161. Ocho Rios

On a beach in Mo’ Bay

I had to wait until Monday to leave Montego Bay to avoid customs weekend overtime fees. Actually customs were a real pain – even though I arrived on Friday at 2pm and had finished with immigration by 2.30, I didn’t finish with them until 3.20. So they charged me a $68 overtime fee because I cleared in after 3pm.

A diving pelican hits the water, Mo’ Bay

I left early morning and sailed round to Discovery Bay, the first stop on my way to Port Antonio. Early on my engine broke down. I hate working on the engine under sail, and I wasn’t able to fix it, but at least I found the problem – air in the fuel line. It soon became a very difficult sail; there was strong wind and big waves and it wasn’t long before more things started to break under the heavy pounding. I lost the wind vane from the top of my mast. Then I missed Disco Bay before dark, so rather than enter a new harbour and try to anchor in the dark without an engine, I hove to and grabbed a couple of hours sleep. Then I decided to carry on through the night. Eventually I made it to St. Ann’s Bay the next morning.

Sunset in St. Ann’s Bay

St. Ann’s Bay was miserable; the channel marker buoys were all missing. I had to surf in between waves breaking on reef, quickly drop anchor and lower sail before hitting the beach – it’s a very small bay, very exposed, and very rolly. There wasn’t anything on shore, apart from Jamaica’s loudest sound system that went off all night. Just as it finished at dawn, I pulled up anchor and motored through the channel, with my hopefully repaired engine, before the wind and waves picked up.

Ocho Rios

Out in the open ocean, the wind was even stronger, the waves even bigger. I decided to give up on Oracabessa and sail to Ocho Rios, the next harbor along the coast. The cruising guide, which recommended St. Ann’s, had not recommended Ochi – too touristy, but it’s lovely. A very sheltered bay, a beautiful beach and lots of shops and restaurants. I will rest here for a few days.