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South CoastThe Quiet Side of JamaicaBy Toni Dabbs"It's a good drive from Kingston to Treasure Beach," said Steve Atkinson, our driver, as we left the airport and headed for Jamaica's unspoiled South Coast. Four hours later, I still wasn't sure if by "good drive" he meant a long drive or a pleasant one. We wound through the lush green Milk River area past roadside stands selling tropical fruits and honey. At the town of Porus, we saw a different kind of highway commerce, as young boys went car-to-car at traffic lights selling boxes of donuts and bottles of juice. Skirting the city of Mandeville, we glimpsed large homes on treed lots and small cottages with gingerbread decoration. We switch backed over the Don Figuerero Mountains, passing through a gray haze of pollution from the local aluminum processing plant.
The massive walled all-inclusive resorts so popular in Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril have not yet taken over the South Coast. Compared to them, the Treasure Beach Hotel is small and somewhat rustic, but it is well suited to its setting and has an authentic Jamaican charm.
Living tunnels seem to be a feature of the South Coast, with Bamboo Avenue perhaps the best known. Although Mangrove Avenue occurred naturally, Bamboo Avenue was planted by the owners of Holland Estate a century ago. Photographers love the green archway, which stretches for several miles along Highway A2 between Middle Quarters and Lacovia. The term highway is used a little loosely in Jamaica. The roads often are only two lanes wide and pocked with pot holes. But Steve did his best to smooth out the bumps as he steered us along another canopied road en route to Ys Falls.
Ys Falls are possibly more beautiful and certainly less crowded than the well known Dunn's River Falls outside Ocho Rios. Seven curtains of cascading water descend 120 feet, separated by pools perfect for swimming. From a well manicured picnic area at the base, a narrow staircase climbs one of the limestone cliffs that flank the falls. A natural border of tall trees sets the place apart from the rest of the world.
We couldn't leave the area without stopping at Lover's Leap, the highest point on the South Coast. Standing on a platform at the rear of the visitors' center, 1,700 feet above the coastline, we watched birds soar by at eye level and admired the panoramic view, stretching from Portland Point in the east to Savanna-La-Mar in the west.
"Mizzy and Tunkey were slaves at a nearby plantation in the 1800s," she explained. "They were in love, but their master wanted Mizzy to be his mistress, so he decided to sell Tunkey. When the couple found out, rather than be separated, they held hands and jumped from this cliff to their deaths."
IF YOU GOTreasure Beach Hotel: Thirty-six spacious air-conditioned units with phones and TVs. Restaurant, bar and conference facilities on site. Sabal palm trees tower above landscaped grounds. Phone 800-742-4276 or 876-965-0110, fax 876-965-2544, e-mail treasurebhotel@cwjamaica.com, web site www.treasurebeachjamaica.com. Irie Safari: Cruises depart from the town of Black River between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Packages including Ys falls are available. Phone 876-965-2466. Ys Falls: Located on Highway B6, three and a half miles north of Highway A2. The turnoff is one mile east of Middle Quarters. Phone 876-997-6055. Lover's Leap: Situated east of Treasure Beach. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call for directions. Phone 876-965-6634. Jake's: Treasure Beach restaurant specializing in spicy Jamaican cuisine. Dine indoors or on the seaside patio. Accommodations also available. Phone 876-965-0635, fax 876-965-0552, e-mail jakes@cwjamaica.com, web site www.jakeshotel.com. Appleton Rum Estate: Blending rums since 1749. The factory, located on a 4,000-acre sugar cane plantation, features tours Monday through Saturday that explain fermentation and distillation. Phone 876-963-9215, fax 876-963-9218, e-mail appleton@infochan.com, web site www.appletonrum.com. FOR MORE INFORMATIONJamaica Tourist Board Photos by Toni Dabbs Copyright 2003 by Toni Dabbs. This work, including photographs, is protected by copyright and may be used only for personal non-commercial purposes. All other rights are reserved, and commercial use is prohibited without permission of the author. |
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Arriving at last at the
Treasure Beach Hotel, I decided the drive had been worth it. The reception
lobby and dining terrace sat on a ridge overlooking two swimming pools
surrounded by dense garden, with pathways leading to clusters of guest units
at various levels down the hillside. Units at the bottom sat beside a beach,
with the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea lapping at its edge.
Our first morning on the South Coast, we cruised along
the Black River through the Great Morass in search if crocodiles. Vincent
Lyn, a guide with Irie Safari who had a 100-watt smile, didn't disappoint
us. He not only showed us some of the 400 crocodiles that inhabit the
18,000-acre wetland, he also identified snowy egrets and little green back
herons, blue marine crabs and mangrove tree crabs, and other swamp
creatures.
Vincent was a font of information about the history of
the Black River area and the ecology of the Great Morass. The river, he told
us, gets its color and hence its name from the peat that forms the riverbed.
As we drifted along Mangrove Avenue, a narrow part of the river enclosed by
the trees' aerial roots, he pointed out the "Rasta Mangrove," a 200-year-old
tree with dreadlock-like roots the begin 30 feet above the water's
surface.
We parked next to a small complex that includes the
falls' headquarters, gift shop, bar and thatched restaurant. There, we
boarded a tractor-towed jitney that took us through the adjacent 2,000-acre
cattle ranch and papaya plantation to the privately owned falls.
At one of the upper pools,
several of the more daring in our group played Tarzan. Under the tutelage of
Ys employees, the brave souls grasped and wound their legs around a knotted
rope suspended from an overhanging branch. When the employees released the
rope, my friends swung over the pool and dropped into the water. Like other
visitors taking the plunge, they came up giggling like kids.
Guide Brenda Adams took us
to a small museum on the lower level of the center, where historic photos
and artifacts from local plantations are displayed. Then she called our
attention to a small memorial at the top of the cliff dedicated to "Mizzy"
and "Tunkey," the lovers for whom the place is named.
Although visitors to other parts of Jamaica sometimes
take a daytrip to the South Coast, the region has enough things to do (water
sports, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, etc.) to make it
a destination unto itself. It's also blessed with an atmosphere conducive to
doing nothing at all, which may be the reason why it's sometimes called the
quiet side of Jamaica.