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 Doctor bird, Blue House
garden, Ocho Rios by toonsarah,
1 more photos
You’ll see many depictions of the Doctor Bird in Jamaica – a stylised image is used on the tail fins of Air Jamaica’s planes, and many other companies use it in advertising. But none of these images come close to the beauty of the real thing, with its iridescent colours and darting movements.
One of my favourite times of day at the Blue House was the early morning, when I would sit out on the terrace with a cup of Darryl’s strong coffee, grateful to Michael who always got up first and got the coffee machine going! The Doctor Birds too would be just waking up and flitting from flower to flower, while I tried (almost always in vain) to capture them with my camera. This is my best attempt of probably about 100!
Later in the holiday we went to the Bird Sanctuary at Rocklands (more on my Negril page) where we were able to get really close to and study these birds as they perched on our fingers to drink sugar water – what a special experience that was.
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Jamaica is a green and fertile island, and we saw many of the fruit and vegetables that we enjoyed at mealtimes growing beside the road as we explored. These included the bright red ackee fruits, which are only safe to eat when they have split to reveal the creamy yellow flesh inside; bananas; coconut and date palms; lemons; pineapple; calabash (used for crafts e.g. bowls, not to eat) and of course the famous Blue Mountain coffee.
In the gardens of Peter Tosh’s mausoleum in the south west of the island we were shown a more notorious crop, but one which is closely associated with Jamaican culture: cannabis.
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Even in February, which is reckoned to be the driest month, we experienced some rain, and with the rain in Jamaica you get the benefit of lush green countryside throughout the island. The Blue Mountains are well-known and rightly so – we loved the afternoon we spent here, with a tropical downpour adding atmosphere and dramatic views of Kingston below us. But there is plenty of lovely scenery to enjoy elsewhere too, like the green hills around Nine Mile, where Bob Marley was born and is now buried (photo 2) and Bog Walk Gorge on the road between Kingston and Ocho Rios.
One sight that struck me as very typical of the countryside here, and which will stay with me as a memory, is that of the smoke rising from all the small fires the locals build to burn their rubbish. That may not sound very picturesque or romantic, but the wisps of smoke lend atmosphere to the views and give photos more depth.
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It seems that no matter how poor or humble the building, Jamaicans will find a way of making it look better, usually with brightly coloured paint and eye-catching slogans. My favourite of those we managed to stop and photograph was this drinks stand at the top of Fern Gully just outside Ocho Rios (look for it on the west side of the road if you’re in the vicinity).
My other photos show a small roadside shop not far from Black River, a barbershop in Negril town, and a snack bar on Negril’s West End Road.
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US $ are widely accepted down here, many times prices are both in Jamacian and US currency. If you are going off the beaten path, you may find that you will need Jamaican currency but the only place we used it was a fast food place.
If you are using a private guide, they will take US currency, if you book trips through your resort they take credit cards.
We stopped at a grocery store to buy some coffee, they also took US currency and their machines are set up to take it. But they will give you back change in Jamaican currency.
If you are bringing USD, bring lots of small bills with you for tips for bus drivers, tour guides, bellmen, etc. and also for making purchases at the craft market. It's easier to negotiate if you are not flashing big bills around. Leave a Comment
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When traveling to Caribbean or Mexican resort areas, having tour guides, bus drivers, hotel staff, etc. not so subtlely ask for tips is common practice. I suspect that tips are a large part of their income, so when I get good service I always make sure to tip them generously.
On the other hand, I've been on enough of these types of vacations that if I don't feel like we've received good service that I don't feel obligated to tip.
Some of the mega resorts in Jamaica have no tipping policies but believe me they will accept them if offered. One of our bus drivers even told us that if we wanted to tip him we should do it before we got back to the resort because the resort required employees who received tips to hand them over to the resort. Leave a Comment
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Before I travel, I always like to see movies set in the location I'm traveling to or find a good book to read whether it be fiction or non fiction.
I can only think of one book that I've read featuring Jamaica which is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, fans of the novel "Jane Eyre" will recognize the main character, Mr. Rochester and his first wife, the mysterious woman in the attic in "Jane Eyre". A movie version of this book also exists.
Movies filmed in Jamaica that are also set in Jamaica include "Dr. No", the 1st James Bond movie ever with Sean Connery and Ursula Andress as "Honey Ryder" in that famous bikini (the author, Ian Fleming, had a house in Jamaica), "How Stella Got Her Groove Back", with Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs, which could be a travel commercial for the lush beauty of Jamica; "Cool Runnings" about the 1988 Jamaican bobsled team; and "The Harder They Come" a "blaxploitation" film set in Kingston with reggae artist Jimmy Cliff. Leave a Comment
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 Rasta Heads by Ray Chen by ultchukLeave a Comment
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 Fifty dollar bill by toonsarah
When we were there the exchange rate was 65 Jamaican dollars to US$1, so you can see that this fifty dollar bill is worth only about 80 cents.
If you don't want to bother changing money you can still do as we did and save the Jamaican dollars you'll be given as change in some places to use as payment in local bars and shops.
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 Dolphin's cove by tpangelinan
The video is very expensive, $80.00.
We swam on Mother's Day. It was pretty, and quiet that day. We had the buffet lunch for $12.95 per person. It was OK, resort food had us spoiled. Gift shop is loaded with dolphin-aila. Lockers are available.
www.dolphincovejamaica.com
Dolphin Cove Ltd.
P.O. Box 21, Ocho Rios P.O., St. Ann
Jamaica W.I.
Telephone: (876) 974-5335
email: info@dolphincovejamaica.com Leave a Comment
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