After the party, we only had one day left to make the most of Jamaica’s beauty. Best of all, we didn’t have to go too far – since Jenni’s house is parked right on the beach, we took the opportunity to head out for some snorkelling, one of my absolute favourite things to do!

The water was beautiful and clear, and more importantly, for the first time in our trip it was also extremely still! Jason has an underwater housing for his camera, so we managed to get some cool photos.

There was a little pontoon about 100 metres off shore which we often swum out to for a rest in the sun. At one point we had eight of us out there! Of course, it also made for an awesome platform to dive off!

In the afternoon, we moved from the beach to the pool, where Kristy found the water a little chilly. We all thought she was crazy – it was lovely and warm, and at least two degrees warmer than the ocean! Anyway, we didn’t want her feeling cold for too long, so we all generously offered to give her a big warming group hug – three on the front, two on the back.

It was extremely sad to watch the sun set, not only because it meant we’d soon be saying goodbye to our extended family, and to Jamaica – but that we’d be getting up at 3:45 AM to do so. (Our flight was at 7 AM, and the airport was about an hour’s drive away.) Still, it was a gorgeous evening, and the perfect way to finish up our holiday.

We managed to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight, and all with only one run-in with the local police (we were rather glad they didn’t issue us with an “on-the-spot fine”). Our trip back to London included a long layover in Miami, where we sadly had to say goodbye to Jason and Susan as well – they were off to finish their honeymoon, Vegas style.

Our trip home was definitely the worst part of our holiday – a seven hour flight from Miami to London, arriving around 6 AM, and then straight to work afterwards. I sat there for a number of hours feeling dazed, and thinking, “10 hours ago, I was in Miami”. Talk about a shock to the system!

More photos from the trip in the Jamaica album, and also on Jason and Susan’s site – Negril, and the day after party.

The main reason for our visit to Jamaica was to celebrate Uncle Martyn’s 70th birthday. He’d organised a massive party for over three hundred people, at an old youth-camp site, right on the beach. Uncle Martyn and Jenni gave us an opportunity to get intimately acquainted with the site beforehand, by getting us to help out with the setup. We moved some tables and chairs around, and Jason and Susan offered Jenni some of their event planning advice; but Dani was the real star of the show, weaving palm fronds into a nice roof for the food huts!

It was extremely hot in the sun, so it didn’t take long to work up a sweat. One of the locals cut us some fresh coconuts – turns out coconut water is extremely good for you, as well as being extremely tasty! And fresh coconut jelly is better than eating ice-cream! (Well, better than coconut ice-cream, anyway.)

The party started mid-afternoon, and we rocked up around 4 PM to find the place already filling up. It was a bit strange being the “delegates” for Mom, as heaps of people kept coming up to us and saying things like:

Lady: Are you Kay’s son?
Me: Errr, yes, yes I am.
Lady: Oh! That’s wonderful! I’ve known Kay since she was 3 years old!
Me: Wow, that’s quite a while!
Lady: Ohh, yes. You’ll have to tell her that I said hello!
Me: Err… ok… and you are… ?

By this point though, most of the people had unhelpfully walked away. Later on, I figured out a better tactic – as soon as someone started talking to either Jason or I, we took a photo with us and them to later send to Mom for facial recognition. I’m not sure how well it worked, but I maintain that it was a solid idea. On the upside, it was fantastic to catch up with so much of our extended family – some who we had never even met before!

The party itself was a roaring success. Uncle Martyn had arranged heaps of food, including jerk chicken, jerk pork, tempura prawns, fried conch (tastes kind-of like calamari), and prime rib. It was a vegetarians worst nightmare, so suffice to say we were in flavour country – and it’s a big country!

As the alcohol flowed, the dancing began, and sooner or later just about everyone had a stint on the dancefloor. Young Sam and Dani were rather obviously the best dancers – so much so, they somehow developed a cult following of children – but it was great to see everyone giving it a whirl.

By 11 PM, things seemed to be winding down a bit, and we turned in about half-an-hour later. I’m sure that some of the “hardcore” folks would have been there until the wee hours of the morning, but at that point we were certain that Uncle Martyn would get his birthday wish – that we’d all wake up with a hangover. Yes, really, that’s what he asked for.

Some more photos from the evening in the photo gallery.

The only thing we had slated for Friday was to climb up Dunns River Falls. Kristy and I visited them on our last trip to Jamaica, but we were discouraged from climbing up due to the throbbing mass of people that were there. This time however, we were more determined! Cousin Natalie told us that you actually don’t need a guide, which was great news – walking up a waterfall and holding hands with a line of strangers wasn’t quite as appealing as trekking it up ourselves.

Things didn’t start out on the right foot when we awoke to find it bucketing down with rain.

Now I know what you’re thinking, and yes, we did realise that climbing up a waterfall would have made us wet anyway. It’s more that we were worried about flash-flooding; the last thing we wanted was a massive surge of water to make us lose our footing and knock us to our watery graves! But as I said earlier, I was determined to do the climb, so off to Dunn’s River Falls we went!

We arrived to find the falls absolutely teeming with water – Natalie, who has been there many times, said it was the quickest she’d seen them flowing. She and Dani, along with Jason and I, were the only ones in our group of eight to brave the climb from start to finish; Kristy joined in for about half of the climb as well!

I was so glad we did it – it was an awesome experience, and so much fun! I’d go so far as to say, it was one of the best things I’ve ever done – right up there with swimming through sinkholes that we did in Mexico. Absolutely awesome!

Needless to say, we easily made it all the way to the top, after about half an hour of climbing. Some of the rocks were quite slippery, but for the most part it wasn’t too difficult – after all, some of the guides run up so effortlessly, they make the rocks look like a staircase! Amazing!

(Thanks to Jason and Susan for the photos – more available in Jason’s photo album.)

On Thursday, after breakfast (Ackee and Saltfish and Johnny Cakes) and a swim at Negril, we checked out of Country Country and drove to Coral Cove – Jenni’s home in Discovery Bay. To cure our driving munchies, we stopped twice for patties – once in downtown Negril, and once in Falmouth, where we felt rather out-of-place for being the only white people in sight. Jamaica has two major patty chains – Tasty Patties, and Juicy Patties – and we were fortunate enough to have one of each. Jason and I both agreed that Juicy was the nicer of the two!

Coral Cove can only be described as “paradise” – a gorgeous three bedroom house, complete with a full complement of staff, a huge outdoor living area, massive backyard, two pools, and a private beach complete with straw bungalows.

Coral Cove

Needless to say, we weren’t going to be doing it too tough whilst we were staying there!

Uncle Martyn and Jenni put on a feast that evening to welcome us all to Jamaica. By this time, heaps of other friends and relatives had arrived, including Uncle Ray (Martyn’s brother), Natalie and Dani (Ray’s daughter and grand-daughter), Neil (Ray’s son), and Margaret Ann and her brother Douglas – who I’d never met before, and I’m not entirely sure how I’m related to; first cousins once removed, I think.

We partied in true Jamaican fashion – with lots of authentic food (ox tail curry, yum!) even more authentic rum. It was a perfect start to Uncle Martyn’s birthday weekend!

Our journey from London to Jamaica was about as painless as it could have been. It’s been years since I’ve been on an almost empty plane but that’s exactly what our flight from Heathrow to JFK was – all the folks in the middle seats had five seats to themselves! We overnighted at an airport hotel in New York, and might I say, the Marriott Hotel provided us with the softest, most comfortable bed that I think I’ve ever slept in.

We arrived in Montego Bay around 2 PM on Wednesday afternoon, and headed straight to Scotchies for jerk pork and chicken, and some Red Stripe.

Jerk chicken and pork at Scotchies

It took us almost two hours to get from Mo’bay to Negril, which is on the south-west coast of the island. The first thing we did after checking in to our hotel was go straight to the beach to watch the sunset. And boy, were we treated to a show!

Sunset at Negril

Well, you only turn 70 once, and it’s one of those nice round numbers which justifies you making all your family and friends travel to you to help celebrate the occasion. My Uncle Martyn just happens to be claiming that privilage this year, and for precisely that reason, Kristy and I are heading out to the airport tonight to begin a little jaunt back to Jamaica.

Our flights will only take us as far as New York tonight, but unfortnately since we get in so late and then leave so early in the morning, we’ll be staying in an airport motel (rather than heading in to Manhattan). Tomorrow, we’ll jump on a connecting flight – the same one as Jason and Susan will be on, no less – down to Montego Bay, where the party will begin!

You can keep the snide “Do you guys ever work?!” type comments to yourself. We’ve heard them all.

People always say “no pain, no gain”, and we seem to prove that to be true when we travel. After another ridiculously early morning, and a very full flight, we landed in Jamaica around midday Saturday. And the first thing we noticed – it’s hot and humid here! Our jeans were entirely inappropriate!

Anyway, the locals here are very friendly; we were offered at least 4 taxi rides before we’d even left the airport! Though I suspect the folks were trying to take advantage of us, since we looked like tourists – but of course as soon as I hit them with a, “no mon, we gotta lift, alright” – they quickly realised my Jamaican heritage and left us alone!

But I wasn’t lying; we really did have a lift – Uncle Martyn and Jenni were there to greet us as soon as we exited the airport, around 1PM local time. Our first stop – lunch at Scotchies, a local outlet for jerked goods – chicken, pork, fish – and some delicious thingies called “festivals”. Yum!

After lunch, Uncle Martyn had an appointment with “Bird Bush” to go hunting, so wifey and I accompanied Jenni for a drive back to her place at Discovery Bay. On the way we stopped at Rose Hall, an old estate home previously lived in by Annie Palmer – who, if you believe the rumours, knocked off several (13, maybe?) of her husbands! There’s a tree planted for each husband at the bottom of the estate.

Next it was a quick stop in Martyn’s old hood, a little town called Falmouth, where we picked up some patties (a Jamaican original consisting of spiced meat inside pastry – delicious) for dinner. Unfortunately it was raining pretty heavily at this point, so I didn’t get to take a photo of Falmouth – but suffice to say that the local architecture and residents are somewhat more colourful than what we’re used to!

We were fairly amazed when we got to Jenni’s house – or should we say, Jenni’s resort? It’s a lovely open-air styled cottage, is built on a harbour (which we promptly had a swim in), has a pool (very warm, much to wife’s delight), and it’s fully staffed by some lovely locals. Sound too good to be true? Check out the back yard:

Yes folks, those are thatched gazebos that you see in the distance. So, we’re in the process of trying to work out how we get a piece of this action for ourselves. They have ADSL here, so working from home would definitely be an option. We’d just have to get all our family and friends to move over as well… who’s interested?