Great Inagua, Bahamas and Jamaica February 20
The next day we took Duncan for a sail because we were having issues getting our new Aries Windvane to work, and low and behold Duncan showed us that we set up the lines wrong. Once fixed it worked beautifully. It was a great sail during which we caught 2 Skipjack tuna. We ate the fish that night in front of a bonfire that we made on the beach and we made plans to go down to Matthew Town the next day. Matthew Town is a company town for Morton Salt. There are very few cruising boats that visit Matthew Town and consequently everyone there was interested in where we had been and where we were going. The people there were all so generous. We went into a bar/restaurant and asked if they were serving food and the man behind the counter said that they weren’t, but he had ice cream, candy and beer. We each had a beer and ice cream and when we were finishing up, he told us that his wife was bringing dinner for us. Five minutes later we were eating chicken, chili, and a macaroni casserole. The food was absolutely delicious. When we were finished he wouldn’t let us pay him for the dinner!
The next day, Monday the 12th, the four of us and Duncan and Elaine went on a tour of the island with the park ranger. It was a three hour tour in his truck and we got to see the salt pans for Morton Salt and the flamingos which are concentrated on Lake Windsor. Lake Windsor is the largest flamingo breeding colony in the northern hemisphere, so we saw flocks of flamingos and then the outskirts of the Morton Salt Facility. Later in the day we went to the lighthouse on the southwest point of the island. This is supposedly one of the last kerosene lighthouses in world. Josh, Ellen and I (John) climbed to the top of the lighthouse which has magnificent views from the top. Supposedly on a clear day you can see Cuba from the top.
That night we left for Jamaica because the weather report said we were supposed to have wind until late the next day. Once again the forecast was wrong. The wind died Tuesday morning around 4 am at which point we bobbed in the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti for a day and a half. About this time we got tired of sitting and started up our Perkins diesel and ran it till about 10 when the wind finally picked up.
On Thursday we arrived in Port Antonio which is on the Northeast corner of the island. After a little bit of exploring Port Antonio on Friday we decided to head up to Reach Falls on Saturday. The falls are ”closed” but you can get a local “guide” to bring you to the falls by walking up the river from below. The water that flows down the river is the clearest water I have ever seen. There is a cave behind the falls that you can get to by going through the falls. Our guide suggested that we go to a place called the Bird Fountain. It was a sulfur spring so the water that comes out of the mountain is about 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
The next day, Sunday, we went to the African Drum Festival which happens once a year here in Jamaica. We went with people from three other sailboats that we have met. Brian from SV Euphoria (also heading through the Panama Canal), Mark and Louise from SV JEM, and Chris, Sophy, Otti and Mimi from the SV Sarah Grace all went to the festival. We arrived at the festival around 11am as the crowds were beginning to arrive. We went assuming that there was going to be live music on the main stage all day, but we were wrong unfortunately. We walked around the festival most of the day, ate lots of food and checked out all the little shops that were selling trinkets. We left the festival around 4 since the music hadn’t started yet and it was beginning to rain.
We are currently getting ready to leave Port Antonio for Negril which is on the western side of the island. We are changing the oil and the fuel filters and should be ready to leave tomorrow morning. We have heard so much about Jamaica not being safe, but we have yet to experience that. It seems to be a very poor island and people are always looking for money, but we have not felt unsafe in Port Antonio. Overall Port Antonio was a great experience and we are looking forward to getting to Negril in the next day or two. From there we will go to Colon, Panama, the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal.
