Jamaica was our first port of call. The morning was extraordinarily windy and it took a couple of extra hours to get into port. The captain ended up docking the ship in an irregular slip that is usually used as a cargo berth. Disembarkation madness ensued as a city’s worth of people all wanted off the boat at the same time.
We were greeted by happy local musicians and guided into a warehouse where the crowd was divided into our different excursions for the day. Our group split up, but we headed the same direction out of the port and saw much of the same scenery: burned out sugar cane fields, school children in uniform, cement block houses, two guys on stilts (totally normal for a weekday morning!), beautiful beaches, and the purple high school attended by Usain Bolt.
Cori, Ray, Sandy and I toured the Good Hope Plantation. Though Good Hope was originally built by Colonel Thomas Williams in 1774, a majority of the plantation’s more significant history occurs under John Tharpe’s ownership. He is famous for his more compassionate treatment of the 3,000 slaves who lived at Good Hope. He built schools and a hospital for them. The great house still stands. Many of the other structures are partly in ruins if not completely leveled, but a few have been repurposed. The old hospital has been converted to an aviary, and the trading house has been restored and is now used for rum sampling.
We were driven around the plantation and shown many of the out buildings as well as some of the old aquifers along the river. Then, we were taken up the hill to the great house. The property offers amazing views of the surrounding Cockpit Mountains.
The great house contains a lot of original woodwork as well as the final resting place of Elizabeth Williams. She was the young bride of Colonel John who tragically succumbed to malaria at the age of 25 after just a short while at Good Hope.
The interior of the house stands true to its colonial roots, even down to the sunlight peeking through the roof shingles. Our guide, Robin, was animated and informative. We had a laugh when he described the priceless, antique, one-of-a-kind nature of an arm chair and then insisted that someone sit in it. You know, to see how comfortable it is.
We also saw the solid lead bathtub Tharpe was prescribed by his doctor to aid with his arthritic pain. Robin speculates that his daily bathes gave him lead poisoning and contributed to his death. The great house is set up with a fancy spot for afternoon tea as well as a honey moon house. It is the stuff of Carribean dreams.
Before heading back to the ship, we stopped in at the potter's shop and lunched on jerk chicken and mango smoothies.
Meanwhile, Cory and Brittany were taken further up the Martha Brea River. They were paired up with a navigator who floated them down the river on a bamboo raft which he had crafted by hand. Cory and Brit took turns guiding the raft. And Brittany jumped right into the river. Once off the side of the raft and then again off a rope swing.
Though we were on different busses, we were taken to the same shopping plaza. And though we were there at different times we managed to get some pictures in the same places!
Getting back to the ship took a little extra time that night as they had to bus us around to the cargo bay. But what a sunset!
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