We arrived in Port Antonio, Jamaica on Friday, October 5th in the morning just after 8am. We had to check in with customs & immigration so we took a slip at the Erroll Flynn Marina. "Mix" was our line handler and he worked for the marina. One of the many great people we met in Port Antonio. We tied up and started filling out paperwork. What a job! The papers had to be filled out 3 different ways and for 5 people, it was a lot of red tape.
We were able to get off of the boat and walk around the marina only. Lots of us took advantage of the marina showers and a little shopping at "Things Jamaican". The first item we picked up was a lb. of coffee for $1300. We quickly put it down! Then a shirt for over $900! We knew something was awry, so we asked the store manager and she told us the exchange rate at the marina was 65J's(Jamaican Dollars) to $1 U.S. The exchange rate at the ATM in town was more like 70-1. We spent thousands of dollars everyday, but without all the guilt, and the ATM receipt gave your balance in J's - we all loved seeing our bank balances number in the hundreds of thousands of dollars!!
We were all starving and looking for some lunch after the first 2 customs agents came & went, although we were still waiting for the third. Ryan got a suggestion from one of the local guys to head over to "Kooyah" for some authentic Jamaican food. We headed out of the main gate of the marina. The property of the marina was enormous and encompassed a city park open to the public in the daytime, it was gorgeous. It was like a lush tropical paradise with every kind of flower and fruit you could imagine. We did not have to go far to get to Kooyah and it was on the rooftop, so we toasted Red Stripes for making it this far on our adventure and we ordered, fried Red Snapper, curried chicken & curried goat! We found goat to be one of the staple meats of the area. Everything was delicious! From the rooftop we could see the outdoor market and some really cool old buildings. We were ready to explore!
We went to the bank to get some more J's when a local guy named John picked us up. He was a guy who wanted to show us around town and help us get whatever we needed, sort of an informal local guide service. John took us all over town showing us all of the shops, buildings, landmarks, and telling us some of the local history. He took us through the market where they had all kinds of fresh fruit and vegetables along with Jamaican trinkets, wood carvings, leather shoes, Blue Mountain coffee, spices, local meats & fresh fish. It was awesome! There was so much to see and bargain for. We went back many times. In the butcher shop a man was showing us some goat testicles and telling us how good they were for us. Goat & pig heads were a plenty. Then a Jamaican lady came and grabbed Ryan and asked him if he was an Irishman. She was happy to see him and gave him some money to buy a drink. Ryan was confused and John told him the lady was wealthy and had English roots, that she had gotten excited at seeing a tall white man. Ryan promptly was gotten a Red Stripe in the market. John took us back to the marina after showing us all around. We tipped him for the service, but he always wanted more giving us the reason that Jamaican dollars "funny money" .
After chillin' on the boat for a while, Ryan was ready to bar hop on his last night in Jamaica as he was flying out the next morning. Ryan & Capt. Mark hit every bar or hole in the wall in town. Mike, Kate & Stuart went to Shadow's, an outdoor restaurant downtown, for dinner and had a wonderful fish platter of Mahi Mahi, steamed vegetables & rice. One plate would have been enough for 3 people! It was really good and we had a few rums too. The local rum in Jamaica is Appleton Estates, we got very familiar with it. As we were finishing up our drinks, John came in to the bar. He had told us earlier in the day that they had really good food. He proceeded to take us around the city again. The first bar we stopped in we saw Capt. Mark & Ryan. We all had a few drinks and then Kate, Mike & Stuart retired for the evening and left the night owls up. Ryan had to leave at 8am for a cab ride to Kingston Airport. We were all up at 8am as he was leaving, he had scheduled 2 cabs and neither one showed up. There was a little panic as "Hulk" found a cab for Ryan. Little did we know at the time - even though Jamaica is in the same time zone as we are, they do not adjust for Daylight Savings Time, so it was actually only 7am and at 8am both cabs did show up for Ryan, OOPS!
Saturday was a work day for the Stray Cat Crew. Capt. Mark & Mike worked on the generator wiring and fuel pump, they also mounted a pad eye in the deck for the SSB antennae, then they secured the dinghy with new line. There were a couple of local guys, Hulk & Donovan, buffing and polishing the hulls for a few days as it rained on and off the whole time we were in Jamaica. Stuart & Kate did 6 loads of laundry and went back and forth to the market 3 times to re-supply the ship's stores. This was the day we discovered the local bakery & meat pies Yum! The bakery was very inexpensive and had warm bread fresh from the oven. Meat pies were the only ground beef we came across in a cheese flavored Phyllo dough, very tasty! Rum thirty came early that day as everyone had worked hard. There was a little exploring of the marina pool and the internet access was really nice. We were able to use Skype to make a few international calls - it was really nice to be able to keep in touch for a few days. We called it an early night as we were all exhausted.
Sunday was another good work day cleaning up the interior and wrapping up all of the projects on deck. We had a salon day on the swim platform with haircuts all around for Mike, Kate & Stuart. We met little Sevaskia Brown, Hulk's daughter, who hung out on the boat & watched movies while he buffed & polished. Donovan was still buffing the boat and went to get some lunch in Boston. A local town well known for their jerk chicken & pork. It was the best jerked meat we had the whole time in Jamaica, but it was VERY expensive. Mike & Kate scouted around the immediate area finding a restaurant nearby and a gorgeous beach with some historic ruins on the marina property. The flora & fauna were incredibly beautiful. We retired early again on Sunday as it was raining once more.
Monday was spent preparing the boat for departure and stocking up on everything we could need for at least 5 days of sailing. We hit the local Supermarkets, liquor store and hardware store. The hardware store is where you would go to buy your baby chicks or eggs by the dozen. The babies were adorable! We did some more sight seeing with Capt. Mark and had lunch at a local chicken place called the Chicken Shack - there was one fast food restaurant that everyone would recognize - KFC, the locals called it the Fowl Coop.
In the early afternoon, Capt. Mark checked out of Jamaica with customs & immigration and took the guys to fuel up and Kate went to town for a few more fruits & veggies. Later a guy named Moses had been doing some fiberglass work on the boat and as he was leaving the marina he showed us all of the fruit trees on the grounds. There were bread fruit, ackee and coconuts all over the place. He was something of a bush doctor. He snapped twigs off of trees and told us to make tea with it - the plant was called sour sap, and he said it would calm your nerves. It was clear that Jamaicans live off of the land and do not even need to plant rows of fruit trees or crops, everything grows naturally and they harvest it when it is ready instead of trying to hurry along God's process. It was fascinating to hear all of the remedies and how to prepare the different fruits & leaves. Completely in tune with the earth and natural goodness.
Our last night in Jamaica we hung out in the cockpit and talked with Hulk. He had been found on the streets in Kingston at 18 months old. He was a very smart guy with a wordly knowledge and a big heart. He was one of our favorite people that we met. We finally decided to head out to dinner and opted for Chinese. It was the only place around still open. The funny part about this place was that we could not even tell that it was a restaurant and were hesitant to order, but we did anyway as our options were limited. We wound up eating some of the best Chinese food any of us had ever had! The shrimp & chicken in our meals were fresh & local - Imagine That! It was great, we all retired immediately after dinner.
Tuesday AM - Not feeling too good. Appleton Estates had us in a bit of a bad way, but we recovered. Stuart & Kate headed out to the bakery early for some more treats & meat pies. Capt Mark & Hulk cleaned the boat and Mike hooked up Mark's new email address on SSB to the Stray Cat website. There were 2 other Privilege Catamarans at the marina and Capt Steve did let us aboard "Amazing Grace" the 65 footer. It was enormous and laid out like a mega yacht! The interior was astounding, incredibly fancy with every bell and whistle you could think of. The last selling price was $1.5million U.S. Stuart said he was jumping ship and stowing away on the Privilege 65! Capt. Steve said that the owners did not like sailing, so they would call him and tell him which island to bring the boat to and get it all stocked up so that they could fly in to that location and meet him at the marina without having to be at sea. They do not like being at sea?! Why have a sailboat??
Stray Cat set sail just after noon, with Stuart on board. Jamaica was great and Port Antonio had some wonderful people! George the manager of the marina was very helpful & so was Mix, Moses, Steve & Hulk. They were all there to wish us well and see us off. We had a fantastic time and we would go back to Port Antonio anytime. We would recommend it to others without hesitation!
Go Jamaica Mon!!
/EX
