Picturing Cuba: Havana and Viñales | Santa Fe Photographic Workshops Santa Fe, New Mexico

I will be joining Arthur Meyerson on this trip.

The program is excellent. It truly is a person-to-person exchange, and I loved meeting the people of Cuba on the streets, talking to them, and photographing them. It was wonderful.  Kathryn Hill, past Cuba Program participant

As the eyes of the world turn to the small but resilient island in the Caribbean Sea, Picturing Cuba offers you the rare opportunity to engage with the Cuban people and to discover the country’s cultural diversity and physical beauty with your camera. Alluring, urban Havana and serene, verdant Viñales are our primary locations to explore. Join photographer and seasoned Cuba traveler Arthur Meyerson for a memorable journey to this beguiling country before it changes forever.

via Picturing Cuba: Havana and Viñales | Santa Fe Photographic Workshops Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Cinnamon Hill Golf Course | Jamaica

Spanning 400 lush acres between the verdant Jamaican Mountains and stunning Caribbean Sea, Rose Hall Resort & Spa proudly features Cinnamon Hill Golf Course– an 18-hole championship level golf course designed by Robert Von Hagge. No Caribbean all-inclusive vacation would be complete without a challenging round on these links. Created with the resort player in mind, it features a seductive layout with an open, wind-swept front nine – giving way to a tight, trap-filled back nine bordered by dense foliage. You’ll experience the best of Jamaica golf — the cool ocean spray on your cheeks as you putt on seaside greens, then the wind whistling through the pines as you tee-off on the 17th hole, 350 feet above sea level. This is a test you will enjoy, enchanting panoramas framing your every shot.

Cinnamon Hill’s diverse elevations gives you the experience of both links and inland golf. Feel the cool ocean spray on your cheeks as you putt on seaside greens, then hear the wind whistling through the pines as you tee-off on the 17th hole, 350 feet above sea-level. This is a test you will enjoy – enchanting panoramas framing your every shot.

There are more than 18 ways to love Cinnamon Hill – from Majestic Blue, the signature hole whose fairway fades into the aquamarine ocean, to the mountaintop tee overlooking the Rose Hall Great House, ancient aqueducts, Johnny Cash’s home and James Bond‘s tropical setting for “Live and Let Die”.

See the photos at Photography by McGraphics
Stock Photos for Sale 

White Witch Golf Course | Jamacia

Winding through the Blue mountains of Jamaica’s historic 4,000 acre Rose Hall Plantation, The White Witch golf course is carved out of 600 acres of lush greenery and rolling countryside that feature panoramic Caribbean vistas with breathtaking mountain views.

The course is named after Annie Palmer, the notorious “White Witch,” who was mistress of Rose Hall Plantation in the early 19th Century. She was purported to be beautiful and beguiling—and to have done away with three unsuspecting husbands.

Locals are quick to say that Annee Palmer still haunts the Rose Hall Great House and the grounds of the estate — and maybe she does you have to go there and see the candle light tour.

I certainly blamed her for several wayward putts when I played her namesake golf course, the White Witch.

Play begins with an eye-opener — a 550-yard, par-5, which drops abruptly off the tee to a canted fairway, then climbs steeply past a succession of huge bunkers on the right to a small tabletop green tucked out of sightly off to the right. It is the most daunting hole on the course from the tee, and one of the prettiest I have seen.

The 10th hole is as deceptive as Annee herself, a 621-yard, par-5 doglegging around bunkers on the edge of a ravine. Fortunately it’s downhill off the tee. Cutting the corner, while risky, can pay off with a ball on the green in two if your lucky, despite the hole’s length.

The 164-yard, par-3 14th hole can be as tough as it looks, depending on the wind. The shallow peninsula green lies more than 100 feet below the tee, on the far side of water. The elevated tee provides a great view of the dogleg 15th hole, as well as the fairway of the difficult par-5 16th.

The par-3 17th hole is 161 yards slightly downhill to a small green surrounded by sand bunkers. Unless the wind throws a tantrum, this is not a hard hole. But it is among the most memorable for its beauty — white sand sharply contrasting with rich green turf and the blue backdrop of ocean. A windswept tree silhouetted against the sky provides just the right finishing touch.

16 of 18 holes offer views of the Caribbean Sea. Once you play the course you will want to come back and play it again.

See the photos at Photography by McGraphics
Stock Photos for Sale 

Accompong, Jamaica – the difference between reading history, and feeling history comes alive

It took over two and half hours to get to Accompong from the resort I was staying at Montego Bay. The roads where narrow and bumpy. As you can see from the photos, I was able to see the real Jamaica that people do not see when visiting.

I got to the town on a quiet morning. For a small fee we were taken on a guided tour around the community, and the significance of the place grew on me as I toured around the community. Oral White made a knowlegable guide. This is when I realised the difference between reading history, and feeling history come alive.

Within the town, individual plots of land are passed down from generation to generation, with no official titles changing hands. Neither the land nor income generating activities within its boundaries are subject to government tax.

When you enter the community you see the abeng. The abeng is the most recognised symbol of the Maroons. It is a cow’s horn with the tip cut off. The Maroons sent secret war time messages by the drum and the abeng. Blowing through a square cut into the concave side of the abeng produced a sound heard for miles, which could be decoded by those who knew how. Today it is used mainly for ceremonial and festive purposes.

Accompong today is a farming community, with a few shops to serve the local population, and a small museum showcasing the history of the Maroons.

January 6, Accompong celebrates Kojo’s Day. Hundreds gather from across Jamaica and the world to commemorate Kojo and the signing of the Peace Treaty. On 6th every year, the Maroons in Jamaica hold a special celebration in Accompong, St. Elizabeth. They celebrate the birthday of their great leader Kojo, and commemorate the 1738 signing of a Peace Treaty with the British.

Saint Elizabeth Parish

Maroons from across Jamaica and the globe gather in Accompong on this day. The ceremony also attracts Jamaicans from all walks of life, and visitors from many countries.

This was the best part of my Jamaican trip.

See the photos at Photography by McGraphics
Stock Photos for Sale 

Enhanced by Zemanta