The Blue Marlin completely lived up to its promise.
The property: Beautiful, meticulously maintained grounds. Wide, clean, completely empty beach (with the exception of a few very cute goats wandering around). Nice surf... not the completely still Caribbean waters, but smaller waves than East Coast USA beaches. House was simply decorated, clean, and well maintained.
Climate: Perfect. High 80's (F) during the day, 68-72 at night. AC in each bedroom, but really not needed. During the day, the house remained cool with the ever present ocean breeze.
Treasure Beach: Amazingly, Treasure Beach was true to everything I read online. We've been to Montego Bay a few times, which can get understandably "touristy". Treasure Beach is a quiet fishing/farming community, everybody we encountered was genuinely kind, we never felt like anybody was just being nice to get our tourist dollars. It was a really wonderful community. Didn't see a tourist shop type of place the entire time we were there, which was really refreshing.
Getting there from MBJ airport: It's a solid 2.5 hour drive. It's only 60 miles, which means you are driving pretty slow. We rented a van, and on the way there took the B8 to the B7 to the A2... that was a tough route. Lots of potholes, thin roads with 2-way traffic, and Jamaican drivers are impressively high-risk. On the way home, we took a different route... just the A2 to the B8, skipping the B7 part. A few more miles, but a MUCH easier drive, and I think faster because the roads were in better shape. I'm an adventurous driver, but I would definitely not do the drive at night.
Staff: Wonderful. Micheal and Anna took great care of us, and were always there without being obtrusive at all. They are available to prepare and serve all your meals, go grocery shopping whenever you like, buy lobsters from the local fisherman for you, do the laundry and dishes, keep the place clean, etc. So gracious, so kind, I can't say enough about them. Beach lounges were set up on the sand every day for us. And the groundskeeper keeps the gardens absolutely beautiful.
Restaurants: Don't expect fine dining at the local restaurants. Jake's was a very nice restaurant, and Jack Sprat's was a cool bar atmosphere. The Lobster Pot down the beach was dirty, slow service, and a stray dog was hanging out under our table. But the food was amazing, the people were nice, it was cheap, and we went back. Loved it.
It's a beautiful, truly unspoiled part of Jamaica.
