When the possibility of staying in a small apartment overlooking Montego Bay
arose earlier this year it seemed like the ideal opportunity to satisfy my main
criteria for a holiday -
1. time to chill out, and
2. some warm water diving.
For
chilling out you couldn't choose anywhere better than the Anchorage
Villa. It's a small, privately owned and run villa, 1500 feet up in the
mountains above Montego Bay, where it has stunning views overlooking the entire
Bay and a sizeable piece of the island's natural forest. Vultures (known as
John Crows locally) and Red-tailed hawks soar above; American Kestrel, Merlin
and Hobby all fly in the valley below; and there are host of smaller birds including
colourful Banana Quits and Hummingbirds about. Hundreds of butterflies flit
among the foliage and it is hard to see one the same twice. Tropical flowers
and fruits abound. I spent hours sunning on the deck, reading a book and taking
in the surroundings. When it gets too hot you can either retreat to the cool
of the house or jump in the pool. As well as the outside pool there was an indoor
pool to cool off in.
The house itself has the odd surprise - it was built by Polish artist and ex merchant fleet master, Michael Lester (Leszezinsky) and has a gallery of his work on display. Some of the pieces feature places that look remarkably familiar, but that's not so surprising when you find out that he mastered a ship called the Garlandstone for some years around the western parts of the British Isles. Janis Rankin, who runs the house now, is also a well known artist and you can see some of her work in the more out of the way parts of the house.
One thing you must be prepared for when visiting Jamaica is the culture shock. Jamaicans are extremely friendly! Many of them are also expert salespersons - I could say that they love to haggle, but there is more to it than that. In the markets and in some of the smaller shops be prepared to negotiate for what you want and to say "No" as politely as you can for what you don't want. I'm told that being able to speak a little Polish at the right moment can be a useful skill when escaping the higglers.
What
was the diving like? Well, probably the best advice I can give is don't go during
the hurricane season! The first week that I was there the diving was washed
out by tropical storm Isadore, which went on to become Hurricane Isadore over
Cuba and the southern USA. When I did get to go diving I got the distinct impression
that we were not being taken to the best of sites, just the easiest to get to.
That said it was very relaxing to be in clear warm waters. The water was warm,
28°C at @20 metres, and warmer than that at the surface. There were plenty
of fish to see, together with some good coral formations and interesting sponges.
The divers I was with were all experienced and good on air so that the dive
wasn't prematurely ended because of one diver sucking down a full tank significantly
faster than everyone else. On my second dive I found that it was possible to
take a Fuji one-trip waterproof camera down to 15 metres and still get pictures
from it!- I can't recommend their quality though.
After diving I elected to try out the snorkelling on the coast and this was actually much more fun. Janis knew where there was a gap to get through the fringing reef and we spent the next three mornings exploring the outer reef, which was fun for Janis as well as me, because she seldom gets the opportunity to do so with a buddy - beyond the reef the water is deep and conditions were changeable so it's not for the inexperienced. On the third day we went out with Janis' neighbour, Susan Clare, another artist who, until she started a family, had been heavily involved in running one of the main Jamaican dive centres. I quizzed her about the best ones and she told me that the market is now dominated by the all-inclusive resorts. There are very few independent operators. She didn't believe that the domination of the all-inclusives gave the same choice and quality as once existed. If you're going on a dive holiday definitely bring everything except tanks and weights.
Anyway no such problems with the snorkelling - hundreds of different species of fish on the fringing reef and quite a few in the shallow lagoon between the reef and the shore. The lagoon inside the reef was a good spot for hunting conch, which is a local delicacy; we hunted them out of interest rather than hunger and none of those we found would have been big enough to eat. I'm not sure I could have eaten one either after having a good look at them - if you turn them upside down two big eyes stare straight back at you. They look like something out of Monsters Inc.! The lagoon would be a good spot for younger snorkellers to hone their skills, the water was noticeably more buoyant (presumably the heat draws off more evaporation and increases the relative salt content) and as well as the conch there were plenty of fish to see including some big puffer fish and several species of butterfly fish. The water was so warm we actually stayed in for 2 hours on one day without wet-suits and without feeling any chilling at all. Après snorkel consisted of ice-cold water and warm Jamaican patties (a bit like cornish pasties but spicier), followed by a refreshing swim in the pool.
What is there to do other than chilling out, diving and snorkelling? Well
here's a couple of activities I would recommend -
1. Climb the Dunn's
River Falls - I know everyone does it but that's because it's so good! If
you can't do this one there's another called Ty Falls just across the Island
that may be a little more challenging. The local expert advice is to go up barefoot
so you can feel if the rock is slippery or not.
2. A night boat trip on Glistening
Waters (just East of Falmouth) is an absolute must. It's a fantastic demonstration
of bio-luminescence that is just so fantastic it's impossible to describe in
any way that would do it justice; it blew our minds!
Links:-
Anchorage villa
and links to information on Michael Lester
Southwest
Maritime History re The
Garlandstone
Dunn's River
Falls
Glistening
Waters