Places to eat:

Selina's Coffee Bar and Eatery: We eat a good percentage of our meals here. Breakfast is amazing, be it Big Roy's Banana Pancakes, Selina's awesome hashbrowns or a simple ham and cheese omlette. Whatever you're craving, she can make it. If we want a snack during the day, we'll stop by for her freshly made bruschetta or Cheese on Fire. For dinner, you name it, pizza, lasagne, chicken jamaica, it's all delicious!

Best in the West: While it's a great place to sit and eat, my favorite is to grab a bag of jerk chicken from here and bring it back 'home' to eat. It's served with this fabulous, thick, dense bread that's just made to soak up the slightly sweet jerk sauce. My stomach is rumbling just thinking about it!

Niah's Patties:  Niah is located in the Wavz lot and his patties are to die for. He makes them fresh as you watch even rolling out the dough with a rum bottle. I have to close my eyes when I watch him move the glowing logs around with his hands, but man, can he ever make a pattie. The sauce that comes with his patties is my favorite with a little spice. This ridiculously inexpensive lunch or dinner is oh so filling.

Sonia's Patties: Sonia makes a mean pattie herself among other things. Her sauces is quite a bit sweeter than Niah's buy wonderful in it's own right. If you stop by her place in the afternoon and tell her what you want for dinner she'll create a spread for you and you won't believe your eyes!

Rockhouse Hotel: Rockhouse is a romantic place for dinner, a bit pricy but worth it. Greg and I tend to hit it for lunch as we love their chicken sandwiches and fresh squeezed limeade.

Seastar Inn: I can't remember which night but they have a weekly buffet that is absolutely incredible and a lot of fun. Their menu food is exceptional as well, I especially loved the pizza!

3Dives: Mmmmm, I love me some 3Dives jerk chicken and the jerk sauce (granny sauce) is probably the best I've ever had. Their lobster is also exceptional. If you have the time, plan several visits here. The sunset dinner hour is a lot of fun.

Norma's: Another pricey resturant but beautiful and well worth it. There is an assortmant of seafood dishes on the menu and Greg is in love with the lobster bites. The steak, not so much, but not something expected to be exceptional in Jamaica.

(There are a ton of other amazing resturants in Negril, but these are my favorites!)

I'm always recreating this list every year, and I had a dream last week that I forgot to pack flip flops, so I thought I'd go ahead and set ours in stone. Maybe it can help others with their own list as well.

Things to bring:

• Repellant with Deet (a must have for mornings and eveningsj unless the weather is cool)

• QTips (to get the seawater out of your ears)

• Allergy Medicine

• Advil

• Exedrin

• Itch cream

• Liquid Bandaid just in case. Haven't needed it yet!

• Zicam Oral (if you feel a cold coming on)

• Skin lotion with Aloa

• Sunscreen (several, start off high!)

• Lip stuff with sunblock

• Backpack for scooter

• 100 dollars in ones for tips and taxis

• Credit Card (for reserve and to rent a scooter)

• Passport (Effective January 2007, you MUST have a passport)

• Drivers License (to cash travelers checks and rent scooter)

• Camera! Extra Memory Cards, Battery Charger, lens cloth

• Collapsible Cooler if you're room doesn't have a fridge

• Beach Bag for books, sun screen, etc.

• Journal and pen

• Sunglasses and lens cleaner (salt water mucks them up)

• Books!! Also a great item to leave behind.

• Flip Flops baby, that's about all you'll need!

• Tennis shoes for scooter and socks

• Shampoo and a heavier conditioner than usual

• Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, razor

• Body Wash (just easier to deal with than soap)

• Deoderant

• Large plastic ziplock baggies for toiletries. Pack everything in them.

• Small zipper wallet for cash on the go

• snorkeling gear

• Deck of cards, Skipbo

• trashbags for wet clothes on return trip

• sweatshirt for a cool evening. maybe another to give away as if the temperature happens to drop below 80 in the evenings, the Jamaicans will be shivering!

• pajama bottoms to lounge in.

• Bottle Opener

• Cigar Cutter

• Extra room in suitcase

• Purell gel hand cleaner for those times when soap and water isn't handy.

• Don't pack too many clothes! A pair of shorts can last two or three days, easy. I usually bring a shirt a day and then wear yesterdays shirt in the morning until after I've hit the beach and taken a shower.

• Swimsuits!