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Before we go any further, it is important for us to state that if the hurricane Melissa came before we made our reservations, we probably would not be going to Treasure Beach. We would have made a reservation somewhere else because we thought there was too much devastation there. But we had made reservations so we were committed.

So we decided to make it a different kind of trip. We would go and contribute our assets, even if the place was in recovery mode. It turned out that they had recovered quite a bit especially the plants. Also we would appreciate construction noise as a good thing as a sign of continuing recovery.

but could we have a shorter, less rugged drive to and from the airport? Maybe our new destination could have a beach but still have the wonderful sense of communtity that Strawberry Fields had in Northeast Jamaica,
We found Treasure Beach and after spending a lot of time looking at lodgings we eventually found two lovely places to stay for about ten days each.

We made reservations, and I started looking for a decent pair of shorts.

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October 28, 2025
Melissa comes ashore

Wow!
We weren't expecting that. We waited a week and then sent both places gentle inqueries about how they were doing. They both responded. Andrew's cabins, further away from the water had survived.

Katamah, being on the beach was partially wrecked, but salvageable.
This video was taken from more than fifty miles away from the eye of the hurricane, so these winds are nothing compared to what came through where we are staying.

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We asked if they wanted us to visit this year, or would we just be in the way. We did say that we would bring work gloves and this trip would be different.

They replied.

Hello Stephen . My cabins are still standing and I presume that flights will fully resume by February , as the ports of entry are already partially reopened . Thanks so much for your concerns . One Love and blessings.
Andrew

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Dear Stephen and Dawn,

Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful offerings!

Your visit would be most welcome and appreciated. We will be announcing our reopening date, around February 1st in the next week or so. We will maintain your booking for February 21 - March 4th in the Habibi Room. Around the time of your visit we will have more information on what recovery efforts you may want to join and contribute to in late February. We will certainly have lots of gardening projects at Katamah, and we will be very happy just to have guests staying with us again, enjoying the place to help get us back to normal and maintain our team's livelihoods.

We would be very grateful for the contribution of your wonderful writing about your Treasure Beach experience and stay at Katamah on your travelogues during or after your time here.

With gratitude,

The Katamah Family

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From the Jamaica Observer:

Jason Henzell, who operates Jakes hotel and Jack Sprat restaurant in the popular south coast community of Treasure Beach, is all smiles inside Jack Sprat on Sunday.

In the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Melissa on October 28 in southern Jamaica, the reopening of Jack Sprat in Treasure Beach marks a critical milestone for the local community. The popular beachfront restaurant, operated by hotelier Jason Henzel, officially reopened on Tuesday (11 November) after extensive restoration following the storm's damage.

For years, Jack Sprat has been a pillar of Treasure Beach's social life, a place where locals and visitors come together over good food, music and relaxed seaside ambiance. Even before Hurricane Melissa struck, the business had already weathered damage from Hurricane Beryl, making this its "second major restoration in 16 months".

"We are going to reopen Jack Sprat on Tuesday, so that will be exactly two weeks after the hurricane. I thought it was going to take longer, but our staff are determined . It is not going to be perfect. It is not going to be the Jack Sprat that we saw before, but we figure it is better to open with it not being perfect than to wait for it to be perfect. Over time we will just keep improving, but people want to get a hot meal."

Jason Henzell points to where a tree was uprooted by Hurricane Melissa before being lodged in the bar section of Jack Sprat in Treasure Beach. (Photos: Garfield Robinson) The reopening of Jack Sprat isn't just about one business bouncing back. It reflects a broader pivot in the recovery process from immediate relief toward restoring livelihoods and economic activity. Henzell described this as moving from "Phase One" (food, water, tarpaulins) into "Phase Two" (livelihoods).

In his words:

"What we want to do by the end of this week is to move into rebuilding livelihoods. The places that are ready to go into phase two we need to make that leap… the economy is not going to come back all at once… but move with the places that are ready and let us start to build back the hope little by little, village by village, district by district, community by community, parish by parish."

In this sense, Jack Sprat acts as a "heartbeat" of the community: its reopening signals to residents and visitors alike that Treasure Beach is stirring back to life. Henzell put it this way:

"People want to hear a little music playing and come and charge their phones and get on the Wi-Fi and stuff like that so we know that Jack Sprat is one of the institutions of Treasure Beach. A bit of the heartbeat of the place"

The wind and surge of Hurricane Melissa battered the beachfront property. Henzell and his team mobilised quickly:

• Local staff, family and contractors worked intensely to clean up debris and secure the site.
• While Jack Sprat is first on the list to reopen, Henzell noted that his larger property, Jakes Hotel, will open in phases in the weeks ahead.
• Henzell also highlighted how relief efforts are being coordinated: e.g., fishing wire for local fishers and vouchers for farmers.

A tractor operator loads debris onto a truck during clean-up operations at Jack Sprat on Sunday.

Treasure Beach sits on Jamaica's south-west coast in the parish of St Elizabeth, and the storm's impact across the region has been severe. Henzell acknowledged neighbors in places like Black River have been hit far worse, saying "our hearts really go out to those persons. So much devastation across the country."

By reopening Jack Sprat, the community signals resilience. It invites locals to resume normal rhythms, having a meal, meeting friends, engaging in light commerce, and reminds visitors that the village is open for business. It also enables jobs, supply chains and livelihoods tied to the restaurant and to the tourism ecosystem more broadly.

While the reopening is a positive milestone, Henzell is realistic:

Keith Taylor was busy on Sunday cutting lumber to help restore Jack Sprat in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth."It is going to take a few years for us to get back our national economy to where we were."

But with establishments like Jack Sprat back, the dominoes of economic activity, workers served, food purchased, tourists welcomed, can begin to fall. He emphasises the principle:

"Don't wait to get it perfect, just do what you can do and that is how we are going to get this done."

For Treasure Beach, the reopening offers more than food, it offers hope. It signals the community is getting up again, out of the relief zone into the recovery zone, ready to rebuild not just structures, but lives and futures.

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So now we are inspired. The writings to us and the general enthusiasm that the community of Treasure Beach have made us excited to visit the area. We will set up the Travelogue to start off as a daily report before allowing it to wander off into thought pieces and photo essays. In truth, we do not know what it will be.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Flying to Montego Bay Airport/Driven to Treasure Beach

Dawn:
Really long travel day: We were up at 3:45 a.m. Two flights later, we landed in Montego Bay. The airport is pretty chaotic. Out front where people wait for rides reminded me of our own Forest Hills station on steroids! We waited quite a bit for our Airbnb host, Andrew, to pick us up. It's the first time he drove up to the airport since hurricane Melissa, and the roads are pretty bad.

Andrew is a very nice guy, and it turned out that it was his fortieth birthday that day. So when we stopped at his fave jerk chicken spot, we were happy to treat him. The food was really good, and Stephen enjoyed his first Red Stripe of the trip, and I my first Dragon Stout!

On the way, we saw so many downed trees and power lines and places with no roofs. Piles of debris line the roads. We drove through an area that is now green, but Andrew said it was all brown after the hurricane. All the houses we could see on the hillsides were formerly invisible from the road because the trees had been so tall and leafy. Andrew lamented the loss of a particular iconic old tree in Treasure Beach that was downed by the storm. We too have a fondness for old trees. Currently we are working on a winter video in the Arnold Arboretum that features what remains of a Beech tree planted there in 1886.



We drove through Black River, the place that was hit the hardest by the storm. The devastation is tragic, really heartbreaking. Even two old churches and the courthouse, all made of stone, were demolished by the ocean's storm surge and high winds. So you can imagine how the wooden houses with tin roofs fared. I thought about taking some photos for this travelogue, but it seemed somehow disrespectful, so I did not. We arrived in the dark and hit the hay pretty early since we didn't need any more food and were wiped out.

Treasure Beach had its share of damage, but generally fared much better than Black River. Drew's Escape, as our rental is called, is higher off the beach so it pretty much survived the storm.

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Thursday, February 12, 2026
Exploring On Our First Day

Stephen:
Coffee was ready by 7 AM. Andrew's stainless French Press easily made 2 cups each for both of us and a bag of cookies from Jet Blue supplied our pre-breakfast snack. Since we came in to town in the dark last night, we weren't quite ready for what we would see in the morning. The view for our front deck was full of green trees, beautiful potted plants and flowers beginning to bloom.

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It had been cold last night, but the morning sun brought luxurious warm to the cabin and our front porch. After our coffee, and doing a little organizing of our stuff, we got dressed and went down to Smurf's the community breakfast place, really a breakfast hang out. With some help from other patrons, we picked out two omelettes with pineapple on the side, which was the only fruit they had. It was another sign of the hurricane.

Dawn is kind of famous in Treasure Beach, so that makes it easy to remember my name. She and I chatted and found out that we both had March birthdays.

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After breakfast, we decided to take a walk to explore our new neighborhood. The first place we went was to Katamah Resort where we will be staying for the second 10 days of our trip. When we got there, we found a crew of men in the middle of cutting down a large nearly dead tree. It looked like the tree was about to come down so we stopped to take a video. Most of the people who were watching from the road were not happy about the tree's demise. Soon the work stopped in order for the people on the road, Andrew included, to talk to the crew. We talked to Marcia, who had in fact called Andrew, about the sadness of cutting down the second oldest tree in Treasure Beach. She thought that the fact that the guy running the crew was in a leg cast from the first attempt to cut the tree down when a branch fell and broke his ankle was a sign that the tree should stay. .

We also talked to Richard who is a boat builder, and he thought that the tree could be trimmed and made into a piece of art to represent the whole community of Treasure Beach.

We could see over the fence that Katamah had been hard at work to restore part of their property. In a later picture you can also see the building of the foundation of a new wall down at the ocean front. Once we move there, we will find out about their plans

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Eventually, the gathering melted away and we continued on our walk. Going east on the beach road, we passed restaurants and convenience stores separated by grass fields and trees. In 10 minutes we reached a sign for Jack Sprat owned by Jason Henzell who had given the interview that we wrote about in the introduction. We turned in, we saw a sign announcing their anniversary party of some years (we are not sure how many), and then walked along a dirt road and came upon the place. They had also really done a lot of work. The place looked almost fully restored. We talked to the owner, Jason, and later his sister, Justine. We had seen her earlier walking on the beach, tossing small rocks up onto the embankment to clean the beach.

We tried to walk back along the beach, but a rocky point stopped us, and we ended up walking back on the road. When we got back, we checked out the tree.

The tree was gone, gone forever, but Katamah will go on, finishing their wall, protecting all the work they were in the midst of.

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At the end of the day, we went down to the beach, turned right and walked down to the the point where some people were swimming. A woman said that it was pretty easy to get in and out of. It turned out it was really easy. The sand was in good shape, soft underfoot and the waves gentle. I went in and swam for awhile while Dawn waded around. Tomorrow we will bring our full face snorkel mask. Later we met an Italian couple from near Rome. She spoke English and translated for her husband. We shared travel adventures with them and maybe will see them at the Jack Sprat party on Saturday. We waited aound for the sunset proving to ourselves that you don't need a Marguerita to watch the sun go down into the ocean.

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While we waited I took a photo of a leaflet emerging from a rock and Dawn took this fallen tree shot and then the sunset below.

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On the left is a house on the beach that we hope is waiting for repair and a photo of a foundation for Katamah's new wall. Can this building be salvaged? We found out later that they will reclaim the materials but not try to save the house.

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Dinner at Frenchman's Bay:

The music was loud. They were setting up for Karaoke night. A few diners were scattered around. we decided to stay and Dawn ordered a Dark and Stormy and I decided on a Piña Colado as tribute to Jimmy. I talked to the owner, Elizabeth, who was sitting at the bar, keeping an eye on things. They are mostly restored, but are waiting for the visitors to return. We decided to stay to have dinner and found the quietest place to have our meal, jerked king crab for me and grilled red snapper for Dawn. It was was very good although I had to spend some time washing the sauce off of my hands and forearms. We solved the issue of loud music by going back into the bar area and dancing up a storm. The evening started out a little rough but ended up just fine. A couple of days later, Andrew told us that he had heard from Elisabeth that "We had danced up a storm." Andrew continued that it is a pretty small town and everything gets around.

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Friday, February 13, 2026
A Snorkel, Carrot, Hammock, Fishtail Day,

Coffee was ready by 7 AM. We drank it with the remainder of the cookie things from Jet Blue. . Dawn is drinking out of the dog hair cup and I am the Crazy Cat Lady. We are beginning to feel that three meals a day out at restaurants will be too much food for us. Dawn did yoga on the deck. I did some organizing of my stuff. We went down to the beach and went left this time and found some nice reefs on the beach where we could snorkel. We bought a bag of carrots from a guy named Delroi (mostly called Dodee), for 700 J$. I gave him a thousnd, he said he'd bring change. Didn't happen, but you have not heard the end of Dodee. Later, I had to re-write part of this travelogue that got lost in a technical accident. We had an afternoon snack of the very good carrots. Dawn also investigated our hammock.

When dinner time came, we went out and looked for a restaurant named Mellow Yellow and instead found FishTail in its location. Carmen, who had run Mellow Yellow, half Italian, half Jamaican food had gone back to Italy after the hurricane. Fishtail is run by Shani, Eggy's daughter and Tevin, her husband. Who is Eggy? He had a beach shack place that in my opinion was the heart and soul of Treasure Beach in spite of Jason's claims about Jack Sprat. This shack just disappeared in the hurricane but it will come back. As I find out more, I will let you know. He has arranged for a carpenter to come down and help him rebuild.

Fishtails had just gotten up and running so they were not set up for fancy cocktails so I had a rum on ice and Dawn kept with Dragon Stout. We ordered dinner and watched Sunset #2, shown below. Stephen's this time.

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Here is our beach

This photo is looking Northwest, in the direction of the sunset. This is the direction od the Treasure Beach Hotel. It is also where two guys building a pile of logs invited us to a beach bonfire. We said maybe, but in the end did not go. We need more local info before traipsing down there in the dark.

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This is in the direction of Frenchman's Bay Restaurant. Eggy's would have been there. Around the point is Jack Sprat Restaurant

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Here are the fishing boats. Sometimes they fish locally, sometimes they take people to the Pelican bar which is on a reef maybe a mile off of the shore. Sometimes they pack a lot of ice and supplies in the boats and go out for a week or so,fishing from a small island. This we heard from a local so I cannot vouch for it. We do know if they have two outboaed motors they are designed for blue water fishing.

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Saturday, February 14, 2026
Treasure Beach Hotel, Jack Sprat Party?

Coffee was ready by 7 AM with a little bread/cookie thing we fould in a little grocery store. We took a walk to find a tree that was only one of three of its kind in Jamaica. It was brought from Africa. According to my PlantNet app, it is a Quenepa. we may need to return and take another picture to confirm. We checked out the Treausure Beach Hotel which was closed. No work had been done on it. It had a great location, but it was kind of grim. As we left we ran into a guy on a bike who was coming to check on it. He said it for sale. We found out later that it has been closed since Covid. We continued on our way and passed a funeral service at a cemetery. Always quiets me down. As our route continued, we-passed some large homes on what is probably Treasure Beach Heights and soon we were back at our cabin.

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At Andrew's Place

We are living in a kind of family compound which includes the houses of some "Uncles" and "Aunts"which seem to be general terms for respected relatives.

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On the left is Andrew's house. On the right is our cabin. It used to have a thatched roof, but Andrew said that they are too much maintenamce with a life span of five years.

Here is looking up at the ceiling with the hanging light turned on. Then our bed with Stephen' stuff hanging on the bedpost.

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Just across the way is the other cabin on stilts and then the work in progress which will become a platform for yoga and such.

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Dawn:
We had been kind of looking forward to the Jack Sprat anniversary party. Which anniversary? Hmm, we are not really sure. We walked up there and found the parking lot full and the party in full swing. They had a few bargain cocktails, all Campari based. Later I noticed a Campari sign at the Valentine photo spot, so I guess there was some advertising going on. We decided which drinks we wanted and waited a long time at the bar to order. Eventually the bartender said to go find a server and order from her. So we we went out to the pier with tables full of folks eating and drinking and waited to catch a server's eye. That never happened, so we just left.

Stephen:
We kind of felt ignored and it was not a good feeling, but I also felt that it was partly my fault for not reaching out and engaging someone to teach me how to "Work the place". We came back on Tuesday, so you can find out what happened.

Then we thought to get a drink and bite at Frenchmen's, but the music was so deafeningly loud, that we turned around and left. Next, I think maybe Fishtail was closed so we ended up at a little spot called Diners Delite which was out of many menu items, but they made us a good chicken dish to go. We enjoyed eating on our little patio until the mosquitoes decided it was time for their dinner too and launched into us! Once we got over the mosquito that followed us inside for its dessert, we got to sleep! We now know not to be outdoors for the half hour after sunset!

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Sunday, February 15, 2026
Fourth day

Coffee was ready by 7 AM. This time we had Bulla, a kind of cinnamon bread, with our coffee. Our plan for the day was to have a late breakfast at Smurf's, then go over to Katamah' to say hello and see the place. They had a last minute request from a guest which changed the schedule. They recommended ordering breakfast then coming over at 11 and going back to eat. We thought this strange, so we went and ordered and waited. This was another education abou the operation of Treasure Beach. They cook everything to order so by the time we got our food and had eaten our visit was pushed back to the end of their lunch break at 1 PM. Good cooking takes time when everything is done one at a time. Katamah Visit:
It looks like their strategy has been to restore about a third of their property so they can open this year. They built a fence around it and it looks as beautiful and serene inside as the pictures from the site before the hurricane. The gardens are there, the pool and the gym, all with a beautiful Caribbean elegance. Sash met us at 1:00 and guided us through and we are definitely looking forward to our ten day stay there. We will add pictures next week.

Dawn:
It's a small community here with fewer international visitors, ie. tourists, than usual because of the hurricane. So we tend to meet the same folks over and over again. The Italian couple are lovely and have traveled widely, including many parts of Asia where we have not been. They are both around fifty so my children's generation. We shared many travel stories, including my visit to Rome at age 20 when I travelled with two other college friends. At that time, my brother was studying architecture in Rome. When we walked down the street with him, the Italian men shouted " tre belle ragazze, troppo" meaning that three beautiful girls for one guy were too many! They offered to take one or two of us off his hands! Hearing this story, Daniela said that was how she met her now husband, Francesco. We were surprised to learn that she is German by birth, because her Italian sounds so natural and fluent. Apparently she was on a college trip to Italy when Francesco, undoubtedly handsome in his military uniform (he was doing his one-year obligatory service) met her in a similar situation on the street! Very happy that encounter worked out well for them.

Stephen:
They were very energetic travelers compared to us. They did two or three things a day while we did one, but it was good to feel their energy.

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Monday, February 16, 2026

Coffee was ready by 7 AM. Bulla again. After sitting and reading from Dawn's copy of the Dhammapada (from college), we took a walk down to the Treasure Beach Women's Group, stopping at every shop on the way to look at their stuff and have a conversation that sometimes turned into our just listening. Robert, the wood carver, had the most interesting place. Some of his little pieces had drawers that captured scents.

The Treasure Beach Women's Group was another 10 minutes beyond. We went in

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Tuesday, February 17, 2926

Stephen;
Coffee as the same. I have learned to prep the press and water so it can all start with flicking the switch as I go by to the bathroom. After breakfast/brunch at Smurf's I really hit the keyboard to write and add pictures. Dawn has just lazily mentioned that soon it will be time to get into the water. So you have caught me mid-stroke as I ask her where she wants to have supper as I save the document.

We got into the water, Dawn getting a little more snorkel time. Conroi wanted to sell us his jewelry again and he told us a story about local piracy, but we said no and returned to our cabin to prepare for our return to Jack Sprat, fortified with some Deet, After-bite and a new attitude.

Jack Sprat
The first thing that I did was was explain to the young woman at a window with a cash register about our experience at the party on Saturday. She was surprised, especially about the bar tender. So I asked her to explain how the place worked: go there to order and pay (credit card would be fine) go to the bar for a drink. Find a table and place your plastic number on the table so the waitress could find us. Actually, we went over to the bar and Dawn got a Dark and Stormy, and after much dithering around by me, I got one also. We walked out on the deck and found a table and prepared to watch the sunset.

I noticed a lobster pizza go by, something that has gotten wildly different reviews, so I went over to the table to inquire about their pizza. They said they loved the pizza, had eaten it every day. so I decided to get. Dawn picked jerked chicken appetizer and I went in to order. No appetizer so I got the entree for Dawn.

By this time, the miusic seemed too loud so we moved ourselves back to the restaurant itself where it was quiet and a good place to be when the rain came.

which was a little better than we did. We waited for a lull and then started home. I gave Dawn my hat which kept the light rain off her face as we walked back watching the lightning up in the hills and listening to the thunder roll in 10 to 15 seconds later. When we got back we found what we had left hanging by the porch really wet. But we declared the evening a rousing success.

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Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Coffee as the same. Dawn has started her Chat/Yoga group. People are coming online and they will talk for an hour before doing an hour of yoga.

I should mention that that next door parrot in between his screeches will send a couple of "Wolf Whistles" in our direction. Today someone one is trying to teach him to say "Hello". Other sound generators around here are the occasional motorcycles that go up or down Church Street. There is one guy that must be going to an early job because when he goes by we know that it will soon be time to get up. Construction noise needs to be welcomed by us because it means things are being restored. The rooftop bar, maybe a half mile away, blasted away one day with about 6,000 lbs. of speakers. Dogs have been sporatic and there seems to be one rooster, far away, that seems to complain about something in the middle of the night, but then forgets what it is and goes back to sleep.

Tonight we went in Andrew's. car to the lobster pot. Everyone raves about it.

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Thursday, February 19, 2026

Coffee as the same.

Dawn:
Improv class

When we were at the women's center, they talked about all the activities they do, like outreach to elderly folks with disabilities, youth programs, arts and crafts, health programs, spaying and neutering dogs and cats, and they mentioned an improv dance class taught by Joan someone. Ah, my brain clicked in. Of course, Joan Green whom i know from Massachusetts. I knew that she and her husband, who has Jamaican roots, come here every winter, but I had no idea which part of the island they stayed in. So I showed up for her class Thursday morning. It was much fun. The participants were all pretty much my generation. Having taught improv for years at MassArt, I enjoyed the different structures that Joan used to get people inventing and connecting. Meanwhile Stephen and Joan's husband enjoyed a long chat sitting outside in the shade.
We walked back to Jack Sprat, split a jerked chicken for lunch with an ever present red stripe and lately a tonic for Dawn. We took a swim and tried to get Jamaican dollars out of their ATM. Stephen had password issues the first attempt then the Internet died killing the second try.

Later in the day, just after the sunset, we walked down to Frenchman's Reef and had two beautiful "Dark and Stormies". See photo. We think they are made of dark rum and ginger beer. They are delicious and they have become our Treasure Beach go to cocktails.

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We stayed on as the sky grew darker and the slightest sliver of a moon appeared. We did not watch it set because it was Karaoke night and the music would be too loud for us.

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Friday, February 20

Stephen:
Coffee as the same, but the big news is that we got more than 25 feet away from each other. Dawn walked down and took a yoga class

Dawn:
There's a sweet yoga studio next to Smurf's. The teacher, named Empress, teaches at 8:30 a.m., on Thursday, Friday and Saturday only since the hurricane. Apparently Friday is a kind of laid back practice. We only did a couple of standing poses, but she really worked on hips, hamstrings and hip flexors. It was a very mindful practice. I will try to get back there next week.

Stephen:
I stayed behind and offered to help Andrew finish putting in the rebar in the form for the new platform. I didn't have to do much, but we were cutting long pieces into about 10 foot lengths and then setting them into place. It is just a two person job. After that was done, I cut wire to length to secure each intersecion and threw them around so Andrew and Wally could do the tying.. When I ran out of wire and Dawn had returned I declared myself on breakfast break.

Dawn:
When I got back from yoga, Stephen was about finished helping Andrew and his crew with the platform. He needed a bit of first aid on his finger, after which he said he was going to take a break and take me to breakfast. On our way out, I asked if I could get anything for Andrew and Wally. They ordered very specific, fish-based breakfasts which we brought back after eating ours at Smurf's.

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We took a little afternoon shade break at Frenchman's; there we made a singing text to wish our friend Marsha a very special happy birthday! We also sent her this selfie.

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Wrapping up the Platform

Throughout the construction, Andrew was worried that he might be disburbing us. I let him know that he should run his saw when he needed to. Cutting a 2x4 doesn't take but a monment. I also said, go ahead with the pour when you need. When we got back from dinner they had just started. I shot this video below in the dark through a window screen. Very Cinema Verité. It sorta helped that in 2012 we had made a short video called, "Carico" about loading olives from the bed of a truck into buckets. It basically has the same soundtrack.

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Saturday, February 21, 2026

So it is done. Andrew told us they wrapped up about midnight. There is a new mixing area between the two cabins.

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Coffee as the same, but this is the last time because today is changeover day for us as we leave Andrew's little cabin and take a five minute walk with our roller bags down to to Katamah Resort. Tomorrow's coffee will be different.

We packed our stuff and did a little cleanup of the place. Then we read, meditated and left. We dropped our bags at Katamah and headed for Jack Sprat to have lunch, write in the travelogue, have another crack at the ATM while waiting for our room to be ready at 3

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Sunday, February 22, 2026

Dawn:
I got myself up to the little Katamah gym and did a good yoga practice with a nice view of their lush garden. (See photo taken Monday) We had done the Sunday crossword with coffee. It felt like a lazy day.

Late in the afternoon, we got in bathing suits, ready to head to the beach, and it started raining. Then it poured. We found a rainless moment to take a dip in their little pool which is filled with well water, so it is colder than the ocean. After a tepid shower, we hung around waiting for a lull in the rain.

Eventually we headed out to Fishtail for two ginger pineapple chicken dinners by Shani. They were delicious, and we realized we had eaten nothing since our half cinnamon bun with morning coffee! Meanwhile it poured rain, a true tropical storm. We headed back during a lighter moment, with rain jackets on, trying to avoid the huge puddles. Of course we were soaked from the hips down, but being wet when the air temperature is close to 80 is practically pleasant compared to being wet when it's around 35.

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Monday, February 23, 2026

We are thinking of everyone in the Northeast USA who is dealing with a massive blizzard. Sounds like two feet of snow is pretty common in many areas with high winds, power outages, the works. We hope you all stay safe and warm and shovel slowly. ❤

It is photo gallery time. First, a little pre coffee walk on the beach.

with Stephen taking a dip.

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Next after coffee, our bedroom and some garden pictures from Katamah

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Left: From our porch down toward the ocean. Right: The colonnade from our front door,again in the same direction.

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Left; our front door. Right: Looking. down the path

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Garden and our neighbor's table

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The view from the gym with the door open where Dawn does yoga and Dawn herself, being surprised coming out our door.

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This plaque remembers and honors Berry Perkins, the former owner of this property and daughter of Anthony Perkins. She died in one the airplanes that were flown into a tower on September 11, 2001.

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Next: our Sunday evening meal at Fishtail. First their Sign and then some diners.

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Here are some pictures to show the destructive power of the hurricane. at Katamah.

Dawn:
We include these pictures to remind everyone what this part of Jamaica is still dealing with. You can walk on the beach or on the road and see beautiful places, restored at great expense and labor, next to wrecked, uninhabited homes and businesses and heaps of debris. There are frequent burn piles to deal with downed branches and sometimes trees uprooted by the hurricane. The contrast is a constant reminder of the power of nature and of the power of community and human resilience.

Stephen:
What you see in this picture is the beach side of Katamah. It looks like it was bombed. Behind the wreckage are fences that separate the gardens and our lodging that have been restored from this chaos. There were buildings and shaded patios here and doorways that led to the beach. A lot of work ahead.

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Here is a photo of Treasure Beach before Melissa. The two white buldings on the beach front where we mostly swam. The very right is where Joan and Bobbie live. All that green to the left of our swimming place is probably from the tree that was cut down.

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Jake's Hotel Restaurant

We had decided to go to Jake's one night for dinner. So Monday night after we had passed up Frenchman's because of loud music (again) we decided to do up to Jack Sprat. Once we got there, we continued to Jake's to investigate the restaurant and find out if we needed reservations. We walked in and saw a beautiful terrace with a lit pool. I did not saturate the picture. That is the the color that we saw. We stayed for a drink and then decided to have a meal, in the end, two appetizers and two desserts with quiet, calm music playing. It really was an oasis in a reggae/rock and roll desert.

As we started to walk home, I realized I did not have my hat. I went back and found it at the bar, but neglected to kook for my my sunglasses. It did give us an excuse to go back on Tuesday and have a full meal. I did not find them, but the meal was great. The key lime pie was elegant, the texture and the lime dueling quietly with each other. (Later I found them my drawer under an out-of-date map.)

Dawn and the blue-lit pool

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Left: Dougies's bar, Right: Looking back at the restaurant.

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Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Jake's Hotel Restaurant, Full Meal

We started out taking a morning dip between our two rounds of coffee and then reading then meditating. We shared a meal for breakfast. We arrived around noon, so we were too late to grab any orange juice. We are keeping an eye on the building of the seawall at Katamah and the slow removal of the remains of the tree. Andrew came by with his new chainsaw to take pieces for some sculpture pieces he is planning.

Jack Sprat is our destination for dinner, but while we are getting the young bartender instructed in the making of our dark and stormies and then enjoying them during the sunset, we are finding the music too loud. So we go to Jake's to check on my glasses which I have already reported as found in a Jamaican time warp and have dinner. Again, very good, very relaxing and kind of expensive so we think that we can not keep doing this. We may have come to the wrong island if we are looking for too much quiet.

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Wednesday, February 25, 2026

The view from Yoga and Dawn listening to the group on Zoom.

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We took a taxi at 11 AM to Great Bay, the last of the five villages of Treasure Beach. It was a treat, When we came out of the front door at Katamah, the van was waiting , slightly air-conditioned. It was a 20 minute ride back to the Lobster Pot, where we had been with Andrew. This time we followed our instructions which were to walk onto the beach, turn left, and walk to the bar at the end. They were waiting for us as Joan finishied the painting of two dancing figiures on the back wall of this bar in the middle of restoration. A-short and fairly steep climb took us to their house.


We talked, we swam, we checked out their beautiful view, went over to the Lobster Pot where we had another good meal, collected our swimming stuff off their clothes line and grabbed this selfie and walked back to our waiting taxi. On the wy home, Kevin stopped for us at a fruit stand where we picked up a pineapple, which will be another story. Our last stop was Sadies where we got coffee, water, cheese among other things.

We did not get home until 5P. We relaxed for the rest of the day.

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Thursday, February 26, 2026

Stephen:
Today, I am going to start the the wrap-up of the trip, but put it at the bottom of the travelogue.

I am at Lashings Beach Club waiting for Dawn who is taking Joan Green's improv class at the Treasure Beach Woman's Group, a short walk away. Our plans for lunch and a swim change as Dawn arrives with Joan, Bobbie and Jean who were going to have lunch together. We join forces and have a fascinating couple of hours listening to Jean talk about her life,

I can not possibly relate all the details but I will present one. The reason she lives in Jamaica is because her husband at the time needed to make a thousand mile flight to complete his requirements to get his commercial pilot's license. They picked Jamaica from Boston for reasons that are not clear to me. They spent the night in Miami because was cleared to only fly with Visual Flight Rules. The next day they flew over Cuba broadcasting a friendly message to the Castro government. Headwinds messed up their plans so they had to land in Cuba to fill their tanks with fuel. They continued on the trip ending with making a night landing at Montego Bay after convincing the tower that he was capable. Later, while Michael ironed things out with the tower, Jean and her family were treated like people who own their own plan, (it was a rental), and given a tour around Montego Bay, This was the first time that Jean, a black woman, set foot in a Black country. She liked it and decided to stay.

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We got a ride home and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the pool. Dawn got a Whatsapp text from Pascal who lives in Paris, but he was not in Paris but in Catalan, a little below Barcelona and he wanted to know when we were going to visit him. The Whatsapp print for its timestamps is very small and by the that Dawn figured out that the chat was sent two minutes previous, her phone was ringing and it was Pascal wanting to know how she was doing.

Later, we brought back a fried Chicken meal from Diner's Delite. One dinner was enough for the two of us. As we were nodding off to sleep we had another run in with the aforementioned Karaoke (loud but not good) at Frenchman's Reef restaurant, but this time blasting into our bedroom. We eventually got organized and closed up the louvers, changed to AC and set the fan strength from 40% to one hundred. After the dogs calmed down and the mosquitoes got bored, we fell asleep. Some nights are better than others. Dawn:
At night and very early in the morning, the Katamah dogs seem to join a canine chorus with other dogs outside the property in a kind of counterpoint of barking, howling, and whining. Cacophony may be a more accurate word than counterpoint! Definitely not conducive to human sleep. Combining that with motorcycles and extra loud, late Karaoke from Frenchman’s, we put the a/c on for the first time, mostly to soften the sound. Once the mosquito had enough of me, I slept well! .

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Friday, February 27, 2026

If we wait long enough to meditate, our patio will be in the shade and this will be our view. We use a meditation timer on Dawn's Ipad.

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There are lots of neighborhood dogs around, presumably stray, but looking well nourished. There are also lots of cats. The sign at Smurf's says that they feed the cats so customers should not indulge the "cat bandits.".

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Here at Katamah, they have three dogs that stay within the premises: Coffee, Tea, and Cocoa are their names. Coffee is pretty old and sweet and loves affection. Tea is rather timid. Cocoa wears a harness, is perhaps the newest resident and still barks and growls at us whenever we leave or enter the property. Below is a photo of Coffee just chillin.

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Saturday, February 28,

Yoga

Empress teaches yoga in a sweet studio. I first took a Friday class which was very laid back and mindful, mostly on the floor, with only two standing poses. Today's practice was vigorous and challenging. I really liked it as it included poses I have not done in a long time. Given my aging hips and knees, I cannot hold poses on one leg very long, but that suits my reduced ability to balance too! In any case, I enjoyed the flow and still can do a pretty nice practice.

Stephen had ordered breakfast at Smurf's next door which showed up about fifteen minutes after I sat down, giving me a nice respite between exercise and eating.

We are moving into a highly relaxed gear of our trip. We swim at the pool or the ocean. We do not remember which. Make last minute decisions about where to eat.

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Sunday, March 1,

Sunday was another party day gone bust. It was the rain this time that started coming done heavy as we were scheduled to walk up the hill around five in the afternoon to try to find the house. Probably a mile or so. We chickened out, kind of embarrassing. Instead, we had two nice salads at Frenchman&apos)s Reef which balanced out our high protein diet of the past two and a half weeks. On the left is a photo taken from the restaurant to where Eggy's once was and will be again. At the rumor mill which is at cocktail hour before dinner at every eating establishment there is talk of driving piles, carpenters coming for five weeks. Eggy himself is a joy to encounter and there is much praising and blessing that always opens my arms and brings a smile to my face.

The white topped structures are two grave vaults that I assume are waiting to be reburied. I have heard nothing about them and they would be awkward to bring up in conversation.

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Monday, March 2,

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Tuesday, March 3,

Dawn:
On our last day here, there was a total eclipse of the moon. It felt like a special way to wind up our three weeks in Treasure Beach. We set the alarm for 5:00 a.m. and brought a couple of light weight chairs out to the beach around 5:40. The moon was already about a third hidden, but we still saw moonlight on the ocean. Because it was close to moon setting time, we did not get to see the moon emerge from the earth’s shadow. We did, however, watch it completely disappear behind our own planet’s shadow. The rising sun made it hard to see the moon actually looking red. Still it was great to witness this event on a beach in Jamaica, away from urban lights. We took three pictures and except for Simon who came out for a morning walk there was no one else on the beach.

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Two shots of the morning beach. The left on is where the moon was. The right show the lights from Frenchman's Reef.

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Left: This purple flower gtows everywhere, bu we still do. ot know what it is. Right: Every night there is an amazingly sweet aroma that wafts into our room. Finally, on our last day, Sasha pointed out the flowers to us and said they were called “Midnight…something.” They climb all over the fence near our window and smell particularly strong at night.

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Last Night, Dinner at Jakes's

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Wednesday, March 4,

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