James Bond's Jamaica
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
It is no coincidence that Jamaica is the backdrop for some of James Bond’s escapades. The famous character’s creator, Ian Fleming, who would have reached the age of 100 this year were he still living, spent many winter getaways on the Caribbean island. In fact, he penned most of his famed novels and short stories while there.
Can Fleming’s version of Jamaica still be found today? No. Well, small pieces of it remain, but the island’s most visible parts, its shoreline and cities, have changed so much that Fleming probably wouldn’t recognize them.
In the 1950s and 60s, Jamaica was still a British colony. Kingston, Jamaica’s largest city has become exponentially rougher and blighted by poverty. Huge resorts have sprung up around the coast. Only the interior of the island remains unchanged, as have small out-of-the-way pockets of seaside. Luckily, for Bond aficionados and travelers who want to see the Jamaica of yesteryear, some of Fleming’s old haunts are still intact.
The beach featured in the story “Dr. No,” Palisadoes, is still as Fleming described it. But its surroundings have changed from a slightly exotic tropical setting with an element of quaintness to today’s urban Jamaica: hot, poor and rough.
Fleming also chose to spend time in the cool heights of the Blue Mountains. This area has changed little over the past fifty years. The scruffy roads, dense vegetation, coffee plantations and scenic tropical panoramas can still be found by anyone willing to venture outside of the resort areas.
Fleming spent most of his time on the north coast, near a town called Blue Harbor. The resort boom missed this village. It remains, as it was in Fleming’s time, charming and a bit unkempt. Fleming lived in a place he dubbed Goldeneye (after a World War II operation he was part of). Now, Goldeneye is an upscale resort popular among his fans.