 2 pm bus back.

Day 7

We headed out to breakfast and then after that I came back to the room to check on the election results from Guam . Carol took Kofi swimming and then I joined them later. I took another sailboat ride and did a little snorkeling but spent most of the afternoon in the pool with Kofi. Met and talked to some of the other travelers. Later on, we had dinner at the Seabreezes restaurant (Carol had a chicken fajita and I had sweetened pork ribs). Kofi fell asleep in his stroller while we ate and we went to listen to the band play for a little bit before I retired to bed with Kofi. Carol came back to the room later on.

Day 8

Woke up about 3:30am and went to do a load of laundry. Got on my laptop to continue my journal. When Carol woke up, we began packing our clothes and geting our luggage together. We went to eat breakfast and then headed to the shops outside the resort across the street. On the way there, we met a guy who offered to take us to the airport for $20 instead of the $25 that is usually charged by most drivers. A couple of minutes later we were able to find a guy who would take us to the airport for $10. We told him to meet us at the lobby at 10:30am. On the way back to the hotel after shopping, we met the first driver and told him that we had met someone else who would only charge us $10 and he decided that he would take us for that amount. We decided to stick with im since he had the nicer bus. We checked out, had our luggage delivered to the lobby and the driver was waiting for us at that time. Check in at the airport was also a breeze. We took some last minute pictures and boarded our flight to Charlotte NC on our way to Washington DC. The flight was about 2 and a half hours long and by the time we had gotten through customs and immigration, we had missed our connecting flight so we had to settle for the 8:15pm flight. We got home about 10:30pm