Jamaica

Warning:

Crapload of Nothing ahead.

No Poker Content.

NO NUDE BEACH PHOTOS.

Get over it.

It's that time of year - that time when the pasty white people from the northern latitudes flock to the Caribbean in hopes of seeing some sunshine and maybe even catching a dose of sun poisoning.

We headed out on Easter Sunday morning for our mostly uneventful flights to Montego Bay. The 1.5 hour bus ride to our hotel was stomach churning to say the least. The weather was horrid when we landed: overcast and raining. It would be the theme for the week unfortunately. Every day about noon it would start to cloud up and rain. Some days it didn't let up until near sunset.

When the sun was out, though, it was paradise.

Our little home away from home. Turns out they had overbooked the room we had paid for so they put us up in this two story, two bedroom, two bathroom with full kitchen condo unit!

Luckily we were up early and on the beach when the sun was up until lunchtime. Then we would dive for cover. We did get satellite tv in the room even if it was mostly cricket. The kids learned how to play it and then found a cricket paddle on the beach. They ended up playing cricket daily in between vollyball, tennis and swimming.

While the facilities were dated and showing their wear the property was stunning. They had a main beach, an adult beach, a snorkling cove with caves in addition to the beach bars.

Perhaps the best thing about this place was the all inclusive bar! Woooooot! I managed to drink myself silly: Miami Vices, Pina Coladas, Strawberry Daquiris, Dirty Bananas, Hummingbirds, Rum and Diets, Gin and tonics, and let's not forget Red Stripe!

We did two excursions the first of which was a 3 for 1 starting with the Black River tour, then the YS Falls and ending with the Appleton Rum Estate. The black river was awesome! The crocodiles were HUGE and very quiet. We spotted this guy as well as a spear fisherman on the river.

YS falls was very pretty. They had a lot of rope swings for the kids to play on.

The sunsets were spectacular.

The trees and plants were so varied and unusual. I took a walk every morning and evening looking for good photo opportunities. I was always pleased to find several good candidates waiting for me. I took so many different shots of this tree - you can see all the pictures in the picasa album.

Perhaps the most unusual sitings were the plethora of these I saw while there:

Jamaica was spectacularly beautiful when the sun was shining. The natives were very nice and that accent was entertaining. However, it is sickening how poor this country is overall. For a country that has been a part of the European community for so many hundreds of years it hasn't been able to break out of the cycle of poverty and corruption. It seems that they are really pushing hard to develop the tourism industry which is a double edged sword but I sure hope that they have good strong leadership to help them improve on their current situation.