It was an emotional experience flying 1,500 feet over Mona, Jamaica, with my wife Sherene.
We saw the Mona campus of the UWI and the recognised Daisy Avenue where our love story started 40 years ago.
Cupid certainly struck an arrow at two medical students who were studying and ultimately found romance.
We saw the roads, which as students, we would have used robots (small overcrowded, often derelict taxi vans) to traverse to Half-Way Tree and Liguanea.
Now in a private Cessna U206, I asked the pilot to fly us over the same area.
How times have changed, from students with menial lifestyles, bumping over potholed streets, to flying in the sky above Kingston, holding hands and reminiscing.
Our bodies are now older, slower, and weaker, but our love for each other is stronger.
We got this opportunity to escape Trinidad to attend the birthday of our dear friend Claus Cronberger.
His wife Sharda planned his 60th, two-day, birthday bash at Geejam resort in Port Antonio, Portland, inviting 75 of his closest friends and family who came from all corners of the globe.
Portland is a three-hour drive from the Norman Manley International Airport through rough meandering roads guaranteed to give many motion sicknesses. We chose a 20-minute plane flight.
Times have also changed for Portland, a once bustling town now reduced to a sleepy fishing port.
In 1871, American Lorenzo Dow Baker started a lucrative banana export trade, leading to Port Antonio’s ‘Golden Age’, where on loading day some planters rolled cigars with money bills.
Regrettably, a plant disease crippled the banana industry which never recaptured its former prosperity, nor has Portland.
Portland was the hub of tourism. A playground for royalty and the rich and famous.
Actor Erol Flynn made this his home. A mariner is named after him. He died before his plans to develop the area could materialise.
In 1956, Canadian billionaire Garfield Weston attempted to develop the town, he created the world’s second all-inclusive resort at Frenchman’s Cove. Brewery owner Harland Molson, creator of the Molson beer, and Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan bought the land.
All failed to regain this town’s prestige. The glamour and glitz has all but gone.
An air bridge that existed between Norman Manley International Airport and Ken Jones Aerodrome was discontinued. This and the poor road conditions resulted in less tourism.
The town has lovely Spanish and British architecture amidst dilapidated buildings, the result of a poor economy and the ravages of time.
Jamaica’s government prioritised the development of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Negril and neglected Jamaica’s first tourist town.
Thankfully in T&T, the Government’s expansion of the highway to Manzanilla will alleviate the challenging drive to our east coast to the benefit of its residents.
The tropical rain forest of the Blue Mountain creates many rivers entering the Caribbean Sea. The picturesque natural habitats have attracted many film producers.
The Blue Lagoon featured in the Brooke Shields movie has its water magically changing from turquoise to a deeper royal blue depending upon the way the sun shines upon the surface. The water alternates between warm sea water and fresh cold water from springs.
The Frenchman’s Cove beach, (rated by Forbes in 2020 as one of the top beaches) is a small hidden treasure. Lord of the Flies and Knight and Day were filmed here.
The James Bond movie, No Time to Die was filmed in Portland. Actor Daniel Craig often patronised Piggy’s Jerk Centre (seen in the movie), but the best jerk is at the Boston Jerk Centre, the birthplace of jerk.
Craig also patronised the Jus Booze pub, where I ordered the Bond Vespers martini, shaken and not stirred.
A local prompted me to try Wray and Nephew white rum chased with Jamaican Colbeck Ginger wine, which woke up my acid reflux.
Some patrons still voiced that the CIA killed Bob Marley via an infected needle placed in his soccer boot. Marley’s death may be in vain if we do not educate people about melanoma and Marley’s first doctor’s misdiagnosis. A black discolouration under a nail may not be a result of trauma.
Craig stayed at a $6,000 US per night villa, one of the two villas offered by Jamaica’s Geejam Resort, which also has a 12-room hotel with four private cabins.
It features a recording studio where Snoop Dog, Jay Z, Beyoncé, Drake, John Legend and many others have recorded.
One of the resort’s co-owners, Steve Beaver, fascinated guests with his knowledge of music.
Portland, the parish with the lowest crime rate, offers untouched beauty, a few high-end hotels and villas catering to a select elite crowd, and most of all, people who are genuine, helpful, and kind.