{"id":1737,"date":"2013-12-15T14:34:26","date_gmt":"2013-12-15T21:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=1737"},"modified":"2014-01-01T22:54:56","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T05:54:56","slug":"easy-winds-warm-waters-and-great-service-in-jamaicas-montego-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/library\/1737\/easy-winds-warm-waters-and-great-service-in-jamaicas-montego-bay","title":{"rendered":"Easy Winds, Warm Waters and Great Service in Jamaica’s Montego Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sailing<\/a>

Sailing made easy, mon, at the Iberostar Grand Resort Rose Hall, in Montego Bay, Jamaica<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDo you know how to sail a catamaran?\u201d the tall water sports attendant named Akiel asked me in his Jamaican accent as he began to push the boat off the sand and into a sea so colorful it looked like blueberry Kool-Aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a Hobie Cat I sail on Lake Lansing,\u201d I answered while strapping on my life jacket. \u201cIt\u2019s an inland lake in Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked at me through his sunglasses and, trying not to be condescending but grinning, said, \u201cThere is no \u2018other side\u2019 here on the ocean. I\u2019ll go with you. No pressure, \u2018Mon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that Akiel simply hopped aboard, grabbed the rudder, and within seconds we were gliding away from the beach of the Iberostar Grand Resort at Rose Hall in Montego Bay. Over the sound of the waves splashing beneath the boat he smiled and said, \u201cI didn\u2019t want you to end up in Mexico on this thing!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DSCF4540\"<\/a>The Iberostar is an all-inclusive resort, meaning there is no charge for everything from sailing and snorkeling to room service. You can even fearlessly raid the mini-bar. The sit down dinners, swim up bar, fall-down tropical drinks and live entertainment are all included in the price of your room (which during my stay was just over $200 per-person, per day.)<\/p>\n

We sailed in the afternoon sun along the coast off the four-story, expansive resort. Akiel taught me how to properly steer the boat into the prevailing winds and claimed that, for speed during races, he could heel the catamaran up on one pontoon for as long as 15 minutes! We were taking it easy, though, and even anchored onto a sand bar for a brief swim, during which Akiel deftly brought up and displayed a starfish and sand dollar for me to examine and photograph. He was industriously working hard to make the day special, as I saw him do for many guests. As we sailed back in, I asked him about his life in Jamaica.<\/p>\n

\"DSCF4498\"<\/a>\u201cI used to just \u2018smoke it up\u2019 every night. What else was there to do?\u201d he admitted, referring to the celebrated \u2013 but still illegal \u2013 ganja that is part of the Jamaica\u2019s Bob Marley-Rastafarian culture. He told me, because I asked, about the thrice nightly romantic exploits he enjoyed with guests when he worked at one of Jamaica\u2019s more notoriously hedonistic singles resorts. \u201cThose days are long gone. I\u2019ve had enough of that now.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a man can say he\u2019s had his fill of romance – he must have had a lot of it!<\/p>\n

Like the rest of the Jamaicans working at the Iberostar Grand, Akiel took his work, but not himself, seriously, which made for great service and a fun atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I go to the U.S. someday,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019ve got enough sun in this body over the years to melt any snow!\u201d Enjoy the warmth of the Iberostar, and its people, by visiting www.Iberostar.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Michigan-based travel writer Michael Patrick Shiels may be contacted at InviteYourself@aol.com<\/a> or via www.TravelTattler.com<\/a> His morning show is heard weekday mornings in Lansing on 92.1 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDo you know how to sail a catamaran?\u201d the tall water sports attendant named Akiel asked me in his Jamaican… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":1738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3665],"tags":[3294,682424,976614,976615,1121,976617,976618],"class_list":["post-1737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-library","tag-jamaica","tag-montego-bay","tag-catamaran","tag-sailing","tag-iberostar","tag-iberostar-grand-resort","tag-rose-hall"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2013\/12\/DSCF4520.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1746,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions\/1746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}