Spotlight: Sunny Jamaica

By Tim Johnson

Home to both Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, this end of the island brings together the very best of Jamaica, including culinary and natural attractions.

OCHO RIOS, JAMAICA

HALF MOON BAY

Set on a verdant stretch of coastline in St. James Parish, the white porticos and columns and cottages of Half Moon Bay have long been a Jamaican landmark. Opened by 17 different investors back in 1954, it retains a vintage feel, one honoured by a series of black-and-white photos in the main building of the resort, a Who’s Who of that golden age.

Since then, pop and rock royalty have rented out their villas (everyone from David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Sting), and 18 holes of golf designed by Robert Trent Jones have been built.

Both the spa and the flagship restaurant, set beside an old sugar mill, use local ingredients, including many grown on site. It’s all now being renewed with a USD $75-million renovation, which will include new restaurants, great house and dozens of modern rooms.

HALF MOON BAY

Half Moon Bay is part of Ensemble’s Hotel and Resort Collection and includes the following EXCLUSIVE OFFER:

• Buffet breakfast for two daily (rooms & suites)

• $50USD breakfast credit per day (villa guests)

• Round-trip airport transfers via airconditioned bus for stays of three nights or more

GO FOR THE FOOD

Perhaps the island’s best-known delicacy, jerk chicken is best enjoyed outside, in the sultry subtropical air. It’s delicious, and Scotchies, with locations in both Ocho Rios and Montego Bay (plus a third over in Kingston) is the best place to try it.

With massive slabs of chicken and pork sizzling over dogwood logs harvested from the nearby forest and lightly spiced with their signature scotch bonnet marinade, the kick will have you reaching for a Red Stripe in the open-air dining room.

JERK CHICKEN - ROUND HILL ©JAMAICA

MYSTIC MOUNTAIN

As the ageless 1993 comedy Cool Runnings reminded us, Jamaica has a bobsled team. Made famous during the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary, the ride can be replicated (sort of) from the peak of Mystic Mountain. Swoop to the top on a chairlift that skims over the thick rainforest canopy and take in the views from the peak, which sweep all the way back to Montego Bay.

Take a few minutes to tour through a small museum up there with items from the actual bobsled team and other Jamaican sports heroes, like Usain Bolt and Donovan Bailey. Then climb into your sled, painted in the colours of that original bobsled team, and descend a gravity-driven track, banking on the corners then opening it up for maximum speed, 1,000 metres to the bottom.

MYSTIC MOUNTAIN

©TIM JOHNSON

SUN AND SAND

With more vast stretches of coral reefs, even a short boat ride from shore will take you into a world where the subaquatic rainbow swirl of fish contrasts with the emerald and azure of the reefs and water.

And the ride there is half the fun – in some cases, especially near Montego Bay, you’ll motor past old, colourful fishing villages, still busy with men and women bringing in deep-water catches of snapper and parrotfish, and a visit to Doctor’s Cave Beach will take you to a place so good, it was once recommended as a medical treatment. Sun and sand – just what the doctor ordered.