Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations

Ok, we recently passed 2 years that we have been living in Negril Jamaica and although I have considered doing this post for quote some time I am just getting around to discussing the cost of food at the grocery stores in Negril and what your options are for value or how to extend your food budget while living in paradise.

I would guess that the primary reason I never got around to writing much about the cost of food in Negril is that it’s never been such an issue to save on my grocery bill as it has been this year. When we arrived in July of 2007 we had no idea what it would be like living here and we made a lot of mistakes with the currency exchange and with the cost of certain foods in the grocery stores in Negril. There are huge differences in shopping in Jamaica that I will not get very detailed with but suffice to say you will not have much of a selection of anything and those foods that are familiar to you from shelves in America will most likely cost you quite a bit more than they did back home.

Snack items like Doritos chips and Chips Ahoy cookies are just crazy and I have seen a regular size bag of Doritos marked at about $8 US in the Hi Lo grocery store. That’s just nuts if you ask me but we paid it once or twice even before noticing how much it was. Many of the stores in Jamaica do not place pricing labels on the items and it can be a serious sticker shock when you realize the cost of items like a box of imported cereal or a skinless chicken breast which can go up to as much as $960 JA per kilo or about $11 US. You can buy 2 whole frozen chickens for that kind of money if you know how to shop and you’re able to do a little bit of labor on your own.

In Jamaica the grocery stores do not provide the same level of services that you find in most American grocery stores. There are no deli cut meats other than some prepackaged and overpriced items shipped from overseas and those stores that do cut meat charge a fortune for the service. The current rate for chicken by the pound runs from between $170 to $190 JA per pound for Grade A whole birds from companies like Best Dressed Chicken and of course prices go up if you want just breast, legs or thighs. In Jamaica they eat the whole bird and you will find chicken backs and chicken feet are actually incredibly popular for use in soups and stews.

In Jamaica chicken soup will often be chicken foot soup which is a bit shocking for your first experience. I will not soon forget looking into that steamy cup of soup and seeing a foot with toes sticking up in the air as if someone dunked a chicken in there upside down. I controlled my gag reflex and moved past it but I did remove the offending appendage and not consume it.

I do not eat feet. It’s an odd rule maybe but one I stick to firmly. I don’t do pigs feet, cow foot or goat feet either. I am an equal opportunity hater. I will not be sucking the meat off a chickens toes now or any other day of my life. They peel the skin and wash them well but no amount of heat and spices can cover the fact that chickens spend their lives walking around in chicken shit an I am not sucking its toes!

So what do we do? Well as a family of four we have the ability to consume a whole bird rather effectively and we no longer purchase parts unless we want to really save. At the Value Master which is located in the shopping center located adjacent to the Negril Round About or Town Square they have daily chicken specials with chicken parts usually running at around $150JA per pound or about $1.80 US which is actually the cheapest I have ever seen chicken sell for anywhere in Negril. You get a mixed bag of parts with no choice in how it is delivered but it’s a good deal when you are on a budget or strapped for cash. A kilo or just over 2 pounds serves us well for dinner and we have been having fun trying new ways to cook it including brown stew, curry and I have even come up with my own jerk chicken that is much more moist and flavorful than most of the pan chicken you can buy in the area.

A quarter serving of jerk chicken with a slice of bread goes for about $300 to $350 JA from most pan or jerk chicken shacks everywhere in Negril. I can buy a kilo of chicken which I wrap in aluminum foil to retain the juices and marinate in a basic jerk seasoning before tossing them on the fire outside. It’s much better and not as dried out as much of the jerk chicken is around here. We eat more than just chicken and in fact we have been eating a lot more fish than we ever did.

A standard size can of jack mackerel in tomato sauce costs about $160JA if you chose either the Lasco or Grace brands when you serve it over a nice big plate of black beans and rice with maybe a side vegetable it’s another great family meal for less than $5 US. A can of tuna from Brunswick can cost as little as $75JA and as much as $180JA for premium brands. Frozen seafood is pretty standard in most places with the Rainforest Brands of packaged fish being the more popular. They import lots of fish I never heard of before I came here including bangamary and others that are available at around $240JA per pound and they do stock Caribbean varieties such as kingfish in slices which run about $250JA per pound or maybe you prefer a whole red snapper which goes for about $350 per pound. Fresh fish is available regularly from a number of places including the small fishermans beach near MiYard but the fish most locals eat are unacceptable to me and I generally find myself buying imported frozen cuts from the local markets.

I was raised in South Florida and we never ate things like parrot fish, jack crevalle, goggle eyes, pufferfish, blue tangs, blue head wrasse or even sting rays and I see those on the menu every day around here. I was also shocked to see the size of most of the fish eaten are less than the length of your hand and some are as small as the length of your finger. It made no sense to me until I realized that the nearshore waters are completely overfished and devoid of anything but these less desirable fish. You rarely see things like nice size yellowtail, grey or mangrove snapper except for one or two places around here it seems. I rarely see nice cuts of salmon or other common fish and most of what you find comes from the Caribbean with the exception of codfish whihc is so popular here for ackee and saltfish breakfast. Some of the fish locals eat are a downright crime and someone should stop them. As an example my 4 year old barked out to a local fisherman passing by in his canoe to “gimme a fish mon” and the rasta tossed a baby grouper to him that was no longer then the length of my hand and more likely to be found in a fish tank in American than on someones dinner plate. So long as they continue to eat these baby fish there will be no future for the fishing in the area and sadly I think its only going to get worse before it ever gets any better.

You can find fresh fish on the seaside near the bottom corner of West End Road just past First Choice Grocery or “China Mans” as it is commonly referred or directly across from the SeaView Corner Bar where there are some shade trees with benches lined up on the seaside of the road where you will often find a salesman with a load of nice big fish he sells for some of the larger boats that travel to deeper waters. He often has a couple larger fish but he always wants too much money for them and I have trouble with the fact I have seen him out there peddle the same fish all day and on occasion for two days. It’s like 90+ degrees outside and he has about a cup of ice in a bucket full of fish some days that wreak to high heaven. Be careful.

Lobster, crab and octopus are also popular seafoods here but none of them are on my list as I simply do not care for them. I especially do not like the lobster nor do I understand the popularity of such a tough meat. I don’t mind a lobster tail in butter with garlic but it has to be more than a bite size piece to tempt me and I cannot see the sense in paying so much for so little. I don’t think I have ever seen a stone crab or blue crabs in Jamaica and most of what they eat are what we called toilet crabs or swamp crabs that lived in the mangroves back in the Florida Keys. There is a large hole in an empty lot thats usually full of goats and every summer a bunch of these crabs come out into the streets and neighborhood in search of food or water I suppose and Jamaicans snatch them up and have a feist on them.

We do eat three meals a day and it’s not always a big dinner. For breakfast we have taken things back to the old days I suppose. My kids love pancakes and Aunt Jemima was like a real family member to us in a lot of ways. Her face has graced the packages of our breakfast meals for many years now but it was easier than I thought to walk away from her and that we have done. We used to eat a box of pancake mix per week and of course wash it down with a bottle of Aunt Jemima Pancake Syrup which is little more than flavored corn syrup and not as healthy as you may think. What are your options? Well we now purchase the raw ingredients and mix our own whole wheat pancake mix and we prefer Jamaican organic honey over corn syrup products. A one pound bag of whole wheat flour is like $80JA or about $1US and we can make a lot of pancakes with that and a liter bottle of honey runs about $500JA and lasts at least two weeks where a bottle of syrup is $350 and lasts less than one week,

We get creative with the pancakes as well and mix up everything from bananas and plantains to fresh mango and even strawberry jam or orange marmalade if we don’t go with the usual honey over wheat cakes. Not much for blueberry or blackberry here in Jamaica and you can even forget about finding fresh strawberries for most of the year. Be careful when you do find them as you will be shocked at what they cost. I paid almost $15US for one small basket of not so fresh strawberries t Hi Lo when we first arrived because I did not price check them and we had eaten the entire basket before we even walked out of the store. It’s hits like that that kill the grocery budget. We also eat more oatmeal, green banana and peanut porridge and even my oldest son and most picky eater AJ will sit down to a bowl of oatmeal and peanut porridge with a drizzle of honey over the top. The peanut porridge is a favorite of mine and has been since I had my first hot cup full many years back. It’s always better when you buy fresh made from a cook shop or maybe rasta road side stand but we eat a prepackaged porridge from Creation Foods thats almost as good if prepared properly. Creation Foods makes a number of organic products that we are now eating and I’m happy that it not only lowered the cost of groceries but has improved our diet as well. You can’t beat that can you?

Shopping in Negril is expenisve and most of us that live here now shop in Sav La Mar which is about 30 minutes away by taxi or bus or about $300JA if you take the route taxis. There are a number of shops in Sav La Mar and D&Y is a popular spot down towards the end of Great Georges Road where there is also the open farmers market but I prefer the new Shoppers Fair which is adjacent to the roundabout and offers a nice new store with better inventory. D&Y is good for buying cheap meats and vegetables but Shoppers Fair has a much nicer selection of items and the prices are very competitive. I usually stop in at the patty shop out front before going shopping now because it saves me on munchies and snack items that I inevitably reach for as I cruise the grocery store.

You may ask about the price of other meats and I would not be the person to ask as I don’t eat much more than chicken or fish. I see lots of pork here and it seems reasonable priced but you do not see much beef here and I do understand what cuts you do find are low grade and very expensive. My good friend Rick tells me they eat mostly bull meat and they do not neuter the cattle here but I cannot confirm that. Checking in at the local Hi Lo I see they offer pork chops for about $350JA per pound, pork leg for under $300JA and pork spare ribs are about $500JA per pound. There was not much beef in the shop when I checked but they did have the chuck steaks pictured here for about $400JA per pound and oxtail for about the same price.

Jamaica is blessed with bountiful farm lands and an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables that you can find in many places across the island. Here in Jamaica we often get home delivery of fresh vegetables from local farmers who stop by once a week in their farm trucks. Find one that comes to your area and start a relationship with them for the best deals. We eat lots of farm fresh vegetables that we used in soups or steamed most often. We make a large pot of vegetable soup at least once a week with large pieces of irish potato, sweet potato, onions, peppers, corn, scallions and Jamaican pumpkin. When we buy a whole chicken we often take the chicken back, neck and wings and add them into a chicken soup that I may spruce up with an extra package of chicken backs you can get for about $200JA.

You can also get lots of fresh vegetables and fish at the open market in Sav La Mar which is usually best if you want to buy something in bulk. As an example you can buy large bushels of sweet potato, breadfruit, casava, oranges and other common Jamaican vegetables at discount prices. In Negril you can find a vegetable market in the alley alongside the Juici Patty shopping center just past the roundabout on the road to Sheffield where you can find fresh veggies and fruits like pineapple for $150JA or bags of oranges for $250JA and some delicious honey banana for $25JA each or 5 for $100JA and you are supporting a Jamaican farmer rather than the national grocers chain.

I’m proud to say we have kicked the soda habit and now drink less than one per month as a treat on occasion for the kids. If it were my choice we would never do that but I suppose they enjoy them still. All of us drink a lot of water because it can get hot like fire here especially in the summer and sticky sodas just don’t quench the thirst. I was able to explain this to the kids and they now request water or fruit juices with every meal and we don’t even drink the local Jamaican carbonated drinks which we had switched to from brands like Coca Cola and Pepsi which are less healthy and more expensive in most cases. Ting is made from Jamaican grapefruits and seems to be a little better for you than soda. I had the kids drinking those for quite some time as a soda replacement but these days we drink quite a lot more fruit juices. Tru Juice brands are the best and most natural juices available at about $500JA for a gallon of fresh Jamaican orange juice which we all love or any number of other juices available here including pineapple, banana, mango and the many mixes.

Here are some tips for anyone shopping in Jamaica. Be aware of the price you pay for any item before you reach the counter or have paid for it. Unlabeled items may carry high price tags and those of course are subject to change based on where you might be from and how much you might be able to afford. Also be careful to keep an eye on the bag boys. I know it sounds messed up but I have no doubt that they have stolen items from us before. It’s impossible for an item to get rung up and paid for but not make it home in the bags of groceries unless the bag boys has been taking things. We have had many different items come up missing and its usually some type of treat or candy that will not go unnoticed for long. Plan on shortages of staple items like milk and cheese like sour and cream which can disappear for as long as a week or more. If you have a craving for something special and you do find it in Jamaica then grab as much as you can because you never know how long it will be before you see it again.

My best advice for grocery shopping in Negril on a budget is to shop around at all the stores and start price checking things to make certain you get the best deal. If you plan to spend more than $100US per week than take the trip to Sav La Mar and save more money on your total grocery bill.

I answered some questions about medical care here in Jamaica and did a web search for help finding a listing of medical facilities in Jamaica and I came up with two great resources that I had to share here with everyone else.

The question I answered in the Jamaica forums was about having a baby in Jamaica but if you seek any kind of public or private medical facility in Jamaica you’ll want to take a look at these two websites.

JMMB :: JMMB Insurance Brokers

Jamaica Medical Directory

Blue Cross of Jamaica – Find a provider

Listing of medical facilities in Jamaica by parish

If you are planning on moving to Jamaica with medical conditions that require care you are going to want to make arrangements before you arrive. Jamaica has a number of holistic healing and wellness centers that offer a variety of natural healing treatments. For more details contact Sunset Heal

Technorati Tags: jamaica, jamaica medical, jamaica hospitals, wellness vacations, jamaica wellness

I love driving my van around Jamaica. It’s been about 10 months now I’ve had it and we have covered many many 1000’s of kilometers and nearly the entire country thus far. We have actually circled the island and spent time in most major cities. I can drive around Mobay, Ocho Rios, Negril and Kingston with no problem mon.

We have driven the South Coast route from Negril to Kingston a few dozen times now and I feel super comfortable taking this route. We have stopped at all the major attractions as well as most of the smaller ones in the last year and visited much of the South Coast Jamaica. I especially love the Bluefields and Treasure Beach areas. Mandeville seems like a nice place to chill with some of the coolest weather on the island.

The van has been a great asset and well worth the investment. I have had to put a few bucks into it to keep it running but besides my van insurance its been pretty cheap. The van insurance policy we started with was weak and basically it covers the legal crap we need. I’m looking for some new van insurance quotes online using a new service that I found at QuoteZone.com but I will most likely be forced to stick with the crap policy I have. I say its crap because it does not cover anything more than the other person and it costs a fortune.

I’ve been lost in the van at least once on every trip we take and to be honest I’m glad it happens. Most often we end up in some rather unique and interesting situations that could only be found by getting lost in Jamaica. From 100 head of goats taking up the road or an impromptu street festival that erupts around a sound system in the town square I have been in some places and seen some things that only only me and Jah seem to truly appreciate.

I love Jamaica and my van has been a great part of the experience. If you plan on spending any more than 6 days in Jamaica bring enough money to buy a car and just sell it before you leave. You’ll appreciate having one while you’re here and it may just change your life.

I came to Jamaica with the idea I would buy a car or van to take the kids places and to see more of the island during our trip and I am so happy I bought our 6 passenger Nissan Vanette that I already want another one for tours and so I can keep this one for just personal use. It was a little more than I wanted to spend at the time but in the end it worked out perfectly for us. We have been able to tour the entire island and meet some great people while seeing some beautiful places because of that van and we’ll see even more of it in days to come. It drives like a dream with a super smooth ride and the door arrangement is perfect for us as a family or for use as a tour bus and taxi cab. We get lots of folks looking at us for rides when we drive around in it but I rarely take the risk of picking anyone up.

I was prepared for driving in Jamaica with my Florida drivers license and an International Driving Permit valid here in Jamaica and like 30 other countries I think. It was quite the trick learning to navigate the roads of Jamaica and I have discovered lots of new things while getting lost in the bush. I have put quite a few thousand kilometers on the van and I would never have found great places such as Sunset Heal and made new friends like the owner Beatrice without it. I certainly don’t mind traveling off the beaten track to find gems like that and the van has made this happen for us. One piece of advice that has kept us safe was always keep your tank full because you never know just how lost you can get in Jamaica and the next gas station may be along way off.

When I insured the van with NEM insurance they told me I had 6 months to get a Jamaican drivers license so I bought a standard drivers license book and read through it once or twice. The test would be easy or so I thought. Driving on the left hand side of the road was odd at first but I’ve adjusted well and I have had quite a few Jamaicans comment on my good driving skills. My mom would be proud to see such an improvement over my teen driving years It must be the added responsibility of parenthood that keeps me more safe and aware on the roads now but learning to navigate this country with little to no road signage in every city was a different trick. My road map of Jamaica that I purchased from Amazon before we arrived has been of great help and of course my favorite guide on Jamaica has some nice maps and helpful suggestions as well. I brought the GPS along and have mapped some locations with it but I’m having trouble with integrating the maps into our blog still.

The paperwork necessary to own and drive a van here in Jamaica took me some time to sort out. After buying the van and clearing up the ownership documents I had to get a signature from a Justice of the Peace who could claim to have known me for at least 90 days. I found a man in Sav willing to do so after having just met me. He did it for free but I tipped him $500 Jamaican for his help and time because he went through and verified all of my documents and even signed off on my four Passport photos which I needed to supply for the drivers license. After the Justice of the Peace I was required to have a medical examination to prove I am physically and mentally fit to drive. I found a doctor in Sav and had a quick examination for $1,000 Jamaican dollars and she signed off on that for me. I guess having the $1,000 was enough proof of my mental state. Once I had the TRN and vehicle documents secured it was a matter of paying another $1,000 Jamaican for permission to take the drivers test and I thought it was to be over. I was wrong and of course in Jamaica things take longer because no one explains themselves and there is such a lack of information available. Most people in any kind of customer service position in this country need some serious job training with a focus on people skills and how to deal with the public. I have never seen so many rude people with the job of dealing with people as I do here in Jamaica and specifically government positions. They must be seriously overworked and underpaid to all have such an abrasive attitude so I pity most of them.

I now know there are two types of drivers license in Jamaica, Private and General. A private license is the basic license needed to operate a car or small personal vehicle. I have a 6 passenger van with the goal to have a red plate tag on it some day so I’ll need the General Drivers license which is more like a commercial drivers license. I asked what tests I would need to take while using my Florida drivers license to qualify and on my first visit for information to the Drivers testing depot in Sav La Mar I was mistakenly informed that I would only need to take the sign test, the yard test and the road test because of my use of my Florida drivers license as the qualifying document.

I was not made aware of what they call the mechanical test which goes in depth into the operation of the van and motor with details on things such as vehicle compression and motor functions and with questions like “On the compression stroke if a four cylinder motor what opens the valves?” or others about crankshaft directions in relation to the camshaft or something like that. I was lost. They showed me the test and I knew I would never pass it but the guy told me to take a chance so I did. I gave it a shot and came out with 14 correct from 22 which is failing. I needed 17 correct to pass. He tossed the test and told me to retake it at a later time. I’m going to have to go back after I have studied my new Jamaican Drivers Mechanical testing booklet which I purchased at Possessions bookstore in Sav La Mar for $250JA.

After taking the sign and mechanical tests I went ahead with the yard test because I could still finish that and the road test at this time. The yard test was pretty easy and consisted of me parking the van on an incline and taking off without rolling off the hill along with a simple reverse maneuver between some cones and parallel parking the vehicle on both sides within 18 inches of the curb. The yard is open to the public almost every day and if anyone needed to practice the course before hand it seems pretty easy to do.

When it came time to take the road test I was not aware that I had to bring a a licensed Jamaican driver with me but some fine Jamaican drivers are conveniently waiting there to ride with us for another $1,000 Jamaican dollars for their valuable time and skill set. I reluctantly paid the $1,000 to have a guy sit next to me as my driving instructor while the examiner sat in the back seat for the test. My instructor and I jumped in my van and drive down to the Mannings School entrance in Sav La Mar which is just up the road from the Driving Depot where the tests are administered and where they also do vehicle inspections. While we sat out front waiting for the examiner to arrive we talked some and the instructor told me I would most likely be asked to do the more difficult road maneuver from the handbook which was to turn around on a two way street using a minor road junction for the turn around.

It’s a pretty dumb move in my opinion because it forces you to reverse down a road in the right lane and turn in reverse into the minor road right hand lane before proceeding forward and turning left onto the major road from the left lane but I made sure to study the diagram provided in my manual before he arrived to be sure I understood the move. While executing my turn correctly another car turned into the minor road and stopped about 8 feet in front of me. After completing my reverse turn I came to face the driver in front of me and we both kinda sat there in a pause. Rather then sit still in the wrong lane facing the wrong direction about 40 feet before a road junction I chose to move around the car and proceed with my turn. My examiner told me to stop and then asked me what I was doing. He told me the other driver had the right of way and it was upon me to wait. I told him that it made little sense to sit there waiting for him to move when it was apparent he was waiting to see what I did. My examiner told me I failed on the spot and asked me to return to the garage. I was hot. I could not understand his logic in requiring me to sit in the middle of the right lane facing the wrong direction at a road junction while waiting for another car to move. I told him for safety sake it was best for me to get out of the road and if faced with that situation again I would act in the exact same way.

When we got back to the depot it took him about 5 minutes before he called me into his office and told me I failed and I would have to come back. I told him that was unacceptable and I wanted to speak with a supervisor. I told him I wanted to retake the test with some other more sensible person. I also accused him of splitting the $1,000 paid to his selected instructor and that brought a few others into the argument. Apparently even many Jamaican citizens are unaware of the requirement and they get caught up in it as well. I was given the chance to speak with a supervisor and the examiner in the room and after some pretty little drawings on a scrap of paper the supervisor called the instructor into the room. My driving instructor earned his $1,000 and told the supervisor he felt he would have done the same exact thing as I had done in my situation. He said we were at a stalemate of sorts and he felt it was on me to get out of the other cars way and on with my business. The supervisor called it a mistake in judgment by both parties and my only mistake in the test and passed me without really completing the driving test.

I went back and took the written mechanical test and got a receipt for my Jamaican Drivers License about 2 weeks late after memorizing the pre test questions to pass the mechanical portion of the test. The book and test were last updated in 1976 and there was little in there that actually related to my van or driving in Jamaica but I now have a General Drivers License which allows me to drive cars, trucks or vans anywhere in Jamaica. It took me over 4 months to receive my Jamaican drivers license and it has really helped me to understand just how screwed up things in this country can be. The bureaucracy, rigmarole and ridiculous red tape necessary to conduct any sort of business here really makes a mess out of things and must be the cause of some of the frustration amongst the Jamaican people.I understand that many drivers here never actually take the test and a large percentage of Jamaican drivers are forced to buy their license on the black market because some of them cannot read to take the tests and others simply don;t have the time or patience to take all these mundane steps to be able to drive.

Shipping a barrel from the US to Jamaica was relatively easy but picking up a barrel in Kingston was a separate matter. I have spent a considerable amount of time in Kingston and consider myself very familiar with the town layout and transportation systems. I have driven all over the city of Kingston and most outlying areas but for whatever reasons I have never spent a lot of time in or around the Kingston harbor and wharves. The port of Kingston is where most of the countries import and export takes place and some 70% of the the total goods imported are processed on the Kingston Wharves.

Our barrel was shipped over on an ocean going vessel and dropped off to Jamaica customs in Kingston harbor per our instructions. We could have picked up in Mobay or even had it delivered direct to our home here in Negril but we chose a road trip to Kingston instead and as usual I am glad we did. We had a great trip and the worst part of it was dealing with driving around the Kingston Wharves. It’s a pretty backwards system of one way roads and no signage that kept me spinning in circles quite a bit. I arrived on the first day with the wife and kids in tow but quickly realized I needed to come back on my own so I took care of the first step in paperwork and returned on my own the next morning. Things went much smoother at the harbor before 9AM and it is suggested you arrive as early as you can.

The first step in retrieving our barrel was to stop by the local office for Finlays Shipping which was only two blocks away from the harbor but one of the most difficult streets for me to find me. The Jamaican lady in the office kept giving me bad directions and it took me almost an hour to find it once I arrived in the general area. At Finlays I paid the $2,000 JA for local handling charges and received my Arrival Notice and Bill of Lading documents to be presented to Jamaica Customs agents. Finlays filled out all the necessary documents for me and made things quite a bit easier in doing so. I only had to make one simple modification to any of the paper work we received from Finlays in order for Customs to accept it and all the document transfers went pretty smoothly. I bailed out here and came back the next morning with the necessary documents in hand ready to deal with the Jamaican customs process all in one day.

I got to the docks at roughly 8:30 am and things we’re still kinda quiet. I grabbed a banana porridge and coffee from one of the many vendors in the area and hung out in front trying to catch a photo opportunity. The entire area is a security zone with no children and no cameras allowed. The first time I pulled up to the gates in the van I had my camera on the seat next to me and they told me I had to take it home. No cameras allowed. I came back with my smaller camera and was only able to grab the one shot above without being seen.

They have a special parking lot for individuals picking up imports and the parking lot attendants are the first to verify you have the proper docs before you even park. Once they let you in they will send you across the street to the clerk in the Customs Manifest Branch where your documents are processed. You have to present identification at this step and all persons receiving imports must now have a Jamaican TRN number as well. I paid roughly $2000 JA for this service to the Jamaican government and was sent over to the Warehouse manager who would find my barrel amongst all the others. The warehouse manager actually waited about 30 minutes while a number of us finished the first stages paperwork that morning and then he disappeared into the warehouse for about another 20 minutes before returning with everyones barrel on one flat trailer. All the barrels were lined up in front of rows of tables and each of us was told to stand before our barrel as we awaited the customs inspections.

Personal Imports information from the Jamaica Customs website

Persons to whom packages have been sent from overseas

1. Take your Arrival Notice, Bill of Lading and identification paper to the Freight Agent who is responsible for receiving and handling your goods.

2. The Freight Agent will process your papers and collect all fees due to them (not Customs import duties) and advise you when and where (wharf or warehouse) the package(s) will be available for inspection by Customs.

3. Take your documents (including Customs Form C78X) to the Wharf or
Warehouse at the appropriate time and present same to the clerk in the Customs Manifest Branch. The documents will be processed and returned to you.

4. Take these documents to the Wharf Authorities or Warehouse Keeper so that your goods can be located and placed in the Customs Examination area.

5. The Customs Officer may request that you open your packages for inspection.

6. After inspection of the goods, you will be sent to the Customs Cashier to pay the necessary duties and fees. On your return, after paying the duties and fees, the Customs Officer will issue the Customs Release.

7. The Customs Release should be taken to the Warehouse Keeper’s clerk who will supervise delivery to you of your packages.

The customs agents are fairly thorough in some cases I guess but they surely did not search my barrel at all. Not that I brought in anything illegal but I could certainly have carried a firearm amongst the many tools and other metal objects that walked right through untouched. I brought over a small tool chest full of hand tools and things and no one ever looked through any of it. I was open and honest and told them everything I shipped was my own used personal effects and they let me through pretty easily. Some Jamaican families shipped over lots of new commercial goods and they went over those guys much more thoroughly. It was obvious to me they were more interested in those shipments then they were in my crap.

My barrel was valued at just under $24,000 JA and my import duties were $3500. They underestimated by quite a bit. The total cost for shipping my barrel to Jamaica was about $170 for 260 lbs in a 55 gallon steel drum. I brought over a full tower pc with loads of accessories, a medium sized tool box of hand tools sockets and wrenches, power tools including a circular saw and a reciprocating saw, corded and cordless drill, most of my housewares and small kitchen appliances including my grind and brew coffee maker, a nice stainless steel wok and bamboo steamer, a counter top deep fryer and some new pots and pans I bought over the holidays and used at moms so they look old. We now have a complete kitchen and cooking is much nicer for us now. I grind and brew fresh coffee every morning and I’m loving our new place that much more. It really has become our new home and I can’t see any reason for us to ever leave this place.

Here are some relevant websites for you.

Jamaica Customs Website

Jamaica Customs Fact Sheet from E Jamaica

Finlays Ship to Jamaica