"Irie Mon! Jamaica is Beautiful!" Jamaica by geanster

I had an awesome last minute opportunity to visit Jamaica. A friend told me on a Wednesday that she was flying out the next day and that I should come. The next day, I bought my plane ticket and by Saturday, I was there. :) I would recommend at least 2 weeks for a Jamaica visit. 1 week to stay busy and do lots of the great activities awaiting you and then another week to just be lazy and work on your tan.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort which is a good family place. I don't have a family so I could take or leave that characteristic, but it's all inclusive and the staff was generally very nice.

View from the 35ft jump at Rick's Cafe in Negril.

Saturday: Flew into Montego Bay and got settled in at the resort. Had dinner and sat on the beach with drinks (also included) catching up with old friends.

Sunday: Headed to Negril on the Western coast with 10 people in a van built for 8. :) Took an hour and a half from Montego Bay (realized Jamaicans seem to cut travel estimates down by at least half an hour, so give yourself more time then they say.) Stopped at a grocery store on the way to stock up on 6-pack's of Red Stripe (about $5-$6 US dollars). Hit a public beach reeking of Ganja for a wonderful swim on my favorite part of ocean I saw there. Perfect depth way out. Got slightly hassled by locals trying to sell things. Then drove on down to Rick's Cafe for the sunset and some amazing Cliff diving! My friends and I took the highest jump, 35 ft. It was scary but glad I did it! Makes for good stories. Later saw some large fish and what myself and a local decided was a shark in the vicinity after dark. Pretty cool.

Monday: Stayed on the beaches and relaxed most of the day.

Tuesday: Went snorkeling out on a glass bottom boat over some coral. Tanned and had dinner with friends.

Ocho Rios - Dunn's River Fall's

Wednesday: Went to Ocho Rios (an hour and a half east to Dunn's River Fall's and hiked the huge waterfall. Stopped and did some souvenir shopping on the way.

Thursday: Took a ride to the Rose Hall plantation. It's said to be haunted by Annee Palmer who killed 3 husbands in the house and slave lovers and was eventually strangled to death by one of the lovers at the age of 29. She was only 4'10" and was an English Irish girl who was raised in Haiti. Her parents died when she was young and her nanny raised her up with the knowledge of voodoo and witchcraft. She came to Jamaica to marry rich and succeeded with a 6000+ acre plantation owner with over 2000 slaves. They referred to her as the White Witch. She's buried there on the grounds. The house is AMAZING. The views from the front of the house are more than picturesque of the ocean and pink blooms. Had dinner reservations with friends that evening at one of the nice restaurants at the resort.

Friday: Went out on a catamaran from Montego Bay's hip strip for the day. Did some snorkeling and drinking and stopped at Margaritaville for a trip down the enormous slide and played in the water there.

Saturday, flew from Montego Bay to Kingston on Air Jamaica then from Kingston back to the US.

Finding a driver you can trust is of great benefit. Some families we met would get the number of their favorite driver right away in the beginning of the trip and then call them whenever they needed to go somewhere.

I was never nervous or scared while in Jamaica though I'd read of such crime. I'm sure if you're in the bad areas of Kingston or anywhere alone, you should be nervous, but we always had a group or at least 2 of us when walking to the grocery store or whatever. Just use good judgement. The men will frequently hit on you if you're a woman but I'd just be friendly but uniterested. You WILL be offered weed at some point of your trip so don't be offended. The water is clear but the snorkeling we found was no where near as nice as anything I saw in Fiji. The people are very nice and seem very intuitive.

In summary. I would LOVE to go back!

• Pros:Nice intuitive islanders... Beautiful clear water and warmth.
• Cons:Hassled by local's trying to sell you things...