We got global entry recently, which allows us to scoot through security in an average of 1-2 minutes and has dramatically reduced the amount of time we spend going through airports. We highly recommend it. So when we had a long layover in Fort Lauderdale, we felt much more secure leaving the airport to see some sights, knowing we could get back in very quickly.

The plan was this: Get in at 5am, rent a car, drive to the Everglades for a sunrise hike, take a boat ride, visit the Miccosukee Indian Village, and be back in time for our flight to Jamaica. It went flawlessly.

We got global entry recently, which allows us to scoot through security in an average of 1-2 minutes and has dramatically reduced the amount of time we spend going through airports. We highly recommend it. So when we had a long layover in Fort Lauderdale, we felt much more secure leaving the airport to see some sights, knowing we could get back in very quickly.

The plan was this: Get in at 5am, rent a car, drive to the Everglades for a sunrise hike, take a boat ride, visit the Miccosukee Indian Village, and be back in time for our flight to Jamaica. It went flawlessly.

There’s a city-wide 8pm curfew and state of emergency called in response to a high number of gang-related homicides in Montego Bay. Getting in and out of the city requires going through military checkpoints, but I can’t say we saw much police or military overall. Mostly, we saw a lot of private security. Poverty, homelessness, and mental illness are highly visible and striking.

Here was the view out of the window after curfew:

If you read the travel.state.gov page about Jamaica, they will mention a few places you shouldn’t go in Montego Bay: Clark Street, Claver’s Street, Church Street, etc. We stayed at the intersection of Clark and Claver’s.

Here’s why:

Built in the 1760s, this beautiful building has had many lives. It has been a Church manse, synagogue, a hotel, a masonic lodge, an office space, and a restaurant, to name a few. Today, it is a registered historic heritage site and hostel called Mobay Kotch, which we were lucky to call home for a few nights.

Although it was located in a rough part of town, the walled yard created a quiet refuge to decompress after exploring and the second story balcony was perfect for calming travel jitters.

Plus, the gorgeous Georgian architecture inspired this kind of annoyingly cute porch photo.

I vividly remember the first time I learned about bioluminescent bays. I was sitting in the second row in Biodiversity 21 at Duke, and professor Paul Manos described the tiny dinoflagellate organisms that get so pissed off when agitated that they glow a blue-green color. (Okay, that’s an anthropomorphism. But the concept is still there.) The point is I remember thinking “Wow. That’s something I need to see before I die”.

I couldn’t believe my luck when a year later I won a grant to do research in Puerto Rico, near one of the 5 major bays in the world where this happens. And then science happened, and we were busy chasing lizards and discovering new weevil species, and I never got to go.

It would be another 8 years before I would be near another bioluminescent bay again, this time in Jamaica, and I was absolutely NOT going to miss this opportunity a second time.

Fortunately, our Airbnb had a local hookup and got us in touch with someone with a boat, who brought us out to the middle of glistening waters bay.

As we moved away from the dock, the motor of the boat caused a blue avatar wake behind us. Fish darted away from the bow in front of us, each of them drawing an illuminated streak across the black water. It was a lot like watching for shooting stars, except they were every foot or so, and in the down direction. The boat driver anchored us at the darkest possible part of the bay, far from the lights of he town, and we climbed down the ladder and slid into the warm, mucky-bottomed water for a swim. Everywhere we kicked and splashed lit up like broken glow sticks in a cotton candy blue. If you stood still, you could almost be invisible. But the moment you moved it blew your cover.

We played like kids and it was magnificent.

These bays are in danger from pollution, storms, and global warming. Hurricane Maria damaged the one in Puerto Rico and it’s unclear whether it will recover. If you have the means, I urge you to go see this phenomenon sooner, rather than later. It is one of the coolest things we’ve seen in this world.

On Christmas of 1831, a man named Sam Sharpe lead a slave rebellion that spread throughout Jamaica. Plantation owners fled and most of the great plantation houses were looted and burned to the ground. Only a very few great houses were not destroyed, and Greenwood was one of them.

Why were some plantations spared? It is said that if a house survived the rebellion, it is because the owners were kind to their slaves. Greenwood Great House was the estate of Hersey Barrett, who was one of the only plantation owners in Jamaica known to educate his slaves. He reportedly gave them rest, good healthcare, and treated them kindly. The fact that his house remains to this day with the original furniture, books, maps, and treasures in tact may be proof of that.

Many of the Great House’s musical instruments still played, like this Polyphone. You can enjoy a bit of the music below.

One local told us:

“Parents will go without, but Jamaicans take great pride in getting their children to school every day in a crisp, clean uniform”.

From what we saw, that was largely true. 

The streets felt safest just before and after school time, when parents were shuttling their uniformed children to class and older children walked in groups. We took advantage of this time to walk around and explore the city and feel just a little more secure.

Schools were also beautifully decorated and generally well kept.

We also had the privilege of seeing Usain Bolt’s school, where the track around the field was interestingly dirt. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photograph.

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