Jamaica Tours, Guides and Vacations

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

If you are in Negril and searching for a great deal on some souvenirs to take back home then look no further than the City Center by the roundabout and Coral Seas Shopping plaza which is located across the street from Burger King in the center of Negril. There on the ground floor beneath the Digicell center you will find Sona Duty Free Shopping Center which offers great prices on everything from tshirts and trinkets to a selection of fine jewelry, liquors and cigars at discount prices and duty free.

Shop keeper Rocky has been in the same location for 15 years providing visitors to Negril a wild selection of Jamaica t-shirts and other clothing items so you can carry your Irie feelings back home with you. Lots of first time Jamaica vacationers find a taste for some of the islands special treats such as fine Blue Mountain Coffee and Jamaica’s Appleton Rum they can’t fill at home so Rocky has a selection of the most popular liquors in the right sizes for international transport so you can just breeze through the airport with your new favorite drink in hand.

For those of you that enjoy a good smoke you can also pick from some of the best cigars in the world with both Jamaican and Cuban cigars for sale. Cuban cigars are of course not legal for sale in the US but they are offered here in Jamaica and they seem to be very popular with many of our guests. You can buy the cuban cigars for smoking here in Jamaica but you CANNOT buy Cuban cigars to take back with you. Save that for the high quality Jamaican cigars which are said to offer the same flavor and smoking experience as the cigars from Cuba.

Whatever you’re looking for Sona is an excellent choice for Jamaican souvenirs and gift shop items located in the center of Negril. Stop by and say hello to Rocky while you do some shopping in Negril.

Jamaica offers some unique travel adventures and scuba diving the Caribbean Sea is one of the more popular sports vacations in Jamaica.

The Caribbean is well known as a dive destination with hotspots like the Cayman Islands and Cozumel Mexico just a short distance away. Jamaica’s waters are not quite as nice as many of our neighbors but the diving is considered well worth the effort by those who venture out with a Jamaican dive shop on a proper trip to one of the many scuba dive attractions in the country.

Jamaica has a number of popular dive locations on the North Coast with both Montego Bay and Ocho Rios offering a wide range of great dive vacations. The Widows Maker Cave is the most popular dive in Mobay. The cave starts in about 35 feet of water and goes down to about 80 feet. Most people enter the cave at 80 feet and slowly rise through the cave to exit through a chimney 10 feet wide at the 35 foot mark and you can also go in the opposite direction by entering through the chimney and swimming down to the 80 foot depth. Ocho Rios has the wreck of the Kathryn which is a 140 foot Canadian mine sweeper from World War II which was sunk in 1991 by a Jamaican dive company as an artificial reef and dive attraction. Its a popular dive spot for first time wreck dives and intermediate divers looking for a new adventure.

Negril is the laid back side of the island but don’t let the image of beaches and bars fool you, there are a number of extreme adventures in and around Negril which is known for the best diving in Jamaica. Scuba diving is a dangerous activity which requires certification on specialized equipment before any reputable dive operation will take you out. There are different types of certification and even different organizations and standards that you can be certified with. PADI is one of the most popular diving certification programs and the standard here in Jamaica. Much of the diving in Negril is run from scuba shops at local resorts but the best diving in Negril is with a professional dive shop that caters to certified divers.

If you already have your dive certification you won’t want to tag along with the resort divers because they usually spend their time on easy dives. You’ll appreciate contacting an independent scuba dive operator like Negril Scuba which will be able to build a custom itinerary around your certification level and personalize your dive vacation.

Negril Scuba began as a small resort shop but has grown into a professional dive shop with three locations in Negril offering the best scuba diving in Jamaica. Owner David Wallace started running dives from his fathers resort, known in those days as Mariners Inn, after a guest told him that the diving in front of the property was “better than sex”. Today the property is known as Negril Escape but David still has his dive shop and they still run daily dives from the convenience of the resort for guests who book dive vacations.

Negril Scuba also offers two beach locations with boats taking dive trips to the best dive spots off Negril Beach including reef diving and night dives. Advanced divers usually opt for dives at locations such as “The Arches” and “The Throne Room” or one of the many wrecks in the area including an airplane and shipwreck. You can visit their website for a list of all the dive sites in Negril or just give them a call and book a dive vacation in Negril for your next adventure.

I’ve been pretty lucky with opportunities since moving here and over the last year alone I have met a lot of important people and done a lot of really cool things. The camera has been a great source of many of my opportunities and it was good to have to use for my latest super cool adventure to Kingston for the Private Party and Tribute for Olympic Gold Medal Winner and the Fastest Man in the World, the new king of Jamaica Mr. Usain Bolt.

Usain Bolt and his Triple Gold Medals have captivated the country and caused a gush of national pride to roll across Jamaica like a tidal wave of yellow, green and black. Nothing is more in fashion than wild use of the Jamaican national colors and almost everyone has their Jamaican flag flying somehow or someway. His amazing performance and bravado on the track have struck a chord with all Jamaicans and Usain Bolt is without a doubt the best thing to happen to the countries morale in a very long time.

I hope they don’t politicize it but I’m afraid it may be to late for that already. He received a personal phone call from Prime Minister Bruce Golding just after his World Record Breaking performance in the Mens 100M. I doubt the opposition parties Portia Miller had the same access to him in China.

So, I was riding in a van with my good friend Ras Slick and I picked up a Gleaner newspaper to read as we took a little trip up to Orange Hill. There was a full page ad on the inside of the front section with details on the week long tribute to the Jamaican Olympic team including two motorcades from the airport and around the island plus awards ceremonies, parties and all sorts of things. It should be noted that Negril was completely ignored in these celebrations but I understand they have plans of their own. The most interesting of these was the private party which would offer the best chance to meet people or the open event at National Stadium which should have been the largest single crowd.

Slick has a link that allowed him to request an invitation to the private party at Club Quad and he was able to grab tickets for us. I was glad to go just for the photo opportunities and to see the athletes up close but it turned out to a great club and a wicked party until the early morning hours. Usain seemed to enjoy himself and he spent much of the night dancing with his fans in a room full of people who loved him and what he had done.

I hope that Usain will make it over to Negril in December for a tribute event being considered here.

The wounds on my knees from my fight were pretty deep and once again I did not pay close enough attention to the fact one knee was becoming infected. I ended up with a pretty nasty hole in my knee from the fight and the infection became bad enough I needed an antibiotic.

I have decided I don’t want to take any more antibiotics so I decided to do some research online. I found that honey is a natural antibiotic and has been used for centuries to heal wounds and infections. I’d prefer any form of natural healing over prescrioption drugs so that sounded just like what I wanted and lucky for me I had a bottle of pure Jamaican honey to pour over my wounds.

The pictures here are the 3rd daily treatment and it looks much better than it did before the honey treatments. The honey cleared up the horrible infection in 4 days and the wound went on to heal just fine.

The pics below are big and show how nasty the wound was. It’s gross so be warned. They are a part of my collection of scars received in Jamaica.

This story is two months old now but I decided it was too funny not to post. It was a long summer. The kids and I had lunch at Jennys restaurant in Negril one afternoon. I drove down the cliffs from our home here on West End and ended up parked directly in front of the restaurant on the wrong side of the street.

While pulling away from the restaurant I had to leave with a large truck in the road in front of me. I saw a van coming down the hill and he saw me coming out. The idiot decided he could squeeze between me and the wall and ended up bumping my front bumper. I stopped instantly and barely had even moved. I was only traveling like 3MPH at the time of the accident.

The other driver came out with his arms swinging in the air and he was already cursing me. He walked over to my window and yelled to me that he was calling the police. I looked him in the eyes and said, “Go ahead call the cops. I have insurance”. He turned away from me and went back to his van where he reached in the window and came out with a machete. It was a nice long one and he proceeded to slap the windshield and side of my van with it. He was unaware the kids were in the van but he stuck the knife inside the rear window where the kids were and shook it around inside my van.

I did not even think about it. I started my van and drive off. I took back streets and ended up on the road to Sav. I decided to take the kids to the grocery store and we made an afternoon trip out of town. I made it back home at around 5pm and apparently just in time to meet with the lunatic cab driver who had somehow tracked me down to my apartment. This nut met me here at my home with a metal pole he found poolside.

This was a little too much for me and I took his road rage and added a double dose of my anger management to the situation, thats one dose per kid he endangered. I was glad to fight any ass who threatened me and my kids and then had the balls to bring it to my home. We battled in the yard for a minute or two. I took a whack with the pole over the head and shoulders that was hard enough to knock me on my knees but I was able to tackle him on the concrete and remove his weapon in the same motion. I did loose an inch of flesh on both knees as I landed on the sidewalk and he proceeded to drag me around a bit.

This guy was nuts and the only way I could get rid of him was to hurt him which I did not want to do. I ended up holding him locked on the ground until we agreed to go our separate ways. They called the cops who I was actually glad to see until they decided to try to blame me for the whole thing. They took me down to the Negril police department and tried to say I was going to be arrested for fleeing the scene of an accident. I told them I was forced to do so by a man with a machete. It got kinda heated after I told them I had expected this to be turned against me. I explained to them that in America its always the black mans fault and in Jamaica its the white guy. I am considered a white man by most people here and the cops normally try to blame me for things.

I told the lead cop there was no chance I would be treated fairly and he should just go ahead and do what he had too. I told him this was the second time I had been sat down in the same room with the handcuff chains hanging on the chair in front of me and for the second time I sat in the station as a victim while the criminal walked free. I asked him how a man could attack me with a knife and I should be arrested for running away.

After quite a bit of loud talk and explanation on my part I was released with no arrest. They decided to drop everything and leave well enough alone. I think it was the blood running down my leg and all over the floor that set them straight but I’m not sure still. They may have simply been tired of my mouth as most Jamaicans will after awhile.

Look for some pics and more as I heal my wounds with a natural antibiotic in the next blog post.

It could only be more perfect if the name were Alfie’s Paradise instead of Benjii’s Paradise but sadly Benjii got there first and made it his place before the rest of us found out about the river head of the Roaring River and one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been.

It’s a perfect place to be by yourself and appreciate the natural world around you. The sound of gushing water as the river comes bursting out of the ground is as relaxing as the cool crisp waters where you can get a fresh drink while you swim.

There is not much to say about the place except that it is a place where you can spend a day loving the beauty of nature and the sounds of birds and the mountain breeze blowing through the palm trees. Benjiis is past the Roaring River attraction and well beyond where the tour bus stops. It’s a tough steep drive that on a pretty bad Jamaican road but it is well worth the 45 minute drive from Negril and a great way to spend an afternoon alone if possible or at least with close friends or family.

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.