The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-03)

The Sunday Times April 3, 2022 13

Travel Caribbean

A suite at Sandals

Ochi Beach, top

left; Sirieix relaxes,

above; Sandals

Negril, below

20 miles

Sandals

Negril

Negril

Zimbali’s JAMAICA

Culinary

Retreat

Nine Mile

Kingston

Sandals

Ochi

M10 Bar

Blue Hole & Grill

Mineral Spring

certainly speeds things up.

It was a 90-minute drive

southwest from the resort to

Nine Mile, Bob Marley’s

birthplace. I saw the hills he

would have looked at and the

trees he would have seen from

the small house where he lived

with his mum until he was 12.

The mausoleum where Marley

is buried is nearby too. I didn’t

understand reggae until I went

there and suddenly the penny

dropped; it was humbling.

In Kingston the years peeled

back when we visited the Tuff

Gong studio, where vinyl

records are still made. We then

drove over to Trench Town,

also part of Kingston, to the

Continued on page 14→

out to the hills to explore the

Blue Hole Mineral Spring just

east of Negril. The natural pool

of turquoise water sits about

7.5m below a limestone

karst opening. I was

happy to watch

others show off

as they dived

in, doing tricks

and turns in

the air. But

there’s a ladder

down to the cool

waters for those

who aren’t quite so

confident, and the

springs leave your skin buttery

soft. It’s well organised, with

a smattering of bars and

restaurants and even a

swimming pool if hole-bathing

isn’t quite your thing.

While I love the location of

Sandals Negril — it’s the best

spot on the west coast

in my opinion —

Sandals Ochi,

further east

along the

island’s

northern edge

in Ocho Rios,

meant that

Kingston, and

the reggae history

I wanted to explore,

was within striking

distance. Jamaica’s only

motorway, from Ocho Rios to

Kingston, is far smoother than

the roads around Negril, and

In the Blue Hole

Mineral Spring,

the water leaves

your skin

buttery soft

I would return just to take in

the “bamboo cathedral”

in the grounds, though, a

magnificent natural space

with 20m plants that bend

towards each other, where

you can just contemplate life

— and listen to the crickets.

We returned to Sandals to

catch a grapefruit-coloured

sunset a little before 6pm

and take advantage of the

enormous two-person bath

on the balcony of our suite,

drinking a cocktail as our eyes

adjusted to the dark. I was

so used to London’s light-

polluted skies that the three-

star brilliance of Orion’s Belt

came as a surprise.

The next day it was back

embraces the island’s farming

heritage, and ingredients

nurtured in or around the

estate are used in the cooking

classes, tours and at the

restaurant.

On a map it looked like a

short drive, but the roads to

Zimbali meant a 90-minute

adventure into the hills. I’m

not an air-conditioning kind

of person and had the

windows down in the car to

feel a pop of heat with every

pothole. Green vegetation

gradually surrounded us and

we reached our destination

at the end of a dirt track.

The mixed vegetable stew,

spiced with turmeric, was

worth the bumpy effort.

‘O

h man! You’re

here,”

Rolland

Martin, aka

Dr Love,

hollered at me as I jogged

towards him on my first

morning run along the beach

in Negril. “I see your partner

Fruitcake is keeping you

young. You’re a lucky man!”

I hadn’t expected the warm

greeting from Dr Love, a local

celebrity so famous that a

section of Negril’s dazzling

white sands is named after

him. As for me looking young,

well, I was on the island with

my other half, Fruitcake, to

celebrate my 50th birthday,

so I took the compliment

and (literally) ran with it.

It was a conversation that

summed up what I love about

Jamaica. It’s possible to go

so far from home and yet be

greeted like an old friend,

even though thanks to Covid

I’d not managed a visit for

more than two years.

Pandemic aside, I have

been a regular in Jamaica for

ten years, usually staying for

a week at a time. I’ve always

done the touristy things on the

coast: beaches, cocktails and

lounging. This time, for the

first time, I really wanted to go

deep into the country. And it

was extraordinary. But that’s

the thing about reconnecting

with an old friend, there’s

always something new to learn

about them.

To begin with I started

going to Jamaica because of

Bob Marley. I fell in love with

reggae when I was 16 and

when my daughter was born

I rocked her to sleep to a

soundtrack of reggae classics.

It’s my genre and I’m so

passionate about it my

ambition is to make a record.

But for the first few days of

my stay I pressed the pause

button on the music. We were

staying at the Sandals Negril

resort on the island’s west

coast, but I’m a restaurant

guy so of course our first

stop beyond the resort was

a culinary one.

In Jamaica the saying goes,

“ital is vital”; “ital” is the

natural, vegetarian diet Rastas

embraced, long before plant-

based eating was popular in

Europe. Everything here

grows year-round, so fruit

and veg are rich and flavour-

packed whenever you visit.

Zimbali’s Culinary Retreat, in

the mountains above Negril,

WITH

The Caribbean island still has a few surprises up its sleeve

for the TV presenter and regular visitor Fred Sirieix

JAMAICA,

LOVE

TO

ANDREW WILLIAMS, JR DELIA/SANDALS RESORTS