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article and photos by Steve Dodds
HERE I AM BACK back on assignment in paradise. A few years ago, I traveled to Jamaica where this place known as the “Island in the Sun” was unveiled for me. Long considered the cultural capital of the Caribbean, Jamaica offers a wonderfully diverse social, ethnic, natural, and culinary blend. It is an island that fills your plate — with great music, great food, and great fun. Full of mountains, rivers, jungles, waterfalls, beaches, and friendly, generous folks, it is a land of great diversity and natural beauty. It is also a land of people who take pride in being gracious hosts. My primary hosts for my unforgettable tour was the management of some of Jamaica’s finest resorts: The Tryall Club, Sandals Dunn’s River, Sans Souci Jamaica Resort & Spa, and Royal Plantation Spa & Golf Resort. Having spent my previous Jamaican journey on the northwest coast area — mostly Montego Bay and Negril — I was fortunate to travel towards the eastern part of the north coast of Jamaica, this time staying extensively in Ocho Rios. Not just once, but two back-to-back trips only four weeks apart in November and December. Invited by good folks from Air Jamaica, I was given my choice of a individual excursion of wherever I wished to explore in Jamaica. The great things I had heard about the town of Ocho Rios made up my mind. The first part of my travel plans included calling a friend I had made on my last visit to the island, Marina Delfos, assistant manager of the elegant Tryall Club. Marina’s main question to me was whether and when I was headed to Jamaica. Since my answer was, “Soon come!” she invited us to stop-over upon arrival at the nearby Montego Bay airport. This stop-over meant a one-night’s stay at a place I had previously spent several days — a place of natural beauty where I had made friends, a place to which I have a strong, natural connection. Air Jamaica — the “Lovebird” airline — makes the trip far easier skipping out anywhere to the Caribbean, but it’s still nice to have a destination nearby any airport after a full day of air travel. The Tryall Club is an innovative combination of a resort, estate villas, and golf course with its own white sand beach. Spread over a lush, 2,200-acre, former sugar plantation, Tryall is situated high on oceanview hills on Jamaica’s north coast, just outside the swingin’ city of Montego Bay. The central feature of Tryall is its 18th-Century, Georgian-style Great House. It was here were we stayed in one of their 13 Great House Villa Suites. The marvelous cuisine, staff people who I’d hung with before and remembered me well, sharing guitar and piano playing with some other guests, and Tryall’s exquisite locale has definitely won my “ultimate respect, mon.” Now it’s off towards Ocho Rios, towards a part of Jamaica noted for its verdant landscape, tropical gardens, and numerous waterfalls. The road trip confirms this, as everything green becomes more and more dense, everything of color becomes multi-colored, and the gorgeous ocean overlooks draw constant second looks. Travelling to Ocho Rios past Discovery Bay, Runaway Bay, and Sandy Bay, I realize we |
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