Tuesday, March 4 — These cute little birds are all around the marina.
And so are these pretty white birds.
Pizza and Ice Cream in Port Antonio, Jamaica
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Author Archives: Eric
Exploring Port Antonio, Jamaica
Monday, March 3 — After being in the jungle at Shelter Bay marina for over a month, we were used to waking up to a cacophony of chirping birds. This morning, there were chirping birds, but they were overshadowed by crowing roosters and car traffic. The air smelled distinctly of smoke. Yup, we were back in a city.
We were sad to report that it never rained. At 0900, Eric was at the marina office to request that the water be turned on so we could rinse the boat. While rinsing the boat had certainly helped with the salt accumulation, in order to eliminate it, we needed to hand scrub. We did some scrubbing in easily accessible spots, but we’d have to go back to scrub the rest of the boat later. We also noted that the marina’s pipes have a significant leak — no wonder they only turn them water on upon request.
This morning, we found out what the warning that the locals were too nice meant. At several different points in time, we were greeted by locals offering assorted services. And when we said no to one service, they had another and another and another service that they offered. They each kept pushing until they found something we’d buy. One roped us into buying locally grown coffee, another a jerk spice mix and jerk sauce. Both promised to procure “the best” and return later with their respective products. And in all fairness, both products were indeed great, though we suspect the markup for the delivery was huge.
Welcome to Port Antonio, Portland Parish, Jamaica
Sunday, March 2 — Tonight was a rare astronomical event — a seven planet alignment, with several of the plants visible to the naked eye. But sadly, the seas were too uncomfortable for us to even consider sitting outside to see it.
By midnight, we could see lights from southern Jamaica in the distance. By dawn, we were close enough to be in the shelter of the island and the waves became a little smaller. We could also smell smoke – not an unpleasant smoke, like a fire, but like smoking food.
Shortly after dawn, we rounded the western corner of the island. Our change in direction meant we went from head seas to beam seas. Eric’s seasickness instantly vanished. As we trekked north, we ran close to shore. From what we could see, Jamaica was mountainous and lush.
It only took a couple of hours to go from the southern side of the island to Port Antonio, located on the north-eastern side of the island. We turned into a bay named East Harbor, then immediately turned into a channel between the tip of the mainland peninsula and Navy Island that led into a bay called West Harbor.
Sir Henry Morgan, the Infamous Privateer
During our circumnavigation, Christi used to write histories for all the countries we visited. Given that legacy, we felt it was appropriate to publish Keith’s school assignment on Henry Morgan, as Morgan altered the course of history for both Panama and Jamaica.
Sir Henry Morgan was a Welsh privateer who fought for the English against the Spanish during the 1660s and 1670s. He is remembered as one of the greatest privateers in the world, along with being one of the worst enemies to the Spanish since Sir Francis Drake.
Nobody knows Morgan’s exact date of birth, but people theorize that he was born around 1635 in Monmouth County, Wales. He had two uncles who were both prominent in the English military. Morgan decided early in his life to follow his uncles’ footsteps. He served under General Venables and Admiral Penn in 1654 when they took Jamaica from the Spanish.
After leaving the official military, Morgan took on the life of a privateer, who were mercenaries who were allowed to attack an/or raid enemies in exchange for the majority of the loot they took. Morgan was one of many privateers who had a “license” to raid the Spanish, given that England and Spain were at war.
Morgan was a fearless leader and a clever tactician. He became the leader of the Brethren of the Coast, a group of privateers.
Continue readingKeith’s Perspective on Our Last Few Days in Panama and the Passage to Jamaica/Le point de vue de Keith sur nos derniers jours au Panama et le passage vers la Jamaïque
This week hasn’t been super eventful. On Saturday, we did D&D, then me and my friends went to the pool. On Sunday, we did D&D, then my friends did archery i n the jungle, but I was tired so I didn’t go.
Nous n’avons pas fait beaucoup de choses cette semaine. Samedi on a joué à Donjons et Dragons, et après ça mes amis et moi on est allé à la piscine. Dimanche on a joué à donjons et dragons, et mes amis on fait du tir à l’arc dans la jungle, mais j’en ai pas fait parce que j’étais fatigué.
