May 14th - Jamaica - Yeah Man
Jamaica – Yeah Man – May 14th
Pretty much the only words of patois we understand is ‘Yeah Man’, beyond that it could be Swahili for all we can tell.
We’ve been in Port Antonio for 2 weeks, still tied up in our original spot at the marina, where we have enjoyed a very lazy time.
It was great to have Hans and Roos’ company, but they left 2 days ago for Chesapeak, we await news on their Windward Passage passage. It seems there is always some daunting place that we have to go through to get to the other side – now doesn’t that just sound like life.
Hans and Roos have been renamed twice by us, Tony always called them Hans and Franz, as in ‘I pump you up’, you had to watch Saturday night live. Josie renamed them Guns, as in Guns and Roses. They didn’t seem to mind. Hans and Tony did some work on the SSB radio connections which seems to have improved our reception. Will not be able to tell properly until we are out of the marina where there is a lot of interference.
This marina is called the Errol Flynn Marina, and we hear stories from various people about Errol Flynn’s involvement in this part of the world. We usually respond by telling them that he died in Vancouver, and it doesn’t really seem to register. There is an island closeby called Navy Island, which used to house the Navy Island Marina and some private homes, one of which was Errol Flynn’s. We took a walk on the island a few days ago and looked at the buildings. Its interesting to see that they have not been scavenged. There’s still a lot of good wood and doors and many things that could improve the dwellings of some of the people who live in shacks closeby. There is evidence of the marina still being in operation in the late 80’s and we heard that hurricanes and financial difficulty repairing the damage basically caused the complete evacuation of the island. Too bad its really lovely. All of the landscaping has grown wild and the flowering shrubs and trees are very beautiful. We noticed a mango tree and some coconuts we are going to try to pick before leaving. They need a few more days to be ripe enough.
The rainy season has started and it is incredibly hot and humid, 85% humidity in our cabin right now. We have done a few touristy things; a couple of days ago we went by bus – a mini-bus holding 22 people – to Somerset Falls, a small resort built around pretty dramatic waterfalls. We were the only visitors until we left when another small group arrived. It was really nice to have that space to ourselves, and what was really great – it was cool. We walked around and hiked up above the falls to look down on them. We were also taken in a small panga like boat right up to the main part of the waterfall but could not go through as there had been a lot of rain the night before. It was a very nice place to be.
Yesterday we went rafting on the Rio Grande River with a guide who was recommended called Rebo – licensed guide number 48, that’s what his t-shirt says and he did show us a license. He was a very good raft captain. We negotiated a price which he tried to change on the morning of the trip, but we stood our ground and said that we’ll pay the original price and if we have a good time we will pay a tip.
Like many of the experiences we white folk have in the ‘third world’ there were a few attempts made by other people ‘working’ the river. A person offered to take our picture with our camera and then wanted a donation. We were approached by a floating bar at about 10.30am which was a bit early even for us. Unfortunately saying no is not what they want to hear, so these meetings almost always end unpleasantly. We did enjoy a very good lunch halfway through our trip, which was cooked over a fire with large river rocks under the pots which glowed red. We had jerk chicken, rice and beans, bok choy and little Johnny cakes. Now we know what Johnny cakes are – kinda like a little deep fried doughnut but not sweet and quite doughy. Belinda, who cooked this wonderful food also makes her own hot sweet pickle which I had to buy a jar of. She didn’t have a spare one but said that for aboug $4 she would make me one up and Rebo would deliver it to me the next day. How’s that for service? She did exactly that and we now have Belinda’s pickles on board.
Rebo, as I said is a very good raft handler - see the pictures. These rafts are built by the men who drive them, and they are basically a few very large bamboo poles joined together with bend wire. Our trip included a bit of white water, not very much I’m glad to say. In a few weeks this river will become a raging torrent as it fills up during this season, and at that time, the rafting experience changes completely. Normally the tour takes about 3 hours. But on those days when the river is roaring on its way Rebo says it takes 45 minutes. Imagine that sitting on a few bamboo poles joined together with wire.
He also has the potential to be a good business man – but unfortunately he likes the cannabis a bit too much. He smokes during the trip and his manner changes as the day wears on and his pot consumption increases. A bit bolshi is the best description I can use and quite bossy, telling us what to do sometimes when we didn’t want to. Again the no answer is not a popular one. But it all went well, and he seemed to ‘straighten up’ towards the end of the day. We assured him that we would recommend him to our friends. And we have – no points against him for the pot – his peers probably all do it. I think that its illegal in Jamaica to smoke pot, but the concession stand selling souvenirs had joints for sale at the lunch stop.
Being docked at the marina means that it is much more convenient for us to come and go without having to be ferried around in the dinghy. The marina is in town, and the town has a good market. Fresh produce is available every day, so its not necessary to buy more than we need. Its nice to go into town and shop earlier in the day as everywhere becomes very chaotic after that, especially when school is out. Not much to choose from in the supermarket, but we do have the basics, and a couple of days ago Tony and I walked a few miles to another supermarket which has even less to choose from but we did find some frozen meat. Provisioning from here might be a challenge, but we pretty adaptable.
Pretty much the only words of patois we understand is ‘Yeah Man’, beyond that it could be Swahili for all we can tell.
We’ve been in Port Antonio for 2 weeks, still tied up in our original spot at the marina, where we have enjoyed a very lazy time.
It was great to have Hans and Roos’ company, but they left 2 days ago for Chesapeak, we await news on their Windward Passage passage. It seems there is always some daunting place that we have to go through to get to the other side – now doesn’t that just sound like life.
Hans and Roos have been renamed twice by us, Tony always called them Hans and Franz, as in ‘I pump you up’, you had to watch Saturday night live. Josie renamed them Guns, as in Guns and Roses. They didn’t seem to mind. Hans and Tony did some work on the SSB radio connections which seems to have improved our reception. Will not be able to tell properly until we are out of the marina where there is a lot of interference.
This marina is called the Errol Flynn Marina, and we hear stories from various people about Errol Flynn’s involvement in this part of the world. We usually respond by telling them that he died in Vancouver, and it doesn’t really seem to register. There is an island closeby called Navy Island, which used to house the Navy Island Marina and some private homes, one of which was Errol Flynn’s. We took a walk on the island a few days ago and looked at the buildings. Its interesting to see that they have not been scavenged. There’s still a lot of good wood and doors and many things that could improve the dwellings of some of the people who live in shacks closeby. There is evidence of the marina still being in operation in the late 80’s and we heard that hurricanes and financial difficulty repairing the damage basically caused the complete evacuation of the island. Too bad its really lovely. All of the landscaping has grown wild and the flowering shrubs and trees are very beautiful. We noticed a mango tree and some coconuts we are going to try to pick before leaving. They need a few more days to be ripe enough.
The rainy season has started and it is incredibly hot and humid, 85% humidity in our cabin right now. We have done a few touristy things; a couple of days ago we went by bus – a mini-bus holding 22 people – to Somerset Falls, a small resort built around pretty dramatic waterfalls. We were the only visitors until we left when another small group arrived. It was really nice to have that space to ourselves, and what was really great – it was cool. We walked around and hiked up above the falls to look down on them. We were also taken in a small panga like boat right up to the main part of the waterfall but could not go through as there had been a lot of rain the night before. It was a very nice place to be.
Yesterday we went rafting on the Rio Grande River with a guide who was recommended called Rebo – licensed guide number 48, that’s what his t-shirt says and he did show us a license. He was a very good raft captain. We negotiated a price which he tried to change on the morning of the trip, but we stood our ground and said that we’ll pay the original price and if we have a good time we will pay a tip.
Like many of the experiences we white folk have in the ‘third world’ there were a few attempts made by other people ‘working’ the river. A person offered to take our picture with our camera and then wanted a donation. We were approached by a floating bar at about 10.30am which was a bit early even for us. Unfortunately saying no is not what they want to hear, so these meetings almost always end unpleasantly. We did enjoy a very good lunch halfway through our trip, which was cooked over a fire with large river rocks under the pots which glowed red. We had jerk chicken, rice and beans, bok choy and little Johnny cakes. Now we know what Johnny cakes are – kinda like a little deep fried doughnut but not sweet and quite doughy. Belinda, who cooked this wonderful food also makes her own hot sweet pickle which I had to buy a jar of. She didn’t have a spare one but said that for aboug $4 she would make me one up and Rebo would deliver it to me the next day. How’s that for service? She did exactly that and we now have Belinda’s pickles on board.
Rebo, as I said is a very good raft handler - see the pictures. These rafts are built by the men who drive them, and they are basically a few very large bamboo poles joined together with bend wire. Our trip included a bit of white water, not very much I’m glad to say. In a few weeks this river will become a raging torrent as it fills up during this season, and at that time, the rafting experience changes completely. Normally the tour takes about 3 hours. But on those days when the river is roaring on its way Rebo says it takes 45 minutes. Imagine that sitting on a few bamboo poles joined together with wire.
He also has the potential to be a good business man – but unfortunately he likes the cannabis a bit too much. He smokes during the trip and his manner changes as the day wears on and his pot consumption increases. A bit bolshi is the best description I can use and quite bossy, telling us what to do sometimes when we didn’t want to. Again the no answer is not a popular one. But it all went well, and he seemed to ‘straighten up’ towards the end of the day. We assured him that we would recommend him to our friends. And we have – no points against him for the pot – his peers probably all do it. I think that its illegal in Jamaica to smoke pot, but the concession stand selling souvenirs had joints for sale at the lunch stop.
Being docked at the marina means that it is much more convenient for us to come and go without having to be ferried around in the dinghy. The marina is in town, and the town has a good market. Fresh produce is available every day, so its not necessary to buy more than we need. Its nice to go into town and shop earlier in the day as everywhere becomes very chaotic after that, especially when school is out. Not much to choose from in the supermarket, but we do have the basics, and a couple of days ago Tony and I walked a few miles to another supermarket which has even less to choose from but we did find some frozen meat. Provisioning from here might be a challenge, but we pretty adaptable.
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