At left two fishermen in Manchioneal show off the lobster and fish caught that day. At right members of the Manchioneal Fish Festival Committee feast on seafood at one of the popular seaside restaurants in Manchioneal, Portland. - Ian Allen photosYvonne Chin, Staff Reporter
"Manchioneal in Portland!"
The lips of the distinguished member of the Gleaner's newsroom curled with disappointment and disdain on hearing the next stop on my list of Day Out trips.
"Well, there's Reich Falls close by, but as far as I know people just drive through Manchioneal, they don't stop because there's nothing to see," he added, making no effort to hide his disbelief.
Most people might be tempted to agree with my esteemed colleague. I mean, who would ever think of Manchioneal, a sleepy little town hugging the coastline just past the St. Thomas border as a place for a day out?
Well, we did. Yes, the popular Reich Falls is only 10 minutes away but it's the quaint charm of Manchioneal, a once bustling harbour and home of Bruckins, the colourful, traditional Jamaican dance, that so charmed us.
Manchioneal refuses to be dismissed as a sleepy little village by the hundreds of people who drive through on their way to other destinations in Portland, St. Thomas or Kingston.
Quiet, yes. Sleepy, not on your life. Back in the 1930s the town, which has a breathtaking vista of blue Caribbean Sea, bustled with life. It was a place where people far and near rode animals and drove vehicles, not through, but, to. They came with heaps of bananas and coconuts which they sold to companies like the United Fruit Company and Jamaica Producers. The produce was loaded onto the ships and boats docked at Manchioneal's port.
Town folks like 75-year-old Kenneth Bryan remembers those days as if it were yesterday.
"Manchioneal was very busy on banana days when I was a boy," he recalled, one day last week. "At the time I used to take lunch for my uncle who worked on one of the banana trucks and had to pass through the town. You would see not only farmers unloading bananas but vendors would be selling all kinds of goodies like toto, butter dough and crisps."
With the closure of the port in the late 1930s and banana losing its golden touch the town, which already had a fair number of fishermen, turned to fishing as its mainstay. Today Manchioneal is a fishing village with more than 700 boats registered there and fish vendors from as far as Kingston flock to its beach to stock up on the catch of the day.
Last Sunday Manchioneal gained attention again with the staging of its inaugural fish festival. Hundreds of people came and tarried for hours to enjoy the conch, lobster and other bounty of the sea. According to Dr. Donald Rhodd, Member of Parliament for the area, this could well be the third annual culinary event for this northeastern parish. (Jerk and Bussu festivals are the other two).
WARM SMILES AND
MOUTH-WATERING SEAFOOD
When you approach the town from the old Anglican church and the police station there's a picture perfect view of the harbour and beach lined with boats -- before the fishermen go out to sea.
As you get close it's quiet and one gets the feeling that not much is happening. There are no cascading waterfalls, spectacular beauty spots, swimming beaches or crowds of people. But, say Manchionealians, don't be fooled. Stop for a spell and get a taste of the town, they suggest.
Manchioneal's charm lies in the warm smiles of the people, bubbling pots and mouth-watering aroma of seafood in the foodshops along the beach. Despite the basic outward appearance of these restaurants the food pleased our palate and added another dimension to our Day Out after a stop at Reich Falls.
"I have conch soup, roast conch, fry fish, jerk chicken and festival," said Roseville Jones who operates Roso Jerk Stall. Known in town for his delightful conch and other seafood concoctions, he is also called Boy Jones.
On the evening we visited the area around his stall was alive with conversation and laughter as locals feasted on Boy Jones' jerk gems.
"The weekend is the best time to eat in Manchioneal," Boy Jones said. "At that time I play some music and people just stop, look at the harbour, enjoy themselves and eat."
Because of the ready supply of seafood visitors have a choice of snapper, parrot, goat mullet, doctor, dolphin, lobster, conch, sea wilks, and much more.
"WHEN I'M AT SEA AND I SEE THE SUN GOING OVER THE HORIZON, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL I WISH IT WOULD JUST STAND STILL" FISHERMAN
While you are in Manchioneal you are likely to run into fishermen like Crafton McCreath, a former police officer who fishes part time and has fallen in love with the sea.
"Whenever the weather is good, I think the sea is the most enjoyable place a person could be," he said. He had just come back from fishing and though, much to his dismay, he had lost some fishing pots that day he was happy to tell us about the lighter side of fishing.
"When I'm at sea and I see the sun going over the horizon, it's so beautiful I wish it would just stand still," he said. "Then there are the dolphins," he continued. "We call them paupers but they really are dolphins. Sometimes when I'm at sea hundreds of them will just surround the boat and for as long as I keep knocking the boat they just jump up and down alongside and play."
While he primarily makes his living from fishing (sometimes coming in with up to 100 1lbs of fish a day), he's hooked by the lighter side of his job.
You can also hear tales of the sea from others like Elvis Frazer who works alongside Urel Smith and Vanburn Levy on the King David boat. When Lifestyle visited the Marlin Tournament had recently ended and Frazer was still beaming from the success of his team during the tournament. They received the second place prize for the 86-pound Marlin, the two Barracuda weighing 18 pounds and the 15-pound tuna they caught during the event.
"It was an easy kill for us," Frazer explained, as he compared their latest Marlin catch with one he made a few years ago." It only took us about 15 minutes to take this one down, but the Marlin a few years ago was 130 pounds and it took us two hours before the kill was complete."
Catching Marlins is difficult because of their weight and strength and the tremendous skill it requires, he explained. However, it is also profitable for fishermen not because the meat is expensive, but because of the heavy weight of the fish, and of course everybody wants a piece of the head to make soup," he added.
Recently fishermen at Manchioneal have also gotten a reputation for fishing not for Marlin but cocaine.
"Drugs is a problem in Manchioneal but not the way people make it out to be," said a
resident. "It's not like you can come to Manchioneal every day and buy drugs. It only happens when there is a chase between the drug boats and the coast guard and they dump it off in the sea. Some fishermen will find it and sell it but they don't go fishing for it."
The fish and seafood are the real catch.
HOW TO GET THERE
Take the main road from Kingston to Portland. Drive through Morant Bay and Golden Grove and follow the signs pointing to Port Antonio. Once you pass Hector's River the next town is Manchioneal. From Kingston it takes about an hour and a half to get there. And don't worry there's now a Bailey Bridge at the Yallahs Fording.
Coming along the north coast, use the Portland main road. Drive east through Portland toward St. Thomas.
