Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

[ale]

I really wasn't going to do a trip report. Our vacation is nice for us but not exciting as you'll read about for the next few posts. Since we ended up being there for Ivan I decided we would share what we did for those interested.
The pictures when we can get them up will be more interesting I hope. Here goes...

After much planning we are on our way to Jamaica for the 3rd time since 2000. This is Saturday Sept. 4, 2004. We land at 1:20 PM just 12 minutes late because of the slight detour we have to take because of "Francis". The ladies are singing and smiling and we wait for the crush of just landed people to pass so that we can give them our tips (little envelopes, thanks to Marilyn) and then head to immigration. Of course now we are in the back of the line. But it moves quickly and soon we head for our luggage. Believe it or not, this time our luggage is NOT the last to be unloaded and we gather it almost as soon as we reach the area! Then to customs. OK, this time we probably should declare, but we only have school supplies and parts for Sala's van, and new camera that Sienna asked us to pick up, and gifts for S & S and...... We have 3 checked bags this time! But they didn't question us. I was ready with reciepts and was even going to use the line that we had family coming later...it was true our son and his friend were coming down on Mon. I try to act as calm as possible and decide to let Don do the talking because he is a man of few words and in this case I assume the less said the better! And then... NO questions!!!!! Whew. I do tell the lady at customs that I sort of miss the old airport. She looks at me strangely till I tell her that it was my first impression of Jamaica our first trip and it was a lasting memory. She smiles in what looks like understanding. (She's probably thinking... another crazy tourist!)

We try to follow Soloman's instructions for where to meet him. This area had changed too. They have told us to meet him at the "hanging restroom" sign. We find the bathroom at the end of the building but the sign is not hanging it's on the wall. Oh well, it's a restroom. In I go with my carry on to change out of my "air-conditioned plane" clothes and get into shorts and tank top. Still no Soloman. We decide to meander around to find a "hanging" sign. We go outside and find it! We strart to walk in that direction and Sala comes up from behind us. Hugs and on to the van. We have a persistent person wanting to help us with our bags. He almost takes them away from us to load all the tiime telling us that "the Rasta man is the boss, he will take good care of us...he's a good boss...etc." Sala tells him everything is good and then he asks for a tip!!!! Oh, well, they all need to eat. I have one small envelope left and slip him one. Off we go.

Don and I are very hungry. (While US Airways flights are just fine, their food on the plane is very minimal. On our small plane from Dayton to Philidelphia we got a drink (non-alcoholic) and a small bag of pretzels! On our longer flight from Phily to Montego Bay we got a snack pack consisting of a breakfast bar, a pack of 2 crackers with a small tub of cheese, and a snack size Milky Way with another drink of pop.) We tell Sala all this and ask him to stop any place he wants to fill us up. He takes us to the Pork Pit in Montego Bay. We have, what else, jerk chicken and festival and a Ting. Food never tasted so good!

Sala then takes us to the HiLo to exchange some money. He also took us to a roadside stand for some neese (sp) berries and Mango. (I told him I wanted some island fruit that we hadn't had before). On to CocoLaPalm... our home for what turns out be 11 nights! We check in with no problems and go to our room. Sala went with us to our room so that we can unpack the things we brought with us as gifts.




Sala looking up while checking out the auto parts!


He gets a call from Sienna, who has been on a day trip with Tado. They are done and Tado will bring her to CocoLapalm. We visit till about dark and arrange for our trip with Sala on Monday to pick up Sean and Lyndsey at the airport. Since we are running on about 2-3 hours sleep since the night before we call it an early night.

(No pictures yet, we took video of the ride from the airport! Later pictures may be late coming. We've had trouble downloading... our computer is full! Don is our technical guy and he's in a community theater show all this week. It might be Sunday before he can get to them. Sorry [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] )

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Sept 5, 2004

We sleep in. Sort of. At home we stay up late (usually on the internet) and sleep till about 9 or 10 on our days off. Today we are up by 7:30 or 8:00. Don has to do exercises for his back every moring if he wants to be able to stand up straight so after about 2 hours we head out the door.

We walk down the road to Selina's. Picked a good day to try Selina's for the first time. They have entertainment and the live webcast is taking place!





Selina and Rob checking out the web cast and our waitress!


We have the traditional Jamaican breakfast, ackee and saltfish, callaloo, festival and "fried" banana slices with orange juice. Don tops off his breakfast with a rum cream! He MUST be on vacation!!! All was delicious and reasonable but not cheap. We are told by one of the performers that the group will be playing at Roots Bamboo that night. We tell him we'll try to be there.



The entertainment.


We walk back to the hotel, stopping at Christine's gift shop. Got started on our souvenir shopping. A small hanging hummingbird for my mom, a key chain with dolphins for our younger son's girlfriend.

Then on to the beach. We "do"the beach till it rains. After the rain we go back to the beach for some sunset pictures.












We were told we missed a beautiful sunset by about 10 mins! I don't think so!


We eat at Coco's restaurant for supper.(Or as I call it Lupper. Lunch and supper! I guess in this case it was linner!)

We walk down to Roots Bamboo. We hear music as we approach but when we get there... it 's not coming from there but down the beach farther. Don't know why we didn't follow the music but instead we walked back to Coco and called it an early evening. I watch a bit of TV and Don reads. Another day done.

[Island Girl]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Yippee Skippy, a new trip report! Can hardly wait to hear the rest, this one grabbed me from the start. IRIE! *IG

[sammy]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

glad you decided to write a report!

keep it coming....i'm right there with you

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

We get up and eat in our room. We brought breakfast bars with us. We walk down to the beach and say "Hi" to Donovan, who has a table and sells carvings on Coco's beach.



He remembers us from last year. Talk with him until time to meet Sala at 11:30 and head for the airport.

Sean and Lyndsey arrive on time, with no complications. Now, I can relax and enjoy my vacation. (This was their first time flying alone and even though they weren't worried.....I'm a mom after all.) They, of course, are as hungry as we were. (They flew US Airways too!) We go to the Pork Pit again. They get their first taste of Jerk chicken. Guess what? They liked it!!!! I think we have the makings of some new Jamaicaholics!. Again to the HiLo in Negril to cash some traveler's checks. We get them checked in at CocoLaPalm, just 3 rooms down from us.

We change to swim duds and head for the beach. We spend a long time in the water. I brought some beach things. Toss splash bombs (balls that soak up water but still float that make a big splash when you catch them.) and play with the "jelly fish". It's a blown up ring with 2 clear lenses in the middle. You fill between the lenses with water so it won't fog. This allows you to see very clearly through the water to the bottom. They say it is for non-snorklers.







You can float on an air mattress and look down or just walk with it. We found a star fish. Don was talking with Donovon so I got out to tell him about it. Donovon said it was safe to pick up and to bring it to him and he would clean it for us to take home. We brought it to him but it was too small to clean and we put it back. The kids think they saw 2 different manta rays. (They were different colors. Sienna said one sounded like an "eagle ray") Then we followed what we think was a big horseshoe crab. Saw a huge school of the little transparent fish. Donovon walked to the waters edge and I noticed he was hot. I teasingly suggested he come play in the water with us. He agreed! We let him use the "jelly fish" and he played with it for a long time. He even tossed the splash balls around with us. We stayed in the water till we began to see some lightning and decided it was time to get out of the water!

We went back to our rooms to change clothes. Lyndsey had a message to call her mom, it was urgent! That's when she remembered she was to call her mom as soon as she got to the hotel! After talking with her mom and her mom expressing her worry of the hurricane headed for Jamaica (it was just a tropical storm when we left and not looking like it would get to Jamaica till at least Sat.) we went to the hotel manager's cocktail party (already in progress). The Sunshine Mento Band was back again this year.




No "fire eater" this year. Enjoyed their music. There were more guests present this year which made it more fun. Don and Sean each bought a CD.

After the band played we ate supper at Coco's restaurant. Don and I tried our 1st "brown stewed" anything. In this case it was chicken, very spicy and good. Sean had jerk chicken again and was disappointed, saying our brown stewed chicken was spicier. Lyndsey had a hamburger!!! We all laughed at her. But she learned her lesson! She said it was horrible! After that she was more brave to try Jamaican dishes.

When we got back to the rooms Sean and Lyndsey had another message. It said that Dr. ? (Sean couldn't understand the name) welcomes them to Jamaica and left a # for him to call. He checked with us and decided if it was important they would call back. Didn't return the call. Never heard from who ever it was again. This time it was Sean and Lyndsey who were tuckered out from their early flight so we all called it a night. We are to meet Sala and Sienna tomorrow at 8:00 and head to Treasure Beach.

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Thanks Island Girl and Sammy. It's nice to know that someone is reading and enjoying. And it's fun reliving our trip as I write!

I just found out that Don was able to get the pictures downloaded into our computer so it might not be too long before I can get some pictures added. Now if I can just remember how I did it. (I'm pretty sure I printed those famous instructions of Queen B's, now if I can figure out imagestation again...wish me luck! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]ray:

[sammy]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

when you post pictures ale if you have one of that ring thing you used in the ocean i would sure like to see that...sounds like my kind of ocean toy

keep it coming

[lady beach bum]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

I'm reading and loving it too (in between my projects and meetings). Can't wait to hear the rest! Love them smash balls - they're fun!

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

We're up and ready just a few minutes late. Didn't get that darn alarm clock set right and thank goodness I woke up on my own only 15 min. later than it was set for. Ate breakfast quickly in the room, breakfast bars again. We were on the road by 8:12. Soloman points out all the different towns and parishes and explains interesting info of each as we go. Murray and her husband are riding along. They want to check out Treasure Beach, I think trying to find a place to stay for their next trip. Again, Murray, it was great to meet you and your husband. (He seems a little like Don, a man of few words!

We are going to take a boat from Treasure Beach to Black River, then up the river. We are to meet Dennis Abrahams, who gives boat tours. We get to Treasure Beach almost an hour later than we had planned but Sienna had called Dennis and let him know. We meet Dennis at Jack Sprats, hit the restrooms there and buy some extra water at Dennis's suggestion. We walk a short way down the beach and finally, we're on our way. Sienna goes with us on the boat. Murray and her husband stay with Sala and check out Treasure Beach and they will meet us later in Black River where Dennis will drop us off.

It's a beautiful day and the water misting back on us as we glide over the ocean feels so refreshing. Dennis points out the different establishments along the shore as we go.

He has a "spotter" along. His name was Sundray (sp). Sundray stood at the front of the boat and watched for dolphins, which was our goal for this trip. Ohliz had posted how she had seen dolphins in the wild while out with Dennis and we were trying to do the same. Had been out for about 1/2 hour or so and Dennis had just told us that we might have been too late to see the dolphins. He said they are more likely to be spotted earlier in the morning. A couple minutes after that announcement, Sundray gives Dennis a signal and points and off we go in that direction. We are not to be disappointed after all. We find 5 or 6 dolphins just swimming along.



Dennis said that sometimes there are as many as 30-35! WOW! So beautiful and graceful. We take pictures and of course our digital cameras are too slow to get a full shot. Usually just the fins! But our eyes got to see them. We did have a movie camera with us and I had so hoped to get them on that. But the sun was on the LCD screen so bright I couldn't tell at all what I was shooting. With the kind of camera we have, that's the only way to tell what you are shooting! Somehow the camera went into fast forward and I didn't get them on film. I'm ready do that trip again and give it another try. Our younger sons girlfriend is dolphin happy and would have loved to see it. Maybe next time they can go too.

After we followed the dolphins a while we went on to the Pelican Bar. What a unique place.



(I hope it's still there. I think I read somewhere that "IVAN the terrible" made a causualty of the Pelican Bar. I sure hope not.) Had to get out of the boat and wade to the "steps/ladder" I, of course, being my usual graceful self, slip getting out of the boat and land partially in the water! Thank goodness I had swim togs on. Didn't take me long to dry!

We order drinks and just look around, enjoying the breeze and scenery. We try to see what we have shot with the cameras so far since we were shaded and could see the LCDs. There were a few other people from another boat there as well. Floyd, who runs the Pelican, handed us a sharpie marker and asked us to sign his guest book. (That is, write your name anywhere you want, wall, floor, table, bar, supports, etc.) Then on our way again.

Dennis then takes us up the Black River with Sundray again spotting, but for crocodiles this time.
Doesn't take us long till he spots one. Just lying on a log sunning himself, mouth wide open as if he could care less we were anywhere around.



For obvious reasons, we chose to just let him continue to sun himself! Because Dennis' boat is alot smaller than a pontoon we are able to go much farther up the river. Dennis also points out various points of interest and explains all about the different plants and things about the water. He tells us that YS Falls empties into the Black River. There are alot of "water lilies?" floating in the river.



He tells us that they are not growing there but have washed down river from where they have been cut back and then just left to float away. We spot a couple more crocs.

Then he takes us back a different branch of the river. He takes us to a stop off where we can get a cool drink and if we wanted to, swim.



Being who we are...non swimmers and definately non crocs...we don't! Sundray takes a dip to cool off. There are rope swings if you feel brave enough but we didn't put them to use. When Dennis took us back to Black River we saw a big croc right up by the docks just laying there in the sun. And not too far from it...a baby croc. I must say...in this case even the baby isn't "cute"! Can you tell, I'm not fond of crocidiles?

We meet Soloman and Murry and her husband back in Black River. Do some shopping at local vendors on the dock and then head back to Negril. We drop off Murray and hubby off at Samsara and then back to CocoLaPalm. Visit a few minutes, make arrangements for a day trip to YS on Thurs. and say good-bye till then.

We have "linner" at CocoLaPalm, then crashed for the night.

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Sammy, I don't think we have a close up picture but that can be fixed. I'm sort of computer illiterate but my husband and sons will help me if I can get them slowed down long enough. Stay with me and I'll get one on before I quit.

Thanks for reading, Lady Beach Bum. I'm glad you're enjoying it, too. Yep, we had alot of fun with the smash balls and they are permanently packed with our beach things!

[geocox]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

ale,
Hay, where’d you go? I was just getting into the adventure and???….I hope you can post some of the photos… especially the one of you in the room hiding under the bed or table. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Were you in one of the original Coco rooms or in the annex?
I was in a unit close to the beach, on the far northern room. I hope you weren’t close to that one, it would be dangerous.

Did you photo things on your way out of town when Solomon took you to the airport?
It would be interesting to see the day after photos. Your brave soles…

Thursday and wa-at-ting’ :verymad:

Geo [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70365-flirt.gif[/img]

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Sorry for the delay...I've almost got some pictures ready...just a bit more to do tonight and I hope I can work on more of the report tomorrow. Thank goodness for weekends. My house is still trashed since getting home from Jamaica last Wed. at 11:00 pm. Straight to work Thurs., touch base with family Thurs. night and unpack Fri. night and most of Sat. (You know, laundry, etc.) Family gathering on Sunday then back to work Mon. Had Wed. off (started my report) and then trouble with getting the pictures into Imagestation. I think it had been too long since we did it before! Anyway, just about have them finished and will get back to the report ASAP. Thanks for your patience.

ale

[geocox]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Patience, who has Patience we want the something for the weekend.... :verymad:

Geo [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70365-flirt.gif[/img]

[NYC_gyal]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Hey Ale Glad to hear you guys made it back safe. Oniel and I looked for you when things chilled out some on Sunday. Ran into Sean and Lindsey few times practically swimming from room to room.

Jodi and Oniel

[ale]

Re: Negril - Days in Negril (pre IVAN) 2004 (pictures now!)

Just bumping to let you know I'm back at it AND adding pictures!!