|
One week itinerary: The plan was to land in Montego Bay (MoBay), rent a car, stay 1st night somewhere on north coast.
Then, drive via Fern Gully to Spanish Town, with an optional foray into Kingston, then onward to Mandeville where
we lived back in the day and stay 2 nights there. After that,
on to the south coast beach for two nights, then finish up in Negril for 2 nights, and return to
MoBay for departure.
Landing in MoBay: the immigration form can be confusing.
Don't lose the little tab they stick between the pages of your passport, you'll need it when you leave!
Since it was a Sunday we changed some money right there but probably would
have done better to wait and find an ATM and use our US ATM card. Also, most places along the north
coast happily accept USD.
Renting a car:
Started checking online about a month beforehand.
Most US insurance coverage excludes Jamaica.
Total cost for one week w/ Island Car Rental was $418 and this included a good road map and coverage where
the first USD $750 of any sort of damage would be our responsibility.
Their office is easy to find in the airport and we got thru
quickly then went outside to the lot to get into our car
(hold tight to your paperwork.. it can be quite breezy!).
Flat tires/ punctures happen, so familiarity with the jack and spare tire (tyre) are advisable.
It's important that coverages and liabilities are well understood.
Things like theft of spare tyre and jack are not unheard of,
and it's good to try to avoid driving too much at night.
Keeping left: Now comes the time when you make the mental transtion to steering wheel
on right side, and keeping left at all times.
This felt odd to me the first day or so but then I got accustomed.
The turn signal stem is on the opposite side so for a while you're switching your wipers on
instead of your turn signal. And, once or twice you'll get in the car ready to drive
and find you've gotten in on the passenger side.
It gets more tricky in shopping centers and urban intersections.
Hitting the road!. This was actually one of the highlights of the trip... it was a sunny breezy day
and we were coming from several months of rough New England winter. We began cruising down the North Coast
highway and the sights, sounds, and smells of Jamaica were all around. We rolled the windows down, found
some good local music on the radio and drank it in. "It's so laid-back here!", my older son exclaimed,
looking around at the bumpy hills, lush vegitation, and mix of opulent, semi-opulent but half-finished, and
rustic houses and buildings, and the beautiful blue sea on the left.
We passed through the town of Falmouth, Trelawny which I have always thought was
nice with a lot of older buildings. Being a Sunday afternoon things were pretty quiet. In Discovery Bay
we found a good place to stop... the sign said Jerk Centre but I think it's known as Kaiser's Athletic Club.
Some cricketeers were playing a leisurely
match and they had a good cook shop and places to sit outside.
First taste of real Jamaican food in almost 20 years.. curry goat, chicken soup, jerk chicken,
bammy, Ting, ginger beer.
I had thought we might tour the nearby Cranbrook Gardens which apparently has nice tropical folliage,
waterfalls / swimming hole, but after a long air travel day we were all ready to relax so we skipped that.
First night, Runaway Bay. Deciding where to stay on the North Coast was a little tricky
being a family of 5 and only needing one night. An all-inclusive would have been overkill, but we wanted
something away from MoBay, reasonably nice with beach access.
We found a perfect solution (reserved online about a month before), a charming place called Piper's Cove Resort
in the town of Runaway Bay. The management and staff were very friendly and accommodating, and there
are well-tended gardens and a small ocean front area and pool.
It's a set of 2-story buildings each with about 4 apartments, with sort of an old-fashioned feel.
They were willing to set up extra beds so all 5 of us could stay in one apartment.
It was comfortable and clean with a kitchen, living room, TV, and balcony.
Piper's Cove is next door to the former Hedonism III resort which had a noisy afternoon DJ on their
beach but things quieted down after dark and we
relaxed to that lovely old familiar nightime sound of shrill peepers and chirping insects.
Although it had been clear and breezy that day, in the middle of the night a windy tropical rain
storm came through and it really poured and blew, and we had to wake up and scramble to shut all the windows.
It was a reminder that drenching rains can catch you by surprise on any given day.
In the morning on the balcony there was a mess left by some sort of bird that had apparently sat there for
awhile to eat some kind of messy fruit.
If asked in advance they will cook nice, reasonably priced Jamaican meals which you can eat in
your room or out by the pool/ocean. We didn't realize this until quite late but they gamely accommodated us
with a nice oxtail dinner for 5 with rice and peas which we ate in our apartment.
The next morning we had a great breakfast by the
pool featuring ackee and saltfish and callaloo.
ATMs for getting money. These can be found in shopping centers and banks in the larger
towns. I found the instructions confusing, and wasn't sure whether to enter an amount in US or J...
(turned out to be J). All dollar amounts mentioned are generally
Jamaican dollars unless otherwise indicated, The conversion rates when using ATMs seemed good
(around 85J to 1USD in Feb 2011).
Before you leave be sure to let your US bank (and credit card company) know that you'll be using
the cards in Jamaica, otherwise the cards might get blocked.
Buying gas. Price is quoted in J$ per litre and it was around
J$110/litre or roughly USD5.50 per gallon in Feb 2011.
Some gas stations accept credit cards and
some don't (ask first)... cash is almost always faster.
Most are full service, and the person pumping will either take cash or, if you're doing credit card
will write out a little slip that you need to take inside. Be sure the numbers on the slip match
the numbers on the pump... at busy stations the attendants often seemed flustered.
We stopped at the Texaco in the town of Black River and they said they accepted Visa but
then couldn't get the charge to go through due to a bad phone line, so we had to pay in cash... don't
know what they'd done if we hadn't had enough on us.
Noise is a fact of life here. Jamaica has
had an amazing amount of world class musical innovation over the years,
and high powered sound systems and outdoor dancehalls
have helped publicize new music.
Expect highly amplified music almost any time day or night, near or far away, as well as DJ selectors
who talk, yell, or scream over the music. Add vehicle engine noise, horns, and don't forget just about
everybody has a burglar alarm that goes off from time to time.
A few times we passed cars with loudspeakers mounted on top that were driving around
spreading political or religious messages. Even hearses have sound systems that play recorded music.
Dunn's River Falls. Yes it's the stereotypical Jamaica tourist institution, but we
wanted to climb the Falls, and we're glad we did.
They have a web site that shows their hours (8-4) and rates (about USD $15 per adult).
We got there in the morning at an uncrowded time
(it can be crowded at peak times when cruise ships are in town)
and the staff in the entrance plaza were
helpful in getting us oriented. We paid our admission and were given wristbands.
We then returned to the car to change. The parking lot seems quite secure.
It's best to wear just a swimsuit and sneakers (or water shoes).
Leave hats, sunglasses, keys, wallets etc. in your car or in a locker,
because you'll be drenched with pounding water. Keep some loose cash however to tip your guides
and maybe buy from the vendors at the end (they don't mind wet money). The park premises are nicely
kept and feel like a tropical rain forest. The manmade infrastructure is solid,
classy, and old-fashioned looking.
The falls and surrounding park are owned by an agency of the national government.
The falls are beautiful and everything seems very clean.
You start by walking down to the bottom where the
river flows into the sea at a beach. Climbing the falls took about 40 minutes
and shouldn't be hard for anyone moderately in shape.
The footing was never slippery (apparently they scrub the algae off the rocks nightly)
but it would be possible to mis-step and turn an ankle on the uneven bottom.
We opted to wait and join a larger guided group for the hand-holding and
chanting thing which some describe as hokey but actually was fun.
It is possible to go up without any guide and without holding hands.
A video guy was shooting footage for a
DVD that we'd be able to purchase, and he stayed with us and got us to shout various things into his lens.
As we neared the top the guides and video guy began pitching for tips and buying the DVD. As we stepped out of the
stream we tipped each of our two
guides J $500 which might have been on the high side for a group of 5 but I didn't have any smaller
bills. The DVDs turned out to be USD $40 each but by that time
we couldn't leave the video guy in the cold. Then we entered the vending area where we
bought some things.
The vendors were having a slow day and were somewhat pesky / but we didn't feel like
running away. After deciding on some purchases the vendors accompanied us back to the
parking lot to get their money, since we didn't have enough on us. We left with our tshirts,
bongo drum, morocca, and coffee mug, and DVD.
The DVD turned out to be not that great, but oh well.
Driving south from Ocho Rios toward Spanish Town and Kingston.
Leaving Ocho Rios we drove through Fern Gully, tight twists and turns under dense tropical foliage,
which is kind of cool. You pass a number of vendors, not sure who would ever stop there but someone must.
For some reason here you'll often see a bunch of vendors all selling the same thing in
a cluster of adjacent stalls, then you go for miles and see nothing.. saw this a number of times with
souvenirs and food... maybe these are licensed vendor zones created by the government or something like that.
Eventually we reached a plateau and headed south via Linstead on the A1 road towards Spanish Town.
Stopped at a fruit vendor and got some nice sliced pinapple, Jamaican apples, and sugar cane.
A little later we got stopped by the traffic police apparently for speeding, and after showing him the car paperwork
and my US driver's license, and a brief discussion, we were let off with a warning.
The speed limit is posted here and there but it's hard to know.
Passed some bauxine mining infrastructure, and another cluster of vendor stalls all selling jerk.
Eventually we descended into a river gorge, puttered through a
construction-related traffic jam right around the Flat Bridge.
The distinctive Flat Bridge is apparently built that way to let water go over
the bridge as well as under during times of flood.
Because the interior is mountainous, most north-south routes on the island are twisty-turny,
hilly, and narrow at least in places. We were wondering about the other route (the A3) towards Kingston
via Castleton but the word was that it is more harrowing.
A typical scenario is getting stacked up behind a slow moving heavy truck on a winding mountain grade,
and deciding how risky you want to play it in passing him with blind curves everywhere.
Kingston option gets nixed.
As we approached Spanish Town we needed to decide whether to make a foray into Kingston
for several hours. Back in the 90's we spent time in Kingston and didn't find it all that
pleasant of a place, however there's no doubt that it's an essential part of the Jamaican experience.
One idea was to drive into downtown then head out to the peninsula past the airport to Port Royal
(some of us are interested in pirates), however this is a lot of ground to cover.
Another possibility was to go in on the Spanish Town road then
turn at 3-Mile and come back out towards Constant Spring.
Final decision was to skip it, since it was approaching late afternoon on a work day
and traffic was probably going to be heavy, and other than Port Royal
there were no stops we really wanted to make.
Continuing on from Spanish Town to Mandeville.
Took the new toll road T1... good road.. felt like we had it mostly to ourselves.
I believe the toll road cost around J300 , and it goes as far as Clarendon.
Patty companies (Tasty Patties, Juici Patties) have built fast-food-type
joints around the island, which make pretty good lunch and bathroom stops.
We stopped at one of these near May Pen. Beef and vegetable patties,
good soups, tropical drinks such as ginger beer and June plum drink.
Mandeville.
After passing through Porus
there's a roundabout where we got off the main road to take the "back way" through Williamsfield and Royal Flat
up to Mandeville.
We had lived here in the early 90's and we could see that the area is quite a bit more built up, in
fact we didn't really recognize some of the areas we used to spend time in.
There are gaudy oversized mansions just about everywhere, many built by returnees
from abroad, here for retirement.
Approaching Mandeville proper we missed the turn we wanted and ended up being funneled into the center
of town where things slowed to a crawl in heavy traffic on the somewhat antiquated road layout.
Once a sleepy, cool town dominated by bauxite industry and expatriates, it has grown to
the point of seeming almost like Jamaica's second city now. The bauxite industry has stumbled
of late.
The old-timers say that it's hotter and rains less in Mandeville now because there are a lot fewer trees
(some deforestation is due to development but a lot is the result of hurricanes).
We found the campus of Jamaica Bible College
and Community Institute, the school where I used to teach computer skills such as WordPerfect 5.1
and Lotus 1-2-3 back in the early 90's. The campus is a bucolic quiet oasis from the
hurry-hurry of Mandeville.
As former staff they let us rent an apartment on campus for a couple
of nights, and invited me to give a message at the morning chapel which was meaningful.
It was great to see the school in action, with the students and the staff.
We spent a little time wandering around the old campus and buildings including
the house where we used to live.
I'm afraid we may have distracted the students on those beautiful blue sky
days with our boys who wanted to get a soccer game going.
While here we got in touch with a few old friends from the Mandeville area and that was a highlight
We walked with them to their choice of places to eat which was Domino's Pizza!!.
In addition to the school, we visited a center for pregnant schoolgirls as well as a nearby
orphanage in Shooter's Hill.
Mandeville isn't really a tourist destination and commercial lodging options seem limited.
When I was planning the trip I looked at the Tropics View hotel... seemed pretty good but
would have been far out of town. The Mandeville Hotel
and GolfView are in the middle of things (maybe too much so); the Astra seems to
be getting middling reviews.
One evening we took a walk around town like we used to.
There are many pedestrians and vehicles but very little in the way of sidewalks so it is an adventure.
The public hospital is greatly expanded and modern-looking from the outside; there's a
modern cinema and various other new buildings.
The Hargreaves Hospital (where our oldest son was born) has also expanded.
The post office looked about the same, and Moo Penn's
and the good bakery on Ward Ave are still there. But the whole place is too busy-busy!
The Manchester Shopping Centre is as "stooshus" as ever and
our kids enjoyed shopping for souvenirs there. Behind the Centre are some cook shops where
good food can be ordered and eaten at outside tables which was pleasant.
Some places we didn't manage to get to this time but are aware of:
the Mandeville market (a big market, a little crazy, a little nasty especially in the butchering
section, and hold tight onto your pocketbook); Marshall Pen Great House; Little Ochi seafood place right on the
beach down in Alligator Pond.
Street names in Mandeville: Caledonia Road; Ward Ave; Greenvale Rd; Perth Rd; Brumalia Rd; DeCarteret Rd.
Driving from Mandeville to Treasure Beach.
Leaving Mandeville on the main road heading west towards Spur Tree, we came down off the plateau
then found a concrete traffic island on the left where we turned left
(it's a village called Gutters). Then to get to Treasure Beach you need to navigate on a few country
roads with little or no roadsigns. Best to find a good map and plot it out ahead of time, although
you probably can't go too far wrong. You'll pass through
Nain, then the big Alphart bauxite mill, then Junction, then Top Hill, then you begin catching
glimpses of the sea as you descend through Southfield and Pedro Cross. There's no gas in TB
so get it beforehand if necessary.
Treasure Beach.
We rolled into the village of Treasure Beach in late afternoon, without a lodging reservation.
The Treasure Beach area was our favorite of the beach places we used to stay, and this time
around it was also our favorite. It is still low-key, quiet, beautiful and natural.
There are a number of guesthouse and villa options here, check out treasurebeach.net which has a good list.
We drove around a bit thinking about where we might stay, passing Jake's, the Treasure Beach
Hotel, and winding back past the Smurf Cafe (formerly the Trans-Love Cafe and bakery). Back in
the day we liked a guest house back there called Si-Wind... it's still there (but was full), and
has ocean views and a little path down to a private sandy cove, and some recent expansion.
Back in Mandeville somebody had recommended
the Sunset Resort which is just before Jake's, and we ended up there.
They have standard hotel rooms as well as bigger suites, and feature
a wide sweeping view of the sea and a nice pool and overlook.
They accommodated our family of 5 nicely in one of the big poolside rooms at an affordable price.
We had the place pretty much to ourselves along with one other party.
We got cold drinks and some meals right there.
Meals are a little on the pricey/ leisurely side but pretty good..
there are a number of other eating options within walking distance.
Management and staff were friendly and accessible.
It's a great home base for walks on the beach or around the village.
I have some pleasant memories of sitting by their nice pool with the fountain gently gurgling and
some old-skool Love Bump songs playing.
One morning we drove over to Great Pedro Bay and
parked near the little shop there. There is active fishing activity in the area.
Just east of there you'll see concrete steps marking the beginning of a short hike
onto the forested peninsula (Pedro bluff).
Jagged lava outcroppings are everywhere, in fact the whole bluff seems to be some sort of
volcanic artifact.
We walked back thru there and saw many
cactus and century plans (named because they send a big shoot up and bloom on an
occasional year). At certain times of year something's in bloom back there and the bees
can be almost deafening.
Years ago we found so many abandoned fragments of shoes
when hiking back here we called this place "the land of lost souls".
As we walked further back we noticed the smell of ganja smoke. My youngest son
caught sight of a wrinkled, naked old man crouching in the bushes smoking, and
was a bit shocked.
I remember another nice trek from this same little shop, walking back the gravel road and
crossing a stile and pasture towards the ocean on the other side of Pedro bluff.
Quiet, breezy, and peaceful, with a good view of Lover's Leap.
After the Pedro Bluff hike some of us walked back along the beach for a couple of miles.
We had the place to ourselves. Much of the coast is rocky, lava formations and
interesting tidal pools, with the occasional sandy place. We found an isolated lagoon to swim in
for awhile with the waves crashing in over a lava barrier.
(By the way swimming in this area may involve strong rip tides and undertow.)
We passed the former Old Wharf Hotel which became the "Tranquility Bay" residential "boot camp"
facility for troubled offspring of worldwide high-end clients, and is now used by the
police force as a training facility.
That evening around sunset Pete and I walked west, past the TB
Hotel and the Smurf Cafe, through the little village (Shakespeare). There are goats
everywhere, and usually when you take a walk you pick up a friendly canine escort who
sticks with you for a while then disappears. There was a pasture where we could
get back out to the ocean. Found some calabash gourds and more shells.
Had dinner one night at Jack Sprat which was pretty good, although the mosquitos start
biting at sundown. Had a great Jamaican breakfast at
the Smurf cafe, sitting out in the covered open air seating area. As we waited for the
food to come ganga smoke drifted over from somebody at the next table.
The second night we had dinner at the Sunset and an old friend who we missed in
Mandeville drove over to see us, and that was a great evening.
Driving from Treasure Beach to MoBay for the big game.
We had a change of plan... there was slated to be a big football (soccer) game of age 17 and under
players, semifinals Jamaica vs. the U.S., that we decided to go see
in Montego Bay. So, we left Treasure Beach and at Pedro Cross turned left and drove on to Black River.
There are crocodile tours there but we didn't stop.
Continuing on, we turned right at Ferris Cross and headed north on highway B8 cross-island up though the hills.
All of the north-south inland routes in Jamaica are hilly and twisty, but this one's not too bad.
Stopped at the well-known "Borders Jerk Center" on the parish border of St Catherine which has great jerk pork,
chicken and soup and bathrooms. Another tropical shower hit while we were eating under the canopy.
We arrived at the Catherine Hall stadium.
Adjacent to the stadium is a huge brightly lit new "warehouse club" store (a reminder of the U.S. big-box
commercial experience) where we got money out of an ATM.
The game was the "Concacaf U-17 Football SemiFinals".
The stadium seems new and is nice.
The advertised admission price for the center grandstand was J500 per seat but when we got
there it was posted at J1000 per seat.
We were there for all of the first game (Panama vs. Canada).
The place steadily filled up and darkness fell. Later under the lights it was the main event,
Jamaica vs. US. The place was full of those horns and everyone was for Jamaica, and it got
pretty rowdy, but then Jamaica lost 2-0.
Driving from MoBay to Negril.
The game let out at about 9pm and there was a fairly lengthy post-game traffic tie up.
When we got free of that I/we couldn't figure out how to pick up the main road to Negril
and drove around in nighttime MoBay for a while, which was stressful, knowing that the hour
was getting late and we had close to two hours drive to Negril.
Finally we found the main road out of town. It was after 10pm and soon I was the only one awake.
The road between MoBay and Negril is pretty much a straight shot except that it does take you
through Lucea and one or two other towns, where a lot of people are out and about, and you
sometimes need to guess whether to go right or left to continue on the main route.
While picking my way through Lucea I turned a corner and was slightly taken aback by
police with submachine guns... it was a checkpoint and they motioned for us to stop.
The dozing kids awoke to the sight of these men with guns.
The police looked us over, reminded us to go slow, told us we were headed the right way,
and let us move on.
Negril.
We stayed at the Westender Inn. To get there you drive from Negril roundabout towards the Lighthouse
and then continue on for about another 3 miles. It's pretty much off by itself and too far from anything
to walk (or bike except for real bicycling enthusiasts). We had a rent-a-car so getting into
town wasn't a problem, but they also run an hourly shuttle for a small fee. Gorgeous
oceanfront area, southern facing and crashing surf while we were there. Nicely kept
grounds and gardens. We were travelling with a family of 5 which required us to take
2 rooms (they have villas but these were taken). Very secure and quiet. Snorkeling
not possible there at the time due to the surf but they advised us of another place back closer to
town (TenSing) that we could go if we bought some drinks and tipped... we did this and had a
good underwater experience w/ our kids. Westender has some snorkel gear available.
Staff were friendly and happy. We had breakfast at the restaurant onsite and it was
good tho somewhat pricey and leisurely paced. There's a nice big swimming pool over
by the restaurant.
For access to the famous 7 mile beach we drove up to
Marguaritaville (about 25 mins away) and bought drinks burgers and wings, then walked the beach.
The kids swam out to the water trampoline and jumped on that for awhile, with others.
The kids wanted to stop at Rick's cafe, and my oldest son jumped off the cliff there, but
to me Rick's is overrated, overpriced, and it feels a little exploitive
(some locals trying to put on a mid-afternoon cliff diving show then coming around and asking for tips).
Negril has gotten pretty huge in recent years but still a winner.
Still, the place has a certain air of desperation (in tourists
and locals alike) that we didn't feel in Treasure Beach.
For a pleasant open-air place to sit and have refreshments try the Jam-Can (across and down
a bit from Rick's Cafe).
We wanted to take some of the good ginger beers back as souvenirs, and
they packed a box for us, while we enjoyed some good I-tal soup they whipped up.
As we sat in the pavillion and another tropical shower happened.
Sights and sounds of the "real Jamaica" can be seen if you proceed
inland at the roundabout... the Sweet Spice restaurant was recommended for good Jamaican meals.
Back to MoBay and flying away:
It was departure day, so we left Negril and started back for MoBay.
We had "last day syndrome" and wanted to set aside plenty of time in case anything went wrong with getting back
to the airport, returning the car, and checking in.
We found ourselves ahead of schedule so we stopped at one of the roadside stands beyond Lucea with a view of
the sea, and got a jelly coconut, a sour sop, a pinapple, and some other fruit, and relaxed there for a while.
The stand owner is also a taxi driver, and he sliced the fruit up for us.
It was Sunday morning and he was listening to a radio program that featured old ska and rocksteady music.
That day everything went smoothly and we found ourselves
in the airport with four hours to go before departure.
There's surprisingly good Jamaican food and soup at the restaurant that's near the airline ticket counters.
There was a big backup at our airline counter but it dissipated within an hour. The security screening
took another half hour. They seemed more thorough than most airports, with more bag searches and even some
random searches and patdowns at the gate. Once you're inside the secure departure area there is a new
complex with many shops and restaurants, so it's easy to use up your remaining Jamaican money.
Has Jamaica changed much since the early 1990's?
There seem to be fewer busses plying the roads, and a lot more cars.
And, just about everyone has at least one cell phone, and there are 3 or 4 cell phone companies
(as visitors without a cell phone we were sometimes stuck for a way to make a phone call, since all
the pay phones have been removed... it might be worth renting a cell phone for a week for that reason).
We felt like the material standard of living has risen, although that could be the eye of visitors only
seeing superficial exteriors and window displays.
Prices have gone up, with a meat patty going for around J100, and prices for a lot of things seem
as high or higher than in the US, but again that could be from the tourist angle.
The beautiful musical speech dialects are the same, the food is as great as ever,
the music's pretty much the same, and the scenery and vistas seem unchanged.
Would we do it again this way? It was a great family trip. There's no place like Jamaica.
Doing the drive-around thing gives you maximum flexibility, at the price of more stress at least for
the driver. But, for us that was the way to do it. We found the major highways to be in pretty good condition
overall (some residential streets are in bad shape) and except for the one or two snafus mentioned
everything went pretty well. I wouldn't try to drive to more remote destinations such as the Blue Mt Peak
trailhead or the Bob Marley Mausoleum, but we didn't go these places.
We shall return again someday!
|
