Negril, Jamaica

[Jeff in St Pete]

I'm not sure what keeps drawing me back to Jamaica. Is it the beautiful scenery, the spicy food, the warm and friendly Jamaican people, the reggae music heard everywhere, or the totally laid-back way of life? For whatever reason I have been visiting Jamaica since 1980 when I stopped in Ocho Rios for a day on a cruise ship. In 1988 I went back to Jamaica with a group of friends (this time we went to Negril on the western tip of the island) for a week long bachelor party. This was during the time that I lived in PA before I moved to FL. After that first trip to Negril I was hooked and I returned every Winter for many years.

Getting from Costa Rica to Jamaica proved to be difficult. There are no direct flights and the only way to get there was to fly to the United States first. The other option was to fly from San Jose to Panama, then Panama to Havana Cuba (overnight in Havana), and then fly to Jamaica the next morining. I opted to fly through Miami since it was the quickest route and the least stressful.

I arrived a day in advance of my two friends and spent the night at a hotel near the airport in Montego Bay. The next day I hung around the hotel and hand lunch and waited until my friends arrived early that afternoon.

1. In the restaurant enjoying a Ting (Jamaican grapefruit soda - my favorite!)

2. Breadfruit tree near the hotel

3. Royals across the street

[Jeff in St Pete]

After I met my friends at the airport and we secured a van for the ride to Negril, we stopped to have lunch at this Jerk restaurant. Jerk is a Jamaican recipe for making pork or chicken on the bbq. Near the restaurant there was a triple Bismarckia.

Middle photo - this was the third Bizzie which is behind the two in the first photo. It had a nice curved trunk.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Foxtails in front of a shopping center, Roystonia (looks like oleracea?), and a church with some Sabals planted around it.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Driving to Negril in the van, Traveler's Trees in front of a resort, arriving in Negril - we stopped at the Rockhouse Bar for a Red Stripe beer.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Andy's spot. My friend met Andy on a previous trip and we stopped by to see him. He ended up making us grilled lobster for dinner that night.

This burlap bag was hanging at Andy's place - he was very proud of it and wouldn't sell it to anyone.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Arriving at Tensing Pen. This is the first place where we stayed.

Reception area

[Jeff in St Pete]

Our cottage at Tensing Pen - The Red Birch Cottage

[Jeff in St Pete]

The restaurant at Tensing Pen

Sunset - first night in Negril

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thrinax parviflora - native to Jamaica and one of the most commonly seen palms in Negril

[Jeff in St Pete]

T. parviflora loaded with seeds

[Jeff in St Pete]

Dictyosperma album

Plumbago

[Jeff in St Pete]

Some Crotons outside of our cottage

[Jeff in St Pete]

Errol has been providing trips along the coast for many many years. I took a ride with him in 1989!

The pool at Tensing Pen

[Jeff in St Pete]

More shots of the resort

[Jeff in St Pete]

Some of the different styles of accommodations available at Tensing Pen.

Last photo is a hut with some hammocks strung up - what a great place to relax and stare out at the water.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Banana French Toast for breakfast

The Pillar cottages

The rock lounger

[Jeff in St Pete]

Looking back towards the restaurant and pool

Canopy loungers by the pool - I took a lot of photos of these. I'm thinking of having something similar built for the Bali House here in Costa Rica.

[Rafael]

Amazing photos and description!

I was also there, in July 2008, and i can say that my crazyness about palms did born then (before, i only had a new home, and a new yard, with only a group of 3 syagrus romanzofiana!)

I was in Negril, at Riu Resort (with son and daughter), loved the experience, and went to several trips!

Edited February 13, 2010 by rafael

[Jeff in St Pete]

The view from our cottage - they have Yoga classes in there every morning.

Our lounge chairs

Looking up the coast

[Jeff in St Pete]

Another cottage

The beautiful water

[Rafael]

Yah Mon, no problem Mon!!

[Jeff in St Pete]

I took a walk down the road through the West End of Negril to see if anything has changed much.

Thrinax growing on an undeveloped property, young Bizzies.

[Jeff in St Pete]

When I first started coming to Negril in the late 80's and early 90's I was on a tight budget. This is one of the places where we would eat once a week. We used to go there for pizza. The Archway Cafe has not changed at all except for some new paint. Even the sign looks the same as it did 20 years ago,

[Jeff in St Pete]

Breadfruit tree along the side of the road

Wavy leafed plant - not sure what this is.

Royal flowering

[Jeff in St Pete]

For many years Rockhouse was my favorite place in the world to vacation. The property was a forest of Jamaican Tall Coconuts with winding paths leading to the thatched roof cottages which sit right on the cliffs. Unfortunately someone bought the place in the mid 90's, closed it down for a while and renovated it. They added a restaurant, a pool, and quite a few new cottages and reopened it as a "Boutique Hotel". In my opinion they ruined the place and it has lost it's rustic charm. I stopped at a bar next door and took these photos. It's still a beautiful place, but it's just not the same...

Oh and all the Jamaican Talls are all gone. When I first started coming here, the beach was lined with them and they were growing everywhere along the cliff properties. What a shame that lethal yellowing got into Jamaica. It just doesn't look the same without all the giant coconunts!

[Jeff in St Pete]

More Rockhouse photos

[Jeff in St Pete]

The Great Morass is a swampy area filled with native plants and palms and is located just outside of Negril. The Jamaican Royal Palm (Roystonea princeps) can be found growing here in abundance. This entire area was turned into a Reserve to protect the Royals.

At the entrance

Whistling ducks

[Jeff in St Pete]

Third photos is Philodendron lacerum

[Jeff in St Pete]

I climbed to the top of this rickety old observation tower. The thing was swaying and I didn't stay up there long...

[Jeff in St Pete]

From the tower

[Jeff in St Pete]

From the tower

Roystonea princeps

Coastal Mountains

Different species of Thrinax with silver under the leaves

[Jeff in St Pete]

I used to hang out with Rexy 16 years ago when his place was further up the road. He still looks the same except his dreads are grey now.

He calls himself Sexy Rexy

Rexy's place

The view from Rexy's place

Sign at Rexy's

[Jeff in St Pete]

Some photos of inside our cottage

[Jeff in St Pete]

Crotons growing around Tensing Pen

I love the Croton in the last two photos. At first I thought the plant was dried out and the leaves were drooping, but it still looked this way after we had a good rain. You can see in the last photo that they are air layering this plant.

[Jeff in St Pete]

I'm only about halfway through my photos. I will post more later...

[Rafael]

Thanks for the views, i had no chance to visit so much places...

YAA MONN!

[Zeeth]

Oh and all the Jamaican Talls are all gone. When I first started coming here, the beach was lined with them and they were growing everywhere along the cliff properties. What a shame that lethal yellowing got into Jamaica. It just doesn't look the same without all the giant coconunts!

Man! Darn LY!

[Jeff in St Pete]

3 Dives Jerk Centre - the BEST jerk chicken in Negril!

Jerk Chicken and a Ting - it doesn't get much better than this...

[Jeff in St Pete]

After a few nights at Tensing Pen we decided to move to this new place called Villas Sur Mer. They have a collection of cottages across the road from the water and they also have a 6 bedroom mansion directly on the cliffs with access to the water.

Right in the middle of their parking lot is stairway that leads down to a cave. The cave goes under the road and out to the water.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Cave leads to the water