Yesterday we picked Sherri up from the Airport, and drove back to the yacht club with a stop at the store, to pick up ‘one or two things’. This turned into a buying spree costing about 10,000 Jamaican dollars which sounds a lot but is only about $80 in US money. The Jamaican dollar started out worth more than the US dollar, but due to high inflation in the 80s and 90s it is now worth less than cent. Still…
In the tourist areas of Jamaica you either pay to get into a private facility with heavy security, or accept that people will be trying to aggressively sell you stuff or steal your stuff. Somewhere out there, I hope, is a real Jamaica full of nice people who aren’t trying to rip you off. We haven’t found it yet though. Exploring is stressful so we decided to return to the most beautiful and magical place on the Island, Rocklands Bird…
Last night we went to a floating restaurant called The Houseboat for dinner. It’s moored a little off shore in a marine sanctuary. Rather than extend to dock to the boat or use a long gangplank, you get out there by raft. You sit on the benches and the attendant casts off, gives the raft a good hard shove, and jumps aboard. The raft glides across to a soft landing on the houseboat. We sat on the roof so we…
First stop today was Doctor’s Cave Beach and the commercial strip that lies next to it. We found a paid parking spot close to the beach entrance, and before we had paid to park someone offered to sell me ganja. The beach costs $6 (US) a person to enter but for that you get a lifeguard, luxurious modern restrooms, showers, and changing rooms, as well as heavy policing. Yes, it’s a gated community among beaches. That’s the view from the…
Yesterday we flew into Montego Bay to join the sailboat Mantra owned by our friends Peter and Sherri. Sherri is in the US right now but will be back in Jamaica in few days, and we will help sail the boat to Colombia. In the mean time we get to be tourists. This morning we took our rented car up a steep, winding, narrow, busy mountain road to a steep, winding, narrow, badly-surfaced, single track but thankfully not quite as…