Surf Boston Bay BeachBoston Bay, Jamaica
All along the main road that leads down to Boston Bay, sturdy home-made grills sit in front of brightly painted shacks, deep grey smoke billowing from the hot coals. It carries with it the smell of spiced, blackened meat and fish, for this is the birthplace of the Jamaican specialty 'jerk'. Jerk chicken, jerk pork, jerk fish – it’s all served up here, with generous helpings of dumplings, plantains and vegetables best washed down with a cold Red Stripe.
But the tasty grub is not the only reason to venture this far east – well beyond the traditional tourist hot-spots of the west and north. Boston Beach itself is a pretty and undeveloped stretch of sand with a fraction of the tourists who spread out their towels at Negril. It’s pretty popular with locals though, with tunes pumping and vans parked nearby serving snacks and drinks. It’s also something of a surf hot-spot. Here, Jamaicans and travellers wade into the turquoise waves with their boards from the shore, or jump off from a rocky outcrop further out.
The beach is free, the jerk specialties are cheap – what more could you want?
It’s well off the tourist trail but pretty easy to get to – just rent a car or jump on a bus.