It has been wet again. Did manage to go to the store this morning without getting wet. Went to the supermarket and stocked up on pasta, rice, cereal and canned foods. This should be enough for a few weeks. That way I will only have to do minor grocery shopping in the other Jamaican ports I am going to visit.
Cleared with customs this afternoon, with the intention to leave tomorrow morning (9 o’clock I told them). I am missing my Cuba Guarda Frontera buddies, they would do all the writing for you, they knew their paper work. Here in Jamaica the official will hand you the papers and says: fill this in. Normally with duplicate.
But there are always questions that are ambiguous: is my next port the port I am going to tomorrow afternoon? or my last port in Jamaica? or my next foreign port? Depending on the form, it can be any of the three.
Well, at least I don’t carry guns (like some boats). Then you are really up for some paperwork. And at least my crew list is nice and short.
Tanked some diesel today, I am expecting quite some motoring in the coming days, here in the marina it has been incredible calm.
The next stop will be Discovery Bay, and from there on to Ocho Rios. These are supposed to be nice places with beautiful anchorages, on the way to Port Antonio, which will be my last Jamaican port. From there it should be a long leg south, aiming for Aruba, even if I might not quite make it (into the trade winds). More about that later.
This week has probably been the most laid back in a long time. Did groceries in the morning, and in the afternoons I was just hanging around in the Yacht Club, sipping on Red Stripe’s (the local beer). I would go to the boat before dark and cook a meal, after supper I would come back to the Yacht Club for another drink and socialize or even watch some NBA basketball.
Jamaica does not have daylight savings time, which means it has the same time as Lafayette, even though it is way further east. Sun comes up at 5:30 in the morning. And I don’t have curtains on the boat, so the past few mornings I have been up at 6 without any effort.