We had a perfect sail to the west coast of Jamaica, flat seas with 15-20 knots of breeze from behind. As we rounded the corner of Bloody Bay, we partly furled our genoa and powered into the bay. The first thing we noticed was clear water…the second was that there was very little surge. This is a perfect place to relax and spend the next few days. Bloody Bay has a long history. It is fabled to be where they captured the pirate Jack Rackham (Calico Jack) in 1720. The bay was later named Bloody Bay as whalers used to anchor here to clean their catch and so much whale blood was spilled that the water turned red. In more recent times it was frequented by “flower children”, looking for that perfect Zen. Before long it got the reputation as a holiday destination and now the shore is lined with all-inclusive resorts. Not that we minded, we were just happy to find a calm anchorage.

Kim's Big Moon Photo

Bloody Bay

We spend five relatively peaceful nights at Bloody Bay. We were coming to terms with the music that was a constant until 2am in the morning…regardless of the bay…there is always music (seems very much part of their culture). The locals that worked on day tripper boats and water sports where great. Always going out of their way to say hello and providing a spot for us to tie up our dingy. We would walk the beach each morning saying hello to the local craft shop owners and watch the tourists basking in the sun. One morning during our walk we got invited to visit the newest resort for lunch. The only drawback was that we had to listen to their spiel about buying hotel points. Seemed like a small price to pay for an all you can eat resort buffet lunch. We took Ian and Ann along and enjoyed a very nice lunch with wine. The talk was painless as our hostess was keen to get home to her family. We were even given a small gift of Jamaica products including a bottle of rum, a rum cake, jerk spices and sauces. They also offered a free night accommodation that we kindly declined as did not want to leave Aura on her own.

Long Beach (Negrill)

We said goodbye to Travis, Mary and Mary Helen on Seahorse who headed to the Caymans. We met up with a Kiwi family on a motor yacht called Aqua Lobo who we enjoyed a fun evening with on their boat. We were starting to get low on provisions so decided to head around the corner to Long Bay and anchor closer to Negril Town. Long Bay was pretty cool with small pensions (accommodation) and bars lining the beach. This beach is a lot more laid back and not as upmarket as Bloody Bay.

We wanted to keep moving so we motored 27nm to Bluefields Bay. We are now in a wind shadow which means light breeze right on our nose. It is nice to finally be away from the touristy areas and back to the real Jamaica. Bluefield’s Bay is another protected anchorage with high mountains on one side of the bay. It was once known to be a pirate haven but today it is a small fishing village. We went for a walk and had to be careful to stay off the road as big lorries would come past taking up most of the road. Simon found a place to fill our gas bottle. He asked around to buy some fresh fish but it must not have been a good day as there was not much on offer. We visited the Bluefields beach and enjoyed a swim. On the way back, the Torquedo died (Ian and Ann’s electric motor) so we had to get back to the boats using one paddle. It was hard going with the wind and current against us but we made it using Ian’s thongs (flip flop) as extra paddles. After that effort, we all agreed that we deserved a drink…maybe more than one. It might have had something to do with me falling in to the water as I was casting off the dingy. I am now the latest winner of the Ken Robertson swimming award :-)

Bluefields Bay & Beach

We had planned to leave Bluefields Bay the following day but as we really liked the bay we decided to stay longer. Today’s new plan was a dingy trip a mile or so along the coast to another beach for lunch in search of some fresh seafood. As is often the case, the sea gods provided and the seafood literally came to us. I was standing out the back watching a couple of local guys swimming about 200m away. I kept a good eye on then in case they were in trouble as they were out in the middle of nowhere. Before long they started heading towards our boat. I yelled out to Si who was below that we had a couple of swimmers on there was over. He asked me if he needed to put his pants on which I responded, “yes!”. Two guys crawled onto the back of our boat with a line full of small fish, squid and lobster. They had been collecting their catch for 5 hours…not a bad effort. Simon went and collected Ian and Ann and negotiated a price for four lobster (we’d call them crays). The guys kindly killed and cleaned them for us…ready to throw on the BBQ. I quickly whipped up a potato salad, Ian made coleslaw, Simon and Ann went to shore to buy a few cold Red Stripe beers. A perfect lunch! The skies darkened and the heavens opened. As we were not keen to head back to Aura in the rain, we decided to play a few rounds of Mexican Train. It’s still warm, the anchorage is protected, what a perfect Friday afternoon.