Jamaica Vacation April 2015

After my research cruise Tim met me in Jamaica for a vacation!  He planned it out so well and it was such a perfect trip.  We rented a car and the steering wheel is on the right side and you drive on the left.  We are used to driving on the left here in St. Thomas, but it was definitely new to drive on the left with steering on the right.  We had such a great time traveling around and getting to see lots of different areas of Jamaica.  It definitely was a great trip and I would love to spend more time there exploring.

Our first night was in Montego Bay.  We stayed in an old historic mansion tuned into hotel.  A lot of the old furniture and antiques are still on the property.  We were the only guests staying the night there.  At first I was nervous about that but in the end it was a wonderful stay and it included such a great breakfast with fresh fruit and eggs made by one of the owners.  They were originally from Austria but have lived in Jamaica many years.

The research vessel, NOAA Nancy Foster, that I was just on for work is in this picture way out in the middle left of the image, it is a blue and white ship.

Man selling sugarcane on the side of the road in Montego Bay.  He uses a device that squeezes the sugarcane to make juice and it is so good!

There is a decent population of Chinese Jamaicans, therefore this Chinese restaurant and many others in the city.  They came to Jamaica for work in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries.

Pictures from the car/road while on our way to Treasure Beach from Montego Bay.

We made it to Treasure Beach, a small local fishing village.  Our cabin below was part of a small eco lodging camp named Katamah.  I would definitely recommend staying here, we loved it!  It is directly on the beach and at night you can hear the waves crashing on the sand.

A couple miles offshore from the Treasure Beach area is the Pelican Bar.  We hired a fisherman to take us here and then also to the Black River where we got to see a couple crocodiles and snow egrets.

 This below was the fishing boat we were on and he named it after his nickname, Mr. Nice Guy.

We had our initials carved into the Pelican Bar!

With the owner of the Pelican Bar, we were lucky that he decided the stop by to play a game of dominos.

Check out these crocodiles below. When I first spotted the one I thought it was fake, it took a bit of convincing me that they were real and when I was I sure was glad I was in a boat!

 The next morning having breakfast at a place called Smurfs.

Tim getting us some jerk!  Back on the road all the way to Boston Bay on the Northeast part of the country.

We went to Sommerset Falls and had the entire place to ourselves.  It is actually privately owned and on a property where there was a mini waterpark and restaurant that you have to pay to enter for the day, but it had closed down and was being renovated.  We were so lucky that someone was there that let us in to get to check out this cool spot!  We took a kayak over there and then swam in the clear, cool water.

Art studio where we bought a painting.

We were able to pick out the fish we wanted from a batch of locally caught fish.  We picked this parrotfish and it was served with plantains and festival.

We took a rafting trip on the Rio Grande.  It was so peaceful and relaxing.

This was our eco lodging in Boston Bay.  It is called Great Huts and the unit we stayed in was called Sea Grape.  I will have to say that this was probably one of my all time favorite places I have ever stayed on vacation.  We had a large living area, a bedroom and then a private outdoor bathroom and shower that was probably the most unique experience ever.

 Check out that outdoor shower!

 Our view was awesome from inside.

And then this was our private outdoor area with a mini pool and lounge chair.  I sure wish we could have just stayed here another week to relax and not leave our room.

We had to leave Great Huts at Boston Bay to head to Kingston for one day and night to end our Jamaican adventure.  We started the afternoon with a visit to Bob Marley's house turned into a Museum.  We learned a lot about his personal life as well as his music career.  We were able to see all of his awards and actually be in one of his recording areas.  One of my favorite spots was on the back bench which is where he sat and thought of the lyrics to Three Little Birds.