Negril River Boat Trip!

The actual village of Negril is in the knee of the coast line where the miles of beach span to the north and the cliffs to the south. The round-about - which incidentally is one of the best functioning ones on the island - connects these two areas along with traffic coming in to Negril from Little London and Savanna-la-Mar. Just before the round-about is the Negril river teaming with local sea birds, coconut and sugar cane plantations, palm trees and fisherman working the banks of the river.

Captain Moses picked us up from the beach at the Boat Bar and Rondel Village area in his glass bottom boat and we were off on our adventure. Raised in the nearby town of Lucea, his father a fisherman, Moses has grown up around the local waters all his life.

As we reached the mouth of the river the Captain Moses carefully navigated the channel in to the river as sand banks had formed recently at the mouth. Moses said this happened a number of times throughout the year and the locals simply get in to the water with their shovels and deal with it. No big excavating bucket here!

Numerous huts and boats are strewn along the banks of the river just past the mouth. A large tree is home to hundreds of white egrets nesting - you'll see that in the accompanying photo album.

Another 45 minutes up the river and it becomes narrow and unpredictable making it a good choice to turn around. Heading home Moses stopped at a coconut plantation where he cut open young coconuts. The water is said to be a very healthy drink and for sure eating the meat fresh from the tree was tasty. Moses parked the boat under a tree where we ate and drank red stripe.

On the way home as we headed across the bay back to the beach we made a swim stop to refresh. While we didn't see any fish - they are out further on the reef - through the glass bottom that day the sand dune formations under the boat were cool to see.

Can't wait to get back!~

Photo Album: www.facebook.com/BodyMindSoulAdventures