Admirals Log:

JAMAICA

We had a fantastic gennaker sail for most of our trip from Ile a Vache - even overnight!!

On entering Port Antonio where you go onto a lovely govt dock to facilitate the check in process and then pick up a mooring ball afterwards (it's the same cost to anchor or use one of their moorings) everything was very easy and very pleasantly done with NO cost or "tip" required!!

Govt owned hotel and dock.

We weren't there long when we were welcomed by Clive - the "famous" local friendly Rastafarian

He has elected to drop out of traditional society and live in the mangroves with his 10 dogs which sounds off putting but we got chatting to him and he is a really interesting well educated guy! He was always very clean and respectful and always stayed on his raft when chatting to us and when we bought bananas from him they were cheaper than we could have bought at the market.

He says he is famous because he is featured in the Jamaican travel guide!!

There is no unemployment benefit there, so he supports himself with fishing and selling bananas and coconuts he finds in the mangroves!!

David often shared a rum and coke with him in the evenings with David sitting down on the transom and Clive on his raft discussing the problems of the world!!

The foreshore is beautifully done although the town itself is very poor and shabby.

We got a bit of a culture shock when we went into town around 5.30pm as it had a very unsafe feel to it and the ATM machine we used advised us to lock ourselves inside the cubicle while doing a transaction!! A young guy waiting in line with us was wearing a gun on his hip!!

It was Friday evening/night though, and when we went in there the next morning to shop it had a very different feel to it. A lot more safe! The local fruit and veg market was an interesting experience, as I am sure if you spent much time there you could get high just on the passive dope smoke you inhale!! Great fruit and veg though!

To say Jamaicans know how to party is a bit of an understatement!! The music - not at all, all reggae - we even heard our kiwi Lorde's song Royals - didn't stop until dawn on the weekend nights and during the week it usually stopped around 2 - 3am!! And when I say loud I MEAN loud!!

We then headed further west to Oracabessa Bay which was the complete opposite. Quiet and tranquil with one of the friendly locals who spends half of the year in England swimming out to the boat to chat to us - refusing to come aboard - as he swims to stay cool and comfortable in the heat. He was a "bit" overweight and the buoyancy of the water is more comfortable!!!

He told us an interesting story of Bob Marley, basically saying that he was a very talented but simple man that had been manipulated into purchasing the land in the pic below on behalf of a developer that planned to obtain the whole bay which ever way he could and then stop any locals using it!! The owner of this land had totally refused to sell to him because of his plans, but did sell it to Bob Marley not knowing he was going to immediately give it to the developer. There is a very exclusive hotel behind the trees!!

On then to Montego Bay which was nothing like I imagined it!!

Big cruise liners every day and not the laid back tropical paradise I imagined at all! We only stayed long enough to collect David's sister Ali, her husband Tom and their friend Ruth. With our last family on board being Rachael at Christmas 4 months ago to say I was thrilled to see them was a bit of an understatement.

It's going to be a full on party 2 weeks as both Ali and Ruth turn 50 on board and it's Tom's birthday as well!!! Iit felt a bit like Christmas again as they all unloaded the goodies they had brought from home for us!! Including dinghy wheels!!!! Our family is very long suffering!! It's a wonder they had any room for clothes!!

We quickly moved over to the other side of the bay where the outlook was much more to our liking. The snorkeling was actually quite good here too.

The local craft market was lovely but unfortunately they don't get much business as the cruise liners organise to take their passengers to one run by Indians who are in league with the liners!

Ruth and Tom watching the local carvers. At least you know they are not mass produced in China!Tom modeling the hat and dreadlocks (a joke gift for Liam) with the stall owner . He quite looks the part!!!