Blogs from Negril, Jamaica, Central America Caribbean

It's been way too long since I blogged, but here we go again trying to catch-up on our travels. I wish I could start a blog by saying "so we've been planning this trip for a while". The truth of the matter is that we never plan any trips. We know when we are going to take time off, but generally we don't book plane tickets until about a week or two out. Skyscanner is probably my most favorite app in the world. Plug in departing airport, put in your travel dates and it will give you prices for any and all countries for your selected dates. Anything under $1,000 is acceptable and then wherever we do not need a visa. Jamaica it was this time. About 3 days before departure we booked tickets and the ... read more

As we were leaving St Maarten, George noticed what we thought was a rather large animal / critter bite on his stomach. It looked red and very angry, but at the time, did not hurt too much. Once we were settled into our Jamaican hotel on Wednesday, we made a visit to a local pharmacy and he diagnosed that it was possibly an allergic reaction to a bite and gave some steroid cream to put on it. The shop also helped us with some other counter products for this too. Over the last couple of days, the original bite area site has grown viciously and rapidly from his stomach around to his left hand spine in some very nasty deep oozing red blistered areas. It feels very sore, is preventing sleep and carries an intense bruised ... read more

Theresa had been to Jamaica once before back in 1991 and one of the things she remembers is Ricks Café, but was in for a great surprise when she saw it again. The hotel where we are staying is across the road from here and we can hear the very loud music until about 1.00am most nights. Think the locals ignore the music as it brings other business into the area. It did not keep us awake at all. Reggae rules okay. Rick's Cafe was opened in April 1974. At that time, Negril was a sleepy fishing village with little development. It lacked many modern amenities such as electricity, telephone and hot running water. Ricks Cafe was the first public bar and restaurant of its type on the West End Cliffs, offering an alternative to Negril's ... read more

Whilst George went off to get some cold drinks, water, and milk for the morning tea and coffee etc., Theresa did the unpacking. We are going to be very comfortable here for the next eight days. As we have had no laundry facilities since we left the cruise ship, we were pleased to see that they had a large washing machine here, and a line to hang clothes to dry on. We were originally told this was free, but were later told it was chargeable, but not sure how much. There is a still a possibility of no charges. We really do not mind. We did one load of washing whilst we got ourselves showered, and then put another load in to wash whilst we were out. We did not realise that this was the only ... read more

Spent a week at Swept Away with fantastic weather, great food and entertainment. We hadn't been there since it was reopened as a Couples resort in 1998. It has doubled in size and but has retained its Jamaica jungle feel and has a great sports complex with 5 hard and 5 Har Tru courts.... read more