Caribbean Times Newspaper 07.20.2016

20
Caribbean TImes, July 20-26, 2016
Travel & Leisure
Spending a day on goat island
by Dave Rodney
I was planning a round the island adventure
trip for Jamaica, traveling from New
York City, and I knew immediately that Goat
Island had to be included. On this trip, I was
in search of exciting but lesser-known attractions-
places not yet overrun with jam-packed
tour buses and in-your-face tip baskets. The
enthusiasm was of course partly driven by the
Chinese interest in Goat Island. But another
part of the interest was rooted in a challenge. I
lived in Kingston for many years and although
I had visited Lime Cay a few times, I can’t recall
hearing about Goat Island. So one way or
another, I was determined to set foot on this
island.
I did the research and made the necessary
arrangements. The plan was to meet with the
rest of the party at a gas station across from
the Spanish Town Hospital at 7:00 AM from
where we would head to Old Harbour Bay to
begin our adventure. Smooth ride to Spanish
Town from my New Kingston hotel. No hurdles,
gliding along in the opposite direction of
back to back early morning Mandela Highway
traffic, and buoyed on the quick trip by reggae
radio. I crossed over the Spanish Town
bridge at 6:45 AM, and soon afterwards connected
with the rest of the party. I wanted to
get to the island early to take advantage of the
pretty morning light for taking photographs,
and thanks to the new highway, we were at
portside in Old Harbour Bay in no time and
ready for the ride.
A pristine and inviting white sand beach at Goat Island
Our boatman and guide for the trip was
a 72 year old third generation fisherman
and longtime resident of Old Harbour Bay,
Mr. Charles ‘Junior’ Moodie. He greeted us
warmly and invited all five of us to board as
he pushed the canoe closer to the dark-sand
fishing beach for easier boarding access. Once
we were all on board and seated, he balanced
the boat, evenly distributing our body weight
across the four rows of seats. He then gave
us life vests, started the engine and we were
on our way. It was abundantly clear that Mr.
Moodie was a fisherman of great wisdom and
experience who knew many of the secrets of
the sea, and many of the secrets of Goat Island.
As we ploughed through gentle waves
towards the island, he pointed out a number
of landmarks including Port Esquivel, the Jamalco
bauxite plant, Portland Point, Galleon
Harbour, Pigeon Island, Pelican Cay, Half
Moon Cay and the western side of Hellshire
Hills. He pointed out too that what is generally
called Goat Island is actually made up of
two islands, Little Goat Island and Great Goat
Island, and both are connected by a network
of mangroves.
After a forty-five minute ride of getting
there and riding around to contemplate the
spectacular natural beauty of this paradise, we
dropped anchor by an inlet for our first stop.
As we carefully climbed out the canoe, we
were robustly welcomed by a choir of bleating
goats. “Oh, so that’s why this place is called
Goat Island”, one member of our party yelled,
awaiting confirmation. Mr. Moodie nodded in
agreement. But somehow we never actually
saw any of the wild goats because as we followed
a path inland, they quickly retreated to
the impenetrable interior, to be heard but never
curried. “So what other animal life is here?”,
I asked Moodie. “Mongoose, exotic lizards,
rats, snakes, an assortment of birds including
white wing, bald plate, pea dove, brown dove
and nightingale”, Moodie replied. “People say
crocodiles lurk in the mangroves but I have
personally never seen any”, he continued authoritatively.
After walking around for a good
half an hour examining the unusual trees and
shrubs, we arrived at a clearing next to a manmade
well. With no National Water Commission
in sight, why would a man-made well be
located on a deserted island?