This was our first time in Montego Bay, Jamaica, so we were looking forward to exploring a bit. Our ship was docked a bit out of town, and the recommendation was to take an excursion or a cab into town. Of course, we did neither. Town didn't look that far away (for us), so we thought to try just walking on our own. And that went well...mostly. The ship had provided us with a simple map, and we intended to go into the town, but managed to overshoot it by a good bit. The distances weren't really all that far, so we walked through the hotel zone, almost to the airport before we turned back and took a break for some "beer-fi". The waiter is the one that set us straight, so on our way back to the ship, we did a quick walk-through of the town. We were running out of time at that point, so we hired a car to take us back to the ship. Montego Bay is an interesting little town, though we would have liked to spend more time in the town center and less in the Hotel Zone.
After we entered the bay, we could see the town in the distance with a plane coming in for a landing. (Actually...turned out that wasn't really the town - it was the Hotel Zone. But anyway...)
Our ship was docked at the commercial pier, so we all had to board buses (the yellow buses at the lower left), and get driven around the yard to just past the tug on the right to the welcome center. Another ship that came in after us was docked right next to the welcome center.
We passed a few interesting signs on our walk in to town.
The ocean was a beautiful blue colour as we walked over a bridge.
We saw these buildings as we walked toward the town, and thought maybe to check them out on our way back. Turns out - this is the entrance to the downtown area, and we were now walking past it.
As we got closer to the touristy Hotel Zone, we came across a few interesting establishments.
Yes...Montego Bay has a "Kosher Hot Spot"
And this brightly coloured building is actually the Canadian Consulate.
Another Margaritaville. There are many in the Caribbean Islands. This was a HUGE draw for the tourists, and the place was hoppin'. We didn't bother going in.
Finally - we had hit the "Irie Hip Strip"!
A "Gifts Palace" on the "Irie Hip Strip". One of many tourist shops along the main drag.
Jimmy Cliff Blvd. (I think it was more of a street than a boulevard...)
This is the place we stopped for "beer-fi". After getting our Red Stripe beer (VERY welcome at this point), we asked if they had wi-fi. The waiter said "Yes" and then gave us the password for the business next door. The beer was good. The wi-fi was good. The bathroom...not so much. But we now realized our mistake, and after the break, headed out for "town".
This is the entrance to the town of Montego Bay.
This was mostly a pedestrian street, with lots of kids out of school for the day.
The few streets that we walked along were very busy with both cars and people on the narrow sidewalks.
One of the streets of Montego Bay town.
We didn't get the chance to explore far from the main drag, but the town looked to go back several streets.
This is our last glimpse of town before we accepted an offer from a cab driver to give us a lift back to the cruise ship.
NEXT: (Day 4) George Town, Cayman Islands
Prev: (Day 1) Miami, Embarkation
Caribbean-Cuba (MSC) - 2019
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