Inland trip on Jamaica

Dan and Cathy from S/V Sea Star recommended that we rent a car and travel into the Blue Mountains.  It was an expensive rental, but we split the cost.  We enjoyed the change of climate as I drove up, up and up.  There is hardly a straight or flat section of road.  One is expected to honk the horn as one negotiates the one-and-one-half lane, blind curves and pot holes.  Meeting a car was exciting, but not as exciting as meeting a truck or bus.  The drive is spectacular.

We arrived at Mount Edge late in the afternoon.  I was very ready to stop driving and relax.

The hotel consists of several small structures with more under construction.  Our's is on the lower left.

Our room, "the Roost."

Our corner of the dining room

Dan and Cathy are accomplished birders and they helped us spot several.

This area is rich with some of the indigenous species and we were able to spot and photograph some very special residents.

A Jamaican Tody, right next to the road

Red-billed Streamertail Hummingbird (AKA Doctor Bird) sighted from our balcony

Our hostess arranged for us to visit her friend at a coffee plantation.  We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Dorothy Twyman and learning all about coffee growing, processing, brewing and drinking.

Mrs Twyman and her husband Alex (deceased) own the Old Tavern Plantation

The beans are sorted, one by one in order to meet Mrs. Twyman's standard of quality

She served us coffee and cookies

Her view from the sitting room overlooking the coffee plantation

I took this photo of one of Mrs. Twyman's Amaryllis just for Mom

We learned that the best way to brew coffee is in a French press or a drip coffee maker.  A percolator ruins coffee.  The water is too hot. She brews with a well-used Mr. Coffee.  It was the best tasting coffee ever.  We all bought coffee and in hindsight, we should have bought more.

On our way back to The Edge, we stopped at the Gap for lunch

Low clouds and the view of Kingston from The Gap.  Our hotel, The Edge, is quite near here.

We went to the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and hiked one of the trails, enjoying the exotic flowers along the way.

After Breakfast, we headed to Kingston and visited the Bob Marley Museum.  

We stopped at the Mega Mart and filled the car with provisions because we were headed to very wild places from Jamaica.  This would be our last opportunity to get "stuff."  There just is no "stuff" on our route and even at our destination in Panama - the San Blas Islands, ten days away - there is not much "stuff."  We expect to have Larry, Christina and baby Dorothy aboard, if we make it there, and we need to have food for them aboard now.

We got back to Port Antonio and found our boats in good shape as Ron picked us up at the dock to head out to the anchorage.  We were tired, but it was Ron's birthday and Barb felt strongly that no one should have to cook their own dinner on their birthday and so Ron came aboard Jupiter's Smile to celebrate.

Jamaica

We cleared in with the Quarantine Officer, the Constable, the Customs officers and the Immigration Officer aboard the boat at dockside.  No Fees to pay at all.  Following that we had the boat thoroughly washed and left the dock to anchor in the harbor. 

We anchored very close to the marina

The marina has a pool, showers and Internet along with trash disposal and a secure dinghy dock for $15 a day while we are at anchor.  There is a bar next to the pool. 

The staff is especially nice and very willing to help where ever needed.

The pool at the Errol Flynn Marina

Located at the north side of the harbor, Errol Flynn's island is now a park and reserve.  Cathy, Barb and I hiked much of the island imagining what it must have been like when people like Errol Flynn where in residence here.

 We hired Mike to polish all our stainless steel and he put in about eleven hours in the hot sun over two days time completing the work and doing a great job

Clive is selling Ron some bananas from his bamboo raft

We walked to the town with Dan and Cathy, but forgot to bring our Visa card to get Jamaican cash.  Dan loaned me J$1000 so we could purchase lunch at Piggy’s. 

Piggy's - closed in this photo, but worth finding when he's open

We paid J$300 each for a styrofoam tray of jerk chicken with cole slaw and J$50 for a 3 pieces of festival bread.  Barb had water for J$60 and I tried a Bigga (pineapple soft drink) for J$70.  Lunch for two totalled J$780 ($9.12 USD) and it was good.  Welcome to Jamaica!  All the locals ask, “ dis yo firs time heea?”  and then, “Welcome to Jamaica!”

We walked around the open air market marveling at the abundance of vegetables and the various spice preparations for sale.  Having no money was disappointing to the vendors, but we said we would be back tomorrow.

The open air market in Port Antonio

We enjoyed our return and talked with Norma at length.  We bought among other things, her pickled scotch bonnet peppers-mmm good!

Eating out is an adventure.  Several times we ordered chicken dishes and often the cuts were backs, necks and tails.  Entirely unsatisfactory.  They ask if you want white meat or dark meat but be specific and say you want a breast or a leg.  Places that we enjoyed were the various grocery stores, the Coronation Bakery (Easter Buns), The Italian Job restaurant, Piggy's (already mentioned) and our favorite -- Dickson's.  

Dickson's is a vegetarian restaurant.  Mr. Dickson and his crew know how to gently add great flavor to their very special dishes.  They had choices like "scallops"and "steak" both of which were meatless.  They prepare different dishes each day so it is an adventure visiting often.

My favorite dish was a gently toasted tofu in a pineapple sauce.  I mentioned how much I enjoyed that dish and asked when they would have it again.  Mr. Dickson said he didn't know.  I said we were leaving Port Antonio on Saturday and that we would come for lunch on Friday and I hoped he would have my favorite dish then.  He said - we'll see.  Cathy, Dan and Barb got their meals and when I got to the counter, Mr. Dickson motioned with his ladle toward the back corner of the serving table to a small container of my pineapple tofu!  I love Jamaica!

We attended the Jerk Festival in Boston a few miles away.  The event had booths where the local chefs sold their best chicken, fish, mutton, beef and pork dishes with jerk spices.

Barb is in "line" to buy some

This was our favorite booth

 Jerked tofu sandwich. Yummy!  Chuck from S/V Soulmates is behind Barb

Photo (with permission) of the festivities getting underway

The Grand Marshall, Mrs. Errol Flynn, Patrice Wymore, (red hat) reviews the Port Antonio Marching Band

There was a DJ on hand to serve as master of ceremonies that featured beauty pagent contestants, children's talent contests and a series of performances (for which we did not stay.)  It was a good crowd, good food and a good time.

Leaving the Bahamas and on to Jamaica

Friday March 23, we, in company with Sea Star sailed from Salt Pond to the West and rounded a way point before heading South to an anchorage on the western shore.  We rolled in the swells at anchor and that convinced us to try to make Little Harbor on the eastern coast the next day.  Little Harbor turned out to be a very nice spot and we spent an extra day snorkeling and enjoying the solitude.

A wreck in Little Harbor, Long Island

On Monday, we sailed to Long Cay in the Crooked/Acklins Group and anchored on the banks in the Bight of Acklins.  Along the way, Cathy caught a 54” Mahi Mahi!  After anchoring, we could see a large flock of very pink flamingos along the shore.  The next morning we had a lovely sail to the east side of the bight to gain shelter from the forecast strong northeasterly winds.  Our anchorage is called Delectable Bay.  


We had Dan and Cathy aboard for dinner and they supplied the fish.  The waters were quite calm during the blow.  We went to shore to find a restaurant or a “take away”, but found none open for business.  Acklins Island has 700 souls living here and the conveniences found in other locations are not available here. People are very friendly, however, and were willing to stop and give us rides to the closed restaurants.

The grave yard near our landfall.  The stones are boat shaped.

I had to bend the sign to a vertical position for the photo.  A storm had twisted it almost to the ground.

Closed Restaurant #1

We were walking ahead of Dan and Cathy when they got a ride.  We hopped in the back to go to closed restaurant #2 at the airport.

This aircraft is retired!

Closed restaurant #2

Headed back to the boats - hungry!

We moved on after the weather cleared and we anchored in Jamaica Bay near where 300 of the 700 souls inhabit the settlement of Salina Point.  

The school at Salina Point

Again we went in search of a meal but found none.  At Paddy’s, to our delight, we found scoops of chocolate ice cream.  On Friday, we moved a little distance to Datum Bay in readiness for a departure for a passage to Hogsty Reef, 45 nm to the southeast.  

Arriving with time to cruise within the twelve square mile atoll, we anchored at the far east end and settled in for a slightly rolly night.  Soon we were approached by fishermen from the Dominican Republic who sold us a very large lobster and a nice sized grouper.  April 1st, we snorkelled several locations within the atoll and found the water very clear, the fish very diverse, fairly plentiful and since lobstering season closed today, the large lobster we saw was protected.  The one we ate last night was delicious.

On Monday we sailed to Matthew Town, Great Inagua and anchored among several other boats off the town in time to walk to the customs and immigration offices to conduct our clearing out of the Bahamas.  It is somewhat sad to leave this beautiful country, but we are anticipating what Jamaica and beyond holds in store for us.  

Downtown Matthew Town

The old opera house

Notice the sailboat washed up into the parking lot

Inagua General Store

Barb, ever on the look out for sea glass and sea beans

The Government Building

Sea Star underway leaving Matthew Town, Great Inagua, Bahamas

Sea Star and Jupiter’s Smile departed the anchorage at about 1:30 PM on Tuesday, expecting to time our arrival in Port Antonio, Jamaica for dawn or later on Thursday.  We had spoken with a single hander, Ron on Dawn Trader, on the radio and he asked that we keep in touch as he was headed to Port Antonio as well and wanted help to stay awake.  He had left at about 10 AM.  The sailing was poor so we ran the motor with the sails up for the first two hours until we picked up some wind.  After that it was pretty smooth sailing.  Sea Star has an automatic identification system on their boat so while we on Jupiter’s Smile could detect vessels on RADAR and have a rough idea of their speeds, courses and how close they would pass by us, they on Sea Star could detect the vessels and know their names, tonnage, dimensions, destinations, and what the vessels’ instruments readings of speed, headings, speed over the ground and course over the ground were.  AIS is on our wish list.  During the passage, we did indeed keep in touch with Ron and our regular schedule of calls helped keep him awake.  At one point on Tuesday night we heard Tempest and Nighthawk calling each other and it turned out that they were headed to Port Antonio as well, within VHF radio range (20-25 nm) of our position.  We had last seen them as we both departed Salt Pond, Long Island, on March 23rd.  I called to Tempest and invited them to check in with us, Sea Star and Dawn Trader on our scheduled contact times.  As it turned out  Dawn Trader was very close to them.  After dark on Wednesday, the wind fell off again and we ran the motor, using the opportunity to use the water maker and fill our water tanks while we moved through the night.  When we reached about 50 nm from the coast of Jamaica the wind filled in again and we sailed until we were well within sight of the shore lights of the north coast.  At dawn, our progress slowed as the wind died again and we motored along, dousing our sails just outside the harbor entrance and proceeded to tie up at the Errol Flynn Marina to clear into Jamaica.  The voyage covered 242 nm in 43 hours and while we slept little, the passage was uneventfully successful.

Dawn approaching Jamaica

Getting closer to Port Antonio

Dawn Trader rounds the light at Folly point

Dawn trader, Sea Star and Tempest heading into East Bay ahead of us