Jamaica - Black River

From GRA

Sunset Beach Club Guesthouse

Black River Tel: 634-3938

This place is really worth checking out. There are good chances that you will be the only guests staying here, which means that it will be quiet, and you will get a lot of opportunities to talk with the 73-year-old man who owns the place. This man drinks full glasses of pure white rum as soon as he wakes up, until he goes to bed, and has nice and fun stories to tell (you just have to understand what he says, but he'll tell you 5 times the same story...). There is also a young Rasta who does all the housekeeping, and can cook meals if you want. You can get a J$200 breakfast of ackee and saltfish with a coffee, which he deliciously cooked. Maybe he'll ask you if you want some for the next morning, but if he doesn't, ask him the day before so he has time to buy the ingredients. There are 3 buses in which the owneres has made small and big rooms. In the big room, there are 2 single beds, restrooms and a shower. We paid J$1500 (approx $25) for one night for the big room. We saw a woman when we paid, and she seemed surprised that we didn't discuss the price. But this is still a good price, as the room was clean, and also unusual! Two of us slept in the same bed, but it was a little bit small for 2 persons... If you have enough money, take one bed for each one of you. This place is directly located on the beach, which is deserted, no tourists: we only saw young children playing on the beach, a local family who came to swim, and a bird photographer. Of course, the sand is not as white as in Negril for example, and the water is not clear, but still nice to be directly on the beach. Moreover, you can enjoy really nice sunsets lying on a chair, talking with the owner. The bar at the guesthouse doesn't seem to be open anymore, but there is one just next on the road. If you walk on the road in the direction of downtown, you can find Cloggy's on the beach, which is a bar - restaurant. If you walk a bit longer, 1 or 2 miles from the guesthouse, you can be in downtown Black River rather quickly. To sum up, this guesthouse is highly recommended: quiet, safe, cheap, clean, exotic and nice people.