Our Great Adventure : A Jamaican Patty Tour of Kingston

Devon House, Kingston

After a year of sailing in South- and Central-American waters putting our feet on Jamaican soil felt like being back in the Caribbean. People were laid back and friendly, the food had spice, and the music had that familiar calypso beat. Better yet, checking in was easy and inexpensive. We anchored near the Royal Jamaican Yacht Club and used their dock to get to shore along with two German boats. Side note: RJYC is busier than ever with Jamaican sport-fish boats and as a result they don’t have much space for visitors. So you either anchor or tie up to the fuel dock and have boats that need fuel tie up to you!

Drinks at RJYC

RJYC is actually on the other side of Kingston Harbour near Port Royal. Port Royal was a Spanish/British stronghold back in the day and also welcomed all the famous pirates: Captain Morgan, Blackbeard, Charles Vane, and Black Jack Rackham (all accurately portrayed in the drama series Black Sails which we had just finished watching). Port Royal was totalled in an earthquake in 1692.

Delicious Jamaican Meal at the Beach House

But exploration of Kingston would have to wait we were off to the north coast of Jamaica to meet up with my friend Tracy and her family and pick up my mum who was finally able to join us in Jamaica!

Tracy had rented a beach house near Falmouth but as they had a car they were able to meet us in “Ochi”, Ocho Rios. It was convenient, being close to the “Blue Hole” with a river and waterfall. As it was raining, and would continue to rain non-stop for the next three days, the highlight of this stop was the fresh and delicious Jamaican patties we ate in the car. The beach house was lovely, but with the rain we were inside a lot, certainly taking advantage of the unlimited hot shower. It allowed us to see what the north coast waters looked like in a cold front - not pretty. It was a nice place for my mum to join as after an epic day of travelling she was dead on her feet.

Devon House in Kingston

After a wonderful visit we returned to Kingston and set about exploring the area. Kingston certainly has a bad reputation as being violent and unsafe. Perhaps this still holds in some of the areas within the city but I can say that where we went it certainly wasn’t the scary place it’s made out to be and Kingstonians welcomed us with a Good Morning and a big smile. We checked out Devon House, Hope Gardens, and took a route taxi up to a coffee plantation in the Blue Mountains for a tour and some of the smoothest coffee we’ve ever tasted. And of course we had to try patties all around the city to find a better patty than we had near the Blue Hole - we could not, although Devon House came close!