I Took Maryanne to the West Indies…

[Kyle]While we were trying to sleep during our last night at Salinas, Puerto Rico, two boats passed what must have been very near to us with music thumping so loud that it vibrated the walls in our berth. When I bolted out of bed to try to identify the second perpetrator, I was surprised to find that it hadn't been boats at all. The music was coming from shore on the other side of the bay, about half a mile away. The super loud/slightly less super loud nature of the music was because of the wind and occasional blockage by intervening boats as they swung on their moorings. I looked at my watch. It was 3:45am.

The music was so loud that I'm sure everyone in the entire city could hear it. In our particular quarter, it was pretty impossible to hear anything else. I once had a neighbor in an apartment building who got stoned, turned his stereo up to eleven, and then passed out. It didn't take long before half the building were outside pounding on his door and threatening to break it down if he didn't kill the stereo. The cops eventually did. He was unharmed, apart from the brain cells, but when they yanked the stereo's cord out of the wall, all that was left was a peaceful and slowly decreasing ringing in our ears.

Based upon that, I was expecting our current din to be abruptly ended within ten or fifteen minutes, but it continued until after sunrise, three hours later. I can see how it is an effective strategy for those trying to lay siege. My alarm had been set for 4:00 anyway, so I guess we're getting up.

Departing Salinas with a double rainbow over the anchorage

We had no wind whatsoever as we motored slowly out of the harbor (to protect the manatees). Out in the open Caribbean, we unfurled the spinnaker, the wind filled in, and we slowly began accelerating.

Not five minutes later, we were pulling the sail back down again as the wind was now reaching the limit for it. Well, that was a lot of work…

We switched to our genoa, which also quickly needed reducing. Eventually, the wind rose to about thirty knots, before deciding that's where it wanted to be. The waves built in tandem, and pretty soon we were getting thrown around in confused, lumpy seas.

The worse-than-forecast conditions continued for the next four days as we passed south of Hispaniola. It wasn't until we finally left the Haitian coast behind that things improved to where we could fly the spinnaker again for the ninety-mile sail across the Jamaica Channel.

Meals on a passage are (nearly) always looked forward to

I then went from wishing we could get this miserable sail finished with, to wishing it wouldn't be over quite yet now that it's pleasant again. Then the mountains of Jamaica formed out of the haze ahead and I knew the fun was going to end whether I wanted it to or not.

Jamaica comes into view

We turned into Port Antonio, on the northeast part of the island. Within minutes, the big following sea that had been pitching and rolling us around all week was left behind, along with the wind. The harbor inside was perfectly flat calm.

Folly lighthouse stands at the entrance to Port Antonio, and cruising friends from Maia are there to greet us at the dock

Our cruising friends Dick and Laura from Maia, who we had last seen very briefly over two years ago as we arrived in Mayotte and they departed, delayed their departure out of the country long enough so they could catch our lines and welcome us to the Errol Flynn Marina. By the time the Health Inspector arrived (the first of the officials), they were pulling out of their slip and turning for sea. We hope to be able to catch up properly with Maia in Panama.

The Health Inspector left, telling us we could now replace our "Q" flag with our Jamaican courtesy flag. Customs, Immigration, and possibly even the Port Police all came aboard afterwards. They were all very friendly and welcoming and seemed to take the endless form filling-out in good stride, even when we missed out a page or inadvertently ticked the wrong box, requiring a do-over.

Officialdom was soon completed - despite the HUGE amount of form filling

Marina Security then came by to welcome us and say that if there's anything we need, don't hesitate to ask. They all seemed especially surprised that we already owned a Jamaica courtesy flag (they normally get to sell them to arriving boaters).

So far, Jamaica is even more lush, green, and flowery than we had expected. The grounds of the Errol Flynn Marina are some of the best-kept we have ever seen, especially considering that their rates are less than a third of what it would cost to have stayed in Marina de Salinas. Oh, yes, we are very exited to get off the boat and have a look around.

Maryanne:Cruious about the title Kyle has given this blog? There is an old Joke that goes something like this.

A:"I took my wife to the West Indies for a holiday"
B:"Jamica?"
A:"No - She wanted to go".

I certainly did want to go to Jamaica and we finally made it (note that Puerto Rico is also within the West Indies, but the joke doesn't work there).

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Errol Flynn Marina location >> On google maps