Negril, Miles of Beach

Posted on February 15, 2012August 4, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Ask anyone about Negril and the first thing they’ll mention is its beach. Nearly 5 miles long (though everyone claims it to be 7 miles) of unobstructed beach, it’s the place to go if you’re looking for the best white-sand beach and spectacular sunsets.

Negril straddles two of Jamaica’s western parishes – Westmoreland and Hanover – and hugs the coast from Bloody Bay (Hanover) to the lighthouse, in Westmoreland, which was built in 1894.

The lighthouse near the west end of Negril — Lighthouse, built in 1894

Along the rugged cliffs of the southwestern stretch in Westmoreland, the so-called West End, there are several underwater caves, restaurants and cottages and exclusive guest houses.

The northern end is home to the larger hotels and all-inclusives such as Couples, Riu, Hedonism II, Sandals by Beaches, etc.

The first time I visited Negril, I wasn’t yet in high school. The youth group I belonged to had our first camping trip there. Back then, Negril was a quiet place with a few houses, even fewer hotels, lots of land and sea crabs and its now famous beach.

Today, Negril still has the best stretch of beach in Jamaica. However, in the space of thirty years, it has been transformed from a tiny village to a bustling resort town with a mix of accommodation, an assortment of places to eat and an active night life. Negril however attracts couples, singles and families – some come year after year to this beautiful spot.

Beside the beach and the clear blue water of the Caribbean Sea, Negril is also known for its spectacular sunsets. As evening draws to a close, legions of visitors and locals alike flock to Rick’s Café, or one of the resorts on the water side, to watch the sun turn crimson and orange and purple before it disappears from view.

Getting to Negril:

Negril is about an hour and half’s drive from the Donald Sangster Airport in Montego Bay. You can also fly there from either the Montego Bay or Kingston airport.

Accommodation:

With more than 90 places, from luxury retreats at $500 or more to rooms for $50 a night, you are sure to find the perfect place to spend a night, or two, in Negril.

Soulful Sundays: RIP Whitney

Posted on February 12, 2012February 26, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

Last night, I heard the shocking news: Whitney Houston had died. I sat in total disbelief, glued to the television set, watching as the news scrolled across the ticker. Even after I saw the word was, as in Whitney Houston was….it didn’t feel real. No, Whitney Houston can’t be dead. But she was.

Whitney Houston, photo from the Internet

In the footage that played over and over, she looked vibrant, alive. Nothing in these images predicted this end. I thought she’d gotten it together. She looked so good the last time I saw a photo of her, much better than in that other photo – you know the one, when she looked emaciated and fragile.

We’ll never know what hurt she tried so unsuccessfully, so tragically to salve — not that we really need to know. Her loss will, no doubt, leave a gaping hole in many hearts, especially that of her mother, Grammy Award winning gospel singer, Cissy Houston, her cousin, Dionne Warwick, and her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, who also reportedly has her own substance abuse issues.

Whitney Houston, a mezzo-soprano, was born in Newark, NJ on August 9, 1963. She was a model, singer, actor and producer. With 415 awards, Whitney has been recognized more times than any other female artist. Her awards include two Emmys, six Grammys, 30 Billboard Music, and 22 American Music Awards. She has sold more than 200 million albums and singles.

Whitney holds an honorary doctorate from Grambling State University in Louisiana. She has seven albums and four movies to her credit including the hugely successful, The Bodyguard, that was the second highest-grossing film worldwide in 1992, Waiting to Exhale and The Preacher’s Wife. Her fourth and final film, Sparkle, now in post production, is scheduled to be released in August. Whitney has also appeared in television shows and in several commercials.

Singers like Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Toni Braxton, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson and many others acknowledge Whitney as an influence.

Here’s Whitney singing Saving All My Love For You and I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Rest in Peace, Whitney!

Travel Photo Thursday: Sunrise, Sunset

Posted on February 9, 2012February 26, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series. Be sure to check out other photo and story entries on their website.

Remembering Bob Marley

Posted on February 6, 2012March 3, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

Reggae icon, Bob Marley would have been 67 years old today. It’s interesting to see how many people Bob touched with the message of his music.

When I was planning my trip to South Africa, I happened upon a link to an Earth Festival that was being put on by the Knysna Rasta Village. I called the village right away and made arrangements to visit. I looked forward to the tour and to meet these South African Rastas. When we got to Cape Town, however, we had so many things scheduled, we had to postpone the trip which was about a day’s drive away.

Bob Marley, photo from the Jamaica Gleaner

If Bob’s music had reached this community in South Africa, imagine my surprise when I saw the documentary, He Koha Ma Bob Marley. It followed the Maori musician, Ruia Aperahama, as he traveled to Bob Marley’s former home in Trench Town, Jamaica and presented a gift to the Marley family. According to Aperahama, Bob came along “when it wasn’t cool to be Maori, it wasn’t cool to speak our language, it wasn’t cool to be ourselves.” His music gave them hope and helped them see themselves. Talk about reach and impact.

Here in Jamaica, a week of activities are planned to mark the singer’s birthday. Meanwhile, more voices here have been added to the list of people calling for the Jamaican government to make the Rastaman a national hero and to designate his birthplace and final resting place in Nine Mile, St. Ann, an official tourist attraction.

Listen here to Natural Mystic, one of my favorites.

A new biopic, Marley, which was created in collaboration with the family, will hold its World Premiere this month at the 62nd Berlin Film Festival. It will have its North American premiere at South by Southwest film festival in March and open in theaters on April 20th.

Without a doubt, Bob Marley is more popular now than when he was alive. From the Jamaica Observer, here are a list of awards and honors he has received:

* March, 1994 — Bob Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In his tribute, British singer Robert Palmer said, “No one in rock and roll has left a musical legacy that matters more or one that matters in such fundamental ways.”

* Exodus, the ninth studio album for Bob Marley and the Wailers, was recognised as Time magazine’s Album of the Century in 1999. The album contains the tracks Waiting In Vain, Three Little Birds and One Love.

* On February 6, 2001, Bob Marley was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It would have been his 56th birthday.

* February 2001, Marley received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Rebel Music, the documentary on his life, was also nominated for Best Long Form Music Video at the Grammys.

* In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Marley number 11 on its list of 100 Greatest Artistes of All Time. In the Rolling Stone article, rapper Wyclef Jean said, “Marley brought the idea that through music, empowerment and words, you can really come up with world peace”.

* One Love, the song Marley and the Wailers first recorded at Studio One in the 1960s, was named Song of the Millennium by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

* Marley was voted one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll in 2004.

* 2006: A blue plaque was unveiled at his first British residence in Ridgemount Gardens, London. It was dedicated by the Nubian Jack Community Trust and supported by Her Majesty’s Foreign Office.

* In 2008, a statue of Marley was unveiled in Serbia during a rock festival as a token of peace. Musicians from Croatia and Serbia were joined by fans for the midnight ceremony

* In 2010, the classic 1973 album, Catch a Fire, was among 25 inductees into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Other Marley productions previously inducted include Get Up, Stand Up, No Woman No Cry, Exodus and One Love.

What’s your favorite Bob Marley song?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BOB!

Soulful Sundays: Etana

Posted on February 5, 2012February 4, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

I saw Etana in concert a few years ago in Jamaica. About a year or so before I did, I had heard about a young singer who had given up a recording contract in the States to return to Jamaica to devote herself to the music she wanted to sing and to do it her own way. I was impressed and when I heard she was to perform at the 2009 literary festival in St. Elizabeth, I knew where I had to be.

Born Shauna McKenzie in 1983 in Kingston, Etana migrated to Florida in 1992. She intended to become a nurse but the musical talent that had been discovered when she was six took hold. She left Broward Community College in 2000.

She joined Grit, a female girl group. In 2005, Etana became a backup singer for another reggae musician, Ritchie Spice, and performed with him in Europe and North America.

Etana’s single, Wrong Address, hit the number one spot in Jamaica in 2006. She recorded her first album, The Strong One, in 2008.

Give a listen to another song from the same album, I Am Not Afraid.

Enjoy!

New Ferry Service for the Eastern Caribbean

Posted on January 31, 2012February 1, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

I used to feel a little envious when my aunt would talk about the island hopping she and her friends did when they were at the University of the West Indies. Back then, the best way to travel among the islands was by boat. The trip she talks about often took place the year she graduated. She and some of her class mates decided to accompany those from different islands who were returning home. Whenever they reached the island home of a member of their group, they disembarked and did that until they arrived at their last stop, Port of Spain in Trinidad & Tobago.

My aunt never revealed what they did while they were on board or after they disembarked, but from the smile on her face when she tells the story now, I know they had a blast.

Unfortunately, that service ceased operating in the 70s.

Now, a new service, announced by Trinidad & Tobago’s Transport Minister Devant Maharaj is set to launch later this year and will be based in Port of Spain. It will be operated by a Barbadian consortium, Fast Ferry Ltd.

The first phase would connect the islands of Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados. Ferries would leave Port of Spain, at 6:00 a.m. and arrive in Bridgetown, Barbados, its last stop, at 6:00 p.m.

The proposed average price of tickets for Trinidadian citizens would be between US$25 and US$35, however, 100,000 seats, priced at $10, would be available annually.

The company has announced that additional routes will be added when they achieve commercial viability.

Screen shot 2012-01-31 at 11.32.04 PM — Photo from the Internet

The service will join already established ferry services that make travel within the US and British Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas possible. There is no ferry service connecting the larger islands – Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Soulful Sundays: Marcia Griffiths

Posted on January 29, 2012November 21, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

Marcia Griffiths was born in Kingston in 1949. She started singing professionally in 1964 but became an international sensation in 1989 when a deejay in Washington, DC began playing a little song she recorded seven years earlier. The Electric Boogie, with its infectious, feel-good rhythms, spawned a new line dance, the Electric Slide, which still draws young and old to dance floors at weddings, family reunions and parties. It was featured in movies, The Best Man (1999), and on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Marcia Griffiths, photo from the Internet

Griffiths was also part of the I-Threes, the trio of accomplished women, Judy Mowatt and Rita Marley, who provided back-up vocals for Bob Marley from 1974 until the singer’s death in 1981.

Griffiths has sang with the legendary band, Byron Lee & the Dragonaires and had a long collaboration with another gifted Jamaican artist, Bob Andy, with whom she recorded, Young, Gifted and Black.

In recognition of her contribution to reggae music, the Jamaican Government awarded Griffiths an Order of Distinction in 2002.

Griffiths, who has 14 albums to her credit, continues to perform. She recently performed on opening night at this year’s Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival.

Travel Photo Thursday: My Ship Has Come In

Posted on January 26, 2012February 1, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

One of the things I look forward to each week is watching the cruise ships as they pull into Montego Freeport. On Wednesdays, its usually a ship from Carnival’s fleet. On Thursdays, it’s one from another fleet, like Royal Caribbean or MSC Cruises.

To my surprise today, two Carnival ships, the Conquest, and the Magic – the newest Carnival ship to stop in Montego Bay – have come in. The Magic can accommodate 6,000 – 4,500 passengers and 1,400 crew; the Conquest 2,974 passengers and 1,150 crew.

Carnival Magic and Conquest in Montego Freeport — Carnival Magic and Conquest, Montego Freeport

One of four cruise ship ports on Jamaica’s north coast, Montego Freeport was built in the 1960s on what was known then as the Bogue Islands. It has berths for 2 cruise ships. Ocho Rios, Port Antonio and Falmouth, which opened in 2011, are the other three ports.

Carnival Magic and Conquest, Montego Freeport

This is my submission to this week’s Budget Travelers Sandbox Travel Photo Thursday series. Be sure to check out other photo and story entries on their website!

Travel Disasters: Do You Have an Emergency Plan?

Posted on January 23, 2012September 9, 2013 by Marcia Mayne

As someone who makes several trips a year, I’ve never thought twice about or been concerned by the fact that I can’t swim. That is, until now. Two incidents over the past few weeks have me thinking that I need to learn.

First, was the report of the Australian visitor to Victoria Falls who swam to safety after her bungee cord snapped. Then reports surfaced last week that some passengers on the Costa Concordia had to swim to shore when the ship ran aground off Giglio Island.

It wasn’t difficult to imagine myself in both situations — I had contemplated taking a similar jump when I visited Victoria Falls a few years ago and have been twice aboard ship — but it was difficult to imagine how I’d fare.

Except for the very minimal (travel insurance, and copies of my documents and itinerary that I leave with a family member), and the need to learn to swim, I don’t have an emergency preparedness travel plan. These two events underscore, at least for me, the importance of having one. Do you have an emergency plan?

The Emergency Preparedness Travel Plan

Buy travel insurance: For a fraction of the price of your ticket, travel insurance can cover trip cancellation, baggage insurance, health insurance – including medical evacuation, and coverage in the case of injury or death.
Leave copies of passport, visas, credit cards, itinerary – including the telephone number/s of airline/s and hotel/s, and if there is one, the name of your travel agent, with a friend or family member. Someone should know where you’re going to be and should you lose your documents, you can expedite their re-issuance.
Check in with someone – a family member or friend – by email, phone or text message at regular intervals.
If you are a U.S. citizen, register your travel itinerary using the Smart Travelers Enrollment Program (STEP), a free service for Americans who are traveling to or living in foreign countries that allows the U.S. Department of State to provide assistance in case of an emergency. ** Also available as an app from Apple. If you’re a citizen of another country, have the number of the nearest consulate, embassy or honorary representative handy.
Pack a travel first aid kit with needle and thread, antihistamine, antacids, aspirins, pain killers, condoms, water purification tablets, band-aids, Neosporin, etc.
Pack a change of clothes in your carry-on luggage so that if you arrive at your destination before your checked luggage does, you’ll have clean clothes to wear.
Whether you’re on a plane or a ship, pay attention to safety instructions. Know where to locate your personal flotation device and life vests. On a ship, note where lifeboats are located.
Whether you’re on a plane, a ship or in a hotel, take note of the entrances, and the location of exits nearest your seat, cabin or room. In a hotel, check whether your window opens to the street, the sea or the ground in the event you have to use it as a means of egress.
Have in mind a plan of escape should you have to evacuate.
If you have to leave quickly, forget the ‘stuff.’ Get to safety then worry about your stuff later. We’ve all heard the tragic story of the Costa Concordia’s violinist who went back to retrieve his instrument.
If you’re traveling with others, designate a meeting spot, be it a coffee shop or a park and make sure everyone knows how to find it.

Disaster can strike in an instant. Being prepared, especially when we’re in unfamiliar territory, can help us stay remain calm and focused and that can certainly save lives.

What’s in your Emergency Preparedness Travel Plan?

Travel Photo Thursday: Jamaican Orchids

Posted on January 19, 2012January 22, 2012 by Marcia Mayne

I don’t have a green thumb but I love flowers, especially orchids. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to love me. Each time I buy one, I think it will be different, it will last more than a few months. Each time, I’ve been wrong.

Now that I’m in Jamaica, where orchids are plenty and grow wild, I’m tempted but I’m gun shy. So for now, I’m satisfied to take photos of the ones I see.

Over 30,000 species of orchids can be found worldwide. Approximately 230 are found in Jamaica. Of that number, about 70 are endemic to the island.

The main threat to Jamaican orchids is from the destruction of their habitats caused by land clearing for housing, hotel and agricultural development, bauxite and/or limestone mining, harvesting of forest products for timber, fuel wood, fish pots, yam sticks and fence posts.

The second greatest threat to the species is believed to be collection by orchid enthusiasts for local and international trade. The government has enacted legislation to protect their habitats and regulate the orchid trade. Sanctuaries have also been established to relocate orchids that are found in areas under threat.

These orchids are from the gardens of friends and family.

This one is known locally as Poor Man’s Orchid. It sure looks like it could be.