"I certainly have zero interest in involving myself in any drama that exists within a group of people living or visiting there. "
Amen to that!! I try to live my life as drama free as possible and have no patience for it when on vacation. That said, living there for three months within a tight community there's ALWAYS going to be drama - I just step away from it. Keeps my life nice and - simple...
Simplicity is what I'm really after when I'm in Jamaica. Over 30 years I've seen Negril grow to the point where there's now a sign as you enter announcing it as a "Resort Town". Not so at all when I first stepped foot there! My goal while I'm there is to simplify, slow down, no TV, read books, cut back the work day to an average of 2-3 hours per day and enjoy the great fresh food, air, sea and natural beauty of the place. It still exists - you just have to look a bit harder for it.
The fact that I can only go down there once a year probably helps keep the burn out away. The fact that the friends I have there - expat, native Negrilian and Jamaican from all walks of life - business owners, resort workers, retirees, artists and writers - I met way before the internet came to town. Same with the repeat visitors such as myself that I've met from all over the world. I am blessed to have such a wonderful and solid community of friends in general, there in particular. While I might not set out to make friends on vacation, I just make friends where ever I go - I'm a social person so that just has always come naturally to me.
Because the friends I have there either grew up there or have lived there for decades I've had fanstastic opportunities to check things out and get turned on to wonderful off the beaten path stuff right in the area (before they became "field trips", lol). Hey - I got to participate in the most awesome full moon ceremony every year up until 2008, lighting up a cave with hundreds of candles - I got to enjoy Little Bloody Bay before the townhouses were built - I got to roam around Roaring River with my friend who grew up there and whose family is still there, sharing stories and food under a huge Banyan tree in their yard...I became close friends with the family who owns Half Moon Beach which is my go to spot now when my feet need to hit some sand.
Probably the turning point in my experience in Negril was when my friend asked us to sublet his house for 6 weeks. That was 10 years ago, and I now live in that same yard (not the same house) for three blessed months each year. Its quiet, its clean, we have a pool in varying degrees of "nice" and we have the cliff and the sea - and I have my neighbors in the yard and outside of the yard in one of the few uncongested and mostly residential neighborhoods left in Negril. I have to say, having not had that opportunity I have to wonder if I too would have tired of the Negril hustle and bustle that is today. This is my home away from home.
We spent 6 days in Long Bay last winter and I loved it and I want to and plan to see more of the area. (like finish our triptus-interuptus and check out the Blue Mountains) Still - I was happy to come back to Negril, to our yard, our friends. Home.
As far as the food getting repetitive, it doesn't for me. I remember a Negril where you could not get anything much aside from Jamaican food. Now - well the world is your culinary oyster! Sure, I enjoy the occassional slice of pizza or hamburger while there but I'm not there to eat pizza and hamburgers. Bring on the fresh local ingredients and let me go to town with them. I so reconnect with my cooking and entertaining there, something I have little time to do in NoCal. It fills my heart.
I think the reason Les and I look forward to going back each year, spending the same amount of time and with the same good friends is that our vacation has always been our own. We are not "joiners" and do not rest our vacation on anyone individual's shoulders - we dislike the whole "event to event" and "field trip" thing unless we are organizing that type of thing with our friends/posse. It is so amazing to find people that you travel well with and we've found that with our friends/yard mates...so the four of us are down for pretty much any adventure.
As a non-driver in general I love Negril for the fact that you can get around so easily! The last couple of years we have the motorcycle which really helps, especially these days where finding an uncrowded, undiscovered spot is rare to none in the Negril area. Our bikes have taken us to the south coast many times, at least twice each trip, to the North Coast twice and beyond this year god willing. But still - I so dig the fact that I can jump in a route taxi or just walk to the store, beach, down the cliff to visit friends or enjoy a drink at Canoe. I don't know for sure that this is all that possible in a place like Long Bay - but I'd need to spend more than 6 days there to truly discover that.
Is the beach hustle in Negril out of control? Yes - so I don't go to the beach there, I prefer Half Moon Beach. Do I get hustled and begged upon downtown? Sure - but I let it roll right off my shoulders and keep moving until I find the place where that won't happen to me. Because I love the place so and find for me what I'm looking for in this extended visit each year, at least right now, Negril will be that sweet spot.
Everyone should have at least one sweet spot!