Blog 12 Passage Lag

Usually when you arrive in a new place by plane or train there is a familiar process – a cultural transition as you emerge from the cocoon of modern travel. On a sailboat the transition is different. Our cocoon with two people on a 12 meter boat on the North Atlantic ocean can be slower to emerge from. The yellow flag flies from the mast until quarantine is cleared then the customs and immigration official each visit. Usually when we arrive in the morning Karl sleeps while I wait the officials and get know the harbor. Sometimes it takes a long time. Once in Canada we waited for 7 hours as the officials who usually did the car crossing were sent to find us got lost. The marina in Port Antonio is close to the offices and there are many coming and goings so no problem with the lost agents. Although we had to wait till the paperwork for the 3 yachts leaving for the Azores and Panama was complete. After assuring the Jamaican official no one died on the voyage and no stowaways were found, we were cleared to enter. It was now late Friday afternoon. It was time to venture out. There was joyous reggae music emerging from all corners as we left the manicured marine.

We walked straight into Friday rush hour and the beginning of the weekend. Taxi’s sounding in the slow-moving traffic, uniformed high school kids easing through a transition of being in school to a Friday evening, children dashing up to us and self appointed Captains offering to be our guides. WUickly were were overwhelmed with a bad case of Passage Lag. The banks had huge lines so we moved forward without local currency first along the jam-packed sidewalks and then into the market. The market is a mostly enclosed area, of course triggering all our covid worries, with narrow aisles clothes hanging from the ceiling. We manage to lose the self appointed guide but only after he made sure we walked through the meat market with only a lonely pigs head. We were not ready to shop. We headed west just because until we found the coast and walked back to the boat. Slowly decompressing. Clearly some food and sleep were essential before we were ready to embrace Jamaica. Our plan had been four days in port allocated to Rest, Tour, Repair Boat/Address Home Details and Prepare for the next Passage. Tonight and tomorrow would be Rest.

Our rest day started early. I am used to waking up at 4AM (3AM) Jamaica time and we went to bed ridiculously early. A morning light stroll settled us. Families dressed for festivities getting onto buses, feral puppies paying on the beach, goats being herded into the park to trim the vegetation and people on their way to work. Our passage lag was fading and we were transitioning to life on land again.