This post is to help plan a trip to Jamaica with some good friends. The one thing I will try to refrain from posting openly here are the specific dates of our intended travel. OPSEC you know.
We are traveling in the Spring to a secluded place on the North Coast of Jam-Down. It's a place I've visited before personally, and even recommended it to my boss - who took a huge group of family there, and loved it.
Let me tell you about Silver Sands in general terms. It is outside the town of Duncan, about 35 miles from the tourist port of Montego Bay. That translates into about 30 minutes by car or shuttle bus on the newly built north coast freeway. This in turn translates into the only source of nightlight available beyond what nightlife we can independently generate. Silver Sands is not known for it's nightlife!
What it SHOULD BE known for is the most outstanding beach in all of Jamaica. I've been going to Jamaica regularly for 31 years and I know exactly the boast I am making here. The beach is simply bad ass!!!
If that doesn't spin your head... try this:
And usually the beach is pretty empty. When I was there in 2005 we saw only three or four couples on the beach at any one time. My boss said it was the same when he was there in 2008. I know that most of the Jamaicans I've told about Silver Sands - never heard of it.
Obviously it's more than just a beach. It's a small walled in (yes I said walled in) village set right on the beach, and back about a mile and a half from the nearest highway. Think - QUIET. Also think SECURITY. You will NOT be accosted on the beach (or anywhere else in SS for that matter) by some local peddler trying to market his goods.
There are approximately half of the private homes in the village that are NOT for rent. There are 48 or 49 homes that ARE for rent. Each house comes with a staff that is part of the cost of the house. Usually you have at least a cook and a cleaning lady. If you have a pool, there's likely to be a grounds/pool man. All these folks are part of the rent. It is customary however to tip them a sum about 10% of the rental, providing of course you got good service. And I can tell you now - good service and awesome beach and lodging is what Silver Sands is all about!
Here's one of the villas you can rent. It's right on a forty foot cliff overlooking the ocean. It even has steps down the cliff to reach the water's edge. That first picture I posted up top is the view from this villa's pool deck. This villa is called Santa Margherita.
Every villa has its good points, and there's one for every budget from real high dollar to pretty darn cheap.
A good way to research them is to pull this page and sort by price, amenities, or number of bedrooms. Just click on the headings and it will resort the listings by the headings. Note that there are four pages of listings.
Click on each villa by name and get more information specific to that villa. Like Queen's Cottage.
On the villa page you will see a number of tabs, one of which is LOCATION. Click that tab and you will get a map of Silver Sands with your selected villa sort of blinking so you can see where it is in relation to the beach. Check out Silver Pointe and see how it's situated in relation to the beach!
Obviously the RATES tab tells the price for each villa. It also lets you know how many bedrooms the villa has, and what the prices are for the number of bedrooms you will be needing, as well as the prices stated weekly or nightly. Be aware that some villas have minimum rental periods.
Food and beverages are NOT included in the rent. However, the way things are handled is you communicate your menu to the Silver Sands office in whatsoever level of detail you like, and the house staff will buy groceries on a credit tab that you settle up with at the end of your stay. You simply collect receipts for all purchases and the grocery man is used to the guests of Silver Sands, and this is just the way it's done. If you avoid the food mart inside Silver Sands (grossly overpriced just like you would expect) and direct the staff to use the chinaman's grocery in Duncan, you will "everyman" prices that are MUCH more reasonable.
A word about the cooking - These ladies can flat cook!!! Either continental, American, or local; I am going to bet you will be very pleased with the quality if the food prep.
A word about the cooking - These ladies can flat cook!!! Either continental, American, or local; I am going to bet you will be very pleased with the quality if the food prep.
Think about the flexibility and versatility that comes with having total control over your menu! Yet all the legwork is done for you by others.
Now as for our specific plans. I was thinking to depart from ORL on AirTrans to Mo-Bay. You can get that non-stop, and skip completely over Miami [gag, puke!] We have priced it currently if you leave ORL on a Friday and return on a Saturday at $339 plus tax. Of course airline prices are shifting constantly and we would want to lock that down as soon as possible.
Our intent is to stay in Silver Sands for four days and three nights. So we would fly in on Friday and leave for Kingston on Monday to use the rest of our vacation to visit my wife's family who still live there.
I had originally thought to get one large villa like Rum Jetty or Azure Cove and we all stay there together. But the more I mulled it over, the more I considered potential difficulties surrounding such things as menu selection, cost apportionment, and bedroom selection. I am increasingly convinced that we're better off in getting three contiguous villas, with B & K in one, Me and my whole bunch in one (with three bedrooms), and K & J in one. By separating the groups it allows one party to eat high on the hog (and pay for it) while another party might choose to eat frugally (and save for it).
In recognition of the simple truth that not all bedrooms are created equal, separate villas will minimize the possibility that someone will get stuck with a less than wonderful bedroom - at the same price - as someone who gets the master suite!
And all the possible quirks of trying to equitably allocate costs of a jointly rented villa AND food for a menu will be set aside if we but lodge in adjoining villas. But even if we scattered a bit - no big deal, because I happen to know that the place is a half mile long at it's longest point, and less than a quarter of a mile wide at it's widest point. You're never more than a couple of hundred years from the beach anywhere in Silver Sands.
So I had the thought that we would get these three villas: Queens Cottage, Duke's Hideaway, and Nutshell. Currently all of these houses are available for the four day period I referenced in my email to you. That can change at any moment of course. And as you can see from the LOCATION tab that are right near the beach, and right near each other.
Feel free to email me with any questions you've got, or even to use the comment feature here on the blog. Even though it's my blog, this post is not on the front page. It's way back on a page that was activated in 2009 so it's really not visible to the casual blog viewer here.
In any event let me hear from you please.
Other useful inks:
Here's a good video showing what the beach looks like.
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