I woke up refreshed and ready to learn more about Jamaica. I leaned over and kissed my still sleeping wife on the forehead which put a smile on her face. She opened her eyes and told me that a guide that worked with Peter was coming by to take us to Port Royal later this morning. His name was Hunter Wint and she got to know him last night while sitting around the fire. She said she liked his enthusiasm.
We took the time to pack a couple of day packs and organized the tent before heading out to the yard. Peter was already in the kitchen and the “one dollar each” cups of coffee were ready along with some callaloo and johnny cakes. I normally don’t like greens like spinach but this callaloo was delicious especially when I made little breakfast sandwiches using the johnny cakes.
Hunter arrived as if on cue, so I singled him out in conversation to know him better before heading out. My wife was correct. He was enthusiastic as well as smart. I liked him immediately. We agreed on a price of $25 for a day trip and we would pay all expenses. Peter was on his way to town, so we piled in his 4-wheel Land Cruiser and headed down to the bus yard at Half Way Tree.
The city bus was crowded with people going to work but we got a seat thanks to a couple who gave us theirs while Hunter stood next to us. We got off at the ferry terminal and bought $1 tickets for the ride over to Port Royal that would be leaving soon. Hunter took us over to the seawall to sit and gave us a short history lesson about Port Royal and places we would visit. Hunter asked if we wanted to go swimming at his favorite place, Lime Cay. He said he needed to hire a boat for the round trip, and it would cost $10 plus a little tip. We quickly agreed. The ferry gave a signal to board.
Once we got off the ferry, Hunter took us over to the fisherman’s boats on the beach where he arranged for the trip to Lime Key we would take after touring Port Royal. Over the next hour or so, we toured the old Fort Charles and museum as well as Giddy House and shared a drink with our boat captain and Hunter at the Y-Knot before heading down to the beach to shove off for Lime Cay.
The old wooden boat reeked heavily of dead fish, but I just guess that just indicated he was a good fisherman and capable of getting us there and back from Lime Cay. We cut our way out of Kingston Harbor but our destination wasn’t visible as the boat pounded the wave tops and the outboard motor changing pitch as it alternated between being under and on top of the water. About 30 minutes later, a small island appeared in the distance. Lime Cay.
We got off the boat and Hunter stopped me from paying the boat captain. “You don’t pay until he comes back to pick us up”, he said. “That way you pretty much know he will be back”. I smiled. I am getting hang of the Jamaica ting. We put our stuff on an old concrete table topped by a weather-worn thatch covering that had seen better days. No real shade here anywhere as we watched the boat fade into the Kingston skyline. My wife and Hunter sprinted to the water and dove in. I followed close behind. We swam and bobbed in the water playfully splashing each other. Actually, they were mainly splashing me! I was wondering if I were losing my wife to this “Hunter”!
Hunter waded back out of the water and returned with three sets of snorkel masks and tubes he borrowed from Peter. We adjusted them and began to snorkel. Wow! This is why people came out here. They came to snorkel. The fish were colorful and big. Although there was a small reef around the island, it quickly dropped off to a hundred feet or more in depth. A large fish, I think a shark of some kind, swam directly below me which caused me to doggy-paddle my way to shallower water.
In the later afternoon, I kept searching the skyline for our returning boat captain dreading he would not, and we would be stranded here all night or even longer. “Here he comes!”, I heard Hunter yell and felt much better knowing that. We retraced our route back to Port Royal where I paid our boat captain with a little tip that he showed appreciation for by giving us cold Red Stripes.
We took the ferry, a city bus, and a taxi back to Peter’s place just as the sun was setting. We ate some cut up fruit grown mainly in the yard for a dinner. James Dennis was sitting on his usual log seat and I wanted to give both him and Hunter a little something, so I went to the tent. We had started this trip in Reno Nevada, and I had 52 silver dollars I won in a small bag. I took out ten of them and gave five each to Hunter and James. A small token but they seemed to really appreciate it. We hugged and shook hands all around and retired to the tent for the night.
Tomorrow we would be on our way to another new adventure.