If your island dream is to dine under a palapa (palm front umbrella) right on the sand of the beach—and to do so relatively cheaply—come chill out at the Chill Out Hut. The service is on “island time” (i.e.: slow), and the Jamaican-style bar food is pretty basic: Cheeseburgers and chips (fries), garlic shrimp, pizza, nachos, jerk pork. But it is tasty, and the setting is hard to beat, whether you score one of those postcard shaded tables on the sand or sit at a chair converted from a barrel on the flagstone terrace around the bar in the open-air thatched dining hut. Just don’t be convinced to order the lobster—twice as expensive as anything else on the menu.

If you are feeling daring, there is also a kiteboarding school/rental outfit on the beach (www.kiteboardingjamaica.com).