THE WILD WEST END
We
left Treasure Beach and headed inland, bound for Jamaica’s west coast. We had reservations in Negril
our final two nights, but we had all day to get there. I wanted to see a few things along the
way. First up was a scenic drive through
the Santa Cruz Mountains. That plan was
foiled by a wrong turn, which led us down a completely different route back to
main road. We passed through a series of
small communities which likely see little in the way of tourists.
Once
back on the main road we passed through the famous bamboo tunnel – several
miles of blacktop under an arched canopy of bamboo. We stopped at one point so I could attempt to
photograph it, but it proved to be more difficult to capture than
expected. From there we drove on to YS
falls, which is only a few miles off the main
road. YS Falls
is one of the more significant waterfalls in Jamaica. Unfortunately, like most of the major ones on
the island, it’s a commercial attraction, complete with tubing, rope swings,
zip lines, and a hefty admission fee ($15 each at our visit). We weren’t really interested in participating
in any of the “extreme” sports (most of which have an additional cost). $30 to see a waterfall was rather steep. The good news is that it is a nice, photogenic
waterfall.
We
paid our fee and boarded a tractor-pulled cart for a mile or so ride to the
falls complex. The complex features a
couple of natural spring swimming pools, a gift shop, a changing room, and of
course the river. The river was raging
from the previous night’s rain, which must’ve been a more significant event up
in the mountains than it was down at Treasure Beach. The river was swollen and muddy from
runoff. It was so turbulent,
Christy rejected the idea of tubing immediately. Later she decided she wasn’t comfortable
swimming in it either. We confined our
swimming that morning to one of the spring pools.
We
picked up our obligatory but completely unnecessary guide and began the short
walk upstream to the falls. YS Falls is actually a series of stairstep
falls, with the largest being the furthest upstream. Along the way I took photos of most of the
individual drops, but my favorite composition was of the entire run, from
downstream. Early on I had favorable
light from morning clouds, but by the time we reached the upper drop the sun
was out. Also, the muddy, turbulent
water detracted from the photos somewhat.
We
swam for a bit afterwards and enjoyed the large trees and blooming flowers on
the property. Eventually it started to get
crowded as tour groups from Negril began to
arrive. This was our cue to leave,
though we did chat briefly with one of the tour guides on the way out. He was an interesting character, and he
looked just like Flava Flav. He warned us that the police had set up a
roadblock down the road to search cars for ganja.
We
took the tractor ride back to the parking area, but had lunch there. Afterwards it was on to Negril. The ride was pretty smooth, except for a
wrong turn in Savannah La Mar, which gave us a more in-depth view of the city
than we wanted. That sucked, but it
wasn’t as scary as Kingston.
We
arrived in Negril around mid-afternoon on
Friday. We checked into the Xtabi “resort”, which is located on the cliffs of Negril’s west end.
We decided to stay on the cliffs because it promised a more unique
experience than staying in a generic (and more expensive) resort on the
beach. Xtabi
features a pointless swimming pool, an expensive on-site restaurant and bar,
and a network of sea caves. We checked
into our room, which featured a limited view of the ocean. The highlight of the room was functioning air
conditioning, which was the first of the trip.
I was glad we had it, as there wasn’t much of a breeze while we were
there.
We
finally got to go snorkeling that afternoon.
Of course, no discussion of ‘norkeling is
complete without getting Ralphie May’s take on it:
Negril was the first place on our tour of
the island where the seas were calm enough for it to be practical. We went right from the resort, which has a
number of stairways and sunning areas between the bar and the water. There wasn’t a lot to look at on our first
foray, but there were a few exciting features.
We saw two sting rays, including one that I nearly stepped on. We spotted a few colorful fish and dozens of
crabs, and I brushed against a tiny jellyfish that left a minor burn that was
almost more of a persistent itch. We
also explored some of the caves, from both the water and the passageways below
the restaurant.
Negril is famous for its sunsets, so we
settled into a couple of lounge chairs, ordered drinks with tiny umbrellas, and
waited for the show. Unfortunately
offshore clouds squashed it. The same
thing happened the following evening.
Afterwards
we bravely made a terrifying walk along West End Road to the Rockhouse Restaurant.
The road is narrow and lacks sidewalks, but features lots of fast
driving. The restaurant was only about ½
a mile away, but it seemed to take forever since we spent much of the time
dodging cars. Fortunately the restaurant
was worth it. We started with Conch
Fritters and salads before digging into seafood entrees. The portions were huge, and we had even more
trouble walking back to the hotel.
NO WOMAN, NO CRY
The
original purpose of our trip was to attend a friend’s wedding. Less than two weeks before our departure we
found out that the wedding had been postponed.
At that point it was really too late to change our plans, so we went
ahead with the trip anyway. The good
news is that it meant that we had all day Saturday without any obligations.
We
got up fairly early on Saturday to run.
We didn’t feel safe running from the hotel due to traffic, so we drove
out to the West End Lighthouse. The
Lighthouse was closed, so we parked on the shoulder and ran from there. It proved to be a good choice, as the road
beyond the lighthouse is actually kind of desolate, with only minimal
traffic. There were a few houses out
there, but no large resorts. It was a
hot morning, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as on our previous runs.
We
returned to the hotel, showered, and had breakfast at the restaurant. The meal was pretty good, and cost $8
each. Afterwards we did some more
snorkeling. Conditions were better than
they’d been the previous afternoon, and we saw more colorful fish.
We
wandered around a bit looking for a place for lunch, and ended up La
Natural. We had a nice meal there, and
chatted with the friendly owner for a while.
We ended up buying a pound of coffee and a jar of hot sauce to take with
us. That afternoon we returned to the
resort and worked our way through the cocktail list. We ran up an impressive bar tab in the
process. Late that afternoon Christy
decided she wanted to go up the road to Rick’s Café to try cliff diving. I nixed that idea, as it probably would’ve
been a better thing to do before getting drunk.
That
evening we walked next door to the Three Dives Jerk Center (not the Three Jerks
Dive Center) for dinner. I had jerk
chicken and Christy dined on jerk shrimp.
The meal was fantastic, yet inexpensive.
It was definitely one of the best meals of the trip. We bought a bottle of jerk sauce to take with
us, joining our growing collection of consumable souvenirs.
We
got up early on Sunday and checked out.
We had breakfast at Juicy J’s, in the center of town. It was quite good and cheap. From there we headed back towards Montego
Bay, as our flight home was scheduled for mid-afternoon. Along the way we stopped at Halfmoon Bay for a little more snorkeling. The place was nearly deserted when we
arrived. I think everyone was still
asleep. We paid the $2 / per person
entry fee at the bar and settled into lounge chairs on a small but lovely
beach.
The
snorkeling was excellent, as the water there is apparently a mixture of salt
and fresh water. Part of the bay features
underwater grasses, which create a completely different habitat from what we’d
seen around Negril.
There was also a good bit of coral in the shallow water. We saw huge schools of small fish, along with
many larger, more colorful varieties. At
one point we even saw a large seabird dive into the water and emerge with a
fish.
The
biggest excitement was seeing several eels or sea snakes (we weren’t certain
which). It’s possible there was at least
one of each. We saw one of them actually
disappear down a hole in the sand.
Halfmoon Bay was one of our favorite places on
our trip, but we were only able to spend 2 hours there. If we return to the area, we’ll plan to spend
more time there. They have cabins and a
bar, so spending a night or two there might be in order.
The
drive to Montego Bay was uneventful. We
arrived at the airport more than two hours before our departure, returned the
rental car, and walked into sheer chaos.
The terminal was a disaster. We
had no idea what the problem was at the time, but later found out that the
entire US Airways network had been disrupted due to computer problems. We were able to bypass most of a huge line by
checking in at one of the machines.
However, when we finally reached the front of the line to drop off our
luggage, we were informed that our flight was delayed. The agent rebooked us on an earlier flight,
which was also delayed, but was expected to depart soon. That sounded great, except that we weren’t
given enough time to get through customs and security to make it. We ended up in a huge line, watching the
minutes tick by. Different personnel
told us different things. One agent
instructed us to go to the front of the line, but the agent there sent us back. After being yanked around for about 15
minutes, I was furious. We walked about
halfway back to the front, ducked under a barrier, and cut off about 45 minutes
worth of the line. Normally I would’ve
felt bad about doing that, but not on this day.
Going
through security was another challenge.
I’d taken my carry-on to the beach that morning, and forgot to take out
a bottle of sunscreen. My bag got the
hand search, but they missed another tube of sunscreen as well as a tube of
Benadryl cream. I felt a little smug
about that when I discovered the contraband later.
Our
flight was boarding when we reached the gate.
Later we found out that our original flight got cancelled, so we were
lucky that we made it. Sometimes
line-cutting does pay off. We hadn’t had
a chance to get lunch, so I ran down to a snack bar while Christy waited at the
gate. There I ran into a woman from
Philadelphia that had been in line with us earlier at check-in. She was behind me in line when her flight
made a final call. I let her go ahead in
a minor act of absolution to make up for my earlier line-cutting. She was extremely grateful, and made her
flight right before they closed the doors.
I
made ours with a few minutes to spare, with chips, cheese dip, and wraps to
go. We ended up seated in business
class, which is just like coach but costs more.
Luckily the remainder of the flight was smooth. After a stressful, tedious end to our
vacation, it was great to be home.
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