Crew Blog

The easy life but rather short

25 May 2008

Jamaica in 48 hours! Is this possible? Clipper crews have the reputation to of living life intensely. Each of those hours was filled to maximum with not much time wasted on sleep. As the ten Clippers docked at Port Antonio Marina, the now common welcome with cold beers had a different quality.

The difference was that there was music in the air. Reggae music in the middle of the night all over the marina set the stage to that laid back easy going Jamaican lifestyle.
A quick deep clean after three hours of sleep and we were off to explore the town, its people, its sounds, and its atmosphere. Greeted with open friendliness and big smiles, we walked around the streets.

This is not a resort town. People live and work here making a modest living. An amazing party was set up for us the next evening with a steel drum band, dancers and great food. The thirst for beer was initially underestimated but a fresh supply of local Red Stripe Lager appeared on a lorry.

As there was only the next day left to sample more of Jamaica, the beach was the obvious place to go. We were told to go to Winifred beach, a 20 minute car ride away. Woody our driver negotiated the hundreds of potholes in the road in true hair-raising formula one driving style, ruining his tyres on the final approach down a very rough dirt track.

The water was beautifully clear and warm and all the along the little cove were a number of shacks lined up with eateries selling barbecued pork and chicken and of course cold Red Stripe. The beach was soon to be populated with local people hundreds of children and of course more Reggae Music as it was the Labour Day holiday.

We were served a great lunch of barbecued jerk chicken, rice with beans, fried plantain, small deep fried breads and of course we had a bottle of Red Stripe with that.
A couple of dips into the sea after lunch and it was time for Woody to take us back to the Marina. He must have been watching the qualifying for the Monaca Grand Prix since dropping us off as we were hanging onto dear life in the back of the car watching him overtake lorries and cars in impossible situations but all went well.

We had a great send off yesterday sailing out of Port Antonio, our departure being filmed from a helicopter being led out of the marina by a coast guard ship.

Even though it was only 48 hours in Jamaica I feel we made the most of it.

So long
Jurgen