Find Me In Jamaica #5

19 June 2002

Noel at home at Firefly

I’m thinking about my sister a lot. At Round Hill, it is easy to lose yourself and look within. The villa is very private and the view is breathtaking, leaving one with a feeling of luxury. My sister got a puppy this week. I was supposed to be there with her to pick it up. Another responsibility I ditched by taking this trip. I pray she is adjusting to him well, and that the potty-training is going well. I asked my husband to take over for me on this one and hope he is not overwhelmed. I hope he is able to stay strong for her, and is not getting stressed out with this additional responsibility. I left them all behind to find myself, and can’t go back now. I guess I’m feeling a little guilty this morning. It has not been easy for me to accept that I am allowed to take care of myself first. So this morning, I sit on the veranda and stare at the view. I am me. I will just be.

I decided to write a letter to my husband. All hotels have letterhead in the rooms and the environment here is making me feel contemplative and introspective. My biggest fear in ‘finding myself’ is that I will lose something else, specifically, my husband. It may be an irrational fear, but for me it is real at this point and I have to come to terms with how my decision will affect my marriage. I remembered the first year of our courtship when I was still in my senior year at college. He moved to New York and we wrote letters to each other often. The concept to me now is so foreign. The fact that we actually wrote letters to each other amazes me. I don’t consider myself that old, but in the late eighties, we still wrote letters. The cost of long distance was still expensive and email was non-existent. I’m glad to still have been a part of a generation that still wrote letters.

Hanging out with Noel

Email has made me aware of the power of the written word when it comes to communication. I have fostered relationships which probably would have been over if it weren’t for email. People rarely write letters anymore. I have kept all of the letters we wrote to one another that year, before I moved to New York. I like the idea that one day we will sit down and read them to one another. It leaves me with a feeling of nostalgia. Our wedding anniversary is July 3^rd, and I’ve made it a tradition to watch our wedding video every year. It keeps me centered and reminds me of how thankful I am for the support of my family. My letter is long and emotional. I express to him my fears and my desire to support him on his life journey to find himself in whatever it is he decides to do. I thank him for the years we have had together and tell him how much I look forward to our future. I apologize for being distant and not loving him as much I would like to and promise to cherish him and love him more.

Day Trip to Ocho Rios
We were scheduled to leave at eight o’clock this morning, but it was half past and still no sign of Troy. He had said he would be our transport today, and so far we hadn’t heard anything. I decided to take a walk to the concierge to mail my letter and see if I could find him. I found a guy with a tour bus who was waiting for something, but we didn’t connect. Turns out, he was the guy. I have learned that Jamaicans are not the best communicators in these types of situations. They are so laid back that they will just wait around forever instead of pro-actively trying to figure out what is going on. So we left around nine-thirty, not bad for Jamaican time.

First Stop: Firefly
Noel Coward’s home is modest, yet the home is not why he was there. The view is spectacular and offers the soul much relief. My favorite room is his “Room with A View”. The window is the shape of a movie screen and faces Port Maria. That is what I want. My own “Room with A View”.

It says in the museum that he wrote Private Lives in four days while recovering from influenza in Shanghai. I guess being isolated and unable to walk around due to illness is not such a bad thing after all.

There are pictures of stars with Noel all over the walls. The place is abandoned. There are about six employees that I have seen so far, and we are the only visitors besides our driver. The access road is only wide enough for a single vehicle and is overgrown with shadowing trees. The road is missing in some parts and looks like it has been through a war. The heavy rainfall is the culprit. The roads get washed away and these conditions are quite common throughout the country.

The much needed restrooms after the long bumpy climb to the property are located in the parking lot for immediate access. The home itself is unassuming and rather small. It consists of an art studio, an outside dining area, a music room, and a small kitchen for heating food that was prepared and carried up from his original property which sits down below.

Room with a View

The magnificence of the property becomes evident when one enters the “room with a view”. Inspired by Noel’s song with the same title, this room has an open air vista of the Port Maria cove and takes your breath away. The opening is like an HDTV flat panel screen. One has trouble believing one’s eyes. The view is magnificent. Unfortunately, the covered over pool seems dominant in my photograph, but I will never forget how standing in that room made me feel.

Adjoining the “room with a view” is Noel’s bedroom, with a beautiful four-poster bed that was hand-carved by slaves in a plantation. The guide describes the scene of Noel’s death. He suffered a heart attack and passed on before help could arrive. “He died right here on the bathroom floor.”

Kittens at Firefly

A patio off the bedroom leads to the pool area which, directly below the “room with a view” shared the vista. David and I frolic around the property and meet up with a litter of kittens and take photos with Noel.

I am in love with Jamaica. As we drive back to Round Hill, I frantically jot down the names of real estate agents from FOR SALE signs. We pass by Reef Point, a gated community on the way to Port Maria from Ocho Rios. It boasts Cliffside homes with the killer view. We also drive through Boscobel, where there is an Air Jamaica Express landing strip. Convenience is the key! Now, I am sure that I would love to live here.

Next Stop: GOLDENEYE

Goldeneye private beach

Goldeneye is the cliff top villa where Ian Fleming wrote the Bond spy novels. It was originally his private estate, and you can read all the juicy details on the website.

It is truly breathtaking as you can see from my photo essay. The villas all have outdoor showers and are nestled within the landscape. The resort was unoccupied during our visit, so we didn’t get to chat with any guests. I think that is the whole point of GOLDENEYE, it is truly a private getaway. The property is available as an entire unit, or guests may choose the Ian Fleming House (Main house) or the individual private villas in the GOLDENEYE Village.

This property is run by Island Outpost, which “is the vision of respected music and entertainment mogul Chris Blackwell, and continues to be built on the tenets of simplicity, talent, discovery and good living.” From what I learned on this trip, Chris Blackwell is the one who discovered Bob Marley and founded Island Records. Pretty cool.

Outdoor Tub at Goldeneye

Outdoor Bathroom at Goldeneye