Although we windsurfed in Jamaica, the following information would be useful to kiteboarders as well. There was a kiteboarder at Brian's while we were there. He tried daily, but I think he was a beginner as he didn't do very well.

We went to Jamaica in December of 2001. We had reservations at Brian's Windsurfing located in Trelawny which is between Montego Bay and Ocho Rios. We were supposed to be picked up by a driver at the airport. At our arrival we decided to take a cab because nobody from Brian's was there to pick us up.

The cab driver stopped at a small restaurant where we ate local food and drank a Red Stripe beer. He was very interesting and a very informative tour guide. We arrived at Brian's around 10:00 pm.

Our room was spacious but there was no air conditioning. Our eyes were attracted to the ceiling where we saw hundreds of insects clinging to the plaster. We were a little apprehensive about sleeping under them, but they stayed put for the eight days of our visit.

Brian was a very nice guy and his staff was very friendly and helpful. He had good equipment and a good knowledge of the area since he grew up in Jamaica. Unfortunately, there were only two days of marginal wind while we were there. We had fun sailing on those days and we spent the rest of the time relaxing and playing volleyball.

We met an excellent photographer there by the name of Steve Datnoff whose pictures grace eXtreme Sports Music's home page. We also met a local by the name of Ansel who did all the cooking. We ate all of our meals at Brian's.and Ansel was an excellent cook, but it would have been nice to be able to go out to dinner for a change of pace.

There was supposed to be a rental car center at a hotel just down the beach, but it was closed for remodeling during our visit. We were also told not to go anywhere without a chaperone which put a damper on our normal adventurous attitude, however, we did go to a local party with Ansel in Zion. We drove to a location in the jungle where there was a small bar and the loudest music I ever heard just blasting into the air. Now, I'm a musician. I've played gigs with the Plasmatics, I've sat in the front row of concerts by the Who and other "loud" bands. This was the loudest music I ever heard, but thatÕs not a bad thing. We had a great time.

One of the other guests was extremely ill when we arrived. Jane caught whatever he had on New Years Eve because she got so drunk in Zion that her immunity was down and I caught it from her. We were deathly ill for two days each, over three days total. After recovering, we took a great river rafting trip. Then we went to a house in the middle of the jungle where wild humming birds would fly out of the jungle, land on your hand and eat from small feeders you held in your other hand. This was one of the coolest nature encounters we have ever had.

Our timing was off on this trip and the illness was one of the worst either of us has had in years but I would like to try it again sometime.