Wednesday 26 Feb, Jamaica day 3: Exploring coastline, Reach Falls and Baths by hire car, on Ash Wednesday public holiday.
After breakfast we head to the car rental shop recommended by the marina. Surprise surprise, the rate jumped $10 since our enquiry over the phone yesterday. Till we told him we will go to his competition, then the price dropped again. Jamaica is known for its haggling. So we get a Mitsubishi Galant 4WD for $65 per day. And, he says, his price includes total insurance cover. Then he proceeds to take a deposit of $500 that we will lose should we damage the car! Classic.
We decide we will take today easy and only drive the coast road eastwards. Lots of “attractions” along that way, apparently. Tomorrow we will try to get to Kingston, over the Blue Mountains.
First stop is to see Frenchman’s Bay beach. But there is a charge to enter. It’s not much, but we decide we’ll see that on the way back, when the light should be better for nicer pictures.
Next, is the famous Blue Lagoon. This is a 65m depth sink-hole in a cove, became famous after the movie starring Brooke Shields. Before we have even entered the road to the place, we are stopped and hassled by guys trying to give us a boat tour or just plain show us the Blue Lagoon. We manage to fight them off and also manage to walk to see the blue water circle by ourselves. Which in our humble opinion it is very much green, not blue. There are a few tourists there, some on kayaks some being punted along on bamboo rafts. Other than the spectacle of the azure blue water circle that marks the deep water, there is not much to shout about. Plus, it is all surrounded by one big construction site, with diggers and dumpsters everywhere. So we move on.
And as we do so, we comment that we will likely have to forget the natural beauty of the Bahamas coastline if we are to enjoy sights like this on other islands. It will be hard to match Bahamas on many fronts. And on that note we decide to avoid stopping at any more beaches or coves and focus on sights in the mountains.
So we head directly for the Reach Falls. A waterfall cascade in the lush tropical forested foothills. Distance is not great but the roads are in truly terrible condition with huge potholes everywhere, making progress painfully slow. And avoiding oncoming vehicles also adds to the sport. They are flying along and often on the wrong side of the road coming around the corners. Our car has done 250,000Km, and even without the potholes it feels like the wheels are about to fall off! The UJs and suspension feels completely shot. But really no different to any other car we have rented in the Caribbean!
The Reach Falls looks very busy by itss packed car park. We pay our $10 each to enter as non-residents and note it’s 3x more than for Jamaican residents. Fair enough I guess. On the steps down to the falls we already hear lots of noise from the many people down there. At the lower level, where you actually see the waterfall, it’s very busy with the pool below the falls packed with locals all enjoying the cool water on this public holiday. So after a photo or 2 we ascend to the pools above the falls where there are hardly any people, yet still deep enough water to swim in.
Up here the scenery is very pretty with the sun streaming through the trees onto the mossy covered rocks and the flowing water. It’s a chilly entry but once in, so very refreshing. We swim around for a while and walk up one more level where there is no one. This is more like it. After 40 minutes enjoying the scene and refreshing water, we are out and back at the car. Where to next?
We decide to go to the next mountain experience 30km further on, called Baths. Apparently hot springs. It’s a long drive on these roads and as we approach there are lots of locals guiding us where to park. A complete zoo. No real parking space and people hassling us like crazy, many verging on being quite rude and aggressive. But having come this far we do venture through the barrage and up to the hot baths. Once arrived, there are yet more people hassling us, this time offering massages.
The so called hot baths are mere concrete troughs with dirty looking hot water fed from springs. Several people are lying on rocks having hot towels draped over them, then roughly massaged. This is apparently the massage we were being offered. It’s all pretty grubby and not inviting in the slightest. One look at each other and we know without saying that it’s “no thank you very much” and within a minute we turn back down to the car. There’s also a hotel which probably offers a slightly better experience / cleaner water, but it was also very busy with lots of people queuing at the reception.
We are frankly glad to get out of there (hearing the locals shouting “don’t come back” as we walk passed them) back to the quiet descending road. It really was an unpleasant experience and we wonder how the authorities expect people to enjoy these sites when they are ruined for foreign visitors.
Our journey back is long and slow. We really don’t feel like stopping anywhere on the way. On our drive south we spotted an interesting looking beach bar on the reasonably pretty Long Beach and we made a mental note to stop there on our way back, but as we return doesn’t look inviting enough for us and after another hour driving we are glad to be back in the civilized marina.
But Cloudy is baking hot inside (33degC) and lots of mosquitoes outside. So we turn the A/C on and swelter until it finally cools to a pleasant 26degC as we eat dinner inside.
Outside we hear a bit of a commotion. A small sports fisher boat with 4 men has just arrived from Dominican Republic. They only seem to speak Spanish and one of the crew from another yacht is helping the customs and immigration officers with interpretation. Apparently there is a question of the boat ownership. It has a Florida registration number decal on the topsides and they have no registration papers. Yet they are claiming it’s their boat! It’s all a bit fishy. And to add to the situation, they have an off-road ATV (quad bike) strapped on the foredeck, where you would normally expect a dinghy to be!
We leave them to their commotion as we pass heading to the marina bar. Here we find the 2 guys from the American yacht who arrived in the anchorage 1 hour before us. The owner is an ex USAF pilot who used to be based in Mildenhal, just a stone’s throw from where I was brought up. He also seems to have cruised most of the Caribbean and has some interesting stories. And while talking, he mentions the Royal Jamaica Yacht Club is worth a visit, in Kingston. So we put it on our list for tomorrow’s trip.
There are also 2 Swedish guys who just arrived on their Bavaria after a 4 days passage from Curaçao. They have stories of being engaged by the UK naval ship and USCG in a search and rescue operation for a dinghy that has been seen floating near them. They actually find the dinghy, but no sign of life. So they took it in tow. Only to lose it the next night when they have 4m waves! They stopped in Las Rocas off the coast of Venezuela, and they have a story about being approached by US and UK navy boats inquiring whether they have sighted a small plane with no lights on. Spooky. Always entertaining talking to other cruisers!
As we plan to leave early tomorrow for day 2 of our road trip, we are unusually early in bed by 10pm. Zonked.