Lime Cay
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 04/Jul/2010 23:47, 34 days ago
The weather forecast for today was thunder showers so we decided to go to Lime Cay with umbrellas and didn't bother to take along our towels and bathing suits. First of all we should have learned by now not to consult the weather forecast in Jamaica and even if it looks like rain at home, we should know that the weather won't be the same down the street. To make a long story short, we didn't need our umbrellas and we came home rosy red from too much sun.We arrived at Morgan's Harbour completely unprepared but it was a wonderful adventure. While waiting for the fishing boat to take us to Lime Cay we couldn't help but see the contrasts that make up Jamaica.The fisherman above paddled past the boat from Key Largo below on what looks like a home made raft while we waited on the dock for our boat.This wharf in Port Royal is a popular spot. The picture above was taken on our way out to Lime Cay and below is the same wharf on our return trip. The white tour boat's gone but the children are swimming in the water and looking like they're having a lot of fun.The building below is the old naval hospital and archaeological museum. It was originally a hospital when the British occupied Fort Charles.Below are more fishing boats in Port Royal.Below is of course Lime Cay our tiny destination surrounded by luxury yachts. You can walk around Lime Cay in ten minutes.So walk around it we did! Well, we attempted. We didn't make it all the way around because we didn't have bathing suits because we thought it was going to rain and we didn't have beach shoes because we lent them to Audrey and Azziz for Dunn's River Falls and there was a lot of garbage washed up on the beach on the far side which we didn't want to trudge through in our bare feet.That's our boat arriving to take a group of passengers home. They also brought ice and food out to the boats docked off shore throughout the course of the day. We're not sure how out of country registered boats know who to phone to get ice delivered but they seem to know. Maybe they hear others ordering ice on their radios.Here we are, on an island completely surrounded by white sandy beach on a sunny Sunday and we are armed with umbrellas. Oh, and that bottle of beer was my lunch. George only drank water but I need 3 meals a day with protein at every meal. Beer has protein doesn't it? There is no food or drinks on Lime Cay, you have to bring your own or have it delivered by boat!There were lots of luxury party boats tied up off shore. The one above had about 20 people on board, a jet ski and a little rubber dinghy. They stayed the afternoon and left shortly before us. I guess they went back to Kingston for the evening.As you can see, boats came here from far away to moor off Lime Cay. The one on the left is from the Grand Bahamas and there were two from Delaware.When the Sir Henry Morgan came into shore I noticed she came in too fast so the deck hands had a great deal of difficulty pushing her back out. Three others had to come and give them a hand before she budged.After exploring the island we found a shady spot next to the ocean and lay down and day dreamed the afternoon away. Not only did we not bring food, we didn't bring books! Next time we'll be much better prepared.Back at Morgan's Harbour, our starting point.We had a lovely day, albeit expensive. Lime Cay is obviously the Sunday retreat for wealthy Jamaicans. We chatted on the beach with a man cleaning garbage off the beach who said he'd been doing it for 11 years now because he loved Jamaica. He told us that a few years ago there would have been 200 people on Lime Cay on a Sunday afternoon. There certainly weren't even half that today. Perhaps the price is a factor but we both vowed to return. I said I want to go back for my birthday...that's in February. I can plan ahead for the fun things; it's the routine stuff like taking along food and water I have difficulty with.