16.-18.04. - Port Antonio, Jamaica

Our journey from Kingston to Port Antonio with the Knutsford Express was relatively uneventful. Along the way, we learned where to transfer buses and even reached our destination relatively on time. The coaches are relatively comfortable and, as is customary in warm countries, cooled to temperatures below 20°C. However, some of the coaches do not have a toilet on board, so it's better to go beforehand. Our accommodation in Port Antonio is quite nice, we share a large kitchen with another guest and have our own bedroom and bathroom. There is hot water, but no way to regulate the temperature. This means that hot water is so hot that you cannot shower with it. But as mentioned before, cold water is completely sufficient. The Jamaican internet connection is not only very slow but also quite unstable, which naturally makes searching for activities in the region much more difficult.

In the morning of April 17th, we explored the area around our accommodation and the local market. The town is quite lively with its 15,000 inhabitants, and there's always a lot going on, especially during the day. Around noon, we had to return to the accommodation to clarify something with Thomas, our next 'employer'. But everything is relaxed, it will work out.

In the afternoon, we took one of the mentioned route taxis and were taken for about 150 J$ (0.90 €) to a supposed dive center, where there is actually none. The dive center only exists online and the dives are only conducted from where we were. Afterwards, we wanted to continue to Winnifred Beach, a dream beach straight out of a picture book. Unfortunately, all the route taxis were full and none could take us. Finally, an American woman with her Jamaican colleague named Roper stopped next to us and they took us to the 12 km away beach for free. We even got mangoes harvested directly from the tree. Super cool. The advantage of Winnifred Beach is that it is mainly used by locals and therefore not overcrowded. Initially, we were the only ones on this beach besides a few locals. The water was crystal clear, you could see underwater without a diving mask, and you just had to be careful not to step on one of the many sea urchins when entering. But it's fine.

On our way back, we caught another route taxi, which was driven by Robert Reliable according to the business card. 'Reliable' is English and means 'reliable'. Whether that was his real last name? Robert Reliable is a typical Rastaman who, judging by his eyes and language, has already smoked a joint or two before driving us. He drove very relaxed, didn't cause any accidents, and had an answer to every question we had (at least if he hadn't forgotten the question immediately after it was asked). For dinner, we had fast food in the midst of about 2,000 mosquitoes, which strangely enough preferred us over our food. Annoying creatures.

For April 18th, we had booked a rafting tour on the nearby Rio Grande. This was recommended to us by Leslie, our Airbnb host, as it is supposed to be very beautiful. Leslie knows the locals and promised us that we would get the tour much cheaper than if we booked it ourselves. We trusted him and let him book the tour. After researching on the internet, it is indeed true that the tour was much cheaper than if we had booked it ourselves (we paid a little more than half of the regular price). However, we stopped in between to eat something (which Leslie ordered for us without asking), costing 6,000 J$ (36 €), and there were also transportation costs to and from the tour (24 €), which no one mentioned in advance. All in all, a pretty shady move by Leslie and we will only book tours ourselves in the future.

Tomorrow we are going to the Reach Falls, for which we have already been offered tours from several sources. Roper (mentioned above) told us that it is best to drive there by route taxi (1 hour and 15 minutes) and do the rest with a local on site. So that's probably how we'll do it, as it has always worked best so far.