Arrival at Port Antonio, Jamaica

Monday 24 Feb, passage day 3 / Jamaica day 1: Nervous arriving into Port Antonio, move into Errol Flynn Marina to check in, short visit to town and very entertaining evening at the marina bar.

At midnight we are surfing our way down wind, 18 miles north of Port Antonio in NE Jamaica. We have poled-out and reefed genoa and full mainsail in 20-25kts true wind. It’s a thrilling ride in huge waves (much bigger than I would expect for this wind). At 8-10kts speed we are only slightly slower than the waves, making the ride remarkably stable. Putting the spreader lights on we can see the bow wave curling each side as we surf down the waves with the foamy sea then whipping passed each side of the cockpit. And looking back we see the next wave coming, above the stern, often with its crest breaking.

I should be loving this, but my mind is already transfixed on the challenges of coming into the port entrance. Being a lee shore, before we even enter there are serious things to consider. We want to carry the sails as long as possible for stability, yet we cannot afford any error or problem furling them and we absolutely need to make certain the engine will work before it’s too late to turn back using sails only. After that, we need a good trajectory into the channel, firstly because of the incoming waves and surf and secondly because of potential fish traps that are apparently all around the Jamaican coast. It wouldn’t be a good time to catch a rope in the propeller. Then we need to find our way in, in the dark, and anchor without hitting anything. And obviously we have never been here before. Oana is also nervous. She gets quite frightened when Cloudy is motoring in big waves. With no sails pinning us down the motion can be quite violent. And as much as I tell her Cloudy can’t tip over, it feels very much like she can.

4 miles out my blood pressure drops a little when the wind decreases below 20kts. The engine goes on, and works perfectly. Moments like this, I love our Volvo. It never fails to start first time. At 3 miles we furl away the genoa and I go forward to drop the pole and strap it to the cutter stay, making sure we are not trailing any ropes before I head back to the cockpit. At 1 mile we turn 90 degrees to wind and thankfully the mainsail furls away perfectly. Back on course, and with no sails, we are rolling like a dog, all over the place, as expected.
One last tricky job: going forward to release the gybe preventer at the mast and bring in the boom without it swinging dangerously all over the place. Oana sheets in, while I ease the preventer. There, all ready for entry. There are so many lights from the shore that it’s difficult to see the channel marker lights as we roll and surf our way in. And of course, just as we enter the heavens open and we get our first Jamaican soaking. Not the best timing!

Thankfully, the channel behind Navy island is well marked and once we make the turn we are instantly relieved of the waves. But we do still hear them crashing on the rocks of Navy Island beside us. We gently feel our way into the West Harbour in the rain where the water is almost mirror calm – wonderful. We expected to have all manner of boats moored and anchored here but there is only one yacht at anchor and no one seems to be on the mooring balls. At 2:30am, we drop the anchor in 10m of water and finally relax!
With all the decks clear and ship shape we take to our very welcoming berth. There is some slapping on the stern but we are too tired to hear it.

Alarm goes at 9am. First look at our surroundings sees us calmly anchored in emerald green water and eye watering lush green vegetation on land. This port apparently has an average of 2.5cm (1”) of rain per day. We feel like we are back in the wet windward islands with just patches of blue sky between dark rain clouds. The American yacht next to us is a new arrival too, also flying their yellow customs flag. Our next neighbour is the 200+ft superyacht, “Hampshire” owned by the British billionaire Andy Currie. It takes up the whole outer warf of the Errol Flynn Marina. Errol is quite a legend in this port. He once owned Navy Island (until he reputedly lost it in a game of cards!) and apparently loved this harbour town.

A VHF call tells us we need to dock in the marina to clear-in. We didn’t really want to dock, but it seems we have to. After our breakfast we upanchor and are soon neatly docked stern-to a nice slip, with a British sail training yacht, Rubicon 3, as our neighbour. It’s one of the ex-Clipper-60 yachts from Robin Nox Johnston’s Ocean training fleet and it’s built like a battleship! A true go-anywhere boat (like Cloudy, but without any frills 🙂 )

So starts our check-in process. The marina gives us a wad of forms to be filled. More than we have ever had before. 11 different forms Oana has counted. But to balance this, the check in is totally free. A first for us and a huge contrast to the ridiculous fees of the Bahamas.
First, we are boarded by 3 very friendly health officers. Asking all manner of health and hygiene type questions. And of course Coronavirus is a big concern for them. Next comes the immigration guy. Then finally, the customs guy. All of them extremely friendly and professional. A wonderful welcome to this colourful country.

Our next welcome is a British couple, Richard and Jane on a Starlight 39 (once my dream yacht from the 1990s). They are fellow OCC members and invite us to evening drinks at the marina bar. The marina staff are also very friendly and helpful and when we hear it’s only 95cents per foot mooring fees we decide to stay. Sounds like excellent value.
But during the visit to the office we find the balancing act. An extremely rude and non-engaging receptionist who seems to relish telling us that no one would have told us it’s only 95cents per foot. For boats over 50ft the price is $1.75, totaling $95 a day. And if we don’t like it we can go and anchor… for a fee of $28! It appears they own the anchorage too. The marina price is still not bad, but doesn’t stop me being a tad miffed, mainly at her attitude. We agree to stay but don’t commit to any time period. The marina also has a laundry and a pleasant pool area with bar and restaurant.

Mid afternoon we head to town to stretch legs and get our Barbados Flow SIM card reactivated. The rain showers keep coming so we are armed with umbrellas. The shore line along the Errol Flynn Marina is lined with brightly colored bougainvillea and has a nice view to the docked yachts. The town is full of hustle and bustle. Lots of people. Many say “hello” to us and thankfully only 1 or 2 trying to hussle us. First stop is the FLOW shop where we end up buying a new SIM as it seems to be cheaper than reactivating the one from Barbados. The beauty of Flow is that you can use the data in most Caribbean islands. Oana is happy to again have a data sim in her phone, rather than continually needing to ask me for a hotspot. Next stop is the ATM for local money. We pass 2 ATMs with long queues. The third is the same, so we join the queue. We wonder why so many people are queuing like this? It’s not like there is a shortage of ATMs.

At 5pm we are back to the marina bar where we meet Richard and Jane for drinks. We spend a couple of hours chatting and enjoying some very strong cocktails. They are leaving in the morning so we are soon on our own again, ordering a pizza. The only other people here are the young crew from the superyacht, Hamilton. So we go over and join them. Like we so often see when these superyacht crews are ashore, they like to let go and enjoy themselves. They are already pretty high on drink and smoking (and it’s not tobacco!). But it’s fun to be with a young gang for once.
One of the crew is a 21 year old from South Africa. He is quite a character who seems to have lived a full life already. From his kiteboarding and motor cross accidents he seems to have more titanium in his body than the average aircraft engine! He is also a free diver, holding breath for up to 5 minutes. He free dove to 60m just today. And the photos he has of free dive spear fishing from Africa are astounding. Many of his speared fish are bigger than him! He had a friend whose spear reel jammed and a huge speared fish swam down dragging him after it – ultimately drowning him! A sport not for the faint hearted! Maybe he’ll do base jumping next. At his going rate we’d be surprised if he makes it passed 30!

We are back on board Cloudy by 11pm where we fall into bed, exhausted.