20 Crichton Drive, Montego Bay. 8765178504 (WhatsApp). cblack7020@gmail.com. Airport shuttle $35USD/1-2. You're family here In a safe, friendly community, with markets, grocery, ice cream, take-out food, and $1USD pp taxis 1/2 block away. You have a private veranda entrance, spacious double bed bedroom, full bathroom, kitchen, large closet, dining/living area with extra single bed, sofa, and TV. Enjoy the home's roof-top views overlooking Montego Bay, the mountains, and the sea, with cool breezes and awesome sunsets. Extra for a fee: massage, physical therapy, braids, meals, cooking lessons, and an herbal detox program. On-site hosts: Jah B prepares Jamaican meals to order, and provides tours and local transport. Cheri loves sharing stories and giving guidance to enjoy Jamaica. 10 minutes to beaches, shops, dining, dancing! (Part of the Topaz Dream Palace Total capacity 16).
The space
Free coffee/tea and toast. Welcome, Jah B and Cheri, your resident hosts, live on the second floor and are available to provide, by arrangement: chef service/lessons, health coaching, transport, tours, local culture/stories, dominoes/Ludi, and music. We’re 10+ minutes from the MoBay airport, bus stations, taxi stands, and 'Hip Strip' beaches, dancing at 2727 at Island Strains, Margaritaville, Pier 1, Rehab Sports Bar, and Pineapple Beach, and shopping the straw market shops for local crafts, carvings, and clothing. Experience the local scene in Mobay, and suburban Scotchies open-air restaurant, health food store, ATMs, currency exchanges, hardware, pharmacies, department stores, bookstores, large supermarkets, and casinos.
Views/breezes on verandas/roof deck
Reggae music is usually wafting through the air from the nearby corner of indoor markets, takeout food, ice cream, and other local neighborhood services. Mackies, a well-known local sports bar, is a few blocks away. There are churches in the area. Be amazed at the mountain view, botanical garden and art gallery at the nearby Ahh Rasnatango Gardens and Gallery, and the neon glow of Glistening Waters, a rare phenomenon.
Other Suites in home:
1st fl. One Love Suite: sleeps 7: 1 double bed and 1 single bed(Jamaican Apple), ensuite bath; 2 double beds (Jamaica Flower), adjacent bath; shared spacious liv/din/kitchen/veranda.
2nd fl. One Heart Suite: sleeps 6: 1 queen bed (Hummingbird), ensuite bath; 1 queen bed (Blue Mahoe/burnt red), adjacent bath; shared liv/din/kitchen; 1 double bed, (Purple Haze), shares hall bathroom with Blue Mahoe. Hosts are also on this floor.
These suites, one on each floor have separate entrances but can be joined together for larger groups, along with the apartment and 2-room suite on the roof deck (Cloud 9). Total capacity 16.
Guest access
Our guest home overlooks Montego Bay, the sea, and mountains, so there’s always a cool breeze and views from our roof deck and verandas. All are welcome to the roof deck and 2nd-floor veranda.
Interaction with guests
We enjoy interacting with our guests and are also fine with just a greeting and later goodbye . . . whatever you desire. We are here to help you have the best vacation possible.
Jah B is an excellent chef for Jamaican homestyle meals and juices prepared with fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, fish, and chicken from the nearby farmers’ market. If you wish, he’ll guide you through the market, and provide cooking lessons (small fee). He’s a great ‘selector’ of CD love songs, soul and reggae music. Cheri, a certified health education coach, enjoys sharing her miracle recovery from cancer using natural healing methods in less than three months. She also loves hearing about the guests' travels and lives and providing info on Jamaica sites, history, etc.
Other things to note
We both love to introduce our guests (Kings and Queens) to the beautiful beaches and countryside, cultural history, folktales, and the variety of attractions. Montego Bay is the second largest city in Jamaica and the preferred destination for most Jamaican tourists. We like to tour guests to the amazing ahh RasNatango Garden and Gallery (1/2 hr away). It's an hour (+) from Negril (Calico Jack's, Chukka horseback riding, Rick’s Café, Bourbon Beach, The Jungle (dance club); one hour to Falmouth (Glistening Water), 2. hours to Ocho Rios (Dunns River Falls, Blue Hole, Fern Gully, Dophins Cove, Mystic Mountain – sky ride, zipline, water park), and three hours to the South Coast (Treasure Beach, Black River, YS Falls, Alligator Tours, Appleton Rum Factory Tour).
Cheri met Jah B in 1994 when she came to Jamaica to find the guest house she had ‘dreamed’ in 1979 she was to have in retirement. Instead, she met Jah B; they instantly fell in love and were married in 1996, raising two sons in Philadelphia. In 2007, Jah B, with a contractor friend and family expertise, built our guest home, finishing by 2017. The name combines our November birthstones—topaz, plus both our dreams, plus it looks like a palace, doesn’t it! Be ready to be treated like the Queens and Kings you are!
MoBay Sumfest is mid-July (a week of all-night reggae artists); Emancipation Day Aug 1; Independence Day Aug 6; and much more. The Maroon Festival high in the Mountains (celebrates the peace treaty that successful runaway enslaved Africans signed with the British in 1739), Jan. 6; Rebel Salute (a two "night-long" reggae stage show around Jan 15 nearer Ocho Rios; the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival in January, in Ocho Rios; Reggae Month February: Bob Marley celebrations (Feb. 1-6 mostly in Kingston).
Climb Dunns River Falls, go zip-lining, drive through Fern Gully and Bamboo Avenue, express ahhh as you visit with the botanical artists at Rasnatango Gardens and Gallery, feed hummingbirds close-up, experience cliff jumping at the famous Rick's Cafe, go rafting on the Martha Brae or Great River, and snorkeling with Captain Poly's glass bottom boat, add 10 years to your life by swimming in the rare sparkling Luminous Lagoon, tour the Green Grotto Cave, go horseback riding in the mountains and along the sea, bike ride through the Blue Mountains, enjoy the 7-levels of YS Falls, tour the Appleton Rum Estate and factory, dine in the Houseboat Grill, Pier 1 and the Pelican Grill, dance at 2727 in Island Strains, Margaritaville, Pier 1, and The Jungle (Negril), hang out at Sports Bars -- Mackie's, Rehab, Powers, the Brewery, go to services in the St. James Anglican church, built in 1775.
Enjoy local treats like breadfruit, Jamaica apples, June plums, 'sweet' soursop fruit, mangos, spice buns, cocoa balls, coconut drops, grape-nut ice cream, sweet potato pudding, and "blue drawers." Feast on ackee and salt fish (the national dish; ackee from our backyard tree), jerk chicken, curried goat, festival (sweet fried pastry), yam, green banana, rice and peas (red beans), and callaloo (greens), and snack on patties (veggies, chicken or beef in fried pastry). Savor mountain spring water, coconut water, lime, pineapple, soursop, cherry, and mango juices, Ting (carbonated grapefruit), sorrel, ginger beer, rum cream, Red Stripe beer, and the nutritious tea from moringa or soursop leaves (from our backyard tree).
Other Listings:
1689149- Whole House max. of 16 people
1689727- Cloud 9/ Roof deck max. of people
1689747- Mango Island max. of 3 people
1689782- One Love Suite max. of 6 people
1689812- One Heart Suite max. of people