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Wed., April 15, 2009 - Arrived in Montego Bay We landed at Sangster international airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica, at around 1:30 p.m. local time. It was nice to be back to a beautiful island environment, as this was my second trip to Jamaica. This trip was especially exciting for me, since it was my children’s first time out of the United States 😊.
We had a slight delay going through customs, because I had a box of decorations for my sister’s wedding, which the customs agents wanted to open and search. Afterwards, we proceeded outside and met up with my brother-in-law who had bus transportation waiting for us. Our driver’s name was Lee and he assisted us for most of our trip. He drove us to the Palms Beachside Resort Negril in Westmoreland Parish, which is where we stayed our first night. It was approximately 1 hour away from the airport.
Hunger pains were prevalent after traveling all night and most of the morning, so we ate dinner at the hotel restaurant shortly after checking in. I ordered a delicious jerk chicken with fries meal and my children ordered hamburgers and fries. The special sauce that I
had with my jerk chicken was amazing! The ketchup wasn't your typical Heinz. It was sweet and very tasty. A little exploration was the perfect conclusion for our satisfying meal. Therefore, we decided to walk along the beach, my children played on the water trampoline and then we viewed a show with a fire eater and glass walker at Margaritaville, Negril. The sand fleas were eating us alive, so we didn’t stay out too late. Here's a sample of what we saw:
Passporters Witness Fire in Negril, Jamaica.
Thurs., April 16, 2009 - Our Morning in Negril The next morning we were on a mission to get some breakfast. My sister, who has been to Jamaica numerous times, sent me a text message recommending the Charela Inn. The food was very fresh, delicious and inexpensive. My children and I had French toast, sour dough toast, muffins, bacon and eggs for less than $30 USD, which included the tip! After breakfast, we continued to explore Seven Mile Beach, until it was time to move to the Tryall Club in Hanover Parish. Lee picked us up at noon.
Driving Through Lucea Town We drove through Lucea town enroute to the Tryall
Club, in Hanover Parish Jamaica. This was a quaint town, full of local businesses and streets filled with residents running errands. The pedestrians didn't seem the least bit concerned about the fast moving vehicles that passed them by at arms length range. The people were friendly and eager to wave to me as I waved to many of them as we drove by. Just outside of Lucea, we saw all kinds of livestock from goats, to cows and chickens wandering around and grazing on the greenery of the countryside.
Arrived at the Tryall Club The Tryall Club is an incredible 5 Star resort consisting of single family estates with beautiful unobstructed ocean views, tennis courts, golf courses, a commissary, banquet hall and much more! This is the location of where my sister's wedding was going to take place in two days, on April 18th. All of the homes have names instead of addresses. My entire family and I stayed in a beautiful and spacious 5 bedroom home called Xanadu. We had a live in staff that cooked, cleaned, washed our clothes and made sure that we didn't need or want for anything! Our home also came equipped with
2 golf carts, so that we could conveniently ride around the resort. Be sure to check out
Passporters Cribs in Hanover Parish Jamaica to view my video tour of our vacation home.
Upon arrival, my children and I toured the home and began to assign bedrooms for the rest of our family who would be arriving over the next few hours. Then we went swimming in the sparkling pool of the home. After building up an appetite, Morris, one of the polite staff members served us lunch; a chicken sandwich on wheat bread, fries, fresh fruit and refreshing punch.
My sister and brother-in-law were the next to arrive, followed by my sister's friends and one of her friend's parents who all stayed in a beautiful 2 bedroom condo at the Tryall Club, named Poinciana. My sister, brother-in-law and I took our golf carts down to pick up my sister's friends and bring them up to our place to chill for awhile, but only after touring their amazing condo first.
Everyone was so relaxed and ecstatic to be in such a serene and heavenly environment. We spoke for hours and didn't feel a need for television, although there was one in every room.
Later, we took my sister's friends back to their condo because they had plans to check out an Italian restaurant at the resort. Plus, they wanted to get in before too late because they needed to catch up on some rest and the next day was going to be quite eventful.
We headed back to our place to have our first dinner together; curry chicken, rice, mixed vegetables and brownies for dessert. Shortly after our fulfilling meal, my parents, grandmother and one of my cousins arrived. They toured our home, got settled into their rooms and then ate dinner. We all conversed for a couple of hours before going to bed.
Fri., April 17, 2009 - Fun at the Beach, Snorkeling and Cliff Jumping Thank God, I wasn't dreaming...I'm really here! I woke up to a glorious view of the ocean and a clear blue sunny sky, accented with a few snow white puffy clouds. The wonderful smell of breakfast enticed me out of bed. We ate French toast, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fresh papaya, watermelon, pineapple and bananas. We had guava juice to drink. We also bought some cool "Jamaica" attire from a couple of vendors
who stopped by our home. Everyone got dressed in their beach attire and we met up with my sister's friends and waited for Lee to pick us up at noon to begin our adventurous day. Unfortunately, my aunt and other cousin were going to miss out on the activities because their plane wasn't arriving until around 3pm.
We made our way back through Lucea town to get to Margaritaville in Negril, where we were going to catch our boat. Somehow we started conversing about reality television shows. We stopped by a Scotia Bank atm which permitted us to withdraw cash in USD or Jamaican currency without additional fees. Once we arrived at Margaritaville, we took a group picture, chatted, had a drink, took a dip in the clear warm water and played on the water trampolines until our boat arrived an hour or so later. I say a hour or so, because no one kept track of time during our trip and the pace was always slow and calm.
We boarded our glass bottom boat, which was arranged by my brother-in-law since the captain of the boat was his uncle. My mother stayed behind with my grandmother who
was perfectly content sitting at her beachside table at Margaritaville. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the reef, which was our snorkeling site. I was thrilled because snorkeling is one of my favorite hobbies. My children are excellent swimmers, but I made them wear vest because the water was choppy and this was their first time snorkeling outside of a swimming pool. While snorkeling, we discovered star fish of all sizes, small sting rays, sea urchins, various types of coral and sand dollars so appealing that they would've easily sold in stores! We brought a few of the sand dollars with us, but I couldn't keep my giant starfish because I was told that it would begin to stink and I wouldn't have time to rid it of the stench before my departure 😞. Nevertheless, catching it was a great experience and it was better off letting it continue its life in the beautiful Jamaican waters. Now it was time to explore some bat caves and to check out Rick's Cafe. So one of the guides pulled up the anchor and we were on our way.
Our guide informed us that much of the Westmoreland Parish
coastline of Jamaica has no beaches, but only cliffs. The locals and even tourists used many of these cliffs for cliff jumping. All of us on the boat quickly noticed a castle sitting on a cliff, while we were enroute to a bat cave and to Rick's Cafe. Our guide informed us that it was the Blue Cave Castle Hotel and that celebrities like to frequent this place. We saw several wonderful, secluded resorts on the cliff coastline. There was also a wedding occurring at a place called the Negril Escape. When we arrived at one of the bat caves, the guides started making loud noises and splashing water up to the cave ceilings to make the bats fly so that we could see them. Check out this video
Passporters Explore A Bat Cave in Negril, Jamaica.
It was starting to get late and we had to make it back home for dinner. As we approached Rick's Cafe, my sister asked my cousin and me if we were going to do the infamous cliff jump. Deep down, I wanted to, but I really had to give it some thought. I saw an older man standing at the top of the cliff preparing to jump. I told
my sister that if he does it, then I will too. Wow, this man jumped without hesitation! I had to stay true to my word, so my cousin and I swam to shore and took the steep walk up the cliff at Rick's Cafe. We told ourselves that once we reached the top, we would jump without giving it any thought. After catching our breath, my cousin jumped and I jumped shortly after him. I didn't allow myself to read the warning sign at the jump site. The cliff is 33 feet, the same height as an Olympic diving platform. And yes, you definitely hit the water hard even when you land correctly! My brother-in-law asked us to jump again because of technical difficulties with the video recording. So my cousin and I walked up the steep cliff again. I jumped first the second time around. Take a look at our video
Passporters Jump from Cliff at Rick's Cafe in Negril, Jamaica.
Our ride back home was very nice. Traveling the dark and deserted roads inspired our horror flick conversations. We ate a savory dinner together at our vacation home, upon our arrival at the Tryall Club. The escoveitched snapper, fresh vegetables, garden salad and rice really hit
the spot. It was also good to see that my aunt and other cousin had arrived safely. After dinner somehow we broke into passionate conversation about the proper way of handling friendships between males and females, when one or both of them are in a relationship. I'm glad that I survived that topic because the females greatly outnumbered the males in our group and I wasn't backing down from my viewpoint....LOL. This conversation went on for a couple of hours, while we created gift bags for my sister's wedding reception. It was a healthy alternative to the pool party that we had initially planned. The night ended with my cousin and me dropping off my sister's friends at their condo and returning home to rest up for my sister's big day ahead of us.
Sat., April 18, 2009 - My Sister's Wedding Day My cousin and I picked up my sister's friends and her friend's parents, so that they could join us for breakfast. By this time, we were very good at driving the golf carts up and down the steep hills of the Tryall Club. Once we arrived at home, we went to our balcony to
talk, until breakfast was served. This morning my favorite was on the menu, "WAFFLES"!! In addition, we had bacon, eggs, fresh fruit and fruit juice. After breakfast, we returned to our balcony to talk about topics such as the internet industry, virtual worlds, illegal placebo prescriptions, aeronautics, brain surgery, various wars, etc. Basically, if you name it, we probably spoke on it because our scenic ambiance always inspired provocative conversations. It also helped that we were a loquacious group to begin with. Later, everyone went their separate ways to prepare for my sister's wedding ceremony. I spent most of my time vegging on the couch, watching a NBA game.
My sister's outdoor wedding at the Tryall Club was like a scene from a movie. The backdrop was the ocean glistening in the sunlight, with vibrant plants and trees lining the hillside, situated in perfect weather. Attendees portrayed a mix of smiles and tears of joy as my sister and brother-in-law exchanged their vows. The climax was when colorful butterflies were released into the clear sky.
The wedding reception was elegant with a blend of 1980’s and ‘90’s R&B music playing in the background, tables decorated with floral centerpieces
and gift bags that we assembled the night before, a savory dinner and eye catching entertainment. Take a look at this video
Passporters Record Bamboo Stick Dancing, to experience some of the entertainment. Kudos to my sister for planning all of the wedding details with some suggestions from friends and family! Later during the evening, the DJ began to play some upbeat, dance music. I couldn’t resist, so I headed for the dance floor. My youngest son soon followed and then took over with his meticulous and soulful moves! The dance floor soon reached its capacity and remained that way for several hours, until the conclusion of the wedding reception. Everyone had an incredible time and most importantly my sister and my brother-in-law did. The sole reason why I was in Jamaica had come to an end. I was so proud of my sister and glad to see her happy.
Sun., April 19, 2009 - Preparing to Leave Paradise My cousin and I picked up my sister and brother-in-law at the Captain's Quarters at the Tryall Club, where they stayed the night before. We had a chance to say goodbye to my sister's friends and her friend's parents first, who would be
departing in a few hours. The rest of us were leaving the next day. Seeing them go was a harsh reminder that all earthly things eventually come to an end. I thank God for the memories and for digital cameras which help us to keep them intact.
Our final moments in paradise were spent on the balcony reflecting about life, traversing the beautiful Tryall Club grounds in our golf carts and dining. My brother-in-law's friends visited to say goodbye to him. They had grown up together, so my brother-in-law getting married and moving to the U.S. was a big step for all of them. The sun set and then rose again on our departure on April 20, 2009.
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Donna Peppers
non-member comment
Yay!!! You all made it!!!
I can never get enough of Jamaica!!! Negril is the best. A, I am so happy you were able to get the family there just in time for your sisters wedding. One