Posted on behalf of Miki Barzam on “Two Oceans”

Negril Bay – technical support could be available at the water-sport center of the resort on the beach. Ask for the hourly rate beforehand and haggle if necessary. An electrician named Santos did a good job making one good alternator out of two bad ones.

Yes it’s misleading, having looked at Frank Virgintino’s guide it clearly states in one place that Port Kaiser should be avoided except in an emergency (as it’s a commercial port), and then in another section on approaches to Jamaica does indicate that clearance can be made at Port Kaiser.

This is a mis-print and the new edition of the guide currently being worked on will be amended accordingly. So – in short – Port Kaiser is not a clearance port and not a port for cruising yachts. Frank Virgintino apologises for any confusion that might have been caused.

Posted on behalf of Andreas and Cordula Raimund of SY Aphrodite (Germany):

After three years we visited Jamaica for the second time. We enjoyed the Montego Bay Yacht Club and also especially Port Antonio. Anchorages are never crowded, people are extremely friendly and we felt never unsafe.

But the best is the countryside and the Blue Mountains. We drove with our guide (David Rhoden tel. +1 876 385-1305) to the Blue Mountains for several days. David showed us the country, nature and the mountains.

We will surely come back. Thanks, David.

Additional information provided by Elessar
We cleared in Bowden Harbour, no problem. There we have said, next harbour is Jamaican Royal Yacht Club in Kingston. We arrived in normal time, they had got the paper “Bowden Harbour – JRYC” also in normal time.
But on Saturday morning they came, give us the paper for next harbour and took the money. It was about 7.30a.m., but we asked not for coming so early. All of us had been still sleeping!

Posted on behalf of Steve Gould, who writes:

I have a report on the danger of sailing along the Jamaican coast at night time. I filed an “Official Complaint” with the Jamaican Coast Guard after their attempted boarding of my vessel. Their vessel was an “open fisherman” which was sitting and waiting with no lights until within 200 yards of us.

The only light they displayed throughout the episode was a bow light they turned on after charging at our vessel. They had no radio, no visible markings, barked for me to “stop your vessel” and then barked “we are boarding your vessel” repeatedly.

They made many attempts to board over the period of one hour and were only held back by my clear intention to repulse them with a machete. It is clear the Coast Guard is a danger to cruisers. The manager of the Errol Flynn Marina told me he had a similar encounter.