We continue to hang on our mooring at the sandspit, while we have gone on a few explorations. The first trip we arranged was a one day-really half a day- trip to the Rio Grande River. The crews from Windsong, Tregoning and Sea Star were intrigued by the Pavlitis guidebook suggesting that many visitors to Jamaica follow in the footsteps of Errol Flynn, who used to bring his ladies to the river and using a pole and a 30 foot long, flat bamboo raft, traverse the 8 ½ miles from Barrydale to St. Margaret’s Bay while leisurely floating on the raft. The Rio Grande is fresh water, relatively shallow at the banks and doesn’t have many rapids, we were told and so we could stop the tour and swim along the way in clear, fresh water while gazing up the steep banks and cliffs to watch for birds and see the jungle-like scenery.
Our trip began after a few days of trying to see how we could limit the cost for this amusement. We found, well, I guess Reebo found us- an honest river guide who provided the taxi to and from the Rio and the two rafts needed for the five of us to do the trip. We left the marina at noon and were on the water after a fast and curvy ride by taxi to Barrydale, a settlement about eight miles up the Rio Grande. The five of us were jammed into the small wagon-four in the back and the two in the front, and Rebo jammed into the luggage compartment!
At arrival, a few local men approached us to purchase some Red Stripe beer, the common beer of Jamaica and we were glad to buy one for each of us and one for our two river men, Rebo and another very knowledgeable river guide for Dan and my raft. Our chosen day was hot and sunny by the time we arrived at the river. It had rained in the morning, so we were a bit worried about our day, but with the exception of a five minute shower the weather cooperated. We loaded on into the bamboo seats, Dan and I on one raft and Allison, Randall and Jamie on the other. The seat was built with a back for comfort and a raised platform that kept our backpacks up off the raft and our seats dry underway.
The men pushed off and we began our journey! We looked at fabulous scenery; ivies, vines, canopied trees growing flame-red flowers, bamboo, rocks of awesome dimensions and finally the two close rocks called Lover’s Lane featured in the articles about Errol Flynn’s rafting trips. Along the way we leisurely lounged and studied the river birds such as egrets, herons and kingbirds. After about three miles, Reebo turned in behind the shelter of two large rocks and the five of us had a blast jumping into the 60 foot deep emerald pool, then climbing up the rocks to jump again, and again while the rafters rested and ate their box lunch.
Soon we moved on downstream with Reebo and the other man trying to outshine each other in poling prowess and showmanship. Reebo won, hands down. He poled and sang reggae songs, songs he made up about the river and politics, and displayed incredible agility and balance by dancing from one foot to the other. The men worked hard to get us downriver! They were in good physical shape and had to be to control the raft at all times. We stopped for a second rest stop and exploration and continued on. We came to a place where a pile of bamboo was pushed up against some rocks looking like a huge pick- up-stick game. A few days previous to our trip, one of the other Rivermen had lost control of his raft and crashed there. We heard of other tourists whose Rivermen accidently dumped them and their gear into the water! We had no mishaps and our trip went off without a hitch. Yes, the rafting is a tourist trap and maybe Errol Flynn was first to do it, maybe not, but we had a great time rafting the Rio Grande in Jamaica and recommend our licensed river rafting guide, Reebo, who is available in the late afternoons at Errol Flynn Marina.
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| Jamaica +raft on line |
TRAVEL INTO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS- MOUNT EDGE BIRDING
The next off-the-boat travel into the Blue Mountains our three boats did together, too. When sailing in toward Port Antonio, I explained how beautiful the mountains appeared to us. There are the Blue Mountains, that peak at 7200 feet and the smaller Jim Crow Mountains that are near enough to Port Antonio near the eastern part of Jamaica to visit. Alison and Randall are knowledgeable in botany and enjoy bird watching as we on Sea Star do, and with Jamie we arranged to rent a van, not an easy task as there is one rental car agency in Port Antonio. We reserved accommodations at a guest house by the name of Mount Edge whose internet site sounded great, and headed off into the Blue Mountains for a few days.
Well, not quite so fast. Roads in Jamaica are constantly being washed out as a result of the torrential rains. We had been duly warned about road condition and learned the truth of the admonition that it can be best to rent a car and driver, instead of renting a car. We spoke with the owner of the rental cars, showed him on a map where we would go and he felt that we did not need a 4-wheel drive or anything more than the van. We decided that in order to use the car for the time in the mountains, we would be best to rent. The road we were to take had been under construction for quite some time, so we had to plan to drive into the Capital city, Kingston, and double back up the mountains on another road. Jamaica is a British country and the driving is on the left, with the steering wheel on the right of the car. We were lucky that Allison just happened to have grown up driving in England and she drove out of Port Antonio and began the climb toward Kingston, where Dan took over. We were traveling along nicely, bouncing through the pot holes and slamming on the brakes as needed to allow the faster taxies to pass, as needed enjoying the scenery and passing through small villages, people walking the paved road with goats, dogs, etc. We came around one of the many sightless bends … and saw an animal stretched out in the center of the narrow road. To avoid what might have been a live dog in the road, Dan came close to the rock overhang and into a pot hole where we heard a bang, then a thump. When the guys got out to look, they discovered that we had blown a tire. They then retrieved the spare from under the car; the spare was useless.
From Port Antonio, Jamaica - May 7, 2009
So- what to do next became the issue. Dan had pulled way over, far enough around the bend where we didn’t think we would be hit. Our luck and the caring of Jamaicans had us back on the road with a “new” tire, and a fixed spare in 45 minutes. To make this happen, the three young men who stopped left their buddy on the road with us, drove Randall and Jamie and the two tires to their friend’s tire place in a near town called Castleton where they woke up the proprietor and he did the work. The men returned the guys and the tires, changed the tire and we were off again! Amazing- in 45 minutes and $65.00- $40 for the tires and $25 for ride and tip. We were thrilled to get going again so soon.
Allison took over driving and we bounced along through Kingston where we stopped for snacks we had been missing like chocolate, cashews, and Pringles, bought a sought after birdbook, then continued bouncing up the mountains to around 3000 feet, arriving at Mount Edge around 12:00PM.
Our first impressions were of the incredible beauty that surrounded the guest house! The majesty of the Blue Mountains made the guest house which is also the home of the proprietor, Michael Fox, seem small, but he had plenty of rooms for us and two more couples that were staying there. From the balcony of the main house where we spent many hours of gazing time, the vista was non-ending through valleys and ravines filled with greenery twittering with the endemic bird species we had come trying to see.
We unloaded our gear into our rooms. In our small and modest room, Dan and I had a double bed, a private bath and a mahogany armoire. The highly polished marble looking floors were clean. I noted a black sleeping bag/comforter folded on the side and realized that we were to have cool, comfortable nights when compared to Port Antonio’s sweltering heat.
Everyone was excited to begin exploration and we had been told that the guest house served breakfast and dinner only, so we decided to find a recommended place called “The Gap”.
Allison brought us around narrow, curving roads, blasting the horn as required to allow oncoming traffic to know of our presence and we wound our way further up the mountain, through the army camp and up to a wonderful restaurant. We wondered how it could make a go of it in such an out of the way place! Not only was the food very special; pumpkin-chicken soup, curried goat and chicken dishes, but from their balcony in the midst of fabulous tended flowers and shrubs, hung a hummingbird feeder where we easily watched the otherwise elusive Jamaican National bird, the “Doctor Bird”, a blue iridescent feathered Red- billed -Streamertail with a tail about a foot long, feeding with more species of hummingbirds.
Later we arrived back at Mount Edge for rest and then dinner. We met Malva, the cook and all around kitchen person, and later Carla and her two handsome boys. All of them strove to answer our questions and make us feel at home as we gathered at the large dining table, family style and tasty, plentiful food.
We hiked, we ambled along roads Michael pointed out on our map, leading to private estates or coffee plantations, always going higher and higher into the mountains, Allison daring to drive where roads were undercut by water and ravines, where two cars could not pass and small tour busses appeared around the curve frequently. The temperature up in those cloud forests was comfortable even for the daytime hikes. Allison and Jamie, the more adventurous two, went with the two boys, Johnathan and Nicholus on an exciting river walk down a steep ravine and back up again and out a road culvert. The boys never even had any shoes on.
We had just the kind of trip we envisioned and after two nights and three days away we arrived back at our boats. Here is a recalled list of species seen in various places in Jamaica- mostly in the mountains.
Ring-tailed Pigeon
Jamaican Crow
White chinned Thrush
Jamaican Owl
Jamaican Stripe-headed Tanager
Red-billed Streamertail
Yellow-shouldered Grassquit
Orangequit
Jamaican Tody
Jamaican Mango
Jamaican Vireo
Jamaican Oriole
Redstart
Red-shouldered Hawk Kestral
Sad Flycatcher
Jamaican Woodpecker
Turkey Vultures
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Great Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Tri-colored Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Loggerhead King Bird
Vervian Hummingbird
And many more birds that eluded our sight for identification.
Check out Kathy's photos. A lot are through the car window, sorry.
Some are from Alison and Randall
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| Mount Edge on line |
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