jamaica

Seven Mile Beach, Negril

Jamaica

Overview

Maps

Overview:
I traveled to Jamaica during the Thanksgiving of 2000 with five friends. We were on the island for 6 days and spent all the time on the west and north shore of the island. An operator at 1800Jamaica discouraged us from venturing into Kingston by citing safety concerns.

Jamaica is a beautiful country; however it is a little bit too commericalized for my taste. I dislike to be harrassed by people trying to sell us services or simply to get money from us at every direction we turned. The weather was less than optimal when we were there. Although I read from the net that the rain season in Jamaica is in May AND October, it rained and rained when we were there and the sea was very rough. As a result, our Negril trip was rather disappointing.

Jamaica is also expensive. A meal in a typical restaurant is around 10 dollars. A decent hotel room near the beach will run close to 50 dollars per person. However, the culture is rich and unique, the rum and red stripe beer are superb, and white sand beach stunningly beautiful.
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Tour itinerary:
We visited Negril, Mo'Bay, and Port Antonio in 6 days. In hindsight, we should probably stick to two cities. It was raining and overcast during the two days we were in Negril, so we didn't really enjoy the beach there, which according to a friend of mine, the best in the world.

Our itinerary: First day: arrive at Mo'Bay
Second day: Rose Hall, Doctor's Cave Beach, Luminous Lagoon at night, stayed at Mo'Bay for the night
Third day: Drive to Negril in the morning, get there in 1 hr, 45 min. Stayed at Negril for the night
Fourth day: Drive to Port Antonio (6 hrs)
Fifth day: Diving, Blue Lagoon, Frenchman's Cove
Sixth day: Blue Mountain Bike Tour
Seventh day: going back to Mo'Bay
Eighth day: fly back.

What we should have done to cut down driving time: First day: arrive at Mo'Bay
Second day: Rose Hall, Doctor's Cave Beach, drive to Negril at night, stay in Negril for the night
Third day: dive in Negril, beach etc. Get to luminous lagoon at night to visit. Stay in Ocho Rios for the night
Fourth day: Blue Mountain Bike Tour on way to Port Antonio
The rest of the day relax in Port Antonio.
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Transportation:
After searched on the internet for a while, we decided to hire a private driver during our stay in Jamaica. We found Chef from sunseekers (sunseekers@cwjamaica.com) from a Jamaican community bulletin board. Chef is a warm and intelligent Rasta. And we were so happy that it was not one of us who was driving! Roads in Jamaica are narrow and not well-maintained. In addition, you have to drive on the wrong side of the road. We retained Chef to be with us for 7 days, 24 hours a day. He charged us 980 dollars inclusive.

Here is the driving time between cities:
Mo’Bay to Negril: 1 hour 15 minutes.
Mo’Bay to Ocho Rio: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Ocho Rio to Port Antonio: 2 hours. The road near PA is extremely winding!
Avoid going into Mo’Bay in the morning, or leaving it in the afternoon.
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Hotels:
In Montego Bay, we stayed in Blue Harbor Hotel (6 Sewell Ave). The rooms are spacious and clean, and there is a swimming pool right outside our room. The hotel is about 5 min away from the beach. There is also a bus which takes you to the beach everyday. For triple occupancy, each room is a little over 80 dollars.

In Negril we stayed in Firefly Beach Cottages (876-957-4358). It is right on Seven Mile Beach. Each room comes with a small kitchen. The rooms are small and more expensive. We spent about 40 dollars per person for triple occupancy. They do have some really rudimentary cottages which are much cheaper, but you will have to shower in a communal shower place.

view on patio of our condo in P.A.

We stayed at Goblin Hills Hotel at San San (876-925-8108)in Port Antonio. Our unit was a two story condo perched on top of a hill overlooking the bay and the ocean beyond. In the morning our housekeeper cooked breakfast for us, and we ate it on the patio watching clouds gather and disperse over the ocean. The hotel is beautifully decorated and nicely staffed. Everything is neat and clean. There is a stairway snakes through the thick rain forest vegetation over the hill which leads to San San Beach. The hotel is also very centrally located. You can walk to Dragon Beach Resort for diving and snorkeling, or to Blue Lagoon for a nice cold drink, or to Frenchmen's Cove. The only bad thing is that the hotel does not have a restaurant, so you will have to rely on your housekeeper to cook dinner if you don't want to go out at night. Our housekeeper bought grocery and broung back receipt and change each time. You also have free access to Frechman's Cove and San San Beach but you will have to remember to ask the front desk to give you a pass. The villa is not cheap. We spent 50 dollar per day per person for 3 persons per bedroom.
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Places we visited:

Pickled Parrot, Negril
Monkey Island, Port Antonio
beach view, Ocho Rio
Dunn's River Fall

Mo'Bay
In Montego Bay we went to Rose Hall, which is an old plantation house with a fascinating tale. The house, perched on a hill overlooking the Ocean, is beautifully furnished with period antiques. If you want to catch a glimpse of the old and cruel Jamaica, this is a must-see place. The Rose Hall Beach Resort has a very nice beach and it was free for the two friends who went there on their last day in Jamaica. According to them, Rose Hall is even better than the famed Doctor's Cave.

Doctor's Cave is a disappointment. First of all, we had to pay go get inside. And once we were inside, we faced a small cove with a strech of sand that was not particularly white. The beach was also very crowded. The only plus was that the beach as a very clean bathroom and outdoor shower.

The most fascinating place we visited was the luminous lagoon which is about 45 minutes drive east of Mo’ Bay in Falmouth. The brackish water and the warm temperature in the lagoon provide optimal conditions for planktons which glow when disturbed. Make sure you pick a night that is overcast so you can see the planktons glow in the dark whenever a fish glides underwater, or when you stick your fingers inside the water and stir. Definitely take a swim in the water; you will be covered with stars! The bottom of the lake is filled with silt, so don't be alarmed when you first jump in -- it feels as if you just landed in the warm and soft mouth of a sea monster! If you eat in the restaurant, the boat ride is only 6 dollars (included as part of your meal) vs. 10.

Negril
We were only in Negril for a day. The beach was a beautiful place to hang around, as long as you are not intimidated by people who were trying to sell you stuff. In the afternoon we went to Pickled Parrot, a bar located at the west end of the 7 Mile Beach. It was a great spot to hang out, have a drink, and watch sunset. There was also a place where you can swing off shore and jump into the ocean.

Ocho Rio
We passed through Ocho Rio twice. The city itself was very crowded and rundown, but the famous Dunn's River Fall realy lived up to its reputation. I was too sick that day to climb the fall, but everybody who climbed it really loved the experience. I thought it was worthwhile just to walked on the stairs next to the beautiful waterfall which cascaded several hundred feet into the ocean.

Port Antonio
Port Antonio is a gem! It is the most beautiful place we visited in Jamaica! Monkey island, which is a TINY island covered with vegetation off shore from San San beach, is great for snorkeling and hanging out. Dragon Bay Resort in Port Antonio has a very beautiful beach and diving facility; the famed Cruis Bar, where Tom Cruis filmed the movie Cocktail, is on that beach. Frenchmen’s Cove is lovely with a crystal clear stream feeding into the ocean. Blue Lagoon has a restaurant with great food, and a beautiful lagoon with water of an intense blue hue.

We went to Blue Mountain Bike Tour which is a downhill bike tour inside the blue mountain. The tour is expensive, but really worth it. It takes the whole day (from 10am to about 4pm), and you ride about 18 miles in the rain forest. The waterfalls are beautiful, and the rainforest is very unique. The number listed on their web page has the wrong area code--try 876 instead. back to top

Food:
We ate mostly in restaraunts, and food there were expensive. Your dollar goes a long way if you eat in small fast food joints, or street vendors. We spent on average 10 dollars per meal. Apparently pace of life in Jamaica was much slower than the states, since we had to wait on average around an hour for the food to be served. By the end we learned wisely: we always picked a place that was close to the beach, so we could play a bit while we wait for the food.

Overall the food in Jamaica was excellent. However, I did got a little sick and tired of the jerk chicken by the end. All the curry dishes I tried there--lamb, conch, chicken, etc, were all excellent. They were nice alternatives to jerk dishes. Ackee, Jamaica's national fruit and breakfast food, was not as delicious as I imagined. I didn't like the buttery texture that much.

In Mo'Bay we went to a jamaican style fast food place called island grill in downtown. The food there was cheap (about 3-4 dollars for a meal) and tasty. We ate in Glistening Water Restaurant by the Luminous Lagoon, which is 45 minutes driving east of Mo'Bay. The boat ride can be purchased with the dinner at a discount (8 dollars, vs. 10 dollars). The food was surprisingly good. But remember to bring bug spray! In Port Antonio, we ate at the restaraunt next to the Blue Lagoon. The food there was amazing! You have to try the curry lamb.
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Links:
Dhana Car Rental Surprisingly enough, this is the site that has it all: maps, detailed descriptions of towns, driving distances, etc.

1-800-jamaica You can either call their number, or look up the web site. 1-800-jamaica has some incredibly cheap packages including airfare and hotel.

Jamaica Community Bulletin Board This is a good bulletin board to post questions about travelling in Jamaica. Most people there are nuts about Jamaica, and are very eager to give out helpful tips.
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Tips:
1. Dollar works like magic in Jamaica, but you’d save a lot more if you exchange your money at the Cambio and spend Jamaican dollars when you eat and shop. We had to pay anywhere from 10-25% more if we pay in US dollars.
2. Starting Nov 13, 2000, you need to bring ID to exchange cash at the Cambio.
3. Cash is ALWAYS better than credit card. A lot of places charge US $, instead of JA $ on your credit card, and they have horrible exchange rates. They often will add a processing fee (2-5 dollars) for each credit card transaction. The diving place in Port Antonio gives 15% discount if you pay cash.
4. You probably don’t want to bring a fat wad of cash with you. The next best thing is to bring American Express traveller’s checks. If you lose them, you can call American Express toll free from Jamaican to get refund (yes I did this in Jamaica). And they work just like US dollars at the cambio.
5. BUG SPRAY!!!!
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