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Interest sparked by rare cruise ship visit to South Coast
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-large south/Central Bureau myersg@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 04, 2009
BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth - The comments were as you would expect from any cruise ship visitor after a day of travelling through the Jamaican countryside.
"It was a good trip, lovely," said Rob from Sydney, Australia as he prepared to return to the ship.
The Prince Albert II dropped anchor outside Black River on September 24, taking locals by surprise.
Jim from Texas was more forthcoming. "It was wonderful driving through the mountains, the scenery is beautiful, the land is very rugged and very steep, and we were able to see beautiful old churches and plants we don't see where I am from," said the Texan.
But the visitors weren't at the established cruise ports in Montego Bay or Ocho Rios, or for that matter, anywhere on the famously exotic north and west coasts where the bulk of Jamaica's multi-billion dollar tourist industry is focused.
They were talking to the Sunday Observer in this sleepy, south westerly town of Black River as they queued to board small inflatable ferry boats - docked at the mouth of the famous river of the town's name. The small boats would take them to their cruise ship anchored two and a half miles off the coastline.
The ship, the Prince Albert II had dropped anchor outside Black River on the morning of Thursday September 24, taking the locals by surprise. Few could remember the last time such a thing happened. Checks by the Sunday Observer suggested that the last time was probably in 1981.
As it turned out, the interest of Prince Albert II, its crew and passengers wasn't centred on Black River. Their anchoring off the coast of the St Elizabeth capital - out at sea because of the shallow draught close to shore - was purely convenience. Their focus was further west in Belmont, Bluefields and the Bluefields Mountains in eastern Westmoreland.
Close to 50 passengers from the ship travelled by coach through the hilly interior of eastern Westmoreland. They got a quick impression of old Jamaican architecture, the natural environment and local agriculture. In tourism jargon such trips are described as 'soft adventures'.
"We went along the coast to Belmont and we spent time at the fishing beach there, then we went into the hills, up into the Bluefields Mountains (2,600 feet at its highest), looking at old churches, old buildings, old great houses and interpreting the Jamaican history as we went along," explained Vaughan Turland of the Bluefields-based Reliable Adventures Jamaica.
"The aim of the bus tour was really to go to hidden Jamaica and I guarantee you if I took most Jamaicans where we went they will say, "never been there never heard of it,'" he added.
The five-year-old tour agency, Reliable Adventures, had organised the tour months ahead of time, in partnership with the North Coast-based Caribbean Cruise Shipping and Tours.
"These are people (visitors) who want to get involve in the environment, understand the environmental problems, natural history, chronological history of Jamaica, as well as seeing agriculture, they want to see how yam grows, how cassava grows. That's what they were exposed to, a real feel of rural Jamaica as you can only find in places like St Elizabeth and Westmoreland these days.," said Turland, an Englishman who is married to a native of St Elizabeth.
According to Turland, Reliable Adventures Jamaica commits itself to the ecotourism niche and targets the "high end" of the tourism market including those on the Prince Albert II, a small newly-built five-star cruise ship with a maximum passenger load of 132. The Prince Albert II which visited the Jamaican south coast for just a day after first stopping on the North Coast, routinely plies the Atlantic from the Arctic in the far north to Antarctica in the south with stops at "interesting and remote places" along the way.
Among those present, as the visitors prepared to return to their cruise ship, was Rosemarie Johnson, the Montego Bay-based regional director of the Jamaica Tourist Board.
"This is a positive for Jamaica and especially for the south coast, which offers the diversified side of the island," she told the Sunday Observer. "This cruise is very focused. They (passengers) are not your ordinary cruise passengers. These are passion travellers, their focus is soft adventure and the south coast offers that," she said.
Johnson also sought to clear the air against a backdrop of questions from locals as to why they were not told of the planned arrival of the cruise ship and why the visitors were not formally exposed to the town of Black River or to its highly acclaimed river safari.
"The town of Black River did not experience the normal land-based activities associated with a cruise ship in port, mainly because these passengers are niche passengers and their focus is soft adventure, so they selected and chose one major attraction in which to concentrate their stay on the island.," she told the Sunday Observer.
Among those displeased that the Black River community was not brought "into the loop" was the Member of Parliament for South West St Elizabeth Dr Christopher Tufton.
He told the Sunday Observer that on hearing a cruise ship was in his neck of the woods, he immediately called the hierarchy of the Tourism Ministry, only to hear that they too knew nothing about it.
"I am saying that conceptually a project such as this is a very good idea," said Tufton. "But operationally it was poorly executed because the local people should have been prepared. At the very least the community should have been allowed to extend the normal welcoming courtesies," Tufton added.
Will there be a repeat cruise ship visit to Black River and its environs? Turland who described the project as a success, sounded optimistic.
"This is the first time for a long time a ship has been here to Black River, so it's very much a matter of 'let's see how it goes'. But I think this went exceptionally well. For Black River's sake and for the sake of the south coast let's hope that it (Prince Albert II) is the first of many ships that come here.
"Bear in mind this is not your regular weekly sailing, this is very much a (niche) product aimed at a particular type of people who want to sail around various parts of the world, but this is the sort of tourism we want here (on the South Coast) in my view," said he.
Gavel Whitter of Caribbean Cruise Shipping and Tours agreed. "None would have believed that a cruise ship would really pull into Black River. We would like to do this again," he said. But claiming he had to scramble to find localised tee shirts and post cards for the visitors, Whitter argued that locations like Black River needed to be more aware of the opportunities for tourism business.
"Black River also needs to put a little bit back into their tourism here. It's not only on the Safari, on the river, it is also in town because my people wanted to shop." he said.
BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-large south/Central Bureau myersg@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, October 04, 2009
BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth - The comments were as you would expect from any cruise ship visitor after a day of travelling through the Jamaican countryside.
"It was a good trip, lovely," said Rob from Sydney, Australia as he prepared to return to the ship.
The Prince Albert II dropped anchor outside Black River on September 24, taking locals by surprise. Jim from Texas was more forthcoming. "It was wonderful driving through the mountains, the scenery is beautiful, the land is very rugged and very steep, and we were able to see beautiful old churches and plants we don't see where I am from," said the Texan.
But the visitors weren't at the established cruise ports in Montego Bay or Ocho Rios, or for that matter, anywhere on the famously exotic north and west coasts where the bulk of Jamaica's multi-billion dollar tourist industry is focused.
They were talking to the Sunday Observer in this sleepy, south westerly town of Black River as they queued to board small inflatable ferry boats - docked at the mouth of the famous river of the town's name. The small boats would take them to their cruise ship anchored two and a half miles off the coastline.
The ship, the Prince Albert II had dropped anchor outside Black River on the morning of Thursday September 24, taking the locals by surprise. Few could remember the last time such a thing happened. Checks by the Sunday Observer suggested that the last time was probably in 1981.
As it turned out, the interest of Prince Albert II, its crew and passengers wasn't centred on Black River. Their anchoring off the coast of the St Elizabeth capital - out at sea because of the shallow draught close to shore - was purely convenience. Their focus was further west in Belmont, Bluefields and the Bluefields Mountains in eastern Westmoreland.
Close to 50 passengers from the ship travelled by coach through the hilly interior of eastern Westmoreland. They got a quick impression of old Jamaican architecture, the natural environment and local agriculture. In tourism jargon such trips are described as 'soft adventures'.
"We went along the coast to Belmont and we spent time at the fishing beach there, then we went into the hills, up into the Bluefields Mountains (2,600 feet at its highest), looking at old churches, old buildings, old great houses and interpreting the Jamaican history as we went along," explained Vaughan Turland of the Bluefields-based Reliable Adventures Jamaica.
"The aim of the bus tour was really to go to hidden Jamaica and I guarantee you if I took most Jamaicans where we went they will say, "never been there never heard of it,'" he added.
The five-year-old tour agency, Reliable Adventures, had organised the tour months ahead of time, in partnership with the North Coast-based Caribbean Cruise Shipping and Tours.
"These are people (visitors) who want to get involve in the environment, understand the environmental problems, natural history, chronological history of Jamaica, as well as seeing agriculture, they want to see how yam grows, how cassava grows. That's what they were exposed to, a real feel of rural Jamaica as you can only find in places like St Elizabeth and Westmoreland these days.," said Turland, an Englishman who is married to a native of St Elizabeth.
According to Turland, Reliable Adventures Jamaica commits itself to the ecotourism niche and targets the "high end" of the tourism market including those on the Prince Albert II, a small newly-built five-star cruise ship with a maximum passenger load of 132. The Prince Albert II which visited the Jamaican south coast for just a day after first stopping on the North Coast, routinely plies the Atlantic from the Arctic in the far north to Antarctica in the south with stops at "interesting and remote places" along the way.
Among those present, as the visitors prepared to return to their cruise ship, was Rosemarie Johnson, the Montego Bay-based regional director of the Jamaica Tourist Board.
"This is a positive for Jamaica and especially for the south coast, which offers the diversified side of the island," she told the Sunday Observer. "This cruise is very focused. They (passengers) are not your ordinary cruise passengers. These are passion travellers, their focus is soft adventure and the south coast offers that," she said.
Johnson also sought to clear the air against a backdrop of questions from locals as to why they were not told of the planned arrival of the cruise ship and why the visitors were not formally exposed to the town of Black River or to its highly acclaimed river safari.
"The town of Black River did not experience the normal land-based activities associated with a cruise ship in port, mainly because these passengers are niche passengers and their focus is soft adventure, so they selected and chose one major attraction in which to concentrate their stay on the island.," she told the Sunday Observer.
Among those displeased that the Black River community was not brought "into the loop" was the Member of Parliament for South West St Elizabeth Dr Christopher Tufton.
He told the Sunday Observer that on hearing a cruise ship was in his neck of the woods, he immediately called the hierarchy of the Tourism Ministry, only to hear that they too knew nothing about it.
"I am saying that conceptually a project such as this is a very good idea," said Tufton. "But operationally it was poorly executed because the local people should have been prepared. At the very least the community should have been allowed to extend the normal welcoming courtesies," Tufton added.
Will there be a repeat cruise ship visit to Black River and its environs? Turland who described the project as a success, sounded optimistic.
"This is the first time for a long time a ship has been here to Black River, so it's very much a matter of 'let's see how it goes'. But I think this went exceptionally well. For Black River's sake and for the sake of the south coast let's hope that it (Prince Albert II) is the first of many ships that come here.
"Bear in mind this is not your regular weekly sailing, this is very much a (niche) product aimed at a particular type of people who want to sail around various parts of the world, but this is the sort of tourism we want here (on the South Coast) in my view," said he.
Gavel Whitter of Caribbean Cruise Shipping and Tours agreed. "None would have believed that a cruise ship would really pull into Black River. We would like to do this again," he said. But claiming he had to scramble to find localised tee shirts and post cards for the visitors, Whitter argued that locations like Black River needed to be more aware of the opportunities for tourism business.
"Black River also needs to put a little bit back into their tourism here. It's not only on the Safari, on the river, it is also in town because my people wanted to shop." he said.