As I write this I am sitting on the veranda of our villa, overlooking the ocean. It rained all day yesterday, forcing us to drive through water up to our wheel wells in some places along the coastal highway. The sun is just starting to come out and there is a slight breeze. Although we are not beachside, I can still hear the surf. This place is almost perfect.
Shoreham Green is owned by two guys, both from Calgary. The guy who runs the place, Mike, is a Canadian who arrived 10 years ago and hasn’t left. His partner is still doing a regular job in Calgary, but Mike says he could never go back to wearing a tie. I don’t blame him.
Mike is very friendly and accommodating. Anything we want or need, he will get for us. His staff is very good as well. They are pretty much invisible. Dinner last night was excellent. Everything was home cooked and dessert was the best cheesecake I have ever had. Unfortunately, I was so full I could not finish it. You need to know how much I love a good dessert to realize how strange that is.
The villa has seven big bedrooms, a pool, huge veranda, and living room. I can see how a group of seven couples could easily live in a place like this for a week. A bird sanctuary surrounds the villa, so my alarm clock this morning was the chirping of birds.
The grounds are immaculately kept. You really get the sense you are living in a jungle paradise.
Today Mike drove us into Port Antonio for a quick look around. The place has some noticeable tourists challenges. The word is that they spent a large some of money to improve the port so that cruise ships could dock, and one of the guys mentioned he saw one there last year. Unfortunately, the port authority, (they must have been smoking drugs), did not allow anyone from the first few ships to leave the port area. They must have been trying to keep all the tourist money for themselves, instead of letting people explore the town. As a consequence, cruise ships don’t come to Port Antonio anymore. It’s too bad. Port Antonio has a real small town feel to it, and the people even more friendly than Jamaicans usually are. The town needs some work, but with a regular influx of tourists, the place could quickly become a rival to Ochio Rios.
I can easily see how renting a villa for a week would appeal to many for a vacation. From where I sit, I can see a number of other villas, all for rent. It would be quite easy to find one which suited any need. In addition, a week at a villa is noticeably cheaper than a resort.
Anyone thinking of a Jamaica vacation, consider a villa.
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