JAMAICA

Motoring down from the Bahamas we were horrified to see how much plastic there was in the sea, a depressing sign of our times. The wind picked up and we sailed onwards skirting the coast of Cuba to avoid the Traffic Separation Zone, Picking up speed in the wind acceleration Zone I was quite pleased to see the Skipper’s head pop up on deck early for his watch.

The rest of the trip passed easily, for once happy to sail slowly so that we didn’t arrive in the middle of the night.

As we approached Jamaica early on the second morning we were met with a very imposing sight. Covered in dark black clouds the mountains rearing up in the background, swirling pools of mist rising up from amongst  the dense dark green tree canopy. The entrance to the harbour of Port Antonio was undoubtedly the most beautiful that we have encountered so far. Passing though a narrow passage with trees on either side, pretty flowers everywhere and lots of little school children waving at us. 

Within a couple of hours of arrival we had been visited by Customs, Immigration and the Maritime Police, all incredibly friendly and doing a very good PR job for their country. The marina itself was really nice, with a pool and bar area, a welcome cooling off spot in the afternoons. We met Owen almost immediately, the marina being his Office. He arranged an excursion into the Blue Mountains for the second day of our trip and promised to buy us Blue mountain coffee and vegetables all at good prices. We also were amazed to find that Peter on our neighbouring boat had designed our wonderful Rocna anchor. He was quick to tell us that we had one shackle too many attached to it, we duly removed and it is now even better than ever. It never ceases to amaze us how many interesting people we meet along the way.

On our first night we ventured into town for some dinner, for about five minutes. It all looked a little intimidating in the dark so we quickly turned around and found the restaurant next to the marina that had been recommended to us by one of the Policeman that we had had onboard earlier. Recently set up with no menus as yet, but an extensive list of dishes well remembered by our waiter, we feasted on curried prawns which were delicious and then headed back to the boat for an uninterrupted nights sleep.

We had been approached on our arrival very nicely by a local couple Hulk and Rudy looking for work on the boat. Rather bored of our slow progress in the sun cleaning the deck fibreglass we agreed to employ them for a day and they turned up on our first morning and set to work whilst we pottered below. They worked so hard and did such a fabulous job that we employed them for another half day to clean the hull and then it seemed a shame not to finish the job so they worked for another day cleaning the  rightwork. By the time they had finished Hullabaloo gleamed, she had never looked so good since the day we bought her. All this for a very reasonable price, much cheaper that the rates in Antigua or the US and a much better job done. They are very proud of their skills and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their services. On top of that they were a lovely couple and we spent some fun times with them in  the evenings onboard with a few beers swapping stories and music. They made us some CD’s for our Pacific trip which we will play at sea with fond memories of our time in Jamaica!

On the Saturday morning we were picked up by our tour guide Owen who turned out to be a totally charming man. He drove us into the Blue Mountains which exceeded our expectations. I had been to Jamaica with my parents when I was nine and that is when my love affair with the Caribbean began.  I remember driving through the rain forest and being overwhelmed by the beauty of it and all these years later nothing has changed. We stopped to see a waterfall and then proceded into the hills, the views breathtaking. 

We stopped to visit a small coffee plantation. Run by Rastafarians high in the mountains we sampled their delicious coffee and had a tour of the hillside. We learnt how they pick the beans individually when they are ripe, leaving them to dry in the sun and then crushing them into powder.  What a different life these people live away from civilisation ‘high’ up in the cooler temperatures. Wandering back to the taxi chatting with our friendly guide we eyed each other with the same amount of wonder at the difference between each other!

We continued our drive to the top of the National Park and went on a hike, the younger Owen leading the way, the older Dallas’s puffing a bit in the altitude. Some cloud was working its way up the mountain and our new friend was concerned that it would ruin our views but it just added to the magnificence of it all. We discovered you can rent a chalet in the park and in-fact  many locals also spend the weekend camping on the site to get away from the heat down below. The camp area was full of people enjoying their trip, BBQ’s everywhere. We had lunch in a charming restaurant overlooking the park and then headed back to the boat, but not before having purchased some local honey and some avocados sold on the road for 40 cents each.

We spent the rest of our time pottering about locally. Generally everybody was really friendly, we did get hassled quite a bit but as long as you listened to them and showed respect they thanked you for talking to them and left you alone, with one exception but that was our naivety. Cannabis was made legal at the end of last year and everyone is smoking it, even in the queue in the bank, and it’s smell permeates everywhere.

There was a great local market selling local fruit and vegetables of a quality last seen in Teeter Harris in the US and the meat market at the weekend was equally impressive. Although there is not a huge amount of wealth around everyone is well fed and not surprising with such amazing produce. Andrew and I were thrilled to restock as we find ourselves eating more vegetables and less meat. Flexitarian's I believe is the term, look at us so PC! We also stocked up on the local bread which apparently people drive from Kingston to buy and no wonder it is fantastic and filling my freeze. together with the Jerk chicken purchased from Piggies, quite delicious!  In fact we were in the home of Jerk food and everything came with the marinade on it.

We really loved our short stay in Jamaica and were so glad that we had listened to other sailors and made the stop. The friendliness of the place was highlighted by the seventy year Rastafarian Noel  whose office was located outside the marina gates. As we motored down the cut out of the harbour we found him running down the pathway waving madly and shouting farewell. 

Time to head to Panama AT LAST! No turning back now.....