First it was the pool pump and now 4 guest rooms, the offices, gallery and managers’quarters are being powered by the sun at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill. This is phase one of what is to be a phased change to solar power. Timeline will depend on cash flow.  We have reduced our energy surcharge by $1 and we hope to eliminate all together. Changing to renewable energy is part of our ongoing efforts to reduce our carbon footprint and ensure the environmental sustainability of the hotel.

www.hotelmockingbirdhill.com/english/environment/sustainabletourism.php

Caribbean Green is a great article about the Blue Mountains and Port Antonio published 21 June 2008 in the Guardian. The little paragraph on safety in Jamaica is just perfect, and says it just as it really is .

The solar pool filter is working wonderfully using all that energy produced by the bright sun in Jamaica. We have also just had all the gutters replaced as the old ones were really beaten and worn and we were loosing a lot of water. In addition ro the gutters we have enhanced our rainwater storage by another 37,400 litres giving us a total storage capacity of just under 200,000 litres. The new gutters mean that we will now be able to capture rainwater far more efficiently. Long term plans are to become as close to self suffucient as possible with our water supplies and then put our pumps on to solar energy as well. The green practices continue at Hotel Mocking Bird Hill.

On 12 June jazz came to Port Antonio. Mary Issacs and Dennis Rushton delighted a crowd of about 30 people with there smooth jazz melodies. Everyone felt that we should have this more often in Port Antonio, so look out for more jazz in the hills, definitely aqs part of next year’s Ocho Rios Jazz Festival, and who knows – perhaps sometime before then

The Ocho Rios Jazz Festival come to Port Antonio and Hotel Mocking Bird Hill  on 12 June 2008 for a

jazz-happy-hour2

Poolside jazz and a wonderful dinner will be the order of the day.

The Clippers arrived late last night so everyone went to the Errol Flynn Marina to meet them and their families for their short stop in Port Antonio, So relaxing was the order of the day for the Chorletons and there’s Wendy in her Hull and Humber bikini and crocs.

At exactly 12.30 this afternoon the Clippers sailed out of the Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio, Jamaica at the start of the 11th leg of their round the world race. From our hilltop vantage point we were able to watch as the yachts sailed past Navy Island behind a Coastguard boat, gathered at Folly Point and then sailed around so that everyone could get a good view of the. Then at 14.00 the lined up and were off, having to do some tacking as the winds were just not quite right. We had wonderful views of them as they finally headed northeast towards Cuba and the Windward Passage. Next stop: New York. We’ll be following them on the clippers website

We wish all the sailors happy and safe sailing, and to Jamaica: GO! GO! GO!

There was a lot of activity at the Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio, Jamaica this morning as the crews of the ten Clippers prepared for their departure to New York. It was a short stay, but we hope a sweet one and we look forward to welcoming everyone again in Port Antonio for a longer stay and we certainly look forward to hosting the Round the World Clipper Race in 2010.

After the crews leave Hotel Mocking Bird Hill and Chefs Anthony and Glen’s fabulous food they’ll be on anything and everything that comes in tins -definately not gourmet! so Wendy and Ewan are taking a quick cooking lesson with Chef Anthony to learn how to make the tinned food taste great Jamaican Style. They better be careful, or they’ll be on galley duty all the way to New York!

Finally, they’re almost here! The Clippers are expected to arrive in Port Antonio round about midnight tonight and we are all quite excited. At Hotel Mocking Bird Hill we raised the sails poolside this week to welcome the team members and their families who are staying with us and last night we threw a cocktail party for the Jamaica Team, their families and friends. It was a great party -the Jolly Boys sang their hearts out to everyone’s delight and Nick joined then for a couple of sing -a- longs. Barbara had created a couple of cocktails for the event and her Clipper Fizz (rum, Mockingbird’s own homemade orange liqueur’, orange juice, pineapple juice and soda water) was the drink of the evening). Our guests who will be joining the boats tomorrow are enjoying their last day of holiday and relaxation today as work on the boats begins in earnest tomorrow morning.