The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

[Kathryn]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Liz, loved your report and the picture album! Where was the Reef villa? Everything looked sooo cool--now I'm dying to get down into the Xtabi caves. As you can see from my other post, I'm looking for snorkling places that don't have a big risk of twisting my ankle or otherwise causing me to hurt myself (I'm such a klutz).

The tubing at YS looked fantastic! Gotta try that...

Sure hope you all can do a Thanksgiving trip!

Kathryn

[Sophie Magoo]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Liz, love your report. Feel like i'm right there! Portland is my favorite place in JA! Libby's is a close second! I'm at home today, glued to the screen, waiting for more! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Did you make it as far as Zion Country? It's about 5 minutes past Manchoneal.

[stargirl911]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

((ohLiz)) enjoyed your report and all the wonderful pictures, thanks for sharing them [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BND1999]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Sophie.. did you stay at Zion country.. I have that saved in my JA folder.. what do you know of the place.. love to hear about it..

[ohliz]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Hey there Kathryn! Xtabi has easy water entry, in fact there is a tiny sandy beach between 3 Dives and Xtabi that no one really knows about...that's where we went in from.

Reef House is one of the villas at Beahc House Villas. It's got 2 bedrooms up and 2 down, 2 kitchens, 2 living rooms, 6 bathrooms.....I'll get to that when I get to the Negril part [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Soph, Zion Country is on our "next time" list, along with Strawberry Fields hiking and Somerset Falls and a bunch of very cool things we just didn't have time for.

Next year, Negril only gets a couple of days, to see our friends and say hi to our old stomping grounds and everywhere else gets the bulk of the trip. Our kids will come next time too, there's so much I want to show them!

I'll try to write later but after doing taxes all day yesterday I do have some work, the kind they pay me for, to do....

bnd, ting and Jastar, thanks for the kind words...y'all are good at inspiring me to write more [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[BND1999]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Liz.. were you just thinking to visit Zion Country.. or stay there ?? It looks very nice.. and not too far from PA center..

[goldilocks]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

***applause**** OK, I can make it through another day in Babylon now.....

[Island_Girl]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

YAAAY OHLIZ! Now we are really fired up about returning to Portland; spoke to our friend there last weekend. We had considered Fern Hill, your pics are very helpful and the trip report is great IRIE! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] *IG

[dr. bones]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

We just might be able to meet for that beer Liz. I'm in BG, south of Toledo. I think there are several Ohioans here, don't know why we've never had a bashment.

I'm really enjoying the report and pics. I like to read the report then look at the pics after. I can visualzie everything so well from your descriptions, that the pics are just icing on the cake.

[ohliz]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Hey, I was in BG last month, seeing hookah at Howard's! You're right, we probably can meet for a beer then.....I'm 45 minutes NE of Columbus but travel around OH a lot to see music.

[sammy]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

oh liz so enjoying this!!!

do you remember the bartender's name at FH steve was our bartender and a great guy took care of us glad you found FH and enjoyed it

[ohliz]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

You were right about it sammy...it was great. Thanks so much for the recommendation! Our waiter we hung out with that night was Brad...I don't remember the bartender's name, we only met him the one time.

Moving right along....

Day Four, Saturday (Portland)

We wake up quite early again, though this time sleep in a little bit because the AC and the shades make it dark and cave-like in our room...but all of Portland is out there and we are still up by 7 and head to breakfast at the FH restaurant. Had a great breakfast - my first ackee and salt fish of the trip, it's been out of season and difficult to find. P has pancakes or something, it's all great. Meals aren't cheap at FH, b'fast and coffee and all were about $10 each, but that view...

Today is our only full day in Portland and there's a lot we want to see. First though, we need to head back west to Port Antonio and buy a new tire. The exploded one is not fixable. We head into town and change money ($54J to $1US pretty much the whole trip, except the airport was 46, what a ripoff) and shop a little, then stop at, oh, 4-5 tire shops. No one has our size. After about an hour, one place has one that isn't the right size but will fit on the rim and we tell him he's got a deal. $25US plus $2 to the guy who puts it on for us and the spare is back in the truck and we're ready to roll once again. I actually enjoyed running these little errands around town, it made me feel normal, not like a tourist.

So we're off, once again loving that freedom of having a car. We can carry drinks and swim stuff easily, and it's like having a little private home wherever we go...having lived out in the country in the US for a few years, we've become quite attached to our little homes on wheels, I guess, and it's nice to have one in Jamaica.

We point the car east once again. This drive is the best yet, truly spectacular scenery...windy cliffs, mountains always on the right, cattle, bananas, wide open spaces and tiny little coves with little deserted sandy beaches. We pass Boston Beach but it's still early and we'll check back later.

On a bit, we come to Long Bay. As we catch glimpses through the trees, I tell P we must stop...I'd heard this was like "Old Negril", meaning before all the hotels were built, but it's supposed to also have huge waves. P is a surfer and is very interested in renting a surfboard here. There is a place to rent them but alas, the water is unusually calm this day and the surf is too small.

But what a beach. Just a couple of cottages and a bar or two on a mile-long stretch of pinkish sand lined with palm trees. I spotted one or two people enjoying the beach here, that was it. A big night was coming though, Mutabaraka and a bunch of other artists were to play that night at Cool Runnings beach bar and there were bonfire stacks ready and people furiously cleaning and stocking up for the show. I know we won't make that show...it's supposed to start around 10 but you regulars know nothing starts then, it'll be 3 AM if we're lucky and that's become closer to when we wake up than when we go to bed so far! So we walk the beach a bit, stick our toes in the surf and take a few photos. Lloydie and Paula and Selina and Roy and their kids had just been out here for a few days' vacation so we observed the cottages they stayed in and wished, again, that we had more time to stick around.

But it was time to head on to Reich Falls. Right before the turnoff, at Manchioneal, is probably the nicest vista in Jamaica...and there we turn inland, into the Blue Mountains and up a mile or two to the falls. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is here yet?

I've always wanted to visit Reich Falls, more so after talking to Libby about the place. It's run by an older man (though the JTB is apparently interested in taking it back to run...grrr, they'll Disney-fy it for sure) who takes excellent care of it. There are some little stands near the parking lot where you can buy refreshments and things - absolutely zero tourist hassle here, there is even a sign warning people not to bug anyone. The falls cost us - get this - $100J apiece. That's right, $2. I am getting used to these east coast prices, we'll spend a lot more in Negril I have a feeling.

The walk down to the actual falls is short, just a few dozen steps and we're there. Older or physically challenged folks will not have a hard time here...I'd put it at just a tiny bit more challenging than walking up YS and way easier than Mayfield.

We come down and wow. This is the absolute clearest water I have ever seen. There are a few guides down there who offer to take us up the falls and to some caves - P gives one $100J to just show him where to jump off the falls from and we'll guide ourselves. That's cool with them and we settle in and enjoy. The water is so clear, I'm told, because it comes from an underground spring so does not get topsoil and leaves and such in it at all like Mayfield and YS can, they can both get a little brown if it has rained recently. It actually didn't rain once while we were on the east coast, they'd been dry for two weeks. Unusual but I guess March is a good time to be there. Sun, sun, sun and more sun.

P dived into the water and promptly lost his glasses. Oops. The water is clear enough that he can sort of see them but there is a current and losing them would not do….a kid has a mask P borrows (the kid really wanted to get the glasses himself, for a tip I guess, but we tipped him about $50J for the use of the mask anyway…it took about 30 seconds for P to locate them). Whew. We climbed and swam and generally hung out enjoying the water for a couple of hours and headed up the hill to the parking area.

One rasta has a stand up there with some homemade toys. We bought one that I'd never seen before - as it turned out no one in Jamaica had seen one either and everyone loved it. I should have bought all he had, it was a $3 toy. It's a piece of hollow bamboo with another little piece on top, sort of like a pipe. In the "bowl", if you will, there is a needle with a little piece of styrofoam on it and a hook on top. Attached to the end of the "pipe" is a piece of wire, like coat hanger thickness, with a sort of basketball hoop maybe 4 inches above the "bowl". What you do is blow into the bamboo and it makes the styrofoam rise up and you hang the hook on to the hoop. That only took a few tries to get. But then you have to blow and put it back in the "bowl"...we still haven't mastered that move! The guy we bought it from says smoke is optional [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Those of you coming to Hookahville, ask me about it, I'll bring it.

Back in the car we head down the road. Another car is heading up and though we pull over to let him pass, he scrapes our car as he passes. After a few choice patois curses on P's part (he does catch on fast), we all stop and get out of the car but what can you do? The driver goes and we'll figure it out later.

I'm a little nervous because I've heard these horror stories about rental companies taking your deposit (which was $1000 US, by the way) for that stuff but we'll be back in St. Mary and will talk with Chef (he's a driver) about what to do then. For now, we are just too mellow and in-a-Jamaican-frame-of-mind to worry about it. We turn back west and head for Boston Beach because we are now starving.

Boston Beach (or Boston Bay as it is sometimes called) is, they say, the home of jerk cooking in Jamaica. There is a "Boston Style", you see it on signs all over the island, but this is the original place. We pull into the parking lot by a lovely cove with clear aquamarine water (see pics). Again , usually the waves are big here and you can surf but not today, wind is blowing the wrong way. P resigns himself to surfing next year.

As we pull into the lot, we are immediately approached by a guy to take our order. I'm a little leery..somewhere I read that people here aren't that crazy about US visitors but everything was cool...he really did work there and really did take our order and when he sat down to chat with us while we ate, we had a great conversation. Everyone we met there was very sweet, and interested to talk to us about the war and things. I guess I needed a reminder to remain friendly and open-minded, works every time for us in Jamaica, pretty much. Gotta trust those instincts and stay open.

The beach here is public and there were maybe 20 people are around, a few tourists, some locals, some day-trippers from elsewhere in Jamaica...it's a nice vibe with great food on a nice sandy clean beach. Only one guy, towards the end, approached P for $. He said he cleans the beach and people give him a donation for it. P is not having this - he asks if everyone pays. It finally comes out that only the "white people" pay him, not the day trippers or Jamaican tourists. Well, we aren't that white, we tell him, and he gives up. That right there was the one and only hustle we encountered on the east coast in 6 days, and it was easily dealt with. I have no idea if he really cleaned the beach or not - I didn't see him at it - but we'd bought food, drinks and a couple of pieces of jewelry there and felt we'd contributed enough. If he'd approached us in anice way, we probably would have given him money but he basically ame with his hand out and was annoyed we didn't pay him...that turns me off everytime. The bay is beautiful, the water was great for swimming, the beach is free and there are showers and all the amenities there. I highly recommend a visit. The food was surprisingly cheap too.

Turns out we are only 10 minutes from our hotel. Another day in PA and we'd have definitely come back to Boston Beach. Instead we rested in our suite a short while and decided to go back to Blue Lagoon for another swim in that weird water. This time we had to pay - $400J for 2 at 5PM - and there were tons of kids running around (from the BL villas, I assume) so we didn't stay too long. I have kids, I love kids, but this was our no-kids vacation.

We decided to chill back at the hotel and just eat dinner there...the food was not quite the same, there was a different chef, but it was still good and the sea/mountain view remained stunning. Once again, we fell into bed…tomorrow we stay here one more night or go back to St. Mary and this is NOT an easy decision to make.

[Sophie Magoo]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

BND 1999:
Yes, Zion is truly the best kept secret of JA! The grounds in the yard are stunning! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] The two cabins face the ocean, it's breathtaking! I've tripped JA for 20 years and have not seen another guesthouse like it! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] If you want to know anything specific please ask.

[ohliz]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Fairly short day, easy one:

Day Five, Sunday (Portland to Castle Garden)

We woke early...again. I am NOT a morning person at all but here I can't help it...there's just too much fun to be had, people to see, sights to take in. We decide to eat breakfast at FH and go ahead to Castle Garden because we don't want to be on the road to Negril ALL day tomorrow. We swam in the one pool at FH we hadn't checked out yet...this one is on top of the hill and has an incredible - you know what I'm going to say - view. Looking down at San San Beach, which we have free passes for from the hotel, we decide to take a quick ocean dip and get ready.

We drove down - could have walked but it's hot already - and gave the woman at the gate our passes. The beach is lovely. Calm clear water, sand goes out quite a ways. There's a little beach/snack bar, showers, trees to lounge under, but at this hour we're pretty much alone. The beach is used by 3 hotels and a few private villas, otherwise it's $10US per person or something like that. We enjoy it for an hour or so and head back up the hill to pack up and check out. We'll be back, Fern Hill!

One thing we wanted to do was really get into the Blue Mountains for a day. P wanted to check out a coffee plantation he'd visited as a child but it being Sunday, we weren't sure it would be open and it was a good 2 hours over the Blue Mountains towards Kingston. So regretfully we put that on the "next time" list and headed west.

This time we went straight to Chef and Lib's, missed them already. Bill is still there and we hang out for awhile on their porch.

After, it was again time for a nap and a pool swim at the Sinclairs. The kids were in school, it was quiet. The first day we were there the kids hung out with us a lot but after that their mom made a point of taking them to the beach or just out, sensitive as they were to us being on vacation without our own kids. Truly though, they were great kids and we enjoyed talking with them.

For dinner we decided to head back to Ochi and Chef suggested a place he'd passed many times that has grown tremendously over the years - Spring Café. It's a really nice place with great food and we enjoyed it. It was very crowded so I guess a lot of people do too. We paid about $50US for two dinners and drinks. Castle Garden really has the best of all worlds…quiet country life but with Ochi's restaurants, movies and nightlife just 30-40 minutes away.

We stopped back by Lib and Chef's and finally met George...busy guy, very polite and well on his way to being as good-looking as his dad.

Bill was planning to go to Negril the next day too, using route taxis and buses, so we decided to offer him a ride. He accepted and we made plans to meet the next morning. We'd thought of going tubing the next day on the White River - that sounded like fun and Mrs S had suggested it, but we put that on the ever-growing next-time list and went to bed.

[Rose]

Re: The 2003 ohliz-all-over-Jamaica trip report (NOW FINISHED)

Your report is wonderful ohliz! I feel as if I'm there with you guys. Reich Falls sounds awesome!