Whither dead end beach

At the end of Kent Avenue in Montego Bay, there is a little beach that was called Sunset Beach when I was growing up. Sometime ago when I mentioned it, a reader said it was actually Chatham Beach, and that Sunset is the smaller beach at the other end of the sea wall.

Yet, my generation did not ever call the one at the upper end Chatham. For us it was Sunset, a place where we played and frolic on the whitish sands, collected seashells, and watched tourists covered in suntan lotions turn from white to dark brown. Across the road was Buccaneer Inn hotel, and I would wonder about what it was like inside.

The road used to go around the airport, and one of the things we looked forward to was the sight of an incoming airplane, which would fly just above the road and the beach. However, for safety reasons, I was told, the section of the road that went around the airport was cut off where it connected to the beach. There was to be no more vehicular traffic around the airport. It was now called Dead End Road, and the beach, eventually, ‘Dead End’ Beach.

Over time, the visitors disappeared from the beach as the all-inclusive properties gobbled them up. Dead End became a chill spot, with the beach being the major pull. In one of my articles last year, I bemoaned the fact that garbage was strewn about the place. Yet, the water was still crystal-clear, clean and fresh.

Recently, when I revisited the beach, I saw the place dug up and men working, building a wall, separating the beach from the road. It seemed like an extension of the sea wall. Garbage was still at some spots. I also noticed that the road surface was being prepared for asphalting. There are also two new ‘groynes’ (stones encased in thick wires) extending from the sea wall.

On a subsequent visit, I saw that the wall that was being built was in fact an extension of the sea wall, and that the road was being re-asphalted at night. In my effort to know exactly what was going on, I was told that the extension of the sea wall was being carried out by a resort right there on the stretch, and the road upgrade by the Government.

‘Dead End’ Buccaneer Beach and the Kent Avenue are far from being dead, I thought. They are poised for livelier times with these recent developments. And the fire-red sunset seemed to agree.