Wonderful Day Off

We had a wonderful day yesterday exploring more of Jamaica! A group of about 30 of us from the ship's company set off for a trip to Fort Antonio, Jamaica. Our first stop was the Blue Lagoon, which is among the greatest natural attractions of Jamaica. The Blue Lagoon is constantly changing colors from azure blue to deep emerald, to sapphire and turquoise. It was originally called “The Blue Hole.” The area was made famous by several movies, particularly Brooke Shields' movie "Blue Lagoon" and hence the site was re-named from "The Blue Hole" to “The Blue Lagoon." The Blue Lagoon is a water hole fed by underground fresh water springs and connected to the Caribbean Sea. Initially thought of as a bottomless hole, it gave rise to fables and fantasies (there is said to be a dragon at the bottom!). However, exploration has confirmed its depth to be 200 feet, which renders its fabulous colors. When we arrived a little before noon, the lagoon was a beautiful turquoise color. The top layer of the water is fresh water and the bottom part is salt water, so the top layer is very cold (by your shoulders and arms) and the bottom is very warm (by your legs). It definitely was an interesting experience!

The second stop on our tour was Frenchman's Cove. The cove was a beautiful beach area, also famous for many movies: Club Paradise (with Robin Williams), Treasure Island (with Charlton Heston), and The Mighty Quinn (with Denzel Washington). We had a wonderful time enjoying the water and waves!

The last stop on our outing was the home of Jamaican jerk seasoning! Our van pulled into an area with about 10+ vendors trying to direct us to their jerk stand. What an experience! If you're not familiar with jerk, it's a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meats are dry-rubbed or marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk seasoning is traditionally applied to pork and chicken. Jerk seasoning principally relies upon two items: allspice (called "pimento" in Jamaica) and Scotch bonnet peppers (among the hottest peppers on the Scoville scale). Other ingredients include cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme, and garlic. Man oh man, is it ever HOT and DELICIOUS!! We loved every minute of it.

We are so thankful for this opportunity to see more of the beautiful island of Jamaica! What a day!