Next February we're thinking of doing a little traveling and thought about re-visiting Falmouth.
It might have been a dozen years since we've been there and even then we stayed at a little place well out of town. I'd love to hear any recommendations anyone might have; contact information a plus. Ideally, I'd like a modest guesthouse in town so we could walk to take in some of the historic buildings. If we go, it would only be for a couple of days; then it's back to Treasure Beach.

What about Duncans? A woman that post on www.jamaicans.com has a guest house there. From the photo's I have seen it looks lovely. Check out Ja jewel onjamaicans.com.

Had friends visit Falmouth about six months ago. They were very disappointed. They said the area residents they spoke to hate what has happened to their town in preparation for cruise ships. I am almost sure there has been a link on this site to a well known travel writer explaining how Falmouth was being transformed into a fake Jamaican town. I also think it is going downhill in the environmental area.

To each his own:

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ports/group/home.do?portCode=FMT

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=741

Here's that article from Arthur Frommer's blog.

http://www.frommers.com/blog/?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElem entId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3A3ec3ac40-db8a-4d10-a8 84-acf9ccad0879Post%3A51cc7d71-39f0-4012-a508-105ece8b43cf

I know the Tourist Board is trying to get the town ready for the first cruise arrivals in January, but I heard at the moment it isnt in a very good state,alot of big huge boulders for the building of the port, proabably wouldnt affect your stay at a guest house though. Should be complete by Feb.

Arrrggghhh!
I want to thank everyone that posted here.
I get mad at the Jamaican government because they seem to want to push the tourist into these megahotels who tell them to stay on the property. Booze from Europe, chicken from the States, fish from Costa Rica, beef from Australia, and butter from Ireland means little money left for the Jamaicans. Falmouth WAS a town where a Jamacan government with vision might market to history buffs along with the sun and surf. I see it's too late and it sounds even worse than I feared. Spanishtown too has that potential but the crime there made Falmouth my choice. Just like my parents had their memories of taking the MoBay railroad years back, I'll have to settle for my visit to a scruffy but honest Falmouth where I watched goats tethered in a 18th century cemetery happily keeping the grass from growing to long, a stay on Navy Island all to ourselves. I just hope I don't have to keep Treasure Beach in that same memory bank. A TB without seaplanes, jet skis, helicopters and crime brought in with mistakes in how it was developed. I'm bummed.

Milwaukee Mike sums it all up. I fear TB has seen its best days. As one who has lived in various places in the U.S., I have watched money-driven development, in the name of "progress," ruin rural areas, destroy woodlands and other wild places, fracture communities and invite crime. In 2006, I saw startling changes creeping into TB, and thought, "This paradise might have five good years left." My guess seems to have been pretty much on target. Perhaps I am wrong. I fear i am not.

A TB without seaplanes, jet skis, helicopters and crime brought in with mistakes in how it was developed. I'm bummed.

If only!
[edited by TB.net]

By JD on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - 08:03 am: Edit Post
A TB without seaplanes, jet skis, helicopters and crime brought in with mistakes in how it was developed. I'm bummed.

If only!
[edited by TB.net]

Wow! Edited for what? You did not care for my opinion? There was no cussing.

Ah, JD, you must learn that censorship by the webmaster of this site is totally mysterious and random. Once I expressed an opinion about realtors. A realtor objected, saying "We aren't ALL that way!" and that was enough for the webmaster to delete - AFTER he allowed it to run - my blanket statement which was, CLEARLY, my own opinion. I do know that the randomness of the censorship has driven many previous posters to this site - some of the ones with the most thoughtful things to say - into not posting anymore. Perhaps the webmaster would do well if he just banned George Carlin's seven forbidden words. Or if he read up about the First Amendment. Or perhaps the webmaster would be more specific about what he deems acceptable, and what not. (The stated goal of the site is to "promote the positive vibes" of TB. But what if the vibes coming from TB are no longer all positive and bucolic, and people must be made aware and give thought to what the reality is of what is happening in and to TB? His standards and rules seem arbitrary,and keep shifting, and do not help when it comes to important discussions about the future of TB. Sometimes, it seems, the webmaster allows things he might not have previously allowed, if enough people come forth with the same opinions, worded in various ways.

I only seldom post now, because too many times I have given considerable time to post thoughtful statements about the state of affairs in our beloved TB, but I have wearied of having to weigh every word, having to second-guess if what i am saying is within the bounds of the current, ever-shifting set of rules.

Will the webmaster print this? Or does the webmaster censor even opinions about his censorship?

Now I'm dying to know what JD said that was edited. I DO applaud the Webmaster for printing what NAL wrote. I agree with NAL because I too rarely post here anymore for the same reasons he stated. I do not mean that a particular person or establishment should be singled out for criticism unless there is absolute proof and what that person is doing is detrimental to the community. I do mean that people should be free to provide their opinions if these are clearly stated as their opinions. If others disagree, there seems to be no hesitation for them to say so as well as WHY.

The censorship debate is an old argument. Feel free to search through old posting to read more on it using the link in the upper left hand corner. There's plenty of back and forth about it.

In this case, suffice it to say that we do not allow people to make blanket accusation against individuals or whole communities.

We (Rebecca and Eric) use our best judgement, which obviously does not always align with every person's idea on where to draw the line.

For those of you who want to have a platform for your unfettered voice to be heard on the Internet there are many avenues to pursue:
http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+start+a+blog

Finally, we do want to say thank you to the majority of our visitors who abide by the guidelines and help enhance the spirit of community which Treasure Beach is justly proud of.

-TBNet

Round and round we go...
This may come as a surprise, but the 'webmaster' is a human being, not a perfect creature. I think they do the best they can. They have printed, and not printed things that just drove me crazy because I felt was unfair. But hey, life moves on and regardless it is still a great site. I noticed NAL, and his criticism, must still feel the site is ok, because he is still here reading it! My take is an opinion crosses the line when either an individual or a group is criticized without proof of the criticism. This site continues to impove due to webmaster efforts. An example is the editing of what they feel is inappropriate rather than deleting the whole comment. And NAL, I was that Realtor. And your comment was offensive. That is why it was removed.

who did I accuse of anything?

I wish every one of my opinions would be printed here too. I have written things that have not been included or have been edited and this frustrates me. However, that is the absolute right of the people who are running this site. TreasureBeach.net is a private site, and the webmasters can do with it what they wish. If NAL is sufficiently annoyed, he is free to start a different site about TB but I am guessing he does not wish to go to the immense time and trouble that would be involved on a SEVEN day a week basis. He is also free to write letters to the editors of Jamaican newspapers to see how much luck he has in getting his opinions printed.