IF sometime soon, you plan to take a trip to one of Jamaica’s most beautiful spots, the majestic crystal clear pools and cascades of Reach Falls in Portland, save yourself the journey.

It’s closed.

And if you want to sip a cool drink while you look out over the balcony of the restaurant at the enchanting Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio, forget it.

That’s closed too.

No day trips to Navy Island or Nonsuch Caves either, because officially, they’re both under lock and key, and won’t be opening to the public anytime soon.

Across Portland, the parish where tourism in Jamaica began with rafting on the Rio Grande, the hospitality sector seems to be struggling, embattled by poor infrastructure, two consecutive seasons of devastating weather and general neglect.

Over the years, Portlanders have been given many promises by government that development will come, but the renaissance seems to be lacking the proverbial ‘white knight’.

Reach Falls, which used to be operated by a local resident, was handed over to the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) which closed the property four years ago, promising to redevelop and reopen.

The falls are more or less in the same condition they were when the UDC closed the property, but whether you’re coming from ‘town or Tokyo’, you will be turned away at the gates of the attraction by guards posted there to keep people out.

Roland Davis, one of the three security guards, was succinct in explaining his duties, during a June 20 visit by the Sunday Observer.

“We turn people back. That’s what we’re here for,” said Davis.

At times, said the security guard, more than 100 people a week show up, unaware that the falls are closed.

“People come all the time and beg – say they come from far and everything – but the place is closed,” he added firmly.

UDC’s announced plans for the property had included a two-phase deal to install an administrative office, a car park, a gated entrance with a ticket office, toilet facilities and signs, and an area for craft shops – a standard look that the agency has adopted for seaside attractions islandwide.

Four years later, the existing infrastructure such as the old snack shop, has deteriorated, but the pathways and the falls themselves are still bushed and well-maintained.

The state agency, in response to questions posed by the Sunday Observer subsequent to the visit, again repeated its promise of development, again refraining from committing to a specific date, saying only that the project would be completed sometime during the course of the year.

“Following successful negotiation of the lease with the National Land Agency, we have officially taken possession of the property effective June 1, 2006 and are now in the process of implementing the planned upgrading of the 4.6-hectare property to include the provision of proper sanitary facilities, improved water and electrical supply systems and administration buildings,” said the sanitised response.

“In the interim, the facility remains closed to the public.”

But for residents like Renford Kenton, whom the Sunday Observer spotted escorting a pair of tourists up the falls, the redevelopment has taken way too long to happen.

“Right now, everyday dem say someting a gwaan, but I don’t see nothing. Lot’s of people come here and vex,” said the dreadlocked man.

Locals like himself, said Kenton, who used to make money from the falls, either as craft or food vendors or as guides, had, since its closure, taken to giving unofficial tours up the falls from ‘bottom fording’ close to where the river meets the main highway.

The problem with doing that, he explained, was the guides could not charge a set rate, nor could they accommodate large groups since they are not legitimate and cannot offer tourists the amenities needed for a pleasant experience.

“We don’t really charge the people. It’s just a thing where if you have a thing you give me, and sometimes you make US$10, sometimes you don’t make nothing, but nobody no harass nobody or anything like that,” said Kenton.

Currently, the US dollar converts to J$65.68.

At another of the parish’s famed attractions, the Blue Lagoon, half-a-dozen vendors lolled about on the public access road that leads to the lagoon and to the restaurant, along a strip of land owned by businessman Ernie Smatt.

The lagoon itself is open to the public, but it is the restaurant, which occupies a prime position on the lagoon, that is the real attraction.

Tourists don’t come by much anymore, explained the vendors, in between listening to a World Cup football match and playing dominoes, mostly because there is really little to see or do without the restaurant.

Behind the high walls built to keep the vendors out, the restaurant’s gates were chained shut. A sign overgrown by vines said it all: ‘Closed’.

It’s been closed since Hurricane Ivan, recalls Glaston Green, a resident and former craft salesman who like Kenton, has had to ‘tun han mek fashion’ and now operates a 25-foot bamboo raft along the shallow coastline.

He picks up tourists from Smatt’s property, rafts them down to Monkey Island, near San San, for swimming and snorkelling, and then rafts to the Blue Lagoon where he can only stay near the edge of the waterhole.

“Yes we can come into the lagoon from the sea; nobody stopping us. But I’d like to see the restaurant open back because without it you can’t really enjoy the lagoon,” said Green.

Acting executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company, Barrington Payne, says, however, that the owners of the privately owned lagoon were currently involved in a dispute that TPDCo was trying to mediate.

“We have been working with the various stakeholders to see if we can get it opened again,” said Payne.

“There are issues pertaining to that that we are working on at the moment. Yes, they can be resolved, but that is going to take some time.”

How long? – he couldn’t say.

Another of the parish’s top attractions, Navy Island, which lies in the harbour in Port Antonio, has also been closed for years. That property was acquired by the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) at the same time the marina was redeveloped, in the hope, says PAJ vice-president William Tatham, that it would help drive business for the marina, renamed last week for late movie star Errol Flynn, a one-time resident of Portland.

“Basically, we wanted to make sure that whatever was developed on Navy Island went well with what we were doing in the west harbour, with the marina and the cruise facility,” said Tatham.

Although the mainland facilities have been opened and are now accepting business from yachts and cruise lines, the island remains off limits, but again, no development can be observed taking place.

“We cannot say much about that,” said the TPDCo’s Payne cautiously, “but we know there are some comprehensive plans for it.”

Government has consistently denied it, but rumours persist that the plans for Navy Island include a casino, a development that would require changing government policy.

“We’re exploring options now, we’re basically looking at it now to see what we can do with it, possibly a boutique hotel, possibly high-end villas,” said Tatham, who could not indicate exactly what was planned nor exactly when the plans would be put into place.

Another of Portland’s top attractions, the Nonsuch Caves, is also closed, partly because the property is being sold, but mostly because of damage sustained during the last two hurricane seasons, both to the attraction itself and to the access roads leading there.

“Don’t bother waste your time going up there, not unless you have a powerful 4-wheel drive vehicle and a lot of time,” warned mayor of Port Antonio, Rupert Kelly.

The road, leading to the caves, he explained, was virtually devastated, forcing the closure of the attraction, which has not seen business since Hurricane Ivan.

Not everything is closed though. Some attractions in the parish – Frenchman’s Cove beach, San San Beach, Sommerset Falls, the newly-renamed Errol Flynn Marina and the Boston Jerk Centre are up and running, and tourists can still go rafting on the Rio Grande – if they’re willing, that is, to ‘rough it’.

campbello@jamaicaobserver.com