from March 2005
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features_insidersjamaica.html
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Insider's Jamaica
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3. Visit the ruins of New Seville (Sevilla Nueva)
"Founded in 1509 as the first Spanish capital of Jamaica, New Seville was one of the earliest European settlements in the New World," says local historian Ainsley Henriques. "This is where Columbus's son Diego lived. With its excavated artifacts from the original colony, New Seville is one of our nation's most significant historical sites—and one of the most exciting places in Jamaica. Our island has never been known for its history and the role it has played in the world, but New Seville could help change that." (Seville Heritage Park is eight miles west of Ocho Rios, on the Ocho Rios-Montego Bay Rd., just west of St. Ann's Bay; +1 876 972 9407.)
4. Take the literary high roadAttend the Calabash Literary Festival, an annual springtime event, in Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth parish (the Jamaican equivalent of province). "Calabash is a very important event for Jamaican arts and letters," says Jamaican actor Charles Hyatt. "We've been selling ourselves short for quite a long time, as if the only thing of merit that we produced in Jamaica—apart from rum—is Bob Marley and reggae music. But we have a wealth of literary artists too, especially poets of high caliber. And we haven't really 'packaged' this talent—until now, with the Calabash Festival."
5. Make Marley pilgrimages
Visit Trench Town Culture Yard (+1 876 960 6160), the recently restored tenement block (and would-be museum) in Kingston where Bob Marley got his musical education, his street smarts, and fell in love for the first time. "The Culture Yard," says Kingston architect Chris Stone, "is where Bob Marley lived after he moved out from his mother's place on Second Street—and where 'No Woman, No Cry' was written. The dwellings were built to provide housing for World War II veterans and also to accommodate people migrating from the rural country to urban Kingston. From the government yards were born the musical forms of rock steady and reggae." The Marley Museum (55 Hope Rd., Kingston; +1 876 927 9152) is packed with photos, memorabilia, and writings. Fans also can be found at Marley's birthplace, Nine Mile.
6. Walk the Maroon Trail over the Blue Mountains between Portland and St. Thomas parishes.
"It's the historic trail used by freed slaves and Maroons—former slaves of the Spanish, who were treated more like servants than chattel. The trail provided passage, by foot and donkey, for produce grown in the upper Rio Grande Valley to markets on the southern plains," says Ainsley Henriques, who helped promote recent restoration efforts here. The trail runs from Bowden Pen (at the southernmost end of the valley that can be reached by car) through Cunha Cunha Pass to the Maroon village of Hayfield on the southern slopes of the Blue Mountains, about four miles north of Bath. "Total distance," says Henriques, "is about six miles, through ecologically diverse wilderness rarely trekked by Jamaicans, let alone foreign visitors." For more information: Heritage Tours.
7. Find the island's wild side
"I've become very fond of St. Elizabeth," says movie director Perry Henzell, referring to the largely wild parish on the island's southwest shore. "YS Falls is nicer than Dunn's River, not because it's more spectacular, but because it isn't as crowded and there's more of a feeling of being in the jungle. The Black River Morass is one of the last great refuges of Jamaican wildlife. You can explore it by boat—there's a good chance you'll see crocodiles. And I like walking the trails around Newcastle, Strawberry Hill, and Hardwar Gap. I have a small farm at the base of the Blue Mountains, on the northern side, but even on this plot of land is a 50-foot waterfall. There are lots of unknown, magical places like that in Jamaica."
8. Go get splashed
Jamaica's rainy—and thus lushly forested—northeast coast has two famous waterfalls, both rarely crowded with visitors: Somerset Falls and Reich Falls. "Somerset Falls is a lot taller than Reich Falls," says local rancher Patrice Flynn, widow of Errol Flynn. "You can stand right underneath the falls and try to keep your balance as all of that water tumbles down on you. It's quite a sensation."
9. Spend the day on a petite Caribbean island
You'll find the perfect one south of Kingston. "I love going out to Lime Cay," says cookbook writer Virginia Burke, "except on a Sunday afternoon, when half of Kingston is out there too. But Lime Cay is practically deserted during weekdays. You'll see a few locals taking the day off. Go out to Port Royal and rent a boat for the 20-minute ride. When the boatman drops you off on Lime Cay, be sure to tell him exactly what time you want him to come back for you."
10. Catch (and release) the big one
"The channel between Jamaica and Cuba is the area for deep-sea fishing," says music producer and fisherman Jon Baker. "You can fish for wahoo and tuna, but Atlantic blue marlin is the prize catch." Marlin, which start their annual migration in the Canary Islands, are most abundant around Jamaica September through November. The Port Antonio Marlin Tournament (+1 876 927 0145), an annual event held in September or October, lures anglers from well beyond the island.
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