Jamaica 8 – Treasure Beach 4 – Black River & Pelican Bar
Dec 23 (Sun) – 28 (Fri), 2012
We took a Black River Tour on the 26th.
This tour took us to Black River by a motor boat for crocodile-watching. It’s by luck to see any and sometimes customers can’t (a Czech family we met at the guesthouse couldn’t see any). And then we visited Pelican Bar which is built in the middle of the ocean. It’s a 4-5 hour tour. As a larger group can get a discount, so we decided to go with the Spanish couple who became friends of ours.
Good morning, cutie! Have a good day and see you later!
We got on this boat.
It’s called Why You Ask. When the owner goes to register it, they’ll ask the name of the boat.
“What’s the name of the boat?”
“Why you ask?”
“Because we need to register your boat. So what is it called?”
“So I’m telling you, why you ask.”
The conversation will never end…
The wave sometimes splashed on our faces. It’s refreshing and windy. We got a lot of sun.
We will come to see you later, Pelican Bar!
We saw a dolphin! We were told it’s quite rare here during this season. So we were lucky!
Then we went up the Black River. Here he is! They are the same colour as the branches. It’s hard to find them. Normally, the guides find them for us.
We enjoyed the nice river nature scenes as well.
My husband can’t just ignore a Tarzan rope when he finds one. He has to try it! :
Hello, girls! :
There’s a place on the river where we can have some crabs! They’re not filling, but nicely arranged, easy to eat and tasty!
Now going back to the ocean.
I imagine it’s hard to manage a restaurant like this. You have to bring everything over the water, drinks, gas, food, water…
It’s so windy too as it is located in the middle of the ocean.
We can have drinks here and also order some meals. They have a small section for souvenirs. We bought a redwood carving of dolphins.
This is a lobster dish. Shared with my hubby. It went so quickly! Very delicious.
It was a very enjoyable time.
Had fish & chips at the guesthouse for dinner.
Jamaica 7 – Treasure Beach 3
Dec 23 (Sun) – 28 (Fri), 2012
25th: Christmas Day.
This morning we chatted over breakfast with the Spanish couple for a long time. It was already past 11 am when we finally noticed the time. They were here with their rent-a-car (wow, they drove on the terrible Jamaican roads!). They were going to Great Bay Beach, so we got a ride there. Thank you!
Lionfish:
Lobster:
We walked up a hill near the shore:
We enjoyed the hot weather in the water as well. Late at night, I noticed that I had left my necklace there! Damn!! I bought it in Negril. Too bad…
Lobster:
Lionfish:
When I see this page, lionfish are not sold in markets (at least in Japan). It’s a beautiful fish, when you image-search it, and a popular fish among divers to look at. The notes say it’s not very tasty. I think I had this for the first time, but it was tasty and I liked it as much as lobster! Lionfish was cheaper.
We went to a cafe and then went to another beach.
We were both lying down and reading. Without noticing it, the tide had risen and David’s towel got badly wet!
Dinner at Jerk again.
This night, we just had veggies with potatoes.
We were told that the local community was having a Christmas event at the church, so we dropped by.
No decorations, just a very simple church. It was undergoing renovations and being enlarged. We didn’t even see a cross.
There was a lot of singing. When the kids sang, the adults gave small bills to them. David followed their custom. The money was collected later and the total amount of the donation was announced at the end.
We usually spend Christmas in another country traveling. It’s a valuable experience.
Jamaica 6 – Treasure Beach 2
Dec 23 (Sun) – 28 (Fri), 2012
We stayed at Nuestra Casa in Treasure Beach for 6 nights.
They served breakfast and each day we had a different one. A lot of variety: Jamaican and Western! I liked them all.
Every day, we got nice portion of really fresh fruits. So energizing.
This leaf veggie is called callaloo. I think I had this for the first time. This one was mixed with salted pieces of fish. It seems to go well with a lot of things like rice or omelettes. I like to eat a lot of veggies. It’s going to be my regular order at restaurants in Jamaica, I think.
Another day, we got served poached eggs:
Another day, scrambled eggs with beans:
With the owner, Roger, and our Spanish friends, X and S.
Another day, Ackee and a young banana (they are not sweet! They are like potatoes):
Usually baked sweet banana and avocado came with the dish and sweet potatoes were often there too. Quite filling and healthy.
This guesthouse has a nice rooftop with some nice shade. We spent time there and on the beach as well.
We had dinner at Roger’s. This is pumpkin soup.
The staff was digging the pumpkin this afternoon. They made it from scratch.
We really loved this tasty thick soup!
Lobster, mashed potato and beans:
Thank you for making the table romantic!
24th was the Christmas Eve.
We took it easy this day as well.
We had dinner at Jerk again. The chef was there and cooked meals for us. Swordfish and shrimp dish:
Dessert was baked banana with ice cream. Yummy!
Jamaica 4 – Montego Bay 3
We went to Jamaica in winter 2012-2013 for a holiday. I already wrote 5 entries regarding this trip, but they are only in Japanese. Sorry!
Dec 16 (Sun) to 22 (Sat), 2012
An old lady was selling fruits on the street in front of where we were staying. We bought some a few times. The things we ate for the first time were:
- Sweetsop (the ones with green skin)
- Custard apples (the ones with pink skin)
Both were really tasty!
She said custard apples are not in the market so often. We were lucky we were able to try it. The name for it is perfect. It is really like custard.
One of the highlights of the trip for me.
Custard apple:
Sweetsop:
According to this page, they are both the same family, called Annona squamosa. Sure they look almost the same inside, but not outside…
Doctor’s Cave Beach was right out front.
It was $6 each to rent a parasol and 2 chair beds for a day. It’s better to stay longer than an hour to make use of it… We spent like 5 hours enjoying the beach each time we came here.
Lunch (Fish cake and salads) @ Sands:
Another day, we had fruits for snack and lunch at Sands again. Nice heaven.
With my condition of morning sickness, I couldn’t drink water very easily… It’s very important for a pregnant woman to take in enough liquid: 8 cups a day or even more in this kind of hot climate.
I could drink iced water. So when I had a chance, I tried to drink as much as possible. Otherwise, I was taking liquid from fruits, fruit juice and soft drinks. I usually don’t drink soft drinks and didn’t want to, but no choice. Still as they are so high in sugar, I’m afraid I was taking too much sugar daily…
You can rent snorkeling equipment here as well ($6/day).
I saw a lot of sea urchins in the water! I heard Jamaicans don’t eat sea urchins. It’s a delicacy in Japan and we like it. I was born in Niigata, Japan, but I didn’t take a lesson on catching urchins (there are traditional professional lady divers who get sea urchins with only one breath). Now I regret I don’t have that skill here… too bad. We could have had all-we-can-eat sea urchin buffet! Sounds like individuals are allowed to take some fish from the sea like fishing is allowed.
* When I uploaded the photo to Flickr and said the same thing, someone commented saying that the urchins here are not so tasty. Maybe would it taste like the ones in Chile, not such a deep flavour?
I saw beautiful fish too! Changing subject? Yes, I shouldn’t talk only about food….
The restaurants we went to in Montego Bay were all pretty good.
We went to this restaurant, Golden Dynasty 3 times (dinner 2 times and lunch once) !
I love Mapo Doufu (麻婆豆腐) but it often contains some ground meat. So it’s tricky for me to order. This Mapo Doufu doesn’t contain any meat to begin with! Great. My hubby didn’t eat this much, so I had to eat it almost all to myself. It was a great meal. Got so full.
This one was a lunch. I think it was a $6 set meal. All brown! 99％ is made of oil and carbos.
Another day, we went to The Pelican. It was a nice family restaurant with comfortable sofas, but it was quite chilly inside. Some DJ event was getting prepared at the park in front of the restaurant. It went on and was very loud even at midnight. We could hear it well from our room.
There is a delicacy called ackee & saltfish in Jamaica and we wanted to try it. At this restaurant, we tried an appetizer, “ackee with bammy (a type of potato)”. It was good, but the fried bammy pieces were quite heavy on my stomach. I didn’t need 6 pieces… My hubby also ordered the same one as an appetizer. One order was enough, we realized later.
We had rum & raisin cake and a lemon pie for dessert! I shouldn’t have any alcohol, but I ate it and it was delicious.
We had a room with a kitchen! So we ate our breakfast in the room everyday and made dinner 3 times during 7 nights staying here. Jamaica is not cheaper than Canada or the US. So eating inside makes some difference. And because of my condition of getting worse morning sickness at night, it’s more convenient that I can go to bed as soon as I want after dinner. I really went to bed early everyday. I felt much better in the morning.
During the stay in Montego Bay, I was reading “A Bad Novel (「厭な小説」)” by Natsuhiko Kyogoku. It was really bad. It was sicking. I know it says so. So I can’t complain. It was really interesting and good, but maybe you should avoid reading it if you are pregnant. It gives you more nausea.
Lake Louise 4
Feb 20 (Wed) – 21 (Thu)
This day, we tried cross-country skiing for the first time.
We were going to rent skis for a half day as we were going to use them for maybe 2 hours. I thought a half day can be a few hours in the morning or a few hours in the afternoon, but the half day price only started after 12:30. It was still before noon and we didn’t want to pay for a full day. When we asked if we could start earlier they said no problem. Thanks a lot!
There are some courses we can take to learn how to cross-country ski, but the course time was fixed and required a reservation, and it was quite expensive, so we just went by ourselves. It should be OK because we would do it just like walking on the very flat frozen lake. We wouldn’t fall down and we didn’t. The skis were thinner than normal skis and our heals can be lifted from them. Different, but we got used to it soon after. It was a nice walk around the lake.
Look! Some people were ice-climbing! So scary!!
It was a nice experience.
In the afternoon, we had afternoon tea at the Lakeview Lounge @ the hotel !
We shared one.
The same chain hotel in Victoria, BC, has a nice afternoon tea too, but they require the guest to have a set once they sit at the table (I had never heard of such a policy before). So I thought there was a chance this place had the same policy, so I asked. Phew, they don’t require that.
This afternoon tea comes with a glass of champagne. I’m pregnant. I actually don’t need such a thing. Can you reduce the price and you can take it away… My hubby drank it. Please enjoy.
It was really good! The fruits were nice. The unique variety of tea was nice too.
Afternoon teas in Hong Kong might have a better deal for the cost, but this place has the great view of the lake. So I shouldn’t compare.
After this, we went to Banff again. It takes about 1 hour. The sky and mountains were beautiful and we enjoyed the drive very much.
The other day it was so packed and this day wasn’t.
I didn’t photoshop the picture, but the sky below looks strange… the lens filter?
Caribou Street. Nice!
At night, we went to Miki, a Japanese restaurant. I knew this restaurant from reading my friend’s blog. The food looked great.
It’s inside a hotel.
This is my order: Chirashi Don. You can’t see the scallops, squid and octopus. It was really good.
This restaurant offers a good deal for a buffet for only $30. My husband was confident that he could eat a lot, so he ordered a lot and ate them all. I would have had the same if I was hungrier… Please open up a chain in Edmonton. We will go often! They make the food after ordering. It might take some time especially if it’s crowded. On this day and at this time, it wasn’t. We were lucky.
Miki Japanese Restaurant (403) 762-0600 600 Banff Ave, Banff
It was about – 5 c degree during the day, but when we went back to the hotel, it was -17! So cold!!
Next day…
The morning we were checking out, I had a Japanese breakfast set. Yes, there is such a thing at this hotel. With Natto (fermented soybeans)! Amazing! I love it and I eat it at least a few times a month at home. It’s so healthy and delicious with rice.
It was a perfect breakfast, even though the rice felt like it was microwaved. The fact that we can eat this in the middle of the Canadian Rockies amazes me! Thank you very much.
We bought some lunch at the Deli again and hit the road. It’s about 5 hours to Edmonton.
Looked like Edmonton had a snow storm. The trees were all white.
There was a day that I could have only 3 hours sleep, but the last night I had a good long sleep. Is it because I had a lot of Gari (sweetened ginger that often comes with sushi). So that was good.
Finally my husband got a cold from me. I’m very sorry about that. I respect how strong he is, thinking of the fact that he hadn’t gotten cold by this time.
The Lake Louise is very popular and a lot of Japanese couples come for their honeymoons. It’s a romantic nice place. We really enjoyed it. We made nice memories for the last time (?) only by ourselves before having a BB.
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