celticgods: Port Antonio, Jamaica

celticgods: Port Antonio, Jamaica: PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA - ONE OF A KIND Where else in one place does one find the intermingling of the histories of such dispara...

Port Antonio, Jamaica

PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA - ONE OF A KIND

Where else in one place does one find the intermingling of the histories of such disparate groups as the Tainos,  the Maroons, the Spanish/French/British, American business and leisure, the birthplace of Caribbean tourism, the start of the international banana industry, plus the rich and famous of the entire 20^th Century?

Why, Port Antonio Jamaica, of course!

The town of Port Antonio is situated in the northeast corner of the island of Jamaica. It sits on beautiful twin harbours, guarded to the south by the majestic high ridge of the Blue Mountains and the entire area east and west of the town is dotted by coves and beaches carved out of the primordial rock by the eternal caresses (or bashing) of the waves from the Caribbean. Lush foliage fed by its numerous emerald mountain rivers and streams and plentiful rainfall make Port Antonio and its environs the place you always dreamed about in the Caribbean.

Jamaica’s original inhabitants the Tainos lived here and traces of their ancient civilization have been found in the caves of the limestone hills and along the plentiful waterways.  

Columbus found Jamaica on his second voyage to the Americas and the Spanish named the port “Puerto Anton”   after the son of an aristocrat. The Spanish did little else in the area.

Jamaica was taken by the British in 1655 and they retained the town’s name and made it the capital of the parish of Portland so-named for the Duke of Portland, a favourite of the king. Captain Morgan during his tenure as governor used the hills around Port Antonio for look-out posts due to it's strategic location on the passageway between Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica  that scanned the sea for the approaches of Spanish or French invaders. The British developed agriculture mainly sugar, coffee, cocoa, coconuts, annotto and cattle ranches. Fort George on the Titchfield peninsula and Navy Island across the inlet dividing the 2 harbours was the base for the Royal Navy and the fort was manned right up to the 1960’s.

In the early days of British occupation Port Antonio and in fact all of the eastern end of Jamaica, were under threat of attack from within by the Maroons. The Maroons (from the Spanish “cimarron”, for “wild”) were released Spanish slaves later joined by slaves that escaped their British masters and formed communities in the high Blue Mountains and were clever and fierce opponents, eventually forcing the British to sign a peace treaty and designate them as a separate nation within the colony, free from further molestation.  It was the Maroons that developed the technique of cooking and preserving meat by cooking feral pigs using low smoke (to escape detection by the British) on barbecues made from pimento  (allspice) wood which we now know as Jerk. A yearly festival commemorates this uniquely Jamaican cuisine phenomenon in Boston east of Port Antonio.

Americans began arriving after Captain Lorenzo Dow Baker made his first visit to the island in 1871 looking to fill his empty freighter in order to make his return trip to the US profitable. Baker found bananas, and was soon back as were others as the “yellow gold” boom began bringing exotic tropical fruits in quantity to US markets for the first time and making Port Antonio the wealthiest town in Jamaica after Kingston. Dow’s Boston Fruit Company eventually had 40  banana plantations and this was the beginning of one part of what became the United Fruit Company that grew bananas all over the West Indies,  Central and South America which became known as Chiquita years later.

So, how did tourism come to begin at Port Antonio? Simple, the fruit steamers also had staterooms for passengers and the steamship lines supplemented their earnings by advertising for holiday makers to enjoy the salubrious climate of Jamaica, “Island in the Sun”.

Soon the grand Titchfield Hotel was build on a bluff overlooking the harbour, the town and up to the highest peaks in Jamaica. This brought the new Hollywood royalty of silent films, Broadway and the West End. Wealthy and famous people from the arts, business and sciences began to arrive and some built homes, such as the daughter of Louis Comfort Tiffany. The world’s newspapers followed their exploits and travels so that these style-maker’s holidays in the tropics began to be lusted after by the wider public.

Fast forward past both World Wars and two similar visitors from vastly different parts of the British Empire turned up, Ian Fleming and more important for Port Antonio, Errol Flynn. Flynn sailed into Port Antonio after being shipwrecked in Kingston and stayed off and on for 20 years. He became part of the local scene and brought his pals from all over the globe co-opting the banana rafts for their Rio Grande river excursion picnics and giving an iconic activity to the visitors of the area which continues to this day.

In the late 50’s Frenchman’s Cove resort was built on a coastal plain east and an iconic beach east of Port Antonio which drew several dynasties of European royalty, stars of stage and screen, business tycoons, artists, musicians etc, in other words the jet-set had discovered Port Antonio. Some people returned year after year and began to build vacation homes in the hills and coves around Frenchman’s Cove, named San San, Alligator Head or the Blue Hole.

Today the town is being renewed, infrastructure being renovated, Trident Hotel and Castle has been re-imagined and the long promised investment in Port Antonio appears to be close to reality, keep your fingers crossed!

Port Antonio has retained much of its original charm, and we urge those who are curious to enjoy a real Jamaican Caribbean experience, so, come catch Portie fever.

celticgods: Wedding and almost Funeral

celticgods: Wedding and almost Funeral: Frank, we'll go to the Plaza Diner, OK? Yeah that's cool. The traffic heading back to NJ was moderate and as we crossed the Geor...

Wedding and almost Funeral

"Frank, we'll go to the Plaza Diner, OK?"
"Yeah that's cool."

The traffic heading back to NJ was moderate and as we crossed the George Washington Bridge we had discussed where to eat and the Plaza Diner in Fort Lee New Jersey provided a convenient and acceptable place.
We had just played a gig, well a wedding anyway, but it paid the requisite 75 bucks per man and as the groom was a friend of the band we broke our "no wedding" rule and played the wedding. The reception was up in Co-Op City held in one of that development's communal catering rooms and was an example of New York City's rainbow diversity - The groom was Puerto Rican  his wife was from the D.R. and their friends were African American, Blancos, Chinese, Jews you name it.

One of the friends of the couple, a white chap with a corduroy sport coat, had brought his guitar and we were asked to let him perform one song for the newlyweds. Our leader the rhythm-guitarist Don (yes, both guitar players in the band were named Don...) assented and after our first break the friend was introduced. We set him up with a mike and backed him as he did his song and received polite applause from the assembly of family & friends when he was done.
We then started up our next number and low-and-behold the family friend with guitar and the leather elbow patches stayed put and gave no indication he was ever leaving. We left him through our first scheduled song of the set out of politeness and when he stuck firm into the second one, ignoring all whispered suggestions/pleas/orders from my band mates to take himself away, I took it upon myself (as I was closest to him) to place my foot firmly upon his arse and thereby shove him (mind you my hands never left my Stratocaster) out of the way. He then seemed to have gotten the message, and no one in the party seemed put out, plus I provided the others in the band with a good chuckle for later as we were packing up the equipment to leave.
Oh yes that occasion was noteworthy for one other thing, my first ever singing performance in public. The Rolling Stones had a hit song "Miss You" at the time and we had rehearsed it musically but somehow without any input from me it was decided the "white boy guitar player" would sing it at the next gig. Never been so frightened in my life, and Jagger has nowt to fear from me, though I got respectful applause at the end.

Frank (our saxophonist and a recent graduate of MIT was the offspring of a brilliant, serious and accomplished Puerto Rican father and a no-less-serious ex-Hitler Youth  mother "Frahnck, Frahnck!"), aimed his 8 year-old blue 1969 Mercedes Benz 250 to the right, properly indicated our exit from the GWB and we swung onto Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee and headed southward for the Plaza.

Frank turned into the entrance and as the small parking area in the front was full he continued down the narrow driveway (clearly marked "Entrance" and "One Way" in our favour) on the right side of the diner for the larger lot at the back. Just as we entered the one-way a Buick came at us, ignoring all rules and posted signs pulled right up to Frank's front bumper, blowing his horn.
At this point, I am sizing up the two large round fellows (deffo NOT coppers) in the car opposite and keeping in mind we are currently in Fort Lee the capitol of New Jersey Mob-dom, I felt the steam from Frank's ever-more-crimson right ear hits the side of my face, he lowers the window and shouts:
 "Can't you fucking morons read, I have the right of way!".  This was a bad move.

At this juncture (as Bush Sr.) would say, the two men in the Buick fly out of their respective sides and hasten towards us, heretofore swarthy complexions now white with rage. It was right about this moment I spotted the pistol in the shoulder holster under the left arm of the passenger's sportcoat as he exited the vehicle.This the chap who is in the process of grabbing Frank's neck through the car window and backhanding his face while promising a virtual Dante's Inferno as retribution for our "transgression" and lack of respect.
So, from the moment I spied the gun in the chap's sweaty armpit I calmly composed my new mantra and upon completion I chanted it loudly both at Frank & the driver (who thankfully was a lot calmer than his companion) of the other car as he approached my side.
The mantra has 2 parts and went a little sumpin' sumpin' like this:

"Frank back the fuck up he's got a gun! We are VERY sorry, sir!"
"Frank back the fuck up he's got a gun! We are VERY sorry, sir!"
"Frank back the fuck up he's got a gun! We are VERY sorry, sir!"
The slap to his face brought Frank to his senses and accepting my mantra as his own, he found reverse gear like Parnelli Jones and launched us out of the way and into the boulevard where we exited the scene, post haste as they used to say, our appetites banished for that evening.

celticgods: Things I like about where I live...#1

celticgods: Things I like about where I live...#1: One thing I really like is being able to see quite a long ways out to sea and eastward down the coast of Jamaica from our house in P...

Things I like about where I live...#1

One thing I really like is being able to see quite a long ways out to sea and eastward down the coast of Jamaica from our house in Port Antonio, so that rain never really sneaks up on us if we are awake.
I can hear the rain whapping on the lush plentiful trees and vegetation for several minutes before ever feeling or seeing a drop here, the crescendo building slowly, slowly, across the hills and up to the roof, till it reaches a low drumming and then tapers off, bit by bit, sometimes edging up again and other times just petering out as the squall moves on its way.
At times the sunlight never even dims as huge raindrops pelt down, shining like silver tracer bullets as they plummet headlong into the earth.

Night storms in the summer here often come to us southwards across the sea from Cuba to our north and it is possible to see lightning bolts detonating in different areas across a 20 mile front, illuminating the sea minutely to a translucent turquoise blue for a split fraction of a second.

Antoinette and I will sit on our back veranda and watch these natural wonders as the front draws ever closer pushed by tropical winds and temperature variations, enjoying nature's fireworks show as they fire centre, left-right-right again and then left and repeated until the rain and thunder gusts leave the sea and rush up our hill from the bay below and pelt us with big, cool drops, driving us back indoors to our bed, safely returned to sleep by the drumming on the roof above our heads quite like the corrugated aluminum roof on our family's backyard porch or the 100-plus car freight trains of my youth which rattled nearby my parents' house, their iron wheels beating a soothing rhythm that lulled me to sleep many a night.

celticgods: Stand Down Permanently Margaret

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