Jamaica Vacation
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:22 am
My wife and I just got back from a 2 week trip to Negril Jamaica. We had a great vacation there! The weather was beautiful. It was 30 degrees C during the day (but WAY hotter in the sun!) and around 29C at night.
It rained a bit in the afternoon 4 days out of our vacation. The first time it rained I was amazed at how much rain came down! It came down in buckets. You could not see anything that was over 40 feet away. 2 hours later it was sunny and beautiful again...the rain cooled things off nicely.
The food was great. We especially loved the jerk chicken roasted on a pimento wood fired barbeque. The best thing was to wash it down with a few Red Stripes (100 dollars Jamaican each)! The locals setup barbeques (made of oil drums or just about anything) anywhere that there may be people...side of roads, on the beaches, in market places, ect. For those of you who like spicy hot food this is the place for you! A word of warning though...take it easy with their hot sauces at first...try a small amount as their spices can be very hot! Even a few drops of some sauces will make your mouth burn and cause you to sweat profusely!
We met a lot of very nice people while there. The Jamaican people are very friendly with the tourists. When we needed directions it was always “No Problem Mon”, and they would sometimes even take us to where we wanted to go. The cab drivers were amazing. They sure don’t waste time. They drive very aggressively with one hand on the wheel and one on the horn in between shifting. Somehow we would pass slower traffic 3 vehicles abreast on a 1 lane wide road.
Vans are very popular down there. Toyotas and Nissan vans seemed to be the most popular. A good percentage of them were all wheel drive. No one I talked to had even heard of an Astro or Safari van. I don’t think that our favorite vans would stand up very well down there. The roads are pretty hard on vehicles. Suspension parts and brakes REALLY get a workout down there. When we went out on a tour out in the mountains, there were places that were so steep we were in first gear to climb the roads/trails. You would never think of driving where we went if it started to rain. Your vehicle would get washed away. One other thing…I never quite got used to driving on the left side of the road.
For part of our vacation we stayed on the south end of Long Bay. The beach is 7 miles long. We went swimming and snorkeling for many hours a day while we were there. This is the place that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was filmed. If you every watched it we stayed right where Kirk Douglas and his partner go to shore and get chased back to the sub by head hunting natives. Unfortunately the beach is packed with hotels now. It will never look like it did 50 years ago but it was still beautiful. The sea was warm like bathwater. There were lots of fish and other sea creatures to see. We even saw a huge turtle when we visited one of the reefs.
The last week we stayed at an all inclusive resort at Bloody Bay. It was great! Everything was taken care of for us. This bay contains one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It is protected very well as it is horse shoe shaped. We probably did over 5 hours a day swimming while we were there. A typical day for us would be to get up and go for a 6:30 am swim, go for breakfast, swim, tan, swim, eat lunch, swim, tan, swim, tan, swim, go for supper, swim, go to a show and then bed (oh…and lots of rum cocktails throughout the day!). Some days I would find myself cat napping out on the beach. It was very nice and relaxing there.
We can not wait to go back. There are many more things to see and do the next time we go. I am not sure if we will go during the winter as the tourist traffic is very heavy during that time. In the summer there are very few tourists there and it is a lot quieter place…I could not imagine how busy it would be with all of the hotels full. We were told that you have to make reservations for dinner during the busy times or you won’t get in. As it was we had the run of the place while we were there.
Any of you who have thought about going to Jamaica should go for it and not hesitate to make plans to go. It is a very good place to re-spark the romance between you and your partner.
As they say in Jamaica…Irie!
It rained a bit in the afternoon 4 days out of our vacation. The first time it rained I was amazed at how much rain came down! It came down in buckets. You could not see anything that was over 40 feet away. 2 hours later it was sunny and beautiful again...the rain cooled things off nicely.
The food was great. We especially loved the jerk chicken roasted on a pimento wood fired barbeque. The best thing was to wash it down with a few Red Stripes (100 dollars Jamaican each)! The locals setup barbeques (made of oil drums or just about anything) anywhere that there may be people...side of roads, on the beaches, in market places, ect. For those of you who like spicy hot food this is the place for you! A word of warning though...take it easy with their hot sauces at first...try a small amount as their spices can be very hot! Even a few drops of some sauces will make your mouth burn and cause you to sweat profusely!
We met a lot of very nice people while there. The Jamaican people are very friendly with the tourists. When we needed directions it was always “No Problem Mon”, and they would sometimes even take us to where we wanted to go. The cab drivers were amazing. They sure don’t waste time. They drive very aggressively with one hand on the wheel and one on the horn in between shifting. Somehow we would pass slower traffic 3 vehicles abreast on a 1 lane wide road.
Vans are very popular down there. Toyotas and Nissan vans seemed to be the most popular. A good percentage of them were all wheel drive. No one I talked to had even heard of an Astro or Safari van. I don’t think that our favorite vans would stand up very well down there. The roads are pretty hard on vehicles. Suspension parts and brakes REALLY get a workout down there. When we went out on a tour out in the mountains, there were places that were so steep we were in first gear to climb the roads/trails. You would never think of driving where we went if it started to rain. Your vehicle would get washed away. One other thing…I never quite got used to driving on the left side of the road.
For part of our vacation we stayed on the south end of Long Bay. The beach is 7 miles long. We went swimming and snorkeling for many hours a day while we were there. This is the place that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was filmed. If you every watched it we stayed right where Kirk Douglas and his partner go to shore and get chased back to the sub by head hunting natives. Unfortunately the beach is packed with hotels now. It will never look like it did 50 years ago but it was still beautiful. The sea was warm like bathwater. There were lots of fish and other sea creatures to see. We even saw a huge turtle when we visited one of the reefs.
The last week we stayed at an all inclusive resort at Bloody Bay. It was great! Everything was taken care of for us. This bay contains one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. It is protected very well as it is horse shoe shaped. We probably did over 5 hours a day swimming while we were there. A typical day for us would be to get up and go for a 6:30 am swim, go for breakfast, swim, tan, swim, eat lunch, swim, tan, swim, tan, swim, go for supper, swim, go to a show and then bed (oh…and lots of rum cocktails throughout the day!). Some days I would find myself cat napping out on the beach. It was very nice and relaxing there.
We can not wait to go back. There are many more things to see and do the next time we go. I am not sure if we will go during the winter as the tourist traffic is very heavy during that time. In the summer there are very few tourists there and it is a lot quieter place…I could not imagine how busy it would be with all of the hotels full. We were told that you have to make reservations for dinner during the busy times or you won’t get in. As it was we had the run of the place while we were there.
Any of you who have thought about going to Jamaica should go for it and not hesitate to make plans to go. It is a very good place to re-spark the romance between you and your partner.
As they say in Jamaica…Irie!