More Jamaican impressions: Ocho Rios and Discovery Bay

 

Dear Friends,

First of all, a magnificent 2014, in good health and peace of mind!

We stayed in Ocho Rios also mainly because of a charter that we (thought) was booked…. And so we spend time, effort and money to get this Sunset Charter well organized, as usual.  Dora had prepared a fantastic menu (including lobster, fish and what have you..). We got the green light from the Cruise Ship Terminal Manager, to use a small dock for boarding etc. So all was great. Then a day before the charter the client cancelled the charter for an, in our opinion, very lame reason… Anyway, not to worry, these kind of people do exist and roam this planet…

We were (are) getting rather irritated by the whole Jamaican “scene”.. let me explain: Looking past the initial spontaneous greetings by the locals… (Respect Mon, welcome to Jamaican mon…) we get the distinct feeling that they regard us as potential source of  US$: Hey mon, where are you from?.. Ah Brazil… great… soccer team… yeah mon, Pele… So, do you need a taxi? You want to buy some ganja? You want a tour around the city? You have to see my shop. I show you the farmers market, my uncle has a fruit stand. Let me sell you typical Jamaican neckless. Give me some money mon, no, no 5Us$ is nothing mon, cant buy a beer for that mon, give 10Us$…. Anyway, you guys get the idea… And as well educated people.. we just dont brush them off and even throw in the:… Need more time mon… need more time…, they dont realy get the hint and keep on pushing…

So, we did see the local farmers market in Ocho Rios. Exotic place, the market in Salvador (Brazil), Sao Joaquim, looks like a walk in the park compared to this… a rather mix and no match maze of fruit and vegies stands, clothes, and yes even a small garbage dump in the middle of this… Great experience but even for us a little too funky.

On new years day, we wanted to stroll along the small beach at Ocho Rios, and interestingly enough, it doesnt have free access, in fact one has to pay to be on the beach… (that by itself already doesnt feel good…) so, trying to get past the gate we found a very sturdy uniformed lady in our path…: in what hotel do you stay? Huh, you stay on boat? She looked puzzled, as the last cruise ship just had left…On what boat?.. Just wait here, I have to talk to the manager (??).. Another sturdy, serious looking man talked to us through the wired fence…On what boat are you? What do you want? Where is the boat from?  By that time our patience level is pushed to the limit… In the end we just push ourselves through and leave the guy wondering…

So, we decided that we had more than enough of this place. But before we headed for Montego Bay, we wanted to check the so much acclaimed Dunn Waterfalls…(http://www.dunnsriverfallsja.com/) so we sailed to this location and anchored right in front of it… Tourist hot spot again… We beached the dingy and soon it was made clear to us, by a rather irritated looking official, that we had to pay Us$ 20 per person, to be able to climb up the falls… We thought that to be rather high priced (allthough it is a park, and ok a fee was to be expected, but twenty bucks… hmm no…) and as Dora put it.. Money doesnt grow like grass, we decided to just stay on the beach for a while and check out the surroundings…. Ha, no ofcourse not… if you stay on the beach… also Us$ 20 per person was going to be charged…. (and all of this is conveyed to you in very stern, almost aggressive like language…). by then we had enough… Just before a nervous looking park guy wanted to get his money, managed to squeese this picture in, and we were on our way…

We first tried to anchor in St Ann’s bay, there wasnt realy any protection from wind and swell, so we sailed on to Discovery Bay, and despite the Bauxiet loading terminal, a very nice location to anchor.. protected from the NE winds and swell, nice clean water so that was great.

Now, on our way to Montego Bay, we pretend to stay a couple of days here, gear up and prepare for our two day voyage to Cienfuegos in Cuba.

Yeah Mon, Respect Mon…

Pieter

About Jamaica, Bob Marley, Kaya and Kingston

Dear Friends,
And so we took a bus from Ocho Rios to Kingston, with the Knutsford Express (www.knutsfordexpress.com).. Nice bus, good airco, free water and even a movie… The 90 km, took us abt 2,5 hours.. The ride takes you over some mountain ridges, all very green, very lush and tropical.  At the final busstop, we accepted an offer of a taxi driver to get us to the Bob Marley Museum. For an hour we were guided through the house where the legend lived and even recorded (and literaly produced the vinyl) some albums. He died too young of a neglected skin cancer (so they say, there are however other theories abt his death..), 36 years of age. The best part of the tour was the movie clip session (too short)… A simple message of peace, love, respect and acceptance, together with a little Kaya (beter known as: ganja).. Yeah Mon… (Of course had to buy the Legend CD).

We quickly learned that saturday is kind of a dead day in the capital. Literally nothing happening, and even the taxi driver had a hard time for suggesting a place we (tourists) should go.

So, we strolled along in New Kingston, had some lunch and waited for the bus ride back to Ocho Rios… And so we talked about the country, and little that we know, however some insights came to the surface…I had read that 60% op the population would like for Jamaica to be back under England.. They are independent since 1962, and have had a lot of gang type criminal and political tense situations since then (this is one of the things Bob sings about). As per the stereotype IMF rules and regulations, Jamaica is in big debt with this and other organisations, and consequently, no money left for decent infra structure, housing, education. Jamaica produces enough: Sugar, Bauxiet, Rum, the Tourist industry, but it never seems enough to solve the most burning issues. On top of that, being independent means to work and get your country going. It seems the sense of collectivity is missing in this country (fair enough, we havent spent time here to realy understand the deeper issues of Jamaica, but this is what did appear to us), and this attitude mixed with slogans as: No Problem in Jamaica, Chill and smoke some weed… it is easy to understand that it may take a while before things turn around… Again, we maybe totaly off with this quick Xray and if so, we hope somebody will inform us. The street vendors, restaurants  and taxis are interested in the fast quick dollar, and so they dont seem to be looking at longer term, repeat business.
And, in words of Bob himself… Get Up Stand Up…Stand up for your rights..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLYOOezs3DA
Respect
Pieter

Fresh adventures from the Caribbean Sea: Aruba to Jamaica in 75 hours

 

Dear Friends,

And so we left Aruba… Dora returned from Brazil, we took one day to stock up and get ourselves organized (not well enough as later events would teach us..). Early in the morning, leaving the SurfSide anchorage, and motored to Customs and Immigration for check out procedure and from there we set our course to Jamaica, some 485 miles to go…

 

Forecasted was an Easterly wind of around 20 knots, but, as usual is the case, it turned out to be stronger and also the waves that kind of came from all directions, but mainly right from the starboard side slaming into Onda Boa. With the main sail in its second reef and a reefed genoa, we were flying (and rocking and rolling) along… Boat speeds of 8-9 knots constantly…. we even managed to board two blue finned tunas…

In the evening and night on top of this stiff breeze, we had a bunch of squalls to deal with as well… Windspeeds picked up to close to 40 knots and at times we clocked 14 knots boat speed… All in all very uncomfortable, and we learned quickly that to prep a boat for a longer passage way, needs some more attention (stowing away items that may, and will fall for instance). After a month on dry land, Dora had yet to return to the swing of things (literaly) and so was not feeling too well. After the first 24 hours, we covered 215 miles, which was a record for us… And the wind actualy in the morning increased in speeds and were close to 30 knots… So, we put the 3rd reef in the main sail and reefed the genoa somewhat more. I was able to download a new weather forecast via the satelite phone, and in our track leading direct to Jamaica, we would have a near gale situation, with like wise wave paterns… Hmmm, didnt like that, so the course was altered to somewhat more northerly in order to get closer to Haiti, as in that region was lesser wind predicted. It would mean more milage, and especialy on the last day less wind (and thus less speed), but that was preferred over putting the boat and ourselves in an even more uncomfortable situation. This tactic worked and we managed to arrive in relatively calmer weather…Adjusting our course again more easterly we actualy had the wind (and waves) comming from our stern and so with only the genoa, we arrived in Port Antonio in the afternoon of the third day.  At first sight, it kind of reminded us of Ilha Grande/IlhaBela (Brazil), lush green slopes ending abruptly in the ocean…

We stayed in the West Habour area, and did our custom red tape thing at the Erol Flynn Marina (First Quarantine check, then customs then immigration) only then are you allowed to leave the Marina, and anchor out in the bay, which still is charged US$ 12 per boat per day..(this detail wasnt mentioned in the guides that we studied). Anyway, a nice shower, some nice food and a very well earned nights sleep was all that we needed. The next day was spent in getting the Onda Boa, clean and organized again.

We walked around in Port Antonio… hustle and bustle, street vendors of all kinds, busy shops, an unexpected colorful street scene…The town appears to be kind of run down, not looked after very well. But hey, No Problem in Jamaica Mon… Respect.

Back on board, and after laundry done at the Marina, we enjoyed a superb Christmas Dinner (Brazilian tradition).

As the next day would be a quiet day on land, we decide to sail further along the northern shorelines of Jamaica. After we enjoyed our Christmas breakfast and had everthing going, it was already around 11 am, and so we were not going to make Ocho Rios as planned. Weather was not good (squalls, rain and still a unsettling swell) we quickly moved into Port Maria, and tried to stay behind Carbarita Island (the swell was still getting to us, but were able to get sleep well.

The next day, sun was out, no wind and so we kind of motor sailed towards Ocho Rios. But, first a stop at the Oracabassa basin (Goldeneye) the place where Mr Ian Flemming used to live and write the James Bond stories. In fact in this bay some footage of Dr No have been filmed.. For all of you that are my age AND James Bond fans (who isnt, i mean me myself once thought that i could be a kind of a 007) was thrilled to be in this location.

Further on to Ocho Rios, touristy, better kept than Port Antonio for example and nice and quiet anchorage (clean water). Our next adventures will be about our stroll into the farmers market, and a visit to the capital Kingston. Stay tuned for more Jamaican fun Mon…

No Problem…

Pieter