Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

[ILP]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Mi keep commin inna dis post fah di details on Portland. How lang mi mus wait, eeh? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Coming...this trip was at a bad time for me business-wise, which menas I have a TON of catching up to do at work and that's putting a dent in my trip-report writing time....soon come!

[BlessedLadyOfZion]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Originally posted by iluvportland:
[qb] Mi keep commin inna dis post fah di details on Portland. How lang mi mus wait, eeh? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [/qb]

Yuh seet!!





keep it coming, liz! work can wait [img]/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

I know, I know. I'm coming with it....to hold you all over here are some pics from my friend who was with us....

[sheanlee]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

good save! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

[img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

She didn't caption them, mainly, so if you're wondering what/where something is, let me know.

Mine are going up shortly.

[sammy]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

GREAT pictures....liz....

well i actually wondered about a lot of them so i'll wait until you post yours that will probably answer a lot of my questions

[Snuggles]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Beautiful Pics....could do without the lizard shots though!!!!!

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

My friend that took those pics wanted to shower that first day in Negril but she said she wasn't showering until the lizard left the bathroom! He did, after a little while [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Day Six (Saturday): Boscobel to Portland for the day

When Chef and Libby were over a couple of days before, we talked about taking some trips. Chef has a lovely van with AC but it can't hold 9 people, so Chef agreed to find a larger vehicle for us but come along to Portland, which he knows very well and the driver he found for us - his name is Everton - doesn't. One of our group was really interested in finding a waterfall that wouldn't have anyone at it - a "secret" one, or a family owned one - not like Dunns or even Reich Falls. Chef suggested one in the Blue Mountains about a half hour in from Buff Bay. It's used by a Blue Mountain bike tour group Monday-Friday but the tour doesn't go on weekends so we agreed to go to that one and to go on Saturday when it would be deserted.

Chef and Everton picked us up as scheduled and we set off. First stop was the waterfall and it was as empty and beautiful as promised, with the added bonus of giving us a bit of a Blue Mountain tour along the way. As we pulled in, a few boys came along to guide us, help us over rocks and things. I'd say they ranged in age from about 8 to maybe 13, 3-4 boys altogether. We had a wonderfully refreshing swim. The boys showed us how to get under the waterfall and climb the rocks, and though they dived from the top they said they felt it was too dangerous for tourists to do [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] .

We'd been having trouble finding ackee, because the hurricane had knocked them off the trees, but we saw a few by the falls. The boys tried to climb up the tree to get us some but the tree was too high and the branches weren't right so they were unsuccessful. We tipped the boys and headed on our way.

Next stop: Boston Bay for some jerk, we were starving. Chef has a stand he likes so we went there and enjoyed some pork, chicken and fish. I've been to Boston Beach before, but this was in town, where there are several stands. There were some tables, and a bar, and we enjoyed lunch.

We thought of going to Long Bay but decided it was a bit far out, so Chef suggested Winnifred Beach instead. I hadn't been, but had heard about it, and we all agreed, it was very close by, between Boston and Blue Laggon. GREAT CHOICE. Winnifred is a public beach - no charge - and is well kept. Maybe 10-15 people were there enjoying the day and we swam and hung out for awhile there.

We all wanted to go to Blue Lagoon and were prepared to pay to swim there but when we arrived, the restaurant - the main entry point for swimming there - was closed. However, there's a driveway that ends at the lagoon so we just went swimming from there - no charge! We enjoyed the floaty sensation you get there, the warm water on top and cold underneath.

Tired and happy, we headed back to the villa. Chef is a wonderful tour guide and Everton was a great driver so if you have a large group, don't discount Chef, he can work something out [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] .

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Day Seven (Sunday): Boscobel

We hung out at the villa…..swam, snorkeled, ate a lot of food, talked, made some rum drinks…

Day Eight (Monday): A Trip to Luminous Lagoon

I have been to Luminous Lagoon but not at night, for some reason. One of our group HAD been at night but no one else had so we decided to head over this evening. Everton, the driver Chef found for us, picked us up, without Chef this time as Everton knew the way.

I asked Everton if we could grab a quick bite along the way, something box-lunchish, and he took us to a palce in Salem-Runaway Bay called the Northern Restaurant. It's like a fast food friend chicken place but also had goat, stew pork and some other yummies. Prices were GREAT, we were the only tourists in sight, and we all ate very well. I love a driver that understands we want something really Jamaican, not a tourist spot, the whole group was very happy.

We arrived at Glistening Waters restaurant for our boat trip, from Boscobel it was about an hour and a half altogether. GW/Luminous Lagoon is just east of Falmouth. The Martha Brae river flows into the sea in the lagoon, and it is this mix of fresh water and salt water and perhaps some other factor that causes the phenomenon we came to see. Locally the micro-organisms in the water that glow are called phosphorous but the scientific name is quite long and I forget it. When the water is disturbed, as by a fish swimming or a boat motor, it glows green. Really weird. We had our own boat and a guide named Jerry who was very informative. He took us around the lagoon and stopped so we could swim. One of the group jumped right in…I decided I couldn't miss this opportunity so I went in as well, after assurances from Jerry that there weren't sharks or anything creepy, and after making the first swimmer swim back over to the boat so the water would be lit up where I was jumping in [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] .

It's hard to describe…the water wasn't salty, really at all…and it was cold on top and VERY warm below. We swam around a bit, making glow patterns in the water. I'm really glad I went in.

The lagoon is only open to the sea on one small end, it's really protected. One of us took a flash photo of a large tree FULL of those white egrets that follow cows around, there's a photo in her album.

The cost to go out on a boat is $15 per person and the ride lasted about a half hour, maybe a little more. Well worth the trip, we all felt.

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

OK people, here are my pictures.

Only 2 more days to write about and not too much happened so I'll wrap it up tonight if i can....

http://gallery.hookahheads.com/gallery/album656

[ohliz]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Day Nine (Tuesday): Boscobel, Last Full Day

Last full day….I always hate that. Still, we had a lot of laying around, swimming and whatnot to do today and we went at it. Eileen and I went across the street to the grocery store to buy some drinks we thought we'd drink this night but alas, Jamaica-it is put me in bed as early as any night this trip, it's very difficult to stay up much past dinner for me…..

Speaking of dinner, we ate well. We finally got ackee this day, and conch for dinner - yeah Miss Cynthia!! Over the course of the trip we had lobster, fish, chicken, conch, more chicken different ways, more fish different ways, oxtails (mmmm), pork chops, spareribs. For breakfast we had eggs or pancakes and bacon, ackee and saltfish, callaloo, johnnycakes, breadfruit was located for this day's breakfast as well, roasted over the fire. Most days we didn't eat lunch because we ate breakfast so late, but Miss Cynthia put tuna salad and things like that together for us to snack on.

Day Ten (Wednesday): Last Day, Heading Home

What to say about the last day? I always hate it. We spent the morning catching up on a little sun, a final swim, taking pictures. Chicken came to pick us up right on time. We had a pleasant if quiet ride to the airport, a quick check-in, did a little shopping. USAir was on time again and we were home before 10PM.

It was a lovely trip…and the only thing to do now is begin planning the next one!!

I took pictures: http://gallery.hookahheads.com/gallery/album656
So did my friend China: http://gallery.hookahheads.com/galle...ept27-Oct62004

People places and things from our trip that we enjoyed and recommend:

Chef Thompson, tour guide/driver in Ochi area: http://www.sealawncoralbeach.com

Chicken, our driver in the Negril area: 1-876-957-9626 Cell: 1-876-378-3348

Delroy, our driver that picked us up at the airport and works around MoBay. Cell: 876-999-5298

Rimma from sunnyvillaholidays (who booked Wind Jammer villa for us): http://www.sunnyvillaholidays.com

3 Dives, our favorite spot in Negril: http://www.maherconsulting.com/3dives

Hope you enjoyed the report...felt a bit rushed this time, as I was so busy when we came home....but I may add to it later as I think of things i missed.

Thanks for reading.....

[Frog007]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Thanks for the interesting trip report. I have really enjoyed reading it. I'll be heading to Jamaica in just 24 days!

[hannahcommunications]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

Ohliz - These are great pictures. I really like the community shots and the villa looked like it was siutated in a lovely spot. Thanks for my morning buzz

[sammy]

Re: Negril, St. Mary, Portland Sept-Oct 2004

liz...great report!

where are the photos of the beach taken in negril?

the villa looks LOVELY did the bedrooms have A/C?