To The North Coast: Lime Tree To Port Antonio
Driving Jamaica is very heavy on concentration levels, mainly because the roads are in such appalling condition. Giant potholes, boulders in the road, piles of builders’ rubble, sudden narrowing of road to single line traffic…main roads which suddenly hit an unmade stretch without warning. It’s all here. You have to keep your eyes on the road surface as well as the other vehicles for every inch of every journey.
Consequently it’s a long slow drive from Mavis Bank to our next destination at Port Antonio on the north coast, a drive which involves climbing right over the top of the mountain range before descending through sumptuous green valleys alongside the Buff Bay River. We opt to follow the B1 roadway, but don’t be fooled by the fact that the road has a number – this is a twisting, rolling lane which now and again declines into the “unmade” category.
En route we make a coffee stop at the amazing location of Strawberry Hill – well, after convincing the security guard that it’s OK to let these two scruffy English bods into such revered territory, anyway. Strawberry Hill is an exclusive hideaway and spa resort way up in the Blue Mountains with spectacular uninterrupted views all the way back to Kingston and Port Royal. None of that is why we’re here though.
This is a place etched into music history. Island Records boss Chris Blackwell, he who brought Bob Marley to the world, bought Strawberry Hill and created this rich man’s paradise which became a destination retreat for stellar characters from the music business. The walls are adorned with iconic photographs….wander around and you’ll see pictures of the likes of Grace Jones, Springsteen, Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Sting and The Police, U2 and, probably best of all, a shot of Jagger and Marley TOGETHER…….
I absolutely love it, sitting on this balcony looking out for miles across Jamaica, knowing that we’re on the very spot where hedonistic rock’n’roll lifestyles have been played out over and over. If it wasn’t for being in the middle of a long drive, we’d be ordering a rum cocktail and soaking it up for hours. Just imagine the parties here…
Our journey finally hits the coast at Buff Bay, from where the road hugs the shoreline most of the way to Port Antonio, an authentic Caribbean town out of the reach of the likes of Sandals – for now, at least. Here, the Patois dialect is written as well as spoken, an enthralling English to English language barrier which is made even more entertaining by the fact that most of the locals can switch off the dialect when they realise that we’re struggling to understand. We don’t always want them to: we’re trying to tune in.
Port Antonio sweeps around a wide double-cup bay where the white Caribbean surf charges in with considerable panache. You can hear the crashing waves everywhere in town – except perhaps where the reggae is too loud – but this town which has no beach and no gentrified waterfront is undeniably appealing in a laid back ramshackle kind of way.
Somewhere behind some locked gates is the wonderfully named Errol Flynn Marina, home to a cruise ship terminal which apparently only sees one liner per month, and even then only outside hurricane season. The appeal of the rest of the town is its gritty normality: we wonder what those occasional cruise passengers, more used to exotic calls, must make of Port Antonio. They probably don’t like it.
A short drive east from our new base brings us to our first proper desert island style beach at Frenchmans Cove, where it is so much fun to get bashed around by the surging waves and powerful currents. The cove is small but beautiful, just so photogenic that we instantly feel, “yep, this is what we expected”.
The other way, to the west, the wide Rio Grande river sweeps beneath the road and into the sea at St Margaret’s Bay, one of the locations which offers raft rides along the river. With a raft made entirely out of bamboo, and a bamboo pole for punting, our “captain” (his word) Trevor takes us on a serene and peaceful trip along the water, far away from reggae beats and pounding waves and deep into the tropical greenery.
It’s a delightful experience, calmly floating along the waters for three whole hours with only the plop and swish of the bamboo pole and the occasional cry of a heron to disturb the peace. We seem awfully close to the water, and unprotected, given that we’ve read that there are crocodiles in the Rio Grande. Trevor laughs when we mention it.
“Man” he chortles, “I been raftin turty too year on dis river an I ain’t never see one croc”.
Well that’s alright then. “Maybe today you be da lucky ones”, he adds, shooting us a mischievous smile. Part way through the ride, the serenity is interrupted by heavy raindrops peppering the river – Trevor pulls the raft over to the cover of the trees and produces, of all things, an umbrella. We must look an odd site, two white people huddled under an umbrella on a raft in the middle of a tropical river.
The showers around Port Antonio are heavy and regular; unlike the southern side which sits in the rain shadow of the Blue Mountains, the northern coast has no wholly dry season and some quantity of rain falls in each month. But then of course, you don’t get this beautiful green scenery without regular rainfall.
At nearby Somerset Falls a different, shorter boat trip with an oarsman and – wait for it – life jackets (!!) takes us beneath the modest but splendid cascade which drops into the dark, moss covered rocks in this strangely attractive little setting.
Possibly the strangest thing about Port Antonio is the coffee: there isn’t any! After the utter delights of our first two locations, we are completely thrown by the fact that there’s no coffee shops and the only thing on offer in cafes is Nescafe. It’s as if all of the Blue Mountain coffee either gets consumed up there in the mountains or goes straight to Kingston for export. I wish I’d known that before we reached here, I declined so many chances to buy, never thinking for a moment we’d hit a coffee-free zone.
Evening falls quickly in Port Antonio. Sunset is around 5.40pm and the darkness closes in at speed after that, and as it does so, the air fills with an outrageous cacophony of creature noises. Imagine several thousand squeaky child’s swings going back and forth and several thousand hospital heart monitors beeping at the same time. The first time we heard it all, we asked a girl in a bar what it all is..
“Dem is fraags”, she says.
“Frogs!? Wow, we never would have thought that”.
And then we wonder if it all goes on until daylight, and ask a second, different girl that question. She laughs.
“Dem is naat fraags”, she says through her laughter, “dem is crickets”.
So we’re none the wiser, really.
You May Also Like
Tortuguero: Beyond Roads
Olympia: Stories Of Past And Present
27 Comments
Lookoom
Atmosphere completely Caribbean, the luxuriance of the vegetation goes with the run down towns, but always with this cheerfulness which makes their strength.
Alison
I think I would have stayed put at Strawberry Hill! There can’t be many tourists where you are staying. Those beaches, so pristine did you go in for a dip. What’s your accommodation like? All looks fantastic so far
Phil & Michaela
Yes we went in the sea at Frenchmans Cove – like I said, pounding waves and very strong currents! Lots of fun. Accommodation, wellwe had the Liguanea Club in Kingston and then the coffee farm in the mountains, both of which we wrote about….Port Antonio was an airbnb house, very clean and airy so all good so far.
Alison
Seems like there’s so much to see
I am going to have to have a look at Google maps
wetanddustyroads
Lovely views from Strawberry Hill … and of course the beautiful beach at Frenchmans Cove. As for your excursion on the bamboo raft – what a wonderful idea!
Toonsarah
Port Antonio looks like a town we’d have enjoyed but it slipped through our radar somehow. Although without coffee I’m not sure I’d have wanted to linger too long!
Strawberry Hill we did see. We visited just as a storm broke and enjoyed Blue Mountain coffee sitting on the covered terrace watching the clouds. That stone head by the pool features in several of my shots – good to see it’s still there. And of course the photos there are amazing!
Mike and Kellye Hefner
You are mighty brave to take on the Jamaican roads! You guys deserve a medal. Strawberry Hill would be a fantastic place to spend a couple of days – at least they have coffee. The river raft trip must’ve been great as well as seeing the waterfall. Can’t wait to see what you’re up to next!
leightontravels
Another magical leg of your Jamaican adventures. Strawberry Hill is utterly gorgeous and I have lapped up all the stuff about the bar. “Etched into music history” indeed…
Phil & Michaela
I could happily have spent a day or two there
Latitude Adjustment: A Tale of Two Wanderers
Never heard of these places on Jamaica. Great info.
grandmisadventures
Jagger and Marley in the picture together is fantastic! And the raft ride through that idyllic corner just looks incredible. It definitely seems like you found paradise there 🙂
Phil & Michaela
So far so good !
Monkey's Tale
I’ve never heard of Strawberry Hill, but the views are gorgeous! It may be worth the awful drive 😊
Phil & Michaela
Even as a huge music fan I knew nothing of the history of Strawberry Hill, so to spend even a short time there was just fabulous
Rochelle | Adventuresfromelle
Ha, we actually hear that same cacophony of chirps at my suburban home in Stony Hill (city limits of Kingston) too. They can be both crickets and frogs actually. I’m afraid both girls were correct. I’ve never driven B1 all the way to Buff Bay. The road is definitely frightful, but so scenic.
Re the coffee. It didn’t dawn on me either that Port Antonio has no coffee shops. I hope some well-meaning entrepreneur fills this niche soon.
Phil & Michaela
We had a feeling that it might be frogs AND crickets. They just don’t go for coffee, even in the airbnb house there was no coffee maker or even cafetière even if we’d bought our own. And it’s the same now we’re in Falmouth, so decent coffee anywhere!
WanderingCanadians
It sounds like a nail biting drive to get to Port Antonio, but at least it’s scenic. Frenchmans Cove and Somerset Falls are gorgeous. How fun to take a raft ride along the river.
Phil & Michaela
Very scenic!
Dave Ply
Some lovely spots there, especially the beach and the falls. It must have been nice to have a relaxing float on the river after a stress inducing drive. And I didn’t know about Strawberry Hill – cool rock royalty pics.
Phil & Michaela
Nor had we till we hit these shores!
rkrontheroad
I could easily spend a few days on Strawberry Hill and Frenchmans Cove. You have found some special places.
Phil & Michaela
Absolutely, Ruth. My inner rock star was bursting to get out and indulge for a few days!
Annie Berger
The float on the bamboo raft with captain Trevor sounds like the stuff of dreams on a Caribbean vacation. Also enjoyed reading about the legendary rocknroll stars who made Strawberry Hill so famous.
Phil & Michaela
Hello, Annie – yes they were good experiences and I would have loved to stay longer at Strawberry Hill. I’m glad you’ve commented as I wanted to ask you…… I haven’t seen any posts from you in a long time. Have we lost a connection somehow (it happens, with WordPress) or have you been taking a break? I hope you’re OK, whichever.
Annie Berger
Thanks for noticing the pause in my posting, Phil. On day 4 of our 7-week trip to Central America back in late September, I slipped on some mud while walking in a national park in northern Guatemala and broke my left femur. Was operated on that night and then airlifted home four days later where I was hospitalized for 2 weeks due to medical complications. Lots of issues since including a stress fracture of the left tibia as of last week. All due to very weak bones from osteoporosis even though I’ve been on meds for nearly 30 years.
Not sure when we’ll back on the road so living vicariously through yours and others posts in the interim!
You and Michaela might be interested in reading a CNN article written about us that was published the day before the fall. Just Google ‘CNN travel Berger’ and you can read about our very unusual Chance Encounter!
Phil & Michaela
Oh my God, Annie. You know, I had a haunting feeling that something bad had happened and was hesitant about asking how you were. Wow you’ve been through some drama. We both hope you’re on the road to recovery but sounds like you’ve already been on a long journey in that direction anyway. Best wishes to you both. Will definitely dig out and read the CNN article later today. Take care xx
Phil & Michaela
I just read your CNN article in full and out loud to Michaela. We’re both a bit speechless and more than a bit emotional. You two have a wonderful story which is so well worth telling. Hope you’re back on the mend soon.