Jamaica
Jamaican me crazy Mon…
Double Waters and her
[extremely tired] crew arrived in
Port Antonio,
Jamaica in the early hours of the 11th
April to the welcoming sounds and sights of Rastafarian Caribbean:
reggae & palm trees. The passage from Cuba was steady with yet another
spectacular sunset, one of several in a row where the golden orb just
sinks below the horizon with ( viewed by only the most observant) the
accompanying green flash. Another 170 miles in the log and moving
briskly towards the 10,000 mile mark.
Jamaica is so, well, so Jamaican. Vibrant, colourful, full of characters, and sort of relaxed, laid-back, take it easy. Sailing into Port Antonio bay around Navy Island with the backdrop of the Blue Mountains is spectacular and the welcome from the marina people ensured a feeling of, ‘yes, all is well, we’ll be happy here’.
Not so many
cruising yachts in Port Antonio, but we got to know some of the crews
very
well
and during our stay we organised a BBQ for people on the dock. The
routine is always to bring something to cook on the grill and a dish to
share and then everyone gets together for salty tales, good grub and a
beer or two.
Out and about in Jamaica we found a good surf spot for the lads to surf; Boston Bay, and around the corner we tucked into the spicy Jamaican speciality of jerk pork and fish (lick your lips at your peril). A day out by rent-a-car took us into the Blue Mountains for one of Grums’ short walks, beautiful lush mountains with coffee and fruit plantations, and rain. Plenty of rain. Within minutes we were drenched and the tracks turned to torrents, not even the biggest banana leaves could help.
Walking down a
well worn street, the music is what you
notice the most. Hardly ten paces pass without a stereo system, a car
(aka woofers on wheels) or a strong lunged Jamaican man singing out for
all that care to listen. And always the reggae, even rap or R+B tracks
are played with a reggae style beat in the back ground. Venture out on a
Saturday night and expect for an ear bleeding experience, every corner
has another DJ on it, with speaker stacks reaching up and up into the
sky.
We ended up staying in Jamaica for 2 weeks, 2 weeks full of music, reggae and rap. We went on a dingy trip to Navy Island, a lush, green paradise unspoilt by nothing but the derelict restaurant and viler, we had a great time exploring and climbing the buildings and hacking through the thickest part of the jungle. The town was great, like jumping back to the Caribbean again but with the odd Chinese shop.
We had a great stay and have lots of happy memories. Next, a three day sail to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Jack, Grum, George and Jed (aka The Boys)
