Long Bay

I don't know whether we would have lasted in Jamaica had we not had the good fortune to be allocated Cottage No 1 but what seemed to ensure that we would stay was the discovery of Long Bay, somewhere to escape to from the heat, humidity, dirt and crime of Kingston, to say nothing of the stresses of teaching.

Most of Jamaica's well-known beaches are along the west coast - Negril in particular - or the north - Montego Bay to Ocho Rios - but Graham and Najma recommended we try Long Bay on the less frequented east coast. This is a view of the east coast some miles short of Long Bay.

Long Bay was a small, private hotel built right on the beach. Despite only having a few rooms it had an excellent restaurant which specialised in seafood which came straight from the local fishermen; conch soup was one of its specialities, to say nothing of its lobster. It was reasonably priced, never seemed too busy and, best for us, had a large room at the back of the terrace which accommodated the three of us. This is the view north along the beach while....

....this is the view south.

I can't remember whether or not there was a reef off Long Bay but I do recall that the waves, which came in off the open Atlantic, were rather too large. There were also rip currents so one had to be careful. Despite this I thought the swimming was superb, bringing back memories of my days in Mombasa and Dar-es-Salaam.

There was only one problem with the hotel. Everything ran rather late in the evening so the kitchen staff didn't emerge until equally late in the morning, while we, and particularly Elizabeth, were used to an early rise and an early breakfast. So Gill brought snacks to keep us going and Lizzie and I amused ourselves on the beach. One of the things I love about having small children around is that one can do things which one thoroughly enjoys but couldn't possibly do without them as an excuse - like building sand castles.

We escaped to Long Bay as often as we could, and spent the time in between looking forward to the next visit. It was about as close to heaven as one could get.