How I ended up at Margaritaville, Negril

The ideal beach for me has clear sea water, white sands, plenty of greenery in view, and is isolated. I like to relax on the beach and contemplate its beauty, so I prefer empty beaches.

Unfortunately, my three daughters do not share this preference. In Negril, they shun the secluded, empty beaches, and prefer places such as Margaritaville and Rick’s Café - tourist traps full of people and loud music. They like the fact that there are a lot of people because it ensures that they will find a playmate. At Rick’s café the other day, they met a few teenage girls who chased them around the pool. At Margaritaville, they met three young men who helped the girls arrange a chicken wrestling match. Each girl got on the shoulders of a boy and tried to knock one another off. Fun was had by all.

Thus, although I prefer the secluded spots, I often have to entice the children with the offer of Margaritaville or Rick’s Café to get them out of the house. This is how I found myself at Margaritaville last Saturday afternoon, eating nachos and sipping on margaritas. The beach itself at Margaritaville is stunning - with a turquoise sea and white, powdery sand. But, so is the rest of Seven Mile Beach.

One advantage to Margaritaville is that it has plenty of shelter. So, when the thunderstorms came pounding down, as they often do, we could wait out the storm under shelter. Well, I sought shelter while the girls danced in the rain. There is also a little playground at the Negril Margaritaville, which, it seems, is more fun in the rain.

Once the rain passed, at least I had a table, chairs, and a good view of the beach. I addition, I could observe with fascination the groups of tourists who happened upon Margaritaville that afternoon. I soon tired of that, however. Fortunately, my husband arrived not too long afterwards and I could leave them at Margaritaville and take a long walk along Seven Mile Beach and linger in the more isolated parts.

A Hook, a Fish Line and an Air Mattress: Improvised fishing with the kids in Negril

I am very happy with my daily routine in Negril this summer. For me, this routine involves happy writing each weekday morning, then having lunch with the family, and going to the beach in the afternoons. Being able to swim in transparent waters every afternoon is blissful for me. I have not missed a day at the beach in the six weeks we have been in Negril. Even when it rains, I will at least go for a long walk by the sea when the rain clears.

My three kids, however, have decided that they need more entertainment than simply going to the beach. Their morning routine starts with home schooling for two hours with their tutor, then playing in the yard with their friends until lunch is ready. There are two small children who live in front of us and they often catch butterflies or other small creatures together. My daughters also love to help our neighbor herd his goats and take them out for grass each morning. After lunch, they play video games, read, or play outside or inside. When I ask if they are ready to go to the beach, they often claim they do not want to go. Without exception, they have fun when we get to the beach; so, often the trick lies in getting them there.

Our latest “trick” is the promise of going fishing. The first time the girls went fishing, it was with some friends who invited them to go on a boat early in the morning. That boat trip costs US$50, so that was the only time they did that. Instead, now we rely on my husband, Fernando’s ingenuity, and the kids can go fishing whenever they want, practically for free. This is how it works.

Fernando buys some hooks and fish line for a few cents at the hardware store. They go to the nearby beach and look for sand crabs and snails for bait. Nando sets up the rudimentary hook, line and sinker. Then, he paddles the girls out on our air mattress to where the fish are. We have one of those inflatable air mattresses, and it works great as a raft! (You can see our fishing equipment in the photo behind us!)

The girls put on their face masks which allow them to see the fish underwater. Tatiana and Soraya – my nine year old twin daughters – love fishing like this. You can see when the fish begin to nibble at the bait. When you see them nibbling, you just pull a bit, and there you have a fish. When the girls catch a fish, they yell out in excitement. Nando pulls in the line and puts the fish into a plastic bag that he keeps on the raft. Then, the girls go back in for another fish.

The other day, they caught sixteen little fish, giving us plenty of fresh fish for dinner. The fish are small – so it is quite a bit of work to clean and de-scale all of them. But, it is definitely worth it to have the tasty, fresh fish. Plus, it is our best way to get the kids out of the house - for now, at least. I am sure that soon they will become bored with this and we will have to find a new way to entertain them soon.

Sundays on the Public Beach in Negril, Jamaica

If you are looking for the “real Jamaica,” you will have a hard time finding it in Negril – a touristy town on the westernmost end of Jamaica. That said, there is one beach in Negril where you will find more Jamaicans than foreign tourists – the public beach at the south-westernmost tip of Seven-Mile Beach.

It is quite remarkable that most tourists in Negril tend to stay within a 100-meter radius of their hotels. There are the adventurous few who take it upon themselves to walk up and down Seven-Mile Beach. Some of these tourists make it to the end where the public beach is, but almost none of them swim in this part of the beach. Because of this self-segregation, the public beach almost always has only Jamaicans. People who are not Jamaican at the public beach are almost always expatriates who are living in Negril – usually North American and English women with Jamaican boyfriends.

The public beach is about 200 meters from the closest hotel, thus making it beyond the normal radius of most tourists. It is the closest beach to the Negril River, which, at times, can make the water quite unpleasant. However, most days the water at the public beach is crystal clear, just like the water in the rest of Seven-Mile Beach. Unlike much of the rest of Seven-Mile Beach, the public beach has several trees which offer ample shade.

On Sundays, the public beach is a lively place where local DJs set up enormous speakers that blast out dancehall tunes for the listening pleasure of beachgoers and anyone close enough to hear. Families sit beneath one of the many trees and picnic. Kids jump and play in the water and teenagers show off their gymnastic abilities on the sand.

There is a restaurant/bar on the beach, currently operated by Sanchez, who is from Sav-la-Mar. Sanchez’s place serves up delicious food and ice-cold beverages at a fraction of the price of most places on the beach. You also can try the conch soup which is served by a local man right off of his bicycle. He has a gas tank on the back of the bicycle and a burner on the front, which ensures that the tasty soup is steaming hot all afternoon long.

Last Sunday, we spent a couple of hours at the beach with my kids. They had a great time running around with all of the other children there. This was a nice change, as we often go to the beach in Negril and there are few if any children around.

River Water: Negril’s Dirty Little Secret

In the center of the town of Negril there is a wide river. I imagine once upon a time, long ago, it must have been lovely to swim in the place where the cool river meets the warm sea. Today, however, there is nothing lovely about the Negril River. It is covered with grease and when it pours into the ocean, turns the clear sea waters brown and green. (The river is naturally dark in color due to it passing through peat bogs upstream, yet the motorboats have rendered the waters less pleasant.)

Sometimes the river water stays put and barely affects even the closest beaches. However, after a good rain upstream, the river water pours out into the sea and ruins the water for a few hours. During my month in Negril, I have noticed a few patterns with regard to the river, and I will point those out here.

The river sits at the westernmost tip of Seven Mile Beach. Thus, when it rains even a little bit, it tends to muddy the waters at the public beach just to the north of the river. When it has not rained at all, the public beach is one of the coolest places to hang out in Negril – as it has a laid-back, inexpensive, open-air restaurant with good local food and cold beers, and is where locals are most likely to go for a swim. When the river water stays put, this beach boasts transparent, warm waters. However, when the rain comes, this water takes on a greenish color, and sometimes a smell, making the whole experience quite a bit less pleasant.

The river water rarely makes it down to One Mile Beach, and even less frequently to the north end of Seven Mile Beach where Margaritaville, Sandals, and Coco La Palm are. Because many tourists never leave the pristine beaches of their all-inclusive resorts, many are likely unaware that there even is a river in Negril. It is only when it rains a tremendous amount up in the mountains and in Negril that the river would make it this far. Thus far, I have not seen it happen.

The river does not only flow north, of course. It also makes its way up to the West End of Negril. Close to where we are staying – Silver Star - there is a lovely beach where Canoe Bar sits. One of my favorite things about this beach is that, when you swim out about a hundred meters, you can see the foothills to a mountain range in the distance. The problem, however, is that, during the rainy season, the waters of this beach are often less than pleasant. Whenever it rains, the river water comes to this beach, muddying the waters and bringing lots of floating seaweed with it. Before swimming in these waters, I always check to make sure the river water has not made it down.

Farther up West End Road (or One Love Drive), you come to Xtabi Cliffs. The river water rarely makes it this far. Every so often, in the evenings, the waters at Xtabi get a bit greenish, or the sea brings lots of sea grass. Those times, it is best not to get in the water, as the sea grass brings sea lice, which make you itch. Nevertheless, Xtabi is nearly always nice and the waters there are a clear, turquoise blue.

Rick’s Café sits near the end of West End Road, and thus the river water nearly never makes it this far. So, the waters at Rick’s are always a deep blue color. When the weather is a bit rough, however, the waters at Ricks do get rougher than in other parts, making it a bit difficult to swim.

Negril is renowned for its laid-back atmosphere and clear, transparent waters. At present, those waters are more often transparent than not. However, something really must be done about the Negril River or Negril will lose a whole lot of its charm.

I am no environmental expert, but I am aware of other cases of rivers and other bodies of waters being cleaned, so I am sure it is possible. And, I hope it happens sooner rather than too late. Please note: The state of the South Negril River has been an issue at least since the 1990s, according to this website.

I don’t want to go to the beach today!

I always want to go to the beach. Although we have been in Negril, Jamaica for 22 days, I still must go to the beach at least once every day. Even if it’s just for an hour, I have to see and feel the sea. For me, it is a great privilege to be so close to such an amazing sea and I can’t bear not to go daily.

How, then, is it that my daughters (Tatiana – 9; Soraya – 9 and Raymi – 6) often claim they do not want to go to the beach? Granted, they do have to walk 15 minutes to get there. But, they always have a great time there.

Since they insist daily that they do not want to go to the beach, sometimes we let them stay home. Here in Negril, they usually get up around 6am when the sun rises. Their teacher comes at 8am, and they have two hours of lessons. Actually, that aspect of our life – home schooling – is going the best it has all year. I finally figured out the keys – 1) It has to be early in the morning; 2) It should be for a short, intensive period of time and 3) It is best if the teacher is not me. So, we have hired a college student to give the girls lessons and that is going quite well.

After home schooling, the girls are allowed to play until lunchtime. Sometimes they play in the yard with the children who live across from us. Sometimes they play inside with their Legos or other toys. Other times, I let them watch a movie, play the Internet, or play with their Nintendo DS. Then, we have lunch together. By the time lunch is over, it is 2pm.

At 2pm, it is too hot for me to work anymore, and I usually am mentally drained and ready to go to the beach. Most days, we find a way to convince the kids to come to the beach. Other times we let them stay home and I will just go for a long walk on the beach alone.

On Tuesday, I was able to convince Tatiana to go with me to the beach. We walked the 15 minutes from our cottage to the beach. When we got to the beach, we saw that the close beach was polluted with river water, so we decided to walk farther down to the clean part. Tatiana and I had a nice walk. Along the way, I explained to her the history of slavery, as, for some reason, she was asking about it. Once I got to the end of the story, she wanted to hear stories of times that I had embarrassed myself. I thought of a few.

When we got to the nice part where the water is transparent, Tatiana and I went for a swim. Unfortunately, after about five minutes in the water, Tatiana began to fuss that something had bitten her leg. I rushed her out of the water and found that she had two wounds on her leg. They were about 1 cm. across and one was deeper than the other. The deeper one was bleeding quite a bit. A boatman came over and went back for his First Aid kit. He put a bandage on her leg and the bleeding stopped. No one seemed to have any idea what could have happened to her. We were in fairly deep water, so it is unlikely that a piece of glass cut her. I suppose it could have been a fish bite, but the marks were so far apart. Needless to say, we went home. The next day, Tatiana did not want to go to the beach.

Fortunately, Soraya and Raymi did want to go. Raymi even agreed to walk. This was remarkable, because Raymi almost never wants to walk. So, Soraya, Raymi, and I set off on our one-mile hike to the cliffs at Xtabi. To entertain the kids on the way, I told them a variation of the story of the Loch Ness Monster. I told the story such that the existence (or not) of the Loch Ness Monster remained doubtful. However, Soraya wanted a happy ending so made me change the story such that the two main characters finally got to take a picture of the Loch Ness Monster and everyone believed them that it really existed.

When we got to Xtabi cliffs, the sun was behind the clouds and it was cooler than usual. We swam for a bit, but, it began to drizzle. Determined to stay seaside a bit longer, I decided that we would order some food at Xtabi. I ordered a hamburger and a conch burger – which was quite tasty. The food took a long time to come out, and Raymi and Soraya played darts while we were waiting. I used the time to sit atop one of the cliffs and contemplate the beauty of the sea.

After we ate, the sun peeked from behind the clouds and we got back into the sea. Other guests arrived and Soraya and Raymi quickly made friends. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was that Raymi spotted an octopus! There was an octopus by one of the cliffs, trying to scale the side of the cliff using its suction cups. It was quite a sight! Eventually, however, it fell back into the sea.

The girls and I snorkeled and spent some time in the caves before deciding to head back home. We walked back and talked about all sorts of things on the way back. They wanted me to tell them a story, but I was having trouble being creative. One story a day is enough for me!

When we got home, Tatiana was quite upset that she had missed out on the excitement. So, perhaps today we will have an easier time getting the girls to go to the beach!

Two of my favorite ways to relax in Negril

We have now been in Negril for two full weeks, and I have two favorite ways to relax in this laid-back town.

The first is at Xtabi - which I raved about in my last post. If you go to the left side of Xtabi, and swim across the clear blue sea, you will find a small cave - about 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. You can swim right in and hoist yourself up onto a rock that has been smoothed out by centuries of waves crashing on to it.

I love to sit on that rock, inside of the cool cave and listen to the waves crashing into the cave. The waves crash onto the rock and the warm water tickles my toes. The waves crash behind me, making reverberating, echoing sounds throughout the cave. I can sit on the rock for a good while, thinking about life and the beauty of mother nature.

For a while, I might reflect on mother nature, on the centuries-old coral imprints hanging above me, on the life of the stingrays and tropical fish below me, on what might be beyond the horizon that fades away into a blue mist. Then, I will get to thinking about my own life, my own hopes and dreams. Even something as mundane as my plans for the next day is good food for thought inside this cave. Finally, I will tire of being alone in the cave, and will swim my way back out into the sunshine, temporarily blinded by the glaring sun.

My other favorite way to reflect on life is to walk down seven-mile beach just before dusk on an overcast afternoon. This is the rainy season, so it rainshowers for a bit many an afternoon. This leaves the beach nearly empty. All of the tourists flee and the vendors also disappear. For me, however, this is the perfect time to walk and walk and walk down seven mile beach without having to worry about getting a sunburn or heat stroke and without the constant offers for a boat ride or jet ski tour.

When the sky is overcast in Negril, it almost is never fully covered with clouds. So, you have bits of blue sky to look at. And, the horizon constantly changes with the moving cloud formations. As dusk nears, the horizon begins to show its wide array of sunset colors.

I walk along the beach barefoot, allowing the warm sea to caress my toes. I think about all I have done for the day, the week, and the year. I ponder a theoretical question I have. I make plans for what I will do if and when a friend comes to visit me in this little piece of heaven.

These are two of my favorite ways to think, reflect, meditate, and relax in Negril.

Seven Reasons the Cliffs are Better than Seven Mile Beach in Negril

Negril is divided into two areas – the Seven Mile Beach and the Cliffs. Our cottage – Silver Star – is right between the two areas, giving us great access to both. From my front step, it is a twenty minute walk to either Seven Mile Beach or Xtabi – my favorite place to hang out at the cliffs.

The Seven Mile Beach is great because it's, well, seven miles of sandy beaches. However, after our first few days of sea, sun, and more sun, we decided to try out the cliffs area. We haven't been back to the beach since. This past week, it was all cliffs, every day. Why do we like the cliffs? Let me count the ways.

1) At Xtabi, where we have been going, there are far fewer people. Many an afternoon, we have the whole area to ourselves. (Note: Rick's cafe – another cliff spot – does NOT have this benefit.) If you like to swim in the sea alone, Xtabi is the place.

2) Walking to and from the cliffs, there are far fewer people trying to sell you something. On the beach, you can barely take two steps without someone trying to get you to jet ski, go for a boat ride, or buy some crafts. At the cliffs, there are far fewer sellers.

3) The sea is clearer at the cliffs. When it does not rain for a few days, Seven Mile Beach boasts clear waters. At the cliffs, the water is clear every day, even when the water is relatively rough and it has been raining.

4) There is more shade at the cliffs. We have found a couple of spots with a bit of shade on the beach. But, it does not come close to the tranquility and coolness you feel when you sit in a cave at the cliffs and feel the sea tickling your toes.

5) Cliff jumping is fun. Or, at least it looks fun, as I have only jumped off of the smaller cliffs. But, those people jumping off of the big ones look as though they are having a good time doing so.

6) The snorkeling is better. You can snorkel on Seven Mile Beach on a good day. But, at the cliffs, you will see much, much more marine life. All you have to do is get in the water, put your mask down, and look around you. The snorkeling is amazing.

7) It's cooler at the cliffs. Because of the ocean breeze blowing on you at the top of the cliffs, it is quite a bit cooler out of the water, especially if you can find a bit of shade.

We will be in Negril for another two months, and I am sure we will go back many times to Seven Mile Beach. But, there are many reasons to stay close to the cliffs.