2014 Jamaica


Leaving Cuba is not a great event because the Authorities are there for you.  All you have to do is settle the marina bill, get your permission to leave - no stamp in pasport then use up all your CUC and pesos, in my case purchasing the last bottles of Havana Club rum and beer.  Then cast off and out we went past the headlands and headed south.  This is always and easy ride is either from the west or from the east.  In our case it switched from west to east but at a nice 10 knots.
At noon it became obvious that the fridge was not freezing so we changed plan and headed for Jamaica - Port Antonio.  The approach is fairly easy because there is a lighthouse on the Easter headland then the channel turn to Starboard and one travels south of Navy Island  towards Errol Flynn Marina.  Called then on the radio and yes they have a berth so we pulled in and tied up.  There at the end of the wharf was the American trawler Argo.
Fixed the frifge the next day with the help of a great fellow who said I had over gassed the compressor when I filled it so all he did was let some gas out. Simple.  We met a number of fellow cruisers and had a great day travelling in a hire car up to the Coffee plantations and into the mountains over looking the town of Kingston.  We had no real intention of going into the town but we got lost and landed up on the outskirts on a narrow road.  A car passed up and the wing mirrors touched.  Nothing wrong with our but the other fellow chose to follow us into town, hooting and being quite aggressive.  After a while we pulled over and he stormed over demanding we give him money for the damage or come to the police station.  Our British driver Steve just looked at him and told him in quite a polite way to drive off at which point we did eventually loosing him in the very heavy traffic.  It was then a case of how to get home to Port Antonio.  After what seemed hours we eventually arrived back at the marina.  Long day.
The crew had decided the day before to leave Malua.  I did not see her for the next two days as she again went off on her own chasing something.  She returned as usuall just in time to board before we left for Panama.

Port Antonio Jamaica wiki link

Here are some photos of our stay in Jamaica

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