Port Antonio

Two hours drive from Kingston, is Port Antonio in Portland Parish.  Famously, once a haunt of swashbuckling Errol Flynn, it’s a small town with pirate and colonial origins.  Also, once being a banana exporting town it inspired Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat song.

The moment we arrived in Port Antonio, we instantly noticed a crowd assembling in the town square, and a procession about to start.  Remembering that it was National Heroes’ Day in Jamaica, it occurred to me that this procession was for that.

A celebration of the seven national heroes of Jamaica.  It so happened that our timing was perfect for this fantastic exhibition of music and dance as the marching band and dancers came through the town.

After the parade, we walked around to Errol Flynn Marina (yes, they named a marina after our Errol) which was very peaceful.  Kind of mix of marina and resort.

 

Frenchman’s Cove Beach

Afterwards, it was back in the car to head towards Frenchman’s Cove Beach, an idyllic little horse-shoe shaped cove where the sand was white and the water crystal clear.  We relaxed on the beach, went swimming and some of us played on a tree swing in the jungle behind the beach over a small estuary.

 

Boston – The Home of Jerk

For lunch, we went to Boston, the home of Jerk.  This place was amazing.  Seemingly a very low key village, it is nationally famous for being the centre of the best in the national cuisine.  The locals were cooking all kinds of jerk on an open charcoal bbq.  It was hot and spicy, served with plantains, cassava and breadfruit.

We ate while a group of men played a very competitive game of dominos.  The juicy jerk was necessarily accompanied by a few Red Stripe beers.

After lunch, a dip in the Blue Lagoon was required.  No Brooke Shields in sight, just a cute kid who wanted me to swim with me to the other side of the lagoon.

We finished the day off with a stop at the fishing club in Portland to check out the spoils of the Blue Marlin Tournament.  Plenty of fish were caught.  Some of reasonable sizes.  Some big Jamaican politicians but no marlin.