Goblin Hill and Crystal Cove: your key to Jamaica’s Port Antonio

Kate Lough explores the other Jamaica
San San Bay from Goblin Hill
Kate Lough12 March 2018

There’s the Jamaica of all-inclusive hotels and then there’s the ‘other Jamaica’. Portland - or ‘Portie’ as it’s affectionately known by locals - the parish on its northeast coast, is part of this ‘other Jamaica’; where the lush Blue Mountains sweep down to a forested coast with white sandy beaches, faded colonial mansions and a laid-back capital, Port Antonio.

It’s also the part of Jamaica which swashbuckling film star Errol Flynn fell in love with back in the 1940s, declaring it ‘more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever known’. About 20 minutes east along the coast from Port Antonio, you’ll find the San San estate, which has hills with fairytale names like Goblin and Gremlin overlooking a curvy bay onto Princess Nina island. This specific stretch of coast is also where Tom Cruise's 80s hit Cocktail was filmed.

It’s here, on Goblin Hill, that husband and wife duo Rosalie and Marvin Goodman have built their little kingdom. Designed by Marvin, an architect, Goblin Hill allows its guests to experience villa living within a hotel context. Or you can go the full monty and rent the couple’s own lagoon-side villa, Crystal Cove.

Here’s what you need to know:

Goblin Hill

A collection of one and two bedroom cottages which sit above the turquoise waters of San San beach and set in 12 acres of super lush lawns. Each one comes with a housekeeper who will look after you during your stay, from shopping for provisions to cooking and cleaning.

Our ‘villa’ had perhaps the best view of them all, right on the end with sea views curving right around the large balcony, where we ate every breakfast and dinner. Our lovely helper Wendy would kickstart our mornings and fuel the day’s activities with platters of fruit, eggs and bacon - or whatever we requested from the market. Lunch we would tend to eat out, before coming back for a homecooked meal of roast chicken salad or grilled red snapper with rice.

Design-wise, the villas have a charming 80s Miami vibe - think rattan furniture, glass-topped tables and tropical cushion covers. Some may find it outdated but I hope it never changes.

At the property, there’s a swimming pool with hammocks and loungers if you can’t be bothered to walk to the beach, a tennis court (a few pot-holes here and there but it adds to the fun) and a bar to get your rum punch fix. Goblin Hill also holds a well-known rum punch on its immaculate lawns overlooking the sea every Saturday.

Crystal Cove

For the remainder of our days, we moved into Crystal Cove, the Goodmans’ private villa and one of the best addresses in the area. As charming and unique as Goblin Hill is, Crystal Cove’s privacy and position is hard to beat. At the foot of Goblin Hill, set on the road leading down to the famous Blue Lagoon (more on that later), life in one of the villas is truly the best way to experience ‘Portie’ life.

We spent most of our time camped out on the villa’s private pontoon, stretched out on sun loungers or basking in chairs, rum punch in hand, only pausing for a swim or a kayak - left to Princess Nina Island and San San beach or right to the lagoon.

As at Goblin Hill, at Crystal Cove you are looked after by the divine duo of Myrtle and Kemar who fixed up meal after meal and snack after snack. A distinguished cook, Myrtle made us all the Jamaican classics from saltfish and johnny cakes (like a savoury scone) for breakfast, callaloo (like a spinach) pie and coconut shrimp curry. Our foodie highlight had to be her grilled garlic lobster, bought that morning off a fisherman who knocks on the villa doors.

Every room at Crystal Cove has a view to kill for, with windows that aim to create a seamless flow from inside to outside. Our bedroom had shuttered French doors which peeled back to reveal sea as far as the eye could see - heaven to wake up to every morning. Inside, the decor is delicate, pretty with nods to nature and the waves - think striped blue fabrics. Every surface is piled with reading material to devour, architecture journals, Vogues and New Yorker issues.

What is there to do in the local area:

Portie is not somewhere you fly and flop - it’s an adventure just to reach it and the adventure doesn’t stop there; there are beaches to explore, waterfalls to climb and rivers to raft down.

From Goblin Hill and Crystal Cove, you can walk along the road (or get a taxi - Jamaicans don’t really do walking by their own admission) to several beaches, both of which are private so you have to pay a fee to get in (at the time of our visit, it was $10 each). The first is San San, which despite looking beautiful from our balcony isn’t currently kept in great condition.

So we opted to walk a bit further around the corner to Frenchman’s Cove, which is often ranked among the best beaches in the world. A small but perfectly formed cove where freshwater meets pale white sand. You can’t bring your own food or drink but there’s a restaurant for snacks and rum punches complete with cocktail umbrellas.

The best public beach has to be Winnifred Beach ,which is a 5-10 minute drive from both properties. It’s a little busier but it has lots of beach shacks to keep you fed and watered. For a seafood lunch, head to the left to Cynthia’s - she cooks up some of the area’s best tasting and best value joints where lobsters and chickens are grilled on charcoal braziers. Stay until the sun sets, rum punch in hand.

There are three activities in this area which absolutely shouldn’t be missed. The first is rafting on the Rio Grande, the river which flows from the Blue Mountains into the sea by Port Antonio. Drifting down the river in a raft made by bamboo was actually the idea of Errol Flynn who used to entertain his celebrity friends with raucous flotillas. Ask one of the hotel’s drivers to take you (it’s 30 minutes) and pick you up from Rafter’s Rest. Each bamboo raft has space for two, holders for ice cold cans of Red Stripe and a boat captain who will gently punt you down the seven miles of river, stopping for swim breaks. Make sure you book a trip (it takes around 2-3 hours) over lunchtime so you can stop at Belinda’s, who cooks up homemade Caribbean meals from a shack on the side of the river - chicken fricassee was one the menu when we dropped by.

kateloughtravel / Instagram

Second is Reach Falls, 45 minutes from the hotel in the opposite direction from the rafting, where for the small sum of $10 you can scale waterfalls with a guide, stopping to swim in cool, aquamarine pools and even jump down into a ‘cave’ - less scary than it sounds.

At the end, the brave can jump off the main waterfall. It’s also a good idea to combine this trip with a couple of bays on the way home, including Long Bay and popular surfing spot Boston Bay, which is also the home of jerk kitchen.

kateloughtravel / Instagram

Finally, make time to kayak around to the Blue Lagoon - also known as the Blue Hole. Surrounded by dense, steep-sided jungle, the bright blue lagoon is said to be around 200 feet deep. Jumping in is quite the sensation - a cold layer of water gives way to warmer ones. There’s a little beach bar where you can get a couple of rum punches and in another corner, there’s a swing which seems to be one for the Instagram bucket list. Given the position of our villa, paddling over to the lagoon for a chilly dip became a pre-breakfast ritual.

Where to eat and drink

You could rely on being fed at home - especially tempting when Myrtle is in charge and whipping out goat curries and an endless supply of grilled cheese sandwiches - but there are a few spots worth going to. On the way to Port Antonio you’ll find Woody’s burger bar. Woody makes the patties himself (he also does hotdogs and grilled sandwiches), while his wife knocks up a ginger beer that we were promised would ‘knock our socks off’ - which it did.

Jerk fans have to make the pilgrimage (it’s only 10 minutes in a car) to Boston, which is where the jerk story began. Now you’ll find numerous shacks vying to make the best jerk chicken, pork and pretty much anything else in town.

For more of a vibe, head up to celebrity hangout Geejam, which is in the neighbouring village of Drapers. There’s often live music from the Jolly Boys in the bar at weekends and the restaurant is a bit of treat.

How to get there

Goblin Hill and Crystal Cove are around a two and a half hour drive from Kingston. I would recommend getting a transfer to Port Antonio (Island Routes) and then renting a car if you want a bit of freedom. We relied on Goblin Hill’s brilliant drivers which provided a steady stream of local nuggets of information but was quite expensive. If we went again, we’d definitely rent a car - although the roads around there are riddled with potholes.

Details

Goblinhill.com, Crystalcoveja.com. Find out more at visitjamaica.com. Book transfers with islandroutes.co.uk.

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