A Truly Amazing Trip

We took the red eye, arrived in Montego Bay around .. I don't remember. lol.. We stood at the Riu, Ocho Rios. The ride from the air port and back took FOREVER because the bus made stops at almost every hotel along the way to pick up or drop off. I believe we used Sunset Tours for our transfers; they sold beer and other drinks on the bus. As we arrived to the Riu, and as soon we stepped foot into the lobby we were welcomed with an ice cold tropical rum beverage. We were immediately amazed with the beauty of the Riu and the warm welcoming from the staff! The hotel is GORGEOUS!! We went right up to our room after checking in and it was also very beautiful. We lucked out and had a great ocean view from our balcony.

Our first day there we just relaxed and ate a good dinner at the St. Ann's Buffet. The food is really good and great quality. The next day we made our attempts to get in contact with a driver I had read about on a travel site.. I must have called that guy 15 times, no answer or placing me on hold for 15+ minutes.. grr!! So I remembered a driver’s name "Kingsley" that a friend back home had mentioned, they used him and said he was awesome! So I asked around the front desk and the girl happened to know him. We got in contact with him and he was our driver for the rest of the trip. Here's his info: kinglseytour@yahoo.com; 876-337-8662 or 876-357-8839. Its a much better deal to go with a private driver rather than the tour companies. Less expensive, get to places faster, he'll take you places to eat that you wouldn't go with a tour company. He was great, one day we had lunch at Scotchies Jerk Hut, just a few blocks away from the hotel. It was delicious. Another day we had beef patties from a little place next to the craft market. So one on of our trips we went to Dunn's River Falls, I scheduled it so Kingsley picked us up early and we were the first ones there. We were the only ones on the falls, perfect. After the fall's we went to a little spot where we jumped off a little cliff into the river. From there we had Scotchies.

The next trip we went on was the Bob Marley tour, all through Fern Gulley. It was beautiful, so green. Its a long ride up the mountain and I can only imagine how long it took on the bus tour ride. Ugh the twists and turns were so narrow, I dont know how they did it. Once we arrived to Bob Marley's resting place we paid the fee ($15 I believe). We lucked out and Capt. Crazy was our tour guide. I had seen clips of him on youTube, he has the same laugh. He was really cool and very informative. Kingsley was cool enough to pull off the side of the road so we could take an awesome picture with the valley behind us. As we arrived back in Ocho Rios we went to the Craft Market and then ate at the Beef Patty place. The Beef and Cheese were so good. Just picture a turnover filled with meat and cheese, sorta like an empanada. When you go to the Craft Market be prepared for immense pressure from the vendors. If you think they're bad in Mexico, you aint seen nothing yet. They were like vultures, it was insane. Its funny because the little souvenir shops outside the Craft Market are mostly owned by Indians (from India).

Most of the nights we'd eat at one of the A La carte Restaurants at the Riu, they were all very good, especially the gourmet one. After dinner one night we decided to take the shuttle to Margaritaville from our hotel. It was a good time, open air place, music, drinks, and drunks. The usual, it actually reminded me of Papas N Beer in Rosarito, Mexico, just a bit tamer. When it was time for our shuttle to take off we stopped at a Jerk Chicken street vendor. They were cooking out of a steel drum, it was probably the best Jerk I had, had out there. Yummie. Once we got back to the hotel we decided to continue the consumption at the Sports Bar, played a little pool, had a few more Red Stripes with some Canadians we had been partying with earlier in the night, and then called it a night.

Our last trip was to Glistening Waters, the bioluminescent bay in Flamouth (I think thats where it is). That one was a big bummer, the waters were hardly glistening at all. I had heard that it had to be a hot day and that day it was overcast. The people running the show there should have advised us that the waters weren't to active. Then again that wouldn't make them any money so why would they do that? It would have been nice though. I think the fee for the 20 minute boat ride was $15. Plus our ride fare, not a cheap trip. BUMMER! We did finish off the night at Scotchies so that was good.

The next day we just kayaked in the day and chilled out the rest of it. The Jerk Hut on the beach in front of Riu is also really good. I don’t have anything bad to say about that place. The only thing I'd recommend is to take a big thermos type cup so you could keep a good amount of liquor in it, instead of having to visit the bar as often since they serve beers and drinks in tiny cups. Boo!

Feel free to ask ANY questions... happy to help!

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