Negril, Jamaica Trip Report

[Buns]

Originally Posted by Timpete

Keep the pictures coming. I was in Sandals Negril in March of 2007. I had a good time but the weather wasn't what I thought it would be. I guess Playa has spoiled me.

Sorry to hear you didn't have great weather. We had wonderful weather, aside from it being a little chilly in the evening.

I did notice, though, that even though we here in Jamaica for 9 full days, I didn't get as good of a tan as I usually do...anywhere. (I tan VERY easy and VERY nicely, usually). And...my tan didn't last very long at all. I am already colorless again! That never happens to me??

[Buns]

Saturday, December 1, 2007

So…today we woke up late…actually at 9:09AM! We had breakfast at Chill Awhile. French toast and banana pancakes. Both good. The view from the restaurant is just amazing.

We saw our resident cats again. I tried to take pictures, but couldn't. They kept hiding, then coming out, then hiding.

We took some pictures in the garden by our room building. One of the nice security guards took some for us.





We were on the beach by 11:45AM..a very late start for us.

We had lunch at Chill Awhile. I had the Chicken salad and Chuck hamburger with bacon. Chuck really likes the burgers here, but not the cheese. He says it tastes funny. Both very good.

Idle Awhile Frisbee guest played with some local boys for a little while, but it was too windy for them to continue for long.

We watched the sunset again.









We decided to go ahead and get Margaritaville out of the way. I knew that this was a very touristy thing to do, but we went anyways.





Here's my thoughts on this place…nice ambience, not too many people there (around 7PM). We sat outside in the sand. The service good. The food GREAT (but more expensive than other places here). Not bad compared to US restaurants, but expensive compared to Negril prices. I had the Caribbean Chicken Salad with Jerk Chicken in it. The Salad was great, but jerk chicken was more like regular grilled chicken. But still good. Chuck had the Jerk Sandwich (regular hamburger with a side of Jerk sauce that you pour onto the burger). He said it was good. Total, with two red stripes and one banana daiquire and tax was $39.00 US. My problem with this place, was…when we got there, they had the TVs playing with Jimmy Buffet and some playing the Sports Channels, but the Jimmy Buffet music was playing loud. Cool. Then…suddenly…they changed it to the football game! No more Jimmy Buffet singing (still on ONE TV, with game on like three other tvs, and the game loud and clear! Couldn't believe it…no Jimmy Buffet music at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville! We go into the store after eating. Buy two T-Shirts, $45.00US. Everything here was a little pricey. Oh well. It is out of the way. I noticed that there were a LOT of what I call "Scottsdale Yuppies" hanging inside bar. All dressed up, sparkly shirts, high heels, hair and makeup done (we're in shorts and casual tops, feet in the sand, sandles off). All wearing their pretty colored All-Inclusive wristbands. I remember thinking to myself…this is like their one night out from the AI and this is the place they come to. The most Americanized place we've been to so far! Ha Ha. Too bad for them that they don't get out to experience the REAL Negril. But whatever. Just my thoughts.

We walk the beach back to Idle Awhile to drop off the shirts we purchased and I grab a sweater. (YES! We are from PHOENIX, thank you! 80 degrees is chilly to me!)

We decide to walk down to Bourbon Beach because all day yesterday and today we heard the guy on the beach, in a boat, and in a car with a megaphone promoting a "Hot Hot Hot" and "Free Free Free" live reggae band…Snowman, I think, or something like that. So…we start walking.

We meet Jonathon. He asks first about ganga…no thanks. Then he asks if we've been on the bus tour. We said no. He says OK…I give it to you. So he walks with us! I don't know why or how it happened, it just did and we couldn't get rid of him! He pointed out "here's Merrills" (OK…I can read). Here's the 23/7 bar (OK…again…I can read) Watch that rope in the water! (I can see the damn rope!) We stop at a bar to get another red stripe. Then we sit down. Finally…we politely tell him we can make it on our own, thanks. Then he asks for a little something something for his "services". We give him $200Js and send him on his way. He was with us for a good 10 minutes! Really…I know this stuff and I know how to say No Thanks, but we couldn't get rid of this guy any sooner! So…if ever you're walking the beach at night…and you meet Jonanthon and he asks you about the Bus Tour…turn and run in the opposite direction!!

Side note…I know it's Off Season and all…but where the heck are all the people! We seriously saw just a handful of people walking between Idle Awhile and Bourbon Beach, which I estimate is about ½ mile. All the bars we passed along the way had MAYBE 3-4 people in them, if that. It was just so weird. By this time it was about 9:15PM - 9:30PM ish. And the place seems deserted.

Anyways…finally we get to Bourbon Beach for the show that was to start at 9:30PM. There are … I wouldn't say a lot, but some people already there, maybe 25 or so. We decide to go upstairs to watch the show. While up there waiting for the show to start, we get a look at the Jamaican Ladies hitting on the single old guy up there. Two on one. They were VERY much working that night. A few more single young guys come upstairs, followed shortly after by several more Jamaican Ladies-of-the-Night. I wonder if we are in the wrong section!

They band isn't even there yet, and the bar is just playing some Reggae over the loud speaker until the band starts. It sounds like they are playing the old vinyl records, it was really statically. And they had some interesting songs. I mean really…Celine Dion!! With a Reggae soundtrack behind her vocals to "So You Think You Can Fly". REALLY? Really?

So, the 9:30PM show finally started at around 10:15PM. Ok. Island Time. I get it. The band comes out and does about a 15-minute sound check. Right at 10:30PM, the real band begins playing. The lead singer comes out in gray sweatpants, a red long shirt and a flannel shirt over it and starts singing! There is this REALLY old Rasta onstage with him dancing around all crazy. The singing…I have to be honest…was terrible. I even took some video of it on my digital! And the sound system was even worse!

So…about 15 minutes later, and about 3 songs too many into it, we decide to bail and go home and call it a night. In talking, we thought maybe our "Americanized Version" of Reggae is just what we prefer. To each his own, right? Or maybe this was just a really bad band. I mean, there really was a really weak audience, not a lot of clapping, even after a song ended.

So…we're walking back up the beach to Idle Awhile, and who do we pass? Yup. JONATHAN! He's walking next to a nice fresh-meat-looking couple, the opposite direction that we are walking. They look like we felt earlier "How the HELL do we get rid of this guy?" Me and Chuck started walking a little bit faster! Then we started laughing. He got another couple!

So, we are walking up the pathway to our room and can hear some loud Reggae music playing, sounds like it is coming from the front of the hotel. So we decide to check it out. We get out to the road and see a BUNCH of cars and people parked in front of the Best of the West and Green Leaf Cabins, right across the street. We go over to BOTW to get a couple of drinks. Turns out, a local Rasta had his supped-up truck parked out front with speakers everywhere and lights on his truck playing music out of his radio! There are about 50 locals (and a couple of tourists) just hanging around, drinking, dancing and having a good time (Along with a few more Ladies-of-the-Night). We hang out for a while and actually had a BETTER time there listening to music (although not live) than we did at Bourbon Beach. Who Knew!! I asked the bartender to verify that it was just coming out of the truck's stereo system, and she said yes. I also asked if this happens a lot, and she said no, tonight only. Chcuk and I joked…that truck out front was not only playing better music, but the sound system was better than the one at Bourbon Beach! And I have proof! Remember I took some video with my digital camera at BB? I took some video here, too. Not so much for the movie portion, but for the sound quality.

So…after a couple of drinks we head back to our room. (I am writing a summary each day at the end of the day, as events are clear in my head and I am sitting out on my patio and can hear the music from across the street and it is SO NICE!)

Note…still unable to connect to the wireless. I was able to in the morning, and this time the username and password worked. I got into my Yahoo email account, typed an email to the parents (they worry about us) and hit Send….then lost the connection. Don't know if it went through or not. Couldn't connect again. Brought laptop down to FD to try there, thinking maybe better reception of the wireless router thingy-ma-bob, but no luck. Keep getting error message of "Limited or No Connectivity". Chuck thinks it is our laptop, I think it is an issue with the wireless here. Who knows. Finally gave it up and decided to use cell phone to call home. Only…we couldn't figure out how to dial International! Followed the steps to dialing from the hotel phone (minus the "9" to get an outside line", and a few other ways, couldn't get it to go thorough. Finally broke down and just made two really quick calls using the hotel phone. Wonder how much that will be. Oh well. At least it is a free service offered by the hotel, and I'm not paying "9.95 a day, as I would be at most hotels in the US. So…guess I can't really complain about it.

[ELECTRA]

Good report! You've got more "guts" than I to make your holiday destination Jamaica. I close my eyes and it seems like I was there yesterday.....it was 1974.
Looking forward to the rest of your report.

.

[cpfstich]

Great report! Our daughter was married in Jamaica, at Breezes Runaway Bay. We had a great time there, but not as great as Playa!

[Skiptown]

We went to Ocho Rios and loved it. Hiered a driver (Winston) and he took us to Fern Gully, thru the Blue Mountains and to where Bob Marley grew up and is intered. Would go back in a heartbeat.

[Andiline]

Great report, thanks! Waiting for more.

Btw. when I travel I always have lots of problems with wireless internet connections. Most of the times I can't stay online for long (or at all). So I guess that was your case as well....

[TnTWalter]

thanks for sharing. Looking forward to more.
How's the beach?
We were going to book but the cliff resort I wanted didn't have availability and I was feeling unsure about it so I jumped back to Playa...

[heater]

Buns,
I'm really enjoying your trip report. We are headed to playa in may, but I have really been missing Idle Awhile. It was very different than Playa, but nice to try something new. We stayed in room 204, right next door to where you stayed. We went with another couple, which I think helped with the fact that there isn't much night life there. If you ever return, definitely make it to the cliff end of Negril. 3 dives, the Rockhouse, and Hungry Lion were some of my favorite places. Can't wait to hear more...btw I'm glad to hear that you had great weather...that's what is keeping us from returning. we had a rain shower every afternoon.

[Thor Henning]

Great report. I'd like to go there some time.

[Buns]

Originally Posted by TnTWalter

thanks for sharing. Looking forward to more.
How's the beach?
We were going to book but the cliff resort I wanted didn't have availability and I was feeling unsure about it so I jumped back to Playa...

The beach was really wonderful. We stayed in the middle of Seven Mile Beach. The sand was nice and soft, there were no rocks, the water was nice and clear. Really a great beach.

[Buns]

Originally Posted by heater

Buns,
I'm really enjoying your trip report. We are headed to playa in may, but I have really been missing Idle Awhile. It was very different than Playa, but nice to try something new. We stayed in room 204, right next door to where you stayed. We went with another couple, which I think helped with the fact that there isn't much night life there. If you ever return, definitely make it to the cliff end of Negril. 3 dives, the Rockhouse, and Hungry Lion were some of my favorite places. Can't wait to hear more...btw I'm glad to hear that you had great weather...that's what is keeping us from returning. we had a rain shower every afternoon.

Hi Heater! I chose Idle Awhile in part due to your stay there. I remember a while back hearing about your stay there. It is different from Playa, but we really enjoyed our stay. I would go back to Negril. And because we didn't ever make it to The Cliffs, that's just one more reason for us to have to go back again.

[Buns]

Sunday, December 02, 2007

First off, remember how I thought it was SO NICE to hear the Reggae music coming from the supped-up truck across the street last night? NOT SO NICE WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO GO TO SLEEP!! One of the unique (and I think cool) things about Idle Awhile is that the room is full of shutters, not just windows. There are screens, with these wooden shutters over them. You can open and close the shutters, but that's it. It does NOT block out hardly any of the noise coming from outside. So…try going to sleep with music blaring AND the Tree Frogs (I mean bats) chirping away! The music didn't stop until 2AM! Finally…I was able to fall asleep at 2:01AM.

This morning, I woke up and decided I'd better book tour for Mayfield Falls sometime, so I went down to the FD and spoke with Natefa. She called for me and we scheduled for a 9:15AM pickup for tomorrow morning, for $65 per person. This option includes pickup, transportation, entrance fees and lunch. There is another option that does not include lunch or transportation for $40 per person.

I had planned on going into town first thing this morning to go to the ATM again, then have breakfast along the beach and walk back to IA. But, after booking the tour, I was told to wait at the hotel until a rep from the tour company came back the hotel so that I could make my payment with my credit card. So, instead, we had breakfast again at IA. We both had cinnamon pancakes, and they were delicious. Carlton now knows us and is a great server.

We change and head to the beach, still waiting for the tour rep to come by.



I get a massage by Sandra. Her hut is set up on the south side of the IA property line, you can't miss her.


She does an Aloe Vera rub, and it was heaven. $30 for 30 minutes. I'll be going back to her again before we leave. Chuck decided not to have a massage done. (His loss)

Went across the street to Best of the West to pick up some awesome jerk chicken for lunch and a couple of drinks. There was a Rasta there (whom I later learned used to be a gardener at IA but he got hurt and hasn't been the same since then…is now a little "mentally challenged". I don't know the whole story). Anyways…he was there with his young boy, Raymondo, he was 7 years old. He was just the cutest thing ever! Chatted with him a bit while waiting for our chicken. Taught him how to snap a towel. Got our food and went back to the beach to eat. Natefa caught us on our way back to tell us that the tour rep called back and said they would just get our cc info on the bus tomorrow. So we waited around for nothing. Oh well. No loss.

Ate our lunch and hung out on the beach for a while.



Went upstairs around 4PM to shower and change then head into town to the ATM (since we didn't make it there this morning). Took out DOUBLE the amount this time, the max our ATM card would allow for one day. We planned on walking around and doing some shopping, but apparently everything is closed on Sunday. Opps.

Saw a little corner store called "Calypso Gelato". Thought great! I'll get some Gelato! Nope. They don't sell Gelato. Only ice cream…chocolate, vanilla or cookies & cream. I pass. NOTE: Just because it says "Gelato" in their name, doesn't necessarily mean they sell it!!!

Walk down the road towards IA. I don't recommend this walk! I was not frightened, by any means, but it was a little … different. NO ONE else was walking the street. We were just looking for a hotel to cut through to get back to the beach, which we found. But before we did, guess who we ran into? JONATHAN! The guy from last night! That guy is everywhere! He wanted to walk and talk with us AGAIN…we ditched him pretty quickly though.

Finally get back to the beach and stop at an open shop. "Hasslefree Harry's", run by an Indian couple (from India). He was VERY nice though. We bought some souvenirs, and some water shoes (the chronic-over-packer that I am, and I forgot water shoes. Need those for our Mayfield Falls tour tomorrow). They were only $10/each and are pretty Jamaican colors.

Head up the beach again to find a spot for dinner. The lady from Mama Flo's yells at us to come eat there, so we do.



Just us in the restaurant, another couple came in later, so just the 4 of us. We met Mama Flo. Her daughters were working there, and their kids were playing around in the sand…5 of them. The oldest one cut her foot open on a piece of glass in the sand while we were eating. Poor girl! They cleaned it off, and then grabbed the alcohol bottle from the Top Shelf to put on the cut. Poor girl! It looked like it burned! I think they called the doctor and were planning on getting her in tonight, the cut was that bad. The mother dug in the sand where she got cut and pulled up a ton of glass pieces from a broken beer bottle buried in the sand.

Anyways…we go in here for dinner. Chuck orders the Jerk Chicken and me the Pineapple Chicken. A few minutes later, she comes back to tell us the Jerk Chicken is just getting put on the grill and won't be ready for a long while. OK…gets the Jerk Pork instead. That, too, is just being put on the grill, but will be ready in about 10 minutes. OK. A few minutes later she comes back out to tell me that they are out of Pineapple for my Pineapple Chicken, would I like the Sweet & Sour Chicken instead? Sure. We get our food and both were pretty good. Chuck said the Jerk Pork was REALLY hot (spicy), but he liked it. (I tried a piece and didn't think it was spicy AT ALL…and we usually have the same taste…so who knows.)

The other couple in the restaurant paid their bill just as we were (they just left money on the table and left) and then headed out. As we were paying ours to the bartender, they realized that the other couple had only left $150 Jamaican Dollars…their bill was $1500 Jamaican Dollars! So they ran after the other couple to get the rest of their money! It was just a mistake, but I can see how that can happen! We all joked about it…$150 J's wouldn't even cover the cost of a Red Stripe, let alone a whole meal!!

After dinner, walked back to the hotel and lathered up with Aloe Vera Spray, as I have gotten a lot of sun these last few days! (See…never believe those darn weather reports! I don't…but I still read them for fun before we leave on trips. Last week they predicted rain for every day during our time here, and we have yet to see one drop since we've been here.)

Got our stuff put together for our Tour tomorrow morning, set the alarm on our cell phones (couldn't figure out how to set the hotel alarm clock) and went to bed early, around 9:30PM.

[jx2]

Great report Lovin it so far.
The one night we went to Alfreds the live music was exactly as we expected in Jamaica (Reggae all the way), but lots of Ganja/hash/coke sales people and many ladies of the night.
We stayed at Bar-B-Barn next to Bourbon Beach and heard the music a few nights from our room, and as you said it was cover songs mostly.
Thanks for bringing back some visuals.
You missed a totally different vibe of Negril, by not visiting the cliffs. The nice thing about the cliffs for us was the lack of higglers and more real locals(as in not after your wallet every second). Allthough you take your life in your hands when walking along certain parts of the cliff road.

[Buns]

Monday, December 03, 2007

Got up on time this morning, thanks to our trusty cell phone alarm. Got ready and had breakfast downstairs at Chill Awhile. Both the Frisbee playing guy (Steve) and his wife (from Des Moines, IA of all places!) and the family with the kid and mother-in-law in tow (from South Carolina) were leaving this morning to go home, so it was a lot of long faces at breakfast.

Went to the office to wait for our pick-up for the Mayfield Falls tour. Asked Natefa to check into prices for a bamboo rafting trip down the river. She called for me, and the cheapest price was $165 per person. I did not reserve it, and probably won't. That is money I can spend elsewhere and besides…I really am a beach person and love just lying on the beach. Booking another tour would cost me another day on the beach. So…we'll think about it.

Our pickup for the tour arrives around 9:30AM. We hop in the van and take off. We are the last couple to be picked up. There is a woman and her older Aunt, and another single lady, so a total of 5 guests plus the driver.

We head out on the drive to the Falls. As we were driving into town, before we got to the Round About…who do we see walking the street? Yep. Our buddy, our pal, Jonathan. I swear! It's becoming like a "Where's Waldo" game!

The drive took just about 1 hour, 20 minutes. Certainly not because of the distance, but more because of the condition of the roads that you must travel. *Note…if you are even THINKING about renting a vehicle and making this trip on your own, PLEASE DON'T! Besides the roads being so bad (we had to literally slow to a crawl too many times to count, just to pass a section of road that just wasn't there! Besides that though, there were numerous turns and different roads to take to get to the falls. I'm usually a pretty good navigator myself, and I was definitely lost after the fourth turn…and never could have found my way back.

Anyways…so the trip up was interesting. Aside from the road issues and the crazy Jamaican drivers, it was interesting to see the residential parts of Jamaica, away from the resort areas. This really is a country with a lot of poverty. I thought most interesting was that many of the small houses had an even smaller store in front, selling probably beer, sodas, chips, etc. The houses, I would guess, are on average maybe 600 square feet, total, with the stores being even less than that.

So. We get to the falls, and we are the ONLY group there. It is around 11AM. We park and have to walk down to get to the park, if you will. We check in, change, get our locker, ($5US per locker for a group) and get our tour guide. He brings us in…and the fun begins. It is truly an amazingly beautiful sight to see. Aside from the tour guide who was very nice, helpful, knowledgeable and just plain old fun, there was another young boy that came along with us, he had a video camera and a digital camera. He was taking pictures of each of us (Chuck and I together, the woman and her aunt together, and the single lady by herself).





At the end of the tour, we were able to view the photos. Options are: Buy one picture for $10US; buy all of your pictures on a CD for $40; buy a DVD of the whole tour for $45; or buy both the CD and DVD for $60US. I chose to buy just the CD with all of our pictures and, aside from me not being completely happy about the extra 30 pounds that a camera adds to you, think that the pictures came out really great and so beautiful. Along the tour, whenever we would stop to have our photo taken, our tour guide would take our camera (we had brought an underwater disposable with us) and take the same picture for us on our camera. I chose to buy the CD of pictures anyways, because about half-way through, our disposable one quit working and I won't know until we get home if the pictures we did take will be any good and I didn't want to risk not having ANY pictures of this amazing place!

After walking all the way up the falls, we then take a short little nature hike back to the park area. Along the way, our tour guide stopped to show us banana trees and the fruit, different types of plants, and other things along the way.

Our tour cost $65US per person (around $9100Js total) …we tipped our tour guide $1500Jamaican, I hope that was enough?? I never know how much to tip for these things!

When we arrived back at the park area, we had a chance to collect our stuff from the lockers, change, walk around a bit (there are several shops there selling stuff).

































Then we sat down for lunch. I had ordered the Blackened Chicken, and Chuck got the Vegetable Stirfry. Both were good…not great, but good. NOTE: If you don't pay for lunch in your tour price, you can still get it there. The choices and costs were: Chicken $10US; Fish $12US; Vegetable Stirfry $10US. They served it with rice & peas and cabbage, along with water and REALLY YUMMY Fruit Punch!

After we were done eating and walking around the shops, we headed back. Again…just about 1 hour 20 minutes of driving. This time we went through the towns as school was letting out, so we got to see lots of children dressed up in their school uniforms. I cannot tell you how beautiful these children are! We also passed some road construction crews…nothing like what you'll see back in the States, that's for sure! We ended up tipping our driver $1500J's…again…not sure how much you are supposed to tip these guys??

We arrive back to our hotel around 3:30PM. I head out to the beach for the last few hours of sun and to watch the sunset. Chuck comes down with me, gets a burger, then heads back up to the room to take a nap. I watch the sunset, take the obligatory pictures.



We then head back upstairs to shower and change. I take my dear sweet time, read a magazine, tidy up…just giving Chuck some more time to nap.

We run across the street (did I mention there is a little store right across the street in Chippewa Village that sells beer, wine, soda, water, snacks…if that is all you are going for, no need to run all the way into downtown to the supermarket) and buy some more Red Stripe and Water.



We head out around 7:30PM for dinner. Decide we might as well try Kuyaba.



I've been putting this one off, thinking we'll make it there around 5PM one night so that we can enjoy the sunset, but I just don't think that is going to happen. So we walk there down the beach. Again…so strange not to see anyone out! No one walking the beach, no one in the bars or restaurants…it is just so strange. It is almost like this place is deserted!

We get to Kuyaba, get a table and enjoy our dinner. I ordered, for the first time this trip, so Blue Mountain Coffee. I've heard all the hype about it. I gotta say, people, I don't get it. Granted, I am not a big coffee drinker. I do drink coffee on occasion, but I am more likely to order a Grande Iced Café Mocha with Non-Fat Milk than I am a black coffee. However, I do enjoy a good cup of black coffee every now and then. I just didn't think it was that great, or that different from any other coffee. A little bit of sugar and it was good. But…to each his own, right?

I ordered the Penne (I am about chicken and porked out at this point) with the homemade tomato sauce ($12US) and Chuck gets the Jam-Asian Steak ($17US). Talk about sticker shock! I'm so used to seeing $300 Js or $650 Js, that these prices at Kuyaba shocked me! All the way up $24 for one entrée! But, then I think about being at home and it's about the same I would pay there.

Anyways, food was good. Chuck LOVED his steak (minus the peppers) and my pasta was just OK. FOLKS - I REALIZE I AM NOT IN ITALY AND THE PASTA WILL NOT BE GREAT IN NEGRIL! I just really needed something light tonight. I ate about half, and it did the trick for me. Total bill - $41US, $2800J's. This place adds a tax AND a "10% Server's Tip" right onto the bill. We still tipped on top of that anyways.

This restaurant is really nice, especially when compared to some of the others we've gone to. By nice…I mean modern. And the prices reflect that. Really cool here with waterfall, swings at the bar, tropical feel. Just a bit more pricey than other places. It's like complete opposite of Mama Flo's from the other night!!

This is a question we have been asking ourselves this trip…when does the nightlife here REALLY begin? We are by no means old, we're both 30 (I mean…I'm 29). But we are not huge partiers and we don't stay up all night. But we do like to go to a lively bar and chill out and talk with other people. Other than Bourbon Beach the other night, we really haven't seen a bar with more than 10 people in it at a time…and usually it is more like 3 or 4 people in it.

While at dinner, there were 3 people dining near us. I overheard the girl say that she was going to go back to her room and take a nap before going out later tonight. I looked at my watch…it was 8:31PM! So…she is going to go back to her room, nap (which is a minimum of 2 hours, right?) then you'd want to freshen up, or even shower, then head out for the night? So that would make it 11? Before you even leave for the night? Does this sound right people? If so, I guess I am really getting old! I just couldn't do that! Besides, if I did, then I would most likely not get up until noon the next day, and then I'd miss out on 3-4 hours of perfectly nice beach weather! And I can't have that happening!

Anyways….walked back to the hotel along the beach (again…no one out….no one in the bars) and chilled in the room for a while before passing out from another long, yet awesome,day in paradise.

ROOMS AT IDLE AWHILE
In case anyone is interested:

There are three buildings here at Idle Awhile. The first building is closest to the road. It has the main lobby where you check in, an office area behind there for employees, and one room and the very back of it, facing the beach. I'm not yet sure what type of room this is, or if it has an ocean view or not, or even what that room number is, but its there.

The second building in towards the beach is the building we are staying in. There are 8 total rooms. 4 on the first floor and 4 on the second floor. 2 rooms on each floor face the ocean and the other 2 rooms on each floor would be garden-view. Room numbers: First Floor: 1st door on right is 101, 2nd door on right is 103, 2nd door on left is 103, 1st door on left is 104. 2nd Floor: same layout, but rooms 201, 202, 203 & 204. We are in 203.

101, 102, 201, 202 are gardenview rooms.
103, 104, 203, 204 are oceanview rooms.

The last building is the closest to the beach. Between this building and the beach is the restaurant, Chill Awhile. I believe all four rooms in this building are one-bedroom suites. There are 2 rooms on each floor, one on each side, for a total of only 4 suites in this building.

105 & 106 are on the ground floor, 105 being oceanview and 106 being gardenview.

205 & 206 are on the 2nd floor. 205 being oceanview and 206 being gardenview.

Overview of rooms: My guess anyways:

101 - Ground floor, gardenview, deluxe room
102 - Ground floor, gardenview, deluxe room
103 - Ground floor, oceanview, deluxe room
104 - Ground floor, oceanview, deluxe room
105 - 1st floor, oceanview, one-bedroom suite
106 - 1st floor, gardenview, one-bedroom suite
201 - 2nd floor, gardenview, deluxe room
202 - 2nd floor, gardenview, deluxe room
203 - 2nd floor, oceanview, deluxe room
204 - 2nd floor, oceanview, deluxe room
205 - 2nd floor, oceanview, one-bedroom suite
206 - 2nd floor, gardenview, one-bedroom suite
(Don't Know Room Number?) - 1st floor, one-bedroom suite, may be oceanview???

[Mamacita]

Great report so far!

Was it low season there? I know what you mean about feeling like you're the only ones there. I like having less crowds, but not NO ONE! You feel like you don't know where to eat, because no one is in any restaurant. Not sure I'd like that "no night life" part either.

That Mayfield place...was that really falls, or more like a nature area? No pics of the falls, so I'm just trying to get an idea of what that place was.

Looking forward to more!