Jamaica
Sarah Grace goes to sea
Chris Yerbury and Sophy White
Wed 21 Feb 2007 12:56
Jamaica, Wednesday 21st
February, 2007
We are stocking up yet
again for the final 400 mile passage to Cuba, and we are checking out today, and
leaving before dawn tomorrow. BOO HOOO HUMMPH.(says Otti!) It
has been a beautiful week here, we would certainly want to return, though it has
to be said that other cruisers say we are in one of the nicest, most friendly
parts of the island. The reputation of Jamaica amongst the rest of the
Caribbean islands is very poor, and it does have a pretty high murder rate, but
from our experience it feels as though it has been made the scapegoat. We
haven't heard a single shot since we have been here. We went
out for a meal last night, and happily strolled around town, in lit and unlit
bits, after dark, unthinkable in some of the other places we have
been. This beautiful marina, with Rolls Royce facilities and a pool,
is only half full. Hardly any yachts come here because people are too
scared.
We were on a bus to the
next bay when a boy, no more than ten, stood up, threw back his shoulders, and
launched forth into a loud rap gospel prayer. Everyone on the bus started
laughing at him, and the conductor shook him and told him to go
to church. Later on in town, he came up to us, said he
was a DJ, and wanted some money for his friend with a brain tumour. An
enterprising character.
Chris has fixed the anchor
windlass with the help of Mark from Jem, a major feat of engineering, which
involved stripping down the motor, and rebuilding the brushes.
Amazing! And it now works, which will make moving around
at anchor much easier.........
We got some very expensive
and useless canvass work done on our awnings, which I will have to totally
resew when we get back somewhere with a hot knife and a decent
machine. Jem got similarly taken for a ride by the same
'sailmaker'.
The thought of being at sea
again doesn't desperately appeal after our last passage, which as reported, was
pretty grim. Hopefully the ocean will be in a more kindly mood, and we
will take to it better!
There is a little wooden
boat, not much larger than Chris's wayfarer, tied up on the Customs dock
opposite us. It arrived from Haiti, with TWENTY
THREE people on it, on the same morning as us last week. They had
spent six days at sea, and conditions on board must have been shocking. It
is held together with baler twine and nails, and made of hand hewn planks.
The sail is patched cotton. They were all rounded up and taken into
custody, before being deported back to Haiti. The little boat will be
taken out to sea and sunk. It is a tale of courage, desperation, and
failure.
Balers and small pieces of
plastic canvas tell their tale. How did twenty three people survive on
this boat for six days, in the same seas that we suffered on our passage?
They must have baled constantly. They could not possibly have
carried enough water. We felt very sad for them when we looked at the
boat.