We left off at day 4-6 in my last post. Like I said, we spent those days at a church convention. It was on an orange and sugar cane orchard. We ate so many oranges while we were there! They were delicious!
Late Saturday night (New Year's Eve) we headed in to Kingston, where we were going to stay at a friend's house. After we had unpacked, we headed to one of the near--by grocery stores to grab a few things for the next few days. Most of the stores would be closed for New Years Day the next day.
That night the music and fireworks were very loud and we didn't have much choice but to stay up til midnight to ring in the new year!
Day 7
We slept in and were in no hurry to get going after we got up. We just drank coffee and had breakfast. Then we just rested and relaxed. I had a really good book( America's First Daughter ) to read, so I was perfectly content!
The friends we were staying with made us a traditional Jamaican New Year's Day lunch, that we ate later in the afternoon. We had macaroni pie, bread fruit casserole, rice and peas, salad and they did have some jerk chicken. They were nice enough to make me vegan versions of everything but the meat and it was all so very delicious!
After our late lunch we headed to a place called Devon House, which was Jamaica's first Millionare's house. They had several shops there, bakery, coffee shop and an ice cream shop. The house itself was closed, but we got some goodies anyways! My family enjoyed the ice cream and I got a delicious coconut ice coffee!
Then we went back to where we were staying and made tacos for supper. It was nice to get some chips and salsa!
Day 8
We got up early and had our coffee while we waited for a friend of our friends to come by and take us to Boston Bay. He was on Jamaican Time, so we left later than planned. :) It was a 2.5 hour drive through the mountains on some pretty rough rodes! We got there in one piece, thank goodness!
It was lunch time when we arrived at Boston Bay, so our new friend found us a hole-in-the-wall jerk place to eat. It wouldn't have been our first pick, from the look of the place, but it turned out to be just fine! I had some delicious roasted Yams and a native fried bread called Festive, which we all fell in love with!
Then we walked over to the beach at Boston Bay, which wasn't free but it wasn't too expensive. The beach was small, but really soft and not rocky at all! Most importantly, the waves were really good, since we wanted to play around on a surf board a bit!
My Dad, siser and I swam out to a near by cliff that had a place to jump off of it. We didn't jump, but a lot of other people were. It didn't look that deep, but if you hit a wave then you'd be fine! We took the GoPro with us and got some cool pictures!
The water was nice and warm and we all had so much fun playing the the sand, waves and just relaxing on the beach. We just sat on our towels and took turns sitting with our stuff, to make sure nothing was stolen!
There were showers there, so we changed into dry clothes before we got on the rode back to Kingston. We had to drive in the dark, so it was slower going, but we made it back safetly.
For dinner, we heated up leftovers and then went to bed shortly afterwards.
Day 9
On this day, we got up early again and went to the grocery store for sandwich making supplies. We packed a picnic lunch and headed in to the Blue Mountains. We wanted to do some hiking, but the rodes were really muddy and our van couldn't make it up the rode. Turning around proved to be tricky, but we made it!
We got down the mountain, went home to eat our picnic and grab beach gear, and then headed to a near by beach. The beach wasn't the best, there was a lot of seaweed and the water was cloudy, but it was nice to sit on the beach and listen to the waves!
We went back to the Devon House for supper. We grab food from the bakery and on site restuarant as well as some ice cream and ice coffee! I had a delicious mango smoothie, which was refreshing! Then we headed home and just relaxed the rest of the evening!
Day 10
We got an early start after breakfast because we were heading to Ochos Rios to climb Dunn's River Falls! We met some more friends at the bus station and took them along with us.
We arrived at the falls, bought our tickets and got ready to climb the falls! Some of us had water-prood shoes on already, but for those who didn't, you could get some pretty cheap.
We rented a locker to keep all of our stuff in while we climbed the falls. At the base of the falls was a beautiful beach!
The water was pretty cold, but we got used to it quickly. My little brother (4 yrs) was able to do 80% of the climb and it was fairly easy for the rest of us.
After we climbed, we ate a picnic lunch and played in the beach. The water was nice and warm compared to the Falls. The water was beautiful!
We climbed the falls one more time before showering, changing into dry clothes and leaving. We all agreed that it was one of the best things we had done the whole trip!
We stopped back at the bus station, where there were some shops and walked around for a bit. We bought a few things to take back with us before heading back to Kingston.
We had curry and rice for supper and then spent the evening just chatting with our friends!
Day 11
This was our last day in Kingston, so we wanted to see a bit more of that side of the island. After we slept in and packed our suitcases, we drove to Port Royal and walked around Fort Charles. Some of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies were actually shot there! It was rather warm and very sunny, but there was a small museum to go through. We had a tour guide that told us the history of the Fort and it was pretty interesting!
The Giddy House sunk into the ground after an earthquake. It was pretty cool to go inside!
After we finsihed at the fort, we went to Gloria's for lunch. The food was good, but the service was very slow even for Jamaica's standards! After lunch we drove back to where we had stayed and loaded up our suitcases and said goodbye to our friends.
It was about a 2 hour drive to where we were spending our last night, between Montego Bay and Ochos Rios, a place called Falmouth. We rented an AirBnB house that was on a small private beach. The house was really neat!
As it was getting dark we drove to Glistening Waters to eat supper and swim in the water that has glowing phosphorus in it. The food was okay, nothing special. The water was pretty neat, but the pictues didn't do it justice! We took a boat out to get to deeper waters and swam around for a little while. It was a great experience!
Then we headed back to our house and spent our last night in Jamaica!
Day 12
Since our house was close to a beach, we got up early and walked down to the beach and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful!
Our AirBnB house. It had rooms and beds for all of us, so no one was on the floor! It even had a porch on the roof that was very cool!
My beach find! It was a gorgeous shell and thankfully it made it home!
We had some coffee and stopped for breakfast things at a grocery store before heading to the airport. We turned in the rental car and went through checking our bags and secruity. There were some duty free shops in the airport some we got a few last minute things to take home. I got 3 jars of guava jam....yeah, I know, but trust me, if you taste it you'll understand!
Then we boarded our plane and said goodbye, for now, to Jamaica!
So that was our 12 day trip to Jamaica. We all loved it so much and can't wait to go back. It was so nice to escape the cold weather of TN for some warmer weather and sunshine! I would encourage anyone and everyone who can to go at least once in their lifetime!
I hope you have enjoyed this post and Part 1 of my trip to Jamaica. Hopefully you can find it helpful if and when you travel to Jamaica!
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Stay Healthy, Happy and Laughing!
Hannah
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