part of a “luxury resort,” one tends not to go into town or out to the wonderful local sites. We were very fortunate to have our own driver and car, which made getting around, stopping briefly, and changing plans far easier and far more flexible.
Our driver escorted us to: Fern Gully, a lush gorge (now a roadway and a national park) that zigzags uphill through a 3-mile canyon of a now-defunct river that is lined with hundreds of magnificent fern species; Coyaba River Garden, an unbelievable botanical garden featuring trails and wooden walkways that pass by peacocks and numerous streams and pools filled with carp and turtles ["coyaba” being the native Arawak’s word for “heaven” or “paradise” (are those the same thing?); the Wassi Art pottery studio, where we watched workers making and decorating beautiful pottery; a well-needed shopping excursion to downtown’s Island Village shopping center; a tour of the Reggae Xplosion, an interactive museum celebrating all types of Jamaican music, dance, film, photography, and artwork (including the adjoining installation from the National Gallery); a quick jump into a grocery store for much-desired Jamaican cooking spices; and a trip to Harmony Hall, an art gallery, craft shop, restaurant, and bar set in a stone-and-wood gingerbread house built in 1886. Whew! Where’s that beach lounge chair?
Okay, now fast-forward four weeks... I’m returning to Ocho Rios in December following a family Thanksgiving celebration. It’s not that I’m really missing my beach chair, it’s that the Jamaican Tourist Board requested that I return to duty watching out for things on the beaches of Ocho Rios. Irony, or just an opportunity to round out my article and photo ops? Who cares? No worries.
Back down the road from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. By now, I’m pointing out the interesting sites along the road to my Jamaican driver. As we travel through the heart of Ochi, I’m pleased to see Christmas decorations, Jamaican-style, adorning businesses and homes.
Closer to downtown on this trip , I’m staying at the Royal Plantation Spa & Golf Resort. Set above its own private cove, Royal Plantation is an all-suites, all-oceanview resort born out of the old Plantation Inn (featuring the beautifully stylish centerpiece Great House of that Inn with its Georgian-style, columned architecture). Here you’ll find two sparkling-white beaches, eight acres of stunning tropical gardens, a five-star French restaurant, a world-class spa, fragrantly flowered trees, and artistic swimming pools (one fresh-water) and a huge hot tub overlooking the Caribbean. This resort more than deserves its Five Star Diamond awards.
Since you stuck it out this far in my article, I’ll take you next to the best place we visited: the Firefly estate of the late Sir Noel Coward. Coward, the multi-talented English actor, playwright, songwriter, and painter, built a small cottage in 1956 high in the mountains on a plateau overlooking Port Maria Bay and Cabarita Island.
While painting from this incredible overlook, Coward spent the day at the Lookout hut, the former lookout for pirate Sir Henry Morgan (where he watched for Spanish galleons in the bay below). Struck by the beautiful surroundings, he lingered until nightfall when he witnessed the abundant fireflies (known as “peenywallies” to Jamaicans) in and around the hills. He decided to stay and here he built his own modest hut very close to Lookout and named it “Firefly.”
These days, Coward’s house is a museum, and Lookout is a gift store, bar, restaurant (one of few featuring gun slits in the walls), and Coward is buried near Captain Morgan’s Lookout hut. It is simply the most beautifully peaceful vista I’ve ever witnessed — peering down on Port Maria’s tiny fishing boats, the multi-blues of the Caribbean, and the Blue Mountains which rise in the gray distance. This is just near the northernmost point in Jamaica, and a clear day brings a view of the island of Cuba.