Road Trip! A Church, A Bridge x A Turtle Project

White River Valley by the Old Spanish Bridge -Labyrinth-Jamaica — White River Valley by the Old Spanish Bridge, Jamaica – (not my photo)

(7 minute read)

Hey there readers,

I promised to have this post up for you guys eons ago but with the recent passing of my friend Kelli and everything else going on, it took a lot out of me to finally eke it out, especially because she had anticipated feeling well enough to come ‘turtling’ with me. Do forgive the delay.

Sligoville-Road-sign-Jamaica — Almost there!

You’ll find below a chronicling of my most recent road trip (I went on Sunday, February 1, I believe) where I accompanied my uncle George to see a beautiful old baptist church in Sligoville, St Catherine, (Jamaica’s first free village) via the Red Hills route; the Old Spanish Bridge at Labyrinth in St Mary via the Walkerswood route which took us through a scenic rainforest, followed by a most moving experience releasing baby Hawksbill turtles at Gibraltar Beach, which is also in Saint Mary a little way off. I won’t do too much talking because as usual, I took a tonne of photographs and some videos so you can appreciate the beauty for yourselves. I was particularly enthralled by the Sea Turtle Project and I have a great appreciation for the work that Mel Tennant (the Turtle Man from the TEDx Jamaica talks) has been spearheading.

Take a look at the images I snapped, though they don’t even begin to capture the true beauty of each place seeing that I was using my phone, but I promise you will have a good glimpse of each scenic spot (until I get a professional camera and visit again) as the day was quite beautiful. Do enjoy!

Sligoville-Baptist-Jamaica-view — What a view from the church!

Sligoville Baptist Church

Sligoville-Baptist-Collage-3 — Scenes from the Sligoville Baptist Church and its adjoining property

The lovely Mrs Beard, a church elder, took the time to brief us on the church's history. (Fab earrings too!) — The lovely Mrs Beard, a church elder, took the time to brief us on the church’s history. (Fab earrings too!)

Sligoville-Baptist-Church-graves — The graves at Sligoville Baptist Church

Prospect, St Mary, en route to Labryinth

Prospect-St-Mary-Jamaica-property — I forgot the name of this beautiful property but was informed that it is/was owned by the late Maurice Facey.

Prospect-St-Mary-Jamaica-cows-grazing — These curious cows paused their grazing to pose for me. How nice of them!

Rainforest-in-St-Mary-Jamaica — Through the rainforest…

The Old Spanish Bridge at Labryinth

Old-Spanish-Bridge-Labyrinth-Jamaica — …And finally to the bridge! Which is way higher than it appears to be in this photo.

Scenes from Labyrinth/White River Valley. From top left (clockwise): Shango (our guide while swinging), Uncle George, Jody & Shomari ---travelling partners--- and Munair, tour guide. — Scenes from Labyrinth/White River Valley. From top left (clockwise): Shango (our guide while swinging), Uncle George, Jody & Shomari —travelling partners— and Munair, tour guide.

Old-Spanish-Bridge-Jamaica — The Old Spanish Bridge, Jamaica

Can you believe I jumped from there? Please note that I absolutely cannot swim. Way to be adventurous (or crazy?) Unfortunately my SD card got damaged so I get to spare you the video of me shrieking all the way across.

White-River-Valley-Jamaica — White River Valley via Labryrinth

White-River-Tubing-Jamaica — You can also do river tubing at the Labryrinth which uncle George quite enjoys, we didn’t have the time to try it ourselves though as we had to catch turtling.

Postcard-White River-Valley-Jamaica-Tsansai — A gift from me to you!

Gibraltar Beach, Oracabessa, St Mary

Gibraltar Beach, Oracabessa, Jamaica — The entrance to Gibraltar Beach in Oracabessa, St Mary. Lovely property but in need of some restoration.

Turtling time!

Hawksbill-Turtle-Project-NEPA-Mel-Tennant-Jamaica — “Turtle Man” Mel Tennant explains the process and importance of ‘turtling’ ahead of retrieving the super-cute baby Hawksbill Turtles.

Hawksbill-Turtles-in-Jamaica — A lesson in perseverance —the baby turtles are unable to see anything but the light on the horizon and move instinctively toward it. They get flipped over and washed back several times until they finally make it across the shore and into the water.

Gibraltar-Bay-Beach-Saint-Mary-Jamaica-Turtle-Project — Gibraltar Bay Beach

Tami-Tsansai-Turtle-Project-NEPA-Jamaica — I had a fantastic time! Can you tell?

This road trip was awesome as usual, can’t wait for the next!

WE NEED YOUR HELP: The Oracabessa Bay Sea Turtle Project has made fantastic strides since its 2005 inception and with your help could do so much more. Unfortunately ~~and unsurprisingly~~ the powers that be are not exactly jumping out of their seats to give aid to this very important initiative. Aside: I find that appalling considering that an ecosystem boon helps the environment, our tourism/fishing industries and the community directly, plus more… but what do I know?

Please feel free to volunteer, donate or request more information on how you can assist by clicking here so I can connect you directly to Mr Tennant. Thank you!

Love x light!

–

Tami

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