Port Antonio Jamaica Part 3

Roasted breadfruit for dinner

And, as a part of that quiet evening, we broke into the roasted breadfruit that Nicky had bought the previous day.  Karl and Conner recommended that, having taken off the outer burned skin, we then either eat the insides as they are or, better, lightly fry slices.  We did the latter and thoroughly enjoyed it with our pork stew.  Next up on the Jamaican cookery course – run-down!

Gluing the plywood pad onto the dinghy transom

The next few days were filled, primarily, with boat jobs and catching up with admin from home.  I glued a larger plywood pad on the outside of the dinghy transom where outboard attaches to supplement the small one I put on the inside in St Martin.  Then, with the glue dried, I painted both.  Hopefully the now 2 new large pads will spread the load of the engine better than the one original small pad and will stop the small crack in the transom from spreading.

I also fitted replacement cockpit speakers and wiring (the salt air had killed the last ones), sorted out a problem with the gooseneck split pin, lubricated the anchor windlass and (oh, the joys of yachting!) the toilet pumps.  The Marine Police visited briefly and checked our papers and we had a few minutes of concern at the news of an underwater earthquake between Montego Bay and Cabo Cruz, Cuba.  This news brought with it tsunami warnings but NOAA said that the risk was ‘only’ for a tsunami of between one and 3 feet, and that risk soon passed.  Of the earthquake itself we neither felt nor saw anything in Port Antonio, despite it reaching 7.7 on the Richter Scale and being felt in Florida.

New arrivals at Port Antonio

Meanwhile, having completed a vast amount of computer-based admin (and having come away with very square eyes!) Nicky set to with varnishing several bits that were missed when she did her mammoth varnishing session in Deltaville, including the dinghy oars which have taken an absolute hammering since she last attacked them a few years ago.

And in the midst of this there was a frisson of excitement when a small blue British yacht was towed into harbour by the coastguard from about 70 miles out.  It turned out to be a very sad story.  The yacht, with a lone sailor aboard, had been reported missing since 20 December 2019.  Unfortunately for the sailor’s family, and those who found and had to deal with the yacht, the sailor’s body was found on board the vessel.  The yacht was towed in to a remote dock, met by a fire truck and ambulance crew in full HazMat clothing to remove the body and then transferred to a mooring buoy and left with ‘Do Not Enter’ tapes all over it.

Ackee on one of the trees by the marina.  They are poisonous when not open

All work and no play makes a dull life so we took daily outings into the town.  We made a Jamaican-style run-down which we very much enjoyed and, consequently, stocked up on powdered coconut milk.  We also found powdered coconut cream which might be easier for rum cocktails than the tinned stuff – certainly less storage space required and better for using small quantities.  We also shopped for ackee, a Jamaican speciality, delicious small pineapples and sweet and tender mangoes.

Ackee on display at the market – open and safe to eat.  It sells for about 200JMD for a dozen.  The ackee we bought was already peeled.  We just took out the black stones and small amount of red membrane then steamed the yellow flesh until tender before lightly frying with onions.  It’s very tasty and resembles scrambled egg

We spent a somewhat frustrating afternoon taking part in an online meeting with the Commodore, Regional Co-ords, Regional Rear Commodores, and other Roving Rear Commodores of the OCC.  The marina’s internet wasn’t really good enough for us to properly participate (we should have bought a local Digicel sim card) but what we did hear made it worthwhile, as did the notes afterwards.  But the frustrations of technology we ameliorated by a fun evening on board Contigo with Karl and Conner and Jared.  It was a pot-luck supper so we made a vegetable run-down which went down well, Karl cooked a variety of locally-inspired dishes including some excellent Costa Rican arepas and Jared brought jerk pork from one of the local street stands – delicious!

Chicks for sale …….. at the hardware store!

We had planned to depart on Fri 31 Jan but the forecast on the Thursday suggested that we would be better off leaving on the Saturday, so as not to end up stalled for 24 hours in an area of calm.  We still refuelled on the Thursday as we had previously agreed with George, the marina manager we would, and did some provisioning, but left most of the fresh food shop until the Friday.

This turned out to be an inspired move as, just as Karl and Conner had said when we arrived, the market is at its best and busiest on Friday and Saturday.  There were stalls open on that day that we had previously never seen open and the choices of fresh food were very good.  We also bought a large lump of pork from the meat section – shades of shopping in Cuba the previous year and, yes, we did have plastic boxes with us.

In the afternoon, I got talking to the Vim and Marge on Duppy, a Dutch yacht in the marina, who were having problems with their freezer.  I gave them some P-clips to help hold the refrigerant pipe runs in place and we talked about Cuba and the OCC and discussed boat maintenance issues, whilst a local contractor tried to fit and fill their new compressor and pipes.

Final night in the marina

Saturday morning dawned overcast and looked as if Jamaica would see us off with rain, just as it had welcomed us with rain.  We prepared for departure, including refilling the water tanks and were not long from departing when Bjorn and Nella on Think Twice arrived from Santiago de Cuba.  What a surprise!  With our paperwork for departure all completed the previous day and our marina bill paid we couldn’t stay to catch up properly with them but we chatted for a while and got the expurgated version of their season so far.  They said that they planned to head to the Caymans and then the Bay Islands, so hopefully we’ll meet up with them again properly further along the line.  And then it was time for us to head off after a wonderful, unexpected stay in Jamaica.  It’s certainly somewhere we’d return to visit and there’s definitely more to see but, for this season, the Bay Islands beckoned.

Port Antonio, Jamaica