On Thursday, March 28, we began our escape from Port Antonio at 11 a.m., as our friends Carla, Joe and Ethan helped us cast of the dock. We only went from the West Harbour to the East Harbour, where we dropped anchor as far away from the town's shore as possible. While it wasn't quiet in East Harbour, it wasn't obnoxiously loud. The anchorage was open to the north swells, so we were rocking and rolling a little, but the much lower decibal level made it worth it.
The next morning in the rain, we pulled up anchor before 9 a.m. and began our journey west along the north coast of Jamaica. Winds were light and the sea was a bit sloppy, but we happily motor-sailed along until we reached the small anchorage of Oracabessa Bay. Hidden behind the palms and other trees just east of town are villas of the rich and famous. Perhaps the most famous is Goldeneye (off our port side). This villa was built and owned by Ian Fleming, who purchased 15 acres along the coast in 1946. He negotiated to spend three months a year here while still employed as Foreign Manager for the British Sunday Times, and it was at his Jamaican home that he wrote the first and subsequent James Bond novels. The first, Casino Royale, was written in two months in 1952 and published in 1953. Later, a number of Bond movies, including Dr. No and Live and Let Die were filmed on the estate and in the surrounding area.
Fleming died in 1964, and in 1976, the Jamaican property was sold to Jamaican musician Bob Marley, who then sold it to his producer Chris Blackwell (credited with introducing the world to reggae and ska) a year later. The estate has hosted many celebrities. According to Wikipedia, while owned by Fleming, the property was popular with Hollywood stars and British literary greats as well as aristocrats and foreign heads of state, including Errol Flynn, Lucian Freud, Truman Capote, Princess Margaret and Prime Minister Anthony Eden. With Blackwell as owner, the estate has been a vacation spot for other celebreties, including Grace Jones, Bono, Naomi Campbell, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss and Richard Branson. Sting wrote "Every Breath You Take" at Fleming's writing desk while vacationing on the estate in 1982.
Blackwell has roots in Jamaica dating from British colonial times. His father Joseph was from the family famous since the early 18th century for the Crosse and Blackwell brand, and his mother, Blanche Lindo Blackwell, was a Costa Rican born Jamaican heiress whose ancestors made their fortune in the rum and sugarcane industries in Jamaica in the 18th century. (The fortune was later lost, but the family recovered financially with bananas from Costa Rica.) Blanche grew up in Jamaica and lived there much of her life on the island, where she became a muse for Noel Coward and a muse and mistress for Ian Fleming. Chris Blackwell also spent his childhood and much of his life in Jamaica, which explains his deep connection to the music.
Noel Coward's estate is ten miles away. The British playwright fell in love with Jamaica while visiting Fleming in 1948 and decided to buy coastal property for himself. His first Jamaican home was named Blue Harbour, but he found that it was too busy and crowded with guests for him to work, so, in 1956, he purchased land above it and built a small home which he named Firefly. This piece of property was originally owned by the famous pirate and one-time governor of Jamaica, Henry Morgan. Firefly fell into disrepair after Coward's death, but it was purchased and restored by Chris Blackwell.
Like Goldeneye, Firefly had numerous famous guests, including the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sophia Lauren, Elizabeth Tayler, Sir Alec Guinness, Peter O'Tolle, Richard Burton as well as neighbors Errol Flynn, Ian Fleming and Ruth Bryan Owen.
The name Ruth Bryan Owen probably does not trigger recognition. However, she was the daughter of one of the richest men in America at the time, the attorney William Jennings Bryan, and was also the first female U.S. ambassador. In her twenties, married to her second husband, a British Army officer, she was deeply moved by the story of James Phillippo, a British Baptist missionary who arrived in Jamaica in 1834 and is famous for fighting for the right of emancipated slaves to purchase land and develop their own settlements, the first of which was Oracabessa. Inn 1910, Owen persuaded her husband to accept a commision to Jamaica so that she could build on Phillippo's work. Her husband oversaw the building of schools and roads and she encouraged the residents of the area to develop their skills as artisans, painters and carvers. This allowed them to achieve econonic sustainability, particularly since she was able to use her connections to the upper class in the U.S. to market their work.
While residing in Oracabessa, Owen built a neoclassical mansion she named Golden Clouds, which is located along the coast between Goldeneye and Firefly. The interconnections between all of these is amazing. She purchased the property from Chris Blackwell's grandfather, Percival Henriques Lindo, whose family owned vast amounts of land as well as the famous J. Wray and Nephew Ltd. distillery. Of course, she also entertained famous people, including Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.
Golden Clouds is now owned (and operated as a resort) by the Canadian entrepeneur, software developer and author Colin Simpson, who just happens to be the great-great grandson of abolitionist James Phillippo!
We are off to explore on land now, so more later.
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| Peaceful Oracabessa Bay |
Fleming died in 1964, and in 1976, the Jamaican property was sold to Jamaican musician Bob Marley, who then sold it to his producer Chris Blackwell (credited with introducing the world to reggae and ska) a year later. The estate has hosted many celebrities. According to Wikipedia, while owned by Fleming, the property was popular with Hollywood stars and British literary greats as well as aristocrats and foreign heads of state, including Errol Flynn, Lucian Freud, Truman Capote, Princess Margaret and Prime Minister Anthony Eden. With Blackwell as owner, the estate has been a vacation spot for other celebreties, including Grace Jones, Bono, Naomi Campbell, Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Harrison Ford, Johnny Depp, Kate Moss and Richard Branson. Sting wrote "Every Breath You Take" at Fleming's writing desk while vacationing on the estate in 1982.
Blackwell has roots in Jamaica dating from British colonial times. His father Joseph was from the family famous since the early 18th century for the Crosse and Blackwell brand, and his mother, Blanche Lindo Blackwell, was a Costa Rican born Jamaican heiress whose ancestors made their fortune in the rum and sugarcane industries in Jamaica in the 18th century. (The fortune was later lost, but the family recovered financially with bananas from Costa Rica.) Blanche grew up in Jamaica and lived there much of her life on the island, where she became a muse for Noel Coward and a muse and mistress for Ian Fleming. Chris Blackwell also spent his childhood and much of his life in Jamaica, which explains his deep connection to the music.
Noel Coward's estate is ten miles away. The British playwright fell in love with Jamaica while visiting Fleming in 1948 and decided to buy coastal property for himself. His first Jamaican home was named Blue Harbour, but he found that it was too busy and crowded with guests for him to work, so, in 1956, he purchased land above it and built a small home which he named Firefly. This piece of property was originally owned by the famous pirate and one-time governor of Jamaica, Henry Morgan. Firefly fell into disrepair after Coward's death, but it was purchased and restored by Chris Blackwell.
Like Goldeneye, Firefly had numerous famous guests, including the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Laurence Olivier, Sophia Lauren, Elizabeth Tayler, Sir Alec Guinness, Peter O'Tolle, Richard Burton as well as neighbors Errol Flynn, Ian Fleming and Ruth Bryan Owen.
The name Ruth Bryan Owen probably does not trigger recognition. However, she was the daughter of one of the richest men in America at the time, the attorney William Jennings Bryan, and was also the first female U.S. ambassador. In her twenties, married to her second husband, a British Army officer, she was deeply moved by the story of James Phillippo, a British Baptist missionary who arrived in Jamaica in 1834 and is famous for fighting for the right of emancipated slaves to purchase land and develop their own settlements, the first of which was Oracabessa. Inn 1910, Owen persuaded her husband to accept a commision to Jamaica so that she could build on Phillippo's work. Her husband oversaw the building of schools and roads and she encouraged the residents of the area to develop their skills as artisans, painters and carvers. This allowed them to achieve econonic sustainability, particularly since she was able to use her connections to the upper class in the U.S. to market their work.
While residing in Oracabessa, Owen built a neoclassical mansion she named Golden Clouds, which is located along the coast between Goldeneye and Firefly. The interconnections between all of these is amazing. She purchased the property from Chris Blackwell's grandfather, Percival Henriques Lindo, whose family owned vast amounts of land as well as the famous J. Wray and Nephew Ltd. distillery. Of course, she also entertained famous people, including Charlie Chaplin, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard.
Golden Clouds is now owned (and operated as a resort) by the Canadian entrepeneur, software developer and author Colin Simpson, who just happens to be the great-great grandson of abolitionist James Phillippo!
We are off to explore on land now, so more later.
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