Detour #292: Chasing James Bond Across Jamaica

Photo James Bond 007 Official YouTube

With Ian Fleming’s books and iconic movie locations as his guide, Mike Breslin spies a great road trip in Jamaica.

By definition, ‘secret’ agents are hard to find. But if you were looking for that most famous of spies, then Jamaica is the place to start. That’s because all 12 of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels were written on this wonderful island, while three of the movies were either set or filmed here.

So Bond makes for a great theme for a Jamaican road trip and, heading clockwise around the island, the first 007 stop is just a short drive from the airport at Montego Bay: Cinnamon Hill, a lovely golf course with a waterfall just off the 15th green that featured in Live and Let Die (1973), where it provides the backdrop to the voodoo scenes. It’s quite a hike along the paved golf buggy track from the carpark – and by Jamaican standards it’s not much of a waterfall – but if you’re a 007 fan then it’s worth the effort.

A little further east and just outside Falmouth, is the location for one of the most memorable stunts in Live and Let Die, when 007 uses crocodiles as stepping stones. It took place at Jamaica Swamp Safari Village, and it was all real: there was no CGI fakery in the early ’70s. This is all the more impressive when you realise the man who did the stunt, Ross Kananga, had four tries before he got it right, and the crocs soon learnt to be ready for his next go. Indeed, one chomped through his shoe on the fourth attempt! A video of all this is the highlight of any visit, though there are still plenty of crocodiles to see, too.

Back on the coast road, where the overtaking would not be out of place in a Rémy Julienne stunt sequence, you soon reach another Live and Let Die location, the enchanting Green Grotto Caves, with its wonderful stalagmites and stalactites and even bats and snakes. Even without the 007 connection, and just a small part of the cave system appears in the movie, it’s an interesting and fun place to visit.

As is the beautiful Dunn’s River Falls near Ocho Rios, one of Jamaica’s premier tourist sites – it even features on a banknote – and as a location in the very first Bond film, Dr No (1962). Close to here is the beach where Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) emerges from the Caribbean in that same film, an iconic scene. But Laughing Waters is privately owned and fenced off these days and so it’s impossible to get in, unless you’re some kind of super spy.

You’ll have more luck at Jamaica Inn, the other side of Ocho Rios and an old hangout of Fleming, where the ‘shaken not stirred’ method of making vodka martinis is said to have originated. If you’re driving, try the delicious Jamaica Inn Fruit Punch; shaken, of course.

Further along the coast at Oracabessa is Goldeneye, the former home of Fleming, now an expensive and exclusive hotel, and James Bond Beach, which has sadly been shut since Covid.

There are plenty of Bond sites in Port Antonio, though – after a drive along some pretty good coast and hill roads – because a fair chunk of the action in No Time to Die (2021) was filmed here. There’s much to recognise, too: from the Folly cricket ground to Market Square. Then there’s Piggy’s Jerk Centre, which actually burnt down after filming had ended, but Daniel Craig had enjoyed the food so much he helped pay for it to be rebuilt.

Port Antonio is also used for some of the action set in Cuba and by driving down a horribly potholed track you can find Boundbrook Wharf – now a coastguard mooring – from where Bond flies out of Santiago de Cuba in a seaplane.

Of course, no Bond adventure is complete without some dramatic car action, and while you get plenty of that in Jamaica – usually courtesy of taxi drivers in the ubiquitous Toyota Probox – the most exciting drive on this route is over the Blue Mountains on the A3, a route that’s described by Fleming in the Dr No novel. It’s a thrilling and beautiful road, if narrow and bumpy in parts, and there’s no better way to enter Kingston, where much of Dr No was filmed.

Nearby Port Royal also features heavily in Dr No – worth a visit for the atmospheric Fort Charles as much as the Bond stuff – and the road to get there, along the narrow spit of Palisadoes, is where 007 is followed and then pursued on arrival in Jamaica; the very first Bond car chase.

Visit the Grand Hotel Excelsior, formerly Morgan’s Harbour, and you can also find the spot where Bond meets Quarrel. In fact, once you get your bearings, thanks to the unmistakeable old brick structure by the jetties, you can see it’s hardly changed. Meanwhile, back in Kingston is the Liguanea Club (Queen’s Club in Dr No), where the ‘Three Blind Mice’ kill Strangways, in one of the very first Bond scenes.

After Kingston my the two stops weren’t visited by 007, perhaps because the roads in the southwest of the island are not really suitable for an Aston Martin, though they’re not quite as badly potholed as the guidebooks suggest. Either way, Treasure Beach (and Eggy’s Bar in particular) should not be missed, while Negril is great fun, especially watching the cliff diving and other antics in Rick’s Cafe.

Then it’s onto Bond’s trail again for the drive back to the airport, as a few miles past the delightful little town of Lucea there is the site of the double decker bus chase from Live and Let Die. Look out for the large yellow roadside stall selling shells and souvenirs; the lady inside confirms that it was “right here” that the filming took place.

After that take one last check in the mirrors to make sure you’re not being followed, and leave your wheels at Q Branch… I mean the airport rental car drop off.

Words & Photography Mike Breslin

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ROADBOOK

CLASS: SPY DRIVE

NAME: James Bond’s Jamaica

ROUTE: MOntego Bay to MOntego Bay

COUNTRY: Jamaica

Distance: 380 Miles

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