JA - Back from all over the island

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

The next morning we went for a stroll down the road and were pleasantly surprised at how relaxed we felt. No one bothered us, there was barely any traffic, and we felt very safe. We stopped at “south jamming” for breakfast and then headed to the beach, which was dotted with fishing boats and quite pretty really. We walked the beach and one person approached us to show us his carvings; unlike the people we met in Negril he took “no thanks” for an answer and was nice about it. A couple of dogs befriended us and followed us down the beach, which was very cute. We walked the road leading the other way from Jakes and checked out Mar Blue (nice but totally different from jakes) and Sunset Resort (also nice). Back at Jakes we decide to take a dip in the ocean. The undertow can get pretty bad here, but we really enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun being swept in and out by the waves. Next, we decided to enjoy the rum punch we had bought at Appleton’s and chill out on the lounge chairs with our books. Surprisingly, a late afternoon shower passed by and chased us inside our blue room.
We had made reservations that night to eat dinner at Jake’s romantic table (right by the ocean) but the rain had left everything soaked and they only opened the canopied dining room up top. Oh well, we didn’t really care and enjoy one of our best meals of the trip (coconut cream fish, pumpkin soup, red bean soup, mashed potatoes and banana flambé for dessert). When we went to pay our bill though they told us that it was on the house because they wanted to do something special for our honeymoon. We thought this was very kind.

[ohliz]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

Aha...you learned the big positive difference between Negril/MoBay/Ochi and the rest of Jamaica so quickly [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

It's SO nice to talk to people who aren't trying to sell you something....

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

The next day was very relaxing. We ate, lounged, read, swam, drank, and then relaxed some more. The day after was pretty much the same accept that we walked to a near by convenience store to purchase some granola bars and water for our approaching hike. That night there was a wedding reception at Jakes and everyone looked so beautiful. Unfortunately it began raining after all their tables were set outside and they had to move indoors. It continued to poor until we went to bed.

Carolyn picked us up the next morning at 8am and we began another fascinating day. I’m having trouble remembering the exact order we did things but we stopped at Little Ochi just to see what all the fuss was about (we had heard so much about this place—people even talked about it in Port Antonio). Little Ochi is a restaurant that serves fresh seafood. It’s right on a beach that is lined with fishing boats. Because we arrived fairly early though, there wasn’t too much action, and no seafood to eat yet. We had also heard a lot about the Milk River Bath (the hot springs are supposed to be the most radioactive in the world and cure many ailments) so Carolyn stopped here for us to experience it and we were very disappointed. Everything seemed run down and dirty and we only spent 5 minutes in our bath instead of the 15-20 that you’re allowed.
The highlight of our day, and definitely one of our favourites the entire trip, was swimming with a manatee. Carolyn took us to a little river (I think it was part of alligator pond) and we tipped a man $20US to take us out in a small boat where he paddled us around until he spotted one of the three manatees living there (Carolyn explained that the manatees had been placed here for protection with the hopes that they would reproduce; unfortunately they ended up all being female). We carefully slid into the water with our snorkels on and swam along side the huge, magnificent creature. It was a wonderful experience. Afterwards we learned that crocodiles live in the same river further down the other way, lol.

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

We are getting hungry now so Carolyn stops along they way for a quick snack of Bulla (like a big round cake) before lunch in New Kingston. It is Sunday today and all along the way we see woman wearing beautiful outfits and gorgeous hats—I’ve never seen anything like this and can’t stop looking. We also found that most things close on Sundays and the only place we could find open in new Kingston was a bakery where we tried delicious bread pudding and plantain tarts, and Wendy’s, lol. Soon we are driving up the mountains and we find our selves speechless it’s so beautiful. We keep ooing and awing and the beauty just keeps intensifying. Eventually we come to Mavis Bank—a small town in the mountains, where we leave our van (across from the police station). Soon a land rover picks us up for the duration of the drive and we stand in the open back, holding onto the frame for support. This part is wonderful. The sky is a clear blue, the sun is bright and warm and friendly people wave to us along the way—we are amazed at how many people live way up in the mountains (later we learn that most of them work in the coffee industry). As we wind up the steep roads we pass wondering donkey’s, cows and chickens, we see shacks made of ceresin tin, and speakers pilled high belting out Bob Marley. We also feel the air getting thinner and cooler as we near Whitfield Hall—an old coffee plantation back in 1776 that is now a hostel where people stay to climb the peak. Tall eucalyptus trees surround the property and everything is so green and lush. Inside there is a fireplace and beautiful hardwood floors, I can’t help thinking that I’m in a cottage back in Canada. Carolyn offers to take us on a mini hike to see a hidden waterfall before dinner and we gladly accept. It is a beautiful walk (about 2 miles each way) and when we return Lynette has prepared us a feast of fried chicken, rice and peas, boiled cabbage, and yams. Another couple is staying there from Germany (they have been driving themselves around the island for the last 3 weeks or so) and we sit by the fire with them and talk until about 8 pm, when everyone says goodnight (we have to rise at 2am to make it to the peak for sunrise).

[ohliz]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

Aww holly, I want to go NOW!

I MUST get to the mountains next time....

[sammy]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

welcome back

enjoying your report...keep it coming

[BND1999]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

Holly.. just letting you know i am listening... especially loving the part with the ladies dressed in hats on sundays as you approach new kingston.....

and of course the trek up into the blues out of kingston.... i made a similar journey.. but i never hiked to the top...... i loved that drive up until i noticed how close we were to the edge... from there on in i was feeling slightly anxious... BUT.. do i want to do it again?? Absolutely yes..... and very soon..

keep it coming.. but photos.. pretty please

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

We rise at 2am to strong winds and heavy rain! I can’t believe it, the sky was so clear only hours earlier. By 2:30 the rain has stopped so we decide to chance it and venture out. We bundle up, as it is very cold and head outside; we can see the moon and stars. Soon it starts to drizzle though and we put our rain ponchos on. It’s so dark and at times we wonder just how close we are from the edge of the mountains. By the time we reach the rangers station it is raining heavier. We keep trekking and it keeps raining. Carolyn tells us that this is the second time in 26 climbs that it has rained so hard. By now our feet are soaked through and we’re beginning to shiver. Finally we reach a point were the path is washed out (or rather, there is only a path of water). We make the hard decision of turning back just a couple of miles from the peak. We will not be able to see anything anyways. Back down we meet a few other brave souls. One couple asks us if we saw the sun rise and this makes us laugh. My husband starts signing, “I want to be a poncho man” and we are laughing and having a fun time despite the weather. It is around 7am when we get back to Whitefield and we light a fire to warm us and dry our clothes. There is no hot water so a shower is out of the question. Luckily there are very nice people working at Whitefield and they boil water for us to soak our feet in and we sip hot coffee to take away the chill. Lynette comes back around 9am and soon we are feasting again on saltfish, callalou, boiled cabbage, toast, plantain’s, and boiled green bananas. Yum!
Back in the land rover (this time with the canvas covering us) we begin our drive down the mountain. The sky is clear again and we are enjoying our bumpy ride. All of a sudden a young man jumps on the back of the land rover as we pass through the town. My husband says hi to him but I am alarmed and knock on the window to get the driver’s attention. Both him and Carolyn laugh at me, as this is quite a common thing. We talk to the man holding on and he lets me take his picture. After a while another man jumps on (he looks about our age) named Kevin. He is so friendly and soon climbs in the back with us and we talk for about 20 minutes or so. He invites us to a party in Kingston that night but we explain that we are on our way to Port Antonio.
After we settled back into Carolyn’s van at Mavis Bank we continued our decent down the mountain…. then back up the other side. We were headed to the Old Tavern Estate. I ask Carolyn if we could stop at Strawberry Hill on the way, as I am very curious to see it and it is no problem. What a beautiful place to stay; we decide to come back for our 25th anniversary and continue on our way. We are so high up again (the peak is about 7400 feet, and I am sure we must be approaching this height here). The clouds move in and we can’t see anything. We are speeding around the corners and I am so nervous that we are going to drive off the mountain. When we reach the coffee estate I am happy to be inside and Dorothy is so nice. She pours us the best coffee I have ever tasted and explains how they make it. We sample all the beans and buy a pound to take home. We have decided to save it for special occasions because we could never afford to order it! The drive down was much nicer. The sky cleared again and we were on the lushest side of the mountain. It was even more breathtaking then yesterday. Everything was green but you couldn’t even distinguish what was a tree because they were dripping with mosses and ferns. Waterfalls cascaded down everywhere I turned and again I was speechless.
A quick stop at the bottom of the mountains for bread pudding and ting and we’re off to Port Antonio.

[jazzyjade]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

lovin' every word. reading about the drive through the mountains made my hands sweat!

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

The drive to Rio Visa is beautiful—coconut and banana trees everywhere. It’s also very lush and hilly. At this point we are too tired to visit Summerset Falls; all we want to do is have a hot shower and take a nap. When we arrive at our new home for the remainder of the trip, we realize that we have saved the best for last. Henry and Sharon greet us as if we are family and Sharon blends us a drink made from the fruit off her property and asks what we would like for dinner (our stay here included breakfast and dinner daily). We may choose whatever we like and finally settle on lobster. When we see our villa (the honeymoon one) we are so excited. Beautiful hardwood floors, a king size bed, fresh flowers, and French doors opening onto our own veranda, and the view—oh my god: Rolling hills, the Blue Mountains beyond, and the Rio Grand river flowing bellow. We take well-deserved hot showers (our first since Negril) and relax before a romantic candlelit dinner in our villa. For those of you who haven’t heard about Sharon’s cooking, let me tell you how amazing it is. When choosing to stay at Rio Vista I had read an article in a gourmet magazine (I think it was called Savour) about her cooking, and it was true. The lobster was delicious, the salad, vegetables, everything. We even enjoyed a bottle of wine on the house. We were brought rum ice cream for dessert and a basket of fresh fruit. happily we decide that we could get used to being spoiled….

[anur05]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

Holly

Your Blue Mountain trip brings back memories of our trip a few weeks back - right down to the rain and wind [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Is'nt the view from Dorthy's place gorgeous - I could just sit in that living room and drink that coffee forever.

Enjoying your report

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

The next morning we woke up to the most beautiful view, and again we were silent. We ate breakfast in the main house (an old plantation home) on the veranda. Again, Sharon asked what we would like and we decided on calallou and cheese omelettes, which were delicious. There was also coffee and freshly squeezed OJ, toast with guava jelly, and fresh fruit. We had made arrangements with Carolyn to have a friend of hers (Garfield) take us to Reach Falls today and stop wherever we wanted on the way back. At 9am Garfield (he’s a river rafter) and Wayne (the driver) pick us up and we headed out. When we reach the falls we are the only ones there and enjoy them all to ourselves. They are beautiful (you have probably seen them in Cocktail) and the water is crystal clear. We play for a while and then ask them to take us to Long Bay—known for it’s surfing beach. We have so much fun playing in the waves and being thrown around. My bikini is knocked off a few times and this makes us laugh. We are getting hungry now and decide to try the famous jerk pork and chicken at Boston Beach (supposedly the best on the island). We buy lunch for everyone and were glad to have Garfield and Wayne with us because we found the place a little intimidating. We took our food and red stripes to the beach and ate in silence—just staring out at the pretty cove. After a while we asked them to take us to Blue Lagoon where it began to rain a bit. We took cover in the emerald water and were amazed at the rapidly changing temperature of hot and cold (from the fresh water meeting the ocean water). After we tired of this we decided to call it a day. We were planning on visiting Winifred Beach, as we heard it was very pretty, but were all worn out. Back in our room Sharon sends us a pot of lemon grass tea (that she grows on he property), and cheese and crackers and we nibble on these and take turns showering. We decided on fish for dinner and enjoy another excellent candlelit meal in our villa…

[ohliz]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

Love it!

I found Boston Beach a little intimidating at first also...we arrived in our rental car and before I could open my car door a man was asking me what I wanted to eat. I thought that there must be more than one jerk place (there are, but not right where we were) and this guy was trying to get to us first. Or get a referral fee or tip, sort of like the guy you described on the cliffs in Negril.

As it turned out, we told him we'd like to look around first and that was no problem. When we were ready, we ordered, food was ready quick (and I learned that I LOVE festival) and we had a nice conversation with a couple of guys eating there also.

Now that I know how it works, I'll be more relaxed next time and I bet you will too [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Our only downer at BB was a guy asking for - no, demanding - money because he "cleaned the beach". He was pretty annoyed that we wouldn't pay him (I didn't see him clean anything and it bugged me that he was only approaching certain people for $, not all the people there that day). In fact, that was the only hustler (I sure hope he was a hustler and not really in charge of beach cleaning) we encountered on the east coast.

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

The next morning Sharon made us the fluffiest and tastiest pancakes I have ever tasted (who knew that pancakes could taste that good). After breakfast Henry arranged for us to go rafting on the Rio Grande (also included in our price) and a driver picked us up and drove us about ½ hour or so to being our leisurely ride. It had rained quite hard the night (and the night before that as well) so the water was pretty high. I wondered if that was why there were no other rafts on the river—of course we didn’t mind! The rafting trip took about 2-2.5 hours and we really enjoyed it. We sipped red stripes and just lost ourselves in the beauty (again!). My husband even tried his hands at rafting!
We spent the afternoon lounging by the pool, drinking more red stripes (Garfield had stopped in Port Antonio yesterday for us to take out money and go to the grocery store), reading, and taking dips when we got to hot. We ate dinner in the main house that night and tried a different type of fish with coconut rice, lemon-grass soup, squash, and rum cake for dessert (I realized that the food here was so good that we hardly spoke while eating our meals either, lol)…

[hollyr]

Re: JA - Back from all over the island

This is our last day in Port Antonio and we decide to spend it at the beach. After breakfast (salt fish and calallou) Sharon took us on a tour of her gardens: mint, peppermint, lemon grass, lickerish, avocado, breadfruit, coffee, grapefruit, ott apples, bananas, guava, mangos, pimento, sugar cane, akee, red ringer, oranges, coconut, and tons of flowers. At the end of the tour the gardener knocked a couple of coconuts off the tree for us and split them open with a machete for us to enjoy.
We decided on Frenchman’s Cove beach and jumped in a taxi going by. There was a girl in the front and back and he was travelling to Port Antonio already so it was only $50 J to get that far. Driving in Jamaica is scary at the best of times, but especially when there are too many people and no seat belts (after a few minutes a boy jumped in the back with us too). After everyone was out we asked him to take us the rest of the way, which cost more money because we are the only ones in the car (taxi’s charge per person). We had to pay $200 J each to enter Frenchman’s Cove, but this meant security and no people hassling us (though I hadn’t really experienced any of this since Negril). After seeing quite a few beaches by this point I am happy, again, that we saved the best for last. It is a very pretty cove with a fresh water stream flowing in from one side. The water is a little rough (just the way we like it) and the sand is powdery white. We swim in the ocean, then walk through the river and let it carry us back to the ocean. They serve lunch here and drinks (though quite expensive), so we split an order of rice and jerk chicken and drink our own red stripes. After a few hours we head back to our villa to enjoy our lemon grass tea before dinner (another kind of fish—we can’t get enough of the fresh seafood).