Trip Report: Blue Mountains, Boston Bay, Kingston

i figured an actual trip report would be nice after i spent weeks spamming this forum with my endless "trip inspiration" thread!

after 12 hours(!!!) of travel from nyc, we got to strawberry hill at around 4pm yesterday. internet is completely down, which sucks, because i have about 4 hours of work to do each day, the rest of this week (yay, i can earn money while on vacation). after waking up at 3am, i sucked it up and turned on my hotspot, churned out 2 hours of work and figured i'd start my trip report thread.

i'm traveling with my husband and our 12 year old son, ti boss.

we did jfk>mia>kingston. no big issues, really.

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we did the admirals club, because i had to put in 2 hours of work during our miami layover, and figured we may as well be comfortable as i typed away. we did a little shopping in miami- a bottle of champagne (my birthday is next week), a bottle of hennessy and an overpriced bathing suit, because our son, ti boss, refuses to pack properly.

the plane rides were annoying- ZERO legroom.

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we landed on time.

immigrations/customs forms were annoying- we were told by the stewardesses that we just needed to fill out one form for the family. i filled out one form. we got to the immigration line and the attendant there told me we needed to fill out forms for each member of the family. i grumbled, sat down, and scribbled out two additional forms. we got through immigration (the kingston airport also has kiosks, by the way), got to customs and the lady there told me we should have only filled out one form and that it had to be completed by "the huzzzzzzzbind," and listing "the wife" and "the son" as family members on the back. whatevzzzzzz. she was nice, though.

after the usual confusion and hassle (american had changed our flights months ago and strawberry hill didn't bother to look up our info day of travel, like they'd told me they would) we eventually found our driver and were off. he, of course, has worked for chris blackwell for over 20 years and we knew a bunch of the same old school music industry people, so we chit chatted about that, while my husband bugged out (like he always does) about HOW MUCH jamaica looks like haiti. ti boss played with his ipod and got excited when his favorite "litty" mumble rap songs came on the car radio.

i asked to make a quick stop at a supermarket, where i picked up some bottles of soda, a few six packs of red stripe and guinness and a few packages of biscuits.

we made it to the hotel around 4, were offered soothing, mint infused washcloths and rum punches and our luggage was brought up to our cottage, which is ridiculously beautiful.

our accommodations, BAMBOO COTTAGE, is ridiculously, insanely, overwhelmingly beautiful.

it's a 2 story cottage with 2 bedrooms and a bathroom downstairs and a big living/dining area upstairs. both bedrooms have small porches and the 2nd floor has a really big porch. there's also a large picture window upstairs, with a nice built in bench, where you can just chill out and enjoy the view of kingston city and the port.


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looking at the upstairs porch from living/dining room



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view from the picture window


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view of the living area from the porch


we didn't do very much our first night. i took a shower (they used to have a really deep old bathtub in this cottage, but they've renovated the bathroom with a big walk-in shower), and changed while my guys went to take a quick walk around.

we strolled to the bar at a few minutes to 6, ordered drinks and sat by the fire for a few minutes, then had a nice leisurely dinner, where we saw a bunch of brown lizards chilling on the chandelier right above our heads.

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there are 3 of them in this photo, but they're impossible to spot


after dinner, we went back to the cottage, climbed into bed and watched harry potter and the chamber of secrets on the laptop (no tv i the cottage, yay!) ti boss went into his room around 8pm and we all fell asleep.

i woke up at 3am, eventually managed to get myself online, did my work and now i'm listening to dogs bark and crickets chirp.

we have no plans for tomorrow, other than to chill. i'm sure ti boss wants to get some swimming in.

Looks amazing! Will def have to get up there with V someday! Have fun. Keep the Trip Reports comin! Say hi
To A and A.

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day 2, which will officially end in 11 minutes, was an extreme case of milding.

i was up from 3am until 1pm. ti boss came out of his room at 6:30 and watched the sun rise with me.


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ti boss spotted the cat that i'd heard in the middle of the night.

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i'm such a crazy cat lady.


we went to breakfast at around 9am. it was good. ti boss didn't like the carrot/ginger/coconut milk smoothie, but my husband loved it.

next stop: chilling at the pool.

we spent about 3 hours chilling at the pool. hennessey and red stripe (brought from our room) for the adults, malta (brought from our room) and a virgin colada (from the bar) for ti boss.

my husband asked if we could have plastic cupss and the folks who were manning the pool and bar areas told us it was no problem to bring our own drinks and that they would be happy to give us glasses. they told us to rearrange the furniture any way we liked and that the only thing we had to do was make sure we enjoyed ourselves.

we rearranged the furniture to suit our domino playing needs, covered the slatted table with a table cloth i'd brought from home, put some chill music (at very low volume) on the iphone and got busy.


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back when ti boss was a ti baby, i started a tradition of bringing a big package of punch balloons with me (the kind with the thick rubber band at the end, for "punching") on all of our trips to haiti and jamaica- and, over the years, ti boss has grown obsessed. he fills a balloon with water and drags it around the pool for hours.

i knew it was time to leave when a) heavy grey clouds rolled in and b) my husband started a long, very serious conversation about naps and the necessity of them and how he probably needs to sleep more. i asked him, also very seriously, if he thought he'd be happier if he went to take a nap right away and woke up starving or if we went to eat lunch and then napped on full stomachs.

we dropped our poolside chilling items back at the cottage, then headed out for a stroll down the mountain to crystal edge cafe.

we dropped our poolside chilling items back at the cottage, then headed out for a stroll down the mountain to crystal edge cafe.

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i am out of shape and in no condition to handle walking uphill 3,000+ feet above sea level, so i had to stop several times to rest on our way back, which is when i snapped this picture. i love the way clothing smells after it's dried on the line.

so, after lunch it was back to the cottage for a napathon. ti boss slept from 6pm straight through until the morning, pretty much. i did a few hours' worth of work and husband took a stroll back down to crystal edge while i was occupied.

that was day 2.

today (day 3, and our final full day at strawberry hill) was more of the same, but in a good way.

we all woke up around 6:30 and watched the morning dawn. i went back to sleep while the guys watched another harry potter movie that's downloaded to the laptop- still no wifi, and our movie options are limited to 3 harry potter films and an austin powers. i finally roused myself around 8:30 and we headed down to breakfast.



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after that, we went back and did a puzzle for a few hours, while watching austin powers.


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day 3 poolside activities centered around eating (all 3 of us), napping (husband), swimming (ti boss) and yahtzee (me n ti boss).


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husband and i took a walk around the property in the afternoon.

we had dinner at the restaurant around 9pm.

went to sleep around 11.

nice day.

day 4, and off to boston bay- eventually.

woke up a little after 6:30am.

started packing while the kid slept and husband watched austin powers for the 3rd time.

breakfast at 9am.

came back to the cottage, finished packing, stopped off at gift shop/spa. i had $ for our housekeeper, who'd told me she'd be at the spa. we ran into her right away. ti boss got a free 15 minute massage at the spa and i got a cute bob marley vintage style t-shirt (50% off!). back to the room.

warren, who's supposed to be here at 12pm, whatsapped me and told me he's running late. so we should be out of here at around 1pm, as opposed to 12 noon.

so now we're packed and chilling, waiting for our 12pm check-out.



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luggage ready, aside from ti papa's big suitcase



i guess once we're checked out we'll hang by the bar until warren shows up.

our housekeeper gave me the scoop on david, the man who took us on a hike when we were here for our honeymoon. he no longer works at strawberry hill, but has a small shop in red light, which we'll pass on our way to great huts. she said if we ask for "allen," someone will definitely be able to get us to him.

we checked out at around 12:30pm- our food and drinks tab was more than $300 LESS than i’d expected. i am not complaining. for some reason we have really good luck with this type of thing.



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ti papa, checked out

warren showed up before 1pm and we hit the road. he’s an excellent driver and an extremely nice person. he also knows david, and actually wanted to check him about something, but alas, david was not around when we got to red light.

the drive through the mountains was far, far less scary than i remembered it.

we only made one more stop after red light, to get some hand roasted coffee beans for my sister.


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duggy, the coffee guy, also had a roadside outdoor restaurant that was surprisingly filled with tourists. i mean, we really were in the middle of nowhere! duggy told us they were all day trippers who wanted an off the beaten path tour of his coffee farm. he also has rooms to rent- i would totally want to stay up there next time i’m back in ja. stay up in the blue mountains, bathe in the river and chill.

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we stopped to get food in buff bay- really delicious soup with river snail, red pea, dumpling and potato.

it was really, really, really nice to finally not have to eat hotel food.

the drive from buff bay to great huts was exceedingly pleasant. warren pointed out where he grew up and other local spots of interest.

we stopped at woody's to place an order for jamaican food for monday at 6pm. if you're not wanting hamburgers you have to order the food at least a day in advance and pay up front (a minimum of 2 orders), so i handed over enough money for 2 orders of curry goat. monday, 6pm. ti boss will be happy with hamburger. warren is going to drive us around for a full day on monday, with woody's to be the last stop. mooretown/nanny falls, long bay, blue hole and whatever we come up with. 10am pick-up time.

backtracking a bit, here's a walk-through of bamboo cottage...


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boston bay, great huts and fig tree house (the unit we're staying in) are as incredibly gorgeous as irish town, strawberry hill and bamboo cottage.



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view of entrance from upstairs bed


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view of boston bay from upstairs bed



we arrived around 5:30pm, received a complimentary rum punch, settled the balance of our bill (you have to pay half up front and half upon arrival), were given a very quick rundown of property FAQs and taken to our room by a very nice guy named fisher. ti boss discovered that fisher is 25 and unmarried, currently.

husband immediately went out to the jerk stands and got 2 half chickens and 3 festival.

ti boss immediately went to explore the 2 pools.

i immediately went and ran a bath in that massive bathtub overlooking the water.

the bath was incredible.

oh, yeah- we drove past about 4 funeral processions yesterday. 3 of them were extremely hoochie. the 4th was lynval bloomfield's.

day 5- first full day at great huts.

6:39 is the time my body wants to wake up whenever i’m in ja.




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woke up at 6:39am, watched the sea for a while, husband went out for a quick jog and was back within half an hour. ti boss came upstairs at 7am, ready to get going.

i took a walk with ti boss, who already knew the lay of the land due to his pool expeditions of the day before. we walked the wooden snake walk that hugs the cliff and visited both pools. we were back in the room by 8am. breakfast starts at 8:30 every morning.

Very Very Nice!!!

More please!

Enjoy,

VVVHT

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Originally Posted by VVHT

Very Very Nice!!!

More please!

Enjoy,

VVVHT

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:)thank you:)

i wasn’t sure if i was being boring!

day 5, continued...

we spent the majority of the day outside. in the morning we hung out at the pool at the africana house (gotta take some pictures there) and split the afternoon between boston jerk center and boston beach.

husband had made friends with a bunch of the jerk stand folks the night before, so he knew which spot to hit up. i followed a pair of jamaican ladies over to the smoothie stand, where the guy gave me the tourist price. the ladies scolded him and made him give me what was closer to the local price. the thing is, i have a good idea of what the local price should be, but it’s annoying to always have to negotiate a price that works out to be 2 bucks less.

i also gave a man i met on the beach a good deal of money to deliver fish dinners to us, which he did, which was nice, but the fish wasn’t very good and didn’t come with any sides. in that case, i got “ripped off,” aka paid far too much, but meh. it’s vacation and our next good meal is always around the corner. plus, i came out so far ahead at strawberry hill (our food/drinks tab was several hundred less than it should’ve been), so the balance is still in our favor.

i didn’t take any pictures yesterday, because i wanted to just chill and enjoy.

today (day 6) is our all day excursion with warren, and i will be taking a lot of photos.

very much enjoying your writings -- all places look wonderful. Now I'm going to go back and watch all of the videos.

mwenvlay..
Excellent, great pics, wow, what a pool !!! I bet you are not missing Negril !! :)

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Originally Posted by FarOutWestEnder

very much enjoying your writings -- all places look wonderful. Now I'm going to go back and watch all of the videos.

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Originally Posted by jojo p

mwenvlay..
Excellent, great pics, wow, what a pool !!! I bet you are not missing Negril !! :)

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thanks, guys! i'm having a lot of fun taking photos and videos when chilling at the hotel(s). it's much harder for me to break out of the moment and capture things while i'm out and about, but i tried to make an effort during our big excursion today.

and i have to say, i do not miss negril. but i've always been a fan of traveling the island, and not limiting myself to one part only. my husband and son love it so much better out here in kingston and portland and i'm glad i FINALLY got to spend time out here (portland) and make the time count. all of my other visits were such a blur.

day 6: long bay (briefly), moore town/nanny falls, rock bottom wood carving (at the crafts center), winnifred beach (briefly) and dinner at woody's.

today was our big day out in porty. warren showed up 5 minutes early and we hit the road by 10am.

first stop was long bay, which i was happy to see but didn't want to spend much time at, since i was very eager to get to moore town and spend as much time at nanny falls as possible.




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so, we stood for about ten minutes, looked and left.

except for the fact that it looks like the beach has shrunk a lot over the past years, long bay reminds me a lot of the east coast beaches of my childhood. i still live on the east coast, but don't bother with the beaches there anywhere as much as i did as a kid.

the ride up to moore town was scarier than the ride through the blue mountains to port antonio. i was actually surprised by that!

the scenery was, of course, exceedingly breathtaking. i was too busy enjoying it to actually snap any photos, but i did force myself to record things once we got close to moore town.

here is a photo of bananas in protective plastic bags, used to keep bugs out:

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and a view of the road that runs between the banana crops:

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at the base of moore town there was a really nice lady selling jelly coconuts (100j each- cannot beat that!) and a few men sitting on a low wall. warren asked the men what the protocol was and we learned that nanny falls is gated now and that we should first check in with the colonel to ask for the key/ask for permission to visit the falls. we told the men that i was looking to get a history lesson for my kid and the guy who took the lead on filling us in said the colonel would be happy to do that. he then pitched his guide services to the falls and quoted a pretty high fee. warren told him, "they're not tourist-tourists, they're haitian and came here to pay respect and learn our history. you can't give them a tourist price!" the fee came down to 6000j for the 3 of us, plus warren.

we stopped off at a store to get a bunch of beer and soda and wound up acquiring another guide. husband, who is good at getting to the bottom of this type of thing, asked why the first guy thought we needed two guides ("for safety," by which he meant if someone gets hurt one person could stay with us and the other could run and get someone) and if the price was gonna go up from what we agreed on ("no, same price!"). so, we were now a party of 6.

we got back in the car after the bevvy and guide stuff was sorted, and rode up to nanny's grave, which is located across the street from the moore town primary school.



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i caught this little girl in mid-twirl

here are some photos of nanny's official grave:



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Amazing trip report so far. I have a definite ¨thing¨ for Negril, but have always checked out Strawberry Hill and Porty in the past to see if I´d want to switch it up, someday. I definitely do, even more so now.

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Originally Posted by nickib983

Amazing trip report so far. I have a definite ¨thing¨ for Negril, but have always checked out Strawberry Hill and Porty in the past to see if I´d want to switch it up, someday. I definitely do, even more so now.

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yay, that’s what i want to hear!

we have 2 days left at great huts, then the last leg of this trip is 2 days in kingston, so stay tuned for another hotel and some city sightseeing.

here are some photos of the spot that people say nanny is really buried.



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ti boss got invited to play a pickup game of football during the local children's recess!




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once we peeled ti boss away from the game, it was time to head up to the falls.

let me backtrack to speak about the colonel for a moment... we really wanted to meet him, so we could pay our respects and so we could ask him to give ti boss a brief history lesson, but by the time we got up to his house he'd already left. we were told he was headed up to some land they owned, where they're setting up a new tourist stop- a parrot sanctuary and fruit orchard. sounds pretty rad to me!

so, we missed the colonel but got a key from someone else...

getting to the waterfall consisted of a 30 minute trek up a wide forest path. it was a gently uphill walk, but even so i needed to stop a few times because i have issues with shortness of breath in high altitudes (that, and i am incredibly out of shape, tbh). but i managed it! it wasn't hard, honestly.



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guide #2 (i'll ask ti boss what his name was, i forget), warren, husband on the walk up



the "hard" part was an EXTREMELY steep stone staircase leading down to the falls. the railing had worn away and pvc piping had been added in parts, to form a makeshift rail. so again, this was a slightly rigorous exercise, but not that bad. i didn't take any photos because i was too busy concentrating on getting down without slipping.

once down, there was a minimal section where we had to climb over rocks and down some banks to get to the actual river area. but if i managed it, most people should be able to.

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after we got down to the river, we waded a VERY short distance (a matter of feet) in waist deep water, and then we were directly facing the falls. warren, who was dressed very nicely, scrambled over rocks and thus managed to stay dry.

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Fantastic photos!

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Originally Posted by 68Stang

Fantastic photos!

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thank you!

i recently re-fell in love with my hipstamatic app, and the artsy fartsy goodness it provides.

i'm using my iphone, shooting a combo of hipsta photos and photos with an app called camera+.

I am totally enjoying your reports and pictures !

ti boss confirmed that guide #2 is named Garnett. our original guide is named theodore. he has an instagram- @t bone.

we spent about an hour and a half at the falls, swimming, skipping rocks, drinking beers, talking and laughing.

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warren, keeping dry


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theodore, husband, ti boss



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ti boss and garnett, looking for rocks to skip

the water was cool and refreshing or freezing and refreshing, depending on who you asked. i found it cool.