Ramble-Ramble...
So while watching Lonely Planet on the Travel Channel every afternoon back in middle school, I remembered how cool this one part on Jamaica was... where Ian Wright visited a waterfall and you could climb up the middle of it... Flash-forward some +10 years.... And here I was... about to get the chance to climb Dunn's River Falls myself. Almost like it was a life-goal or something, something I had seen on TV and always dreamed of getting to do myself, never really thinking I would. The main reason I wanted to book the Royal Caribbean's 7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise was for the Haiti stop (and its coaster like ride) but after looking over the excursions list for Jamaica, I realized what Dunn's River Falls was, the waterfall I had seen on TV so many years ago... My level of excitement pretty much skyrocketed and I convinced Deka we should book it for our Jamaica day adventure. She was down for it although it turned out she really didn't have any sort of idea what she/we were about to get into! Long story short(ish).... I say.... Hey look, we can do this waterfall climb in Jamaica where you get to climb up the waterfall itself!!! Deka says OK, lets do that.... (Day of) I look at her with long pants on and not really looking like she was about to get wet I asked... You're gonna climb in that? (while looking at the rest of the group all in swimsuits and such...) Turns out, she had absolutely no idea that when I said "lets go climb a waterfall" it meant.... getting into a river and physically climbing up into the falling water.
Ok, so here we go... Falmouth, Jamaica, our second port and fourth day on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.
After getting up and overeating (again) at FABuffet we were off the boat in on our way to our Bus/Van...thing. Our tour would be taking us to both Dunn's River Falls and as a bonus, a stop at the Green Grotto Caves before bringing us back to the Disneyfied terminal in Falmouth, cruise goers only, no locals, minimal interactions with the locals. But unlike Labadee, you are free to come and go and leave the safety zone.(also, via our bus we were able to see a lot of the country on our hour drive, poverty included... almost humbling) But even with the shopping mall area deigned just for tourists visiting via ships we still heard people saying they wouldn't be getting off the boat here and that it wasn't safe, we also overheard a mom telling her kids they would be making a quick trip past the shops and then its right back on the boat. (we ended up seeing and hearing the same sort of things in Mexico as well, sadly)
Hey look, Jamaica!
Port Falmouth, with its cruise goer mall area.
pretty much the same crap you'd find in any other... even American, beach town... But with a nicer presentation.
It pretty much feels like being at CityWalk or Downtown Disney and I hated it.
I mean, it looks nice... but its not what I'm looking for and much like yesterday.. I didn't buy a single thing here.
Although... passing the crafts area... I was tempted...
The infamous "wood duck"
(there's an amusing story behind it)
((mostly due to poor communication))
Stepping off the boat you're greeted with this lovely sign and TSA-like-agents reminding you that ganja, while synonymous with Jamaica, is in fact illegal
Stepping into any giving gift shop tho, would still lead you to believe otherwise.
Bongs and pipes of all shapes and sizes were available... most coming in the Rastafarian colors.
Ugh, gross.
Also pretty gross is the second you step off the ship you pass a Dairy Queen, Quiznos, and Nathan's famous.
(HOW EXOTIC)
((and while I do love me some DQ.... its not really what I wanna see as my first food option in a foreign country))
I was about to have an aneurysm and wanted out but Deka needed to get a bracelet first, she's been getting one for every new place shes gone.
And she got me one.
It was some sort of 3 for $5 sale or something and she only needed one.
Thankfully, we made it to our mini-bus to take us to see the real Jamaica.
And in an emergency, dial 119.
(and don't forget to drive on the wrong side of the road)
After an hour drive or so along the northern coast line of Jamaica we made it to Dunn's River Falls near Ocho Rios (also home to an Alpine Coaster that we could have visited as well.. but having done the one in Haiti we opted for the cave tour) The drive was pretty neat, passing areas with burned-out cars on the side of the street... goats tied to random trees along the road.. and also luxury resorts and hotels?
Pretty flowering tree... thing
Oh, also... Dunn's River Falls
and lots of people climbing it.... I think it was truly at this point where Deka realized what she had gotten herself into!
The climb itself starts in the Caribbean Sea and its suggested to hold hands in a giant chain... Yeah, I didn't take part...In fact, I climbed on my own, one handed.
(holding my non-waterproof camera in my hand with the help of a plastic bag!)
Well, here we go.
The climb isn't really to challenging and with different pools along the way, you don't make the 600 foot climb all at once.
Over the climb you traverse 600 feet up the falls with an elevation change of around 180 feet, starting at sea level (or I guess... slightly less than sea level.... as you start in the sea!)
It was... visually stunning but due to the large number of climbers you can't get a photo without half a dozen pasty looking people in it (and I guess that includes me)
Pretty pretty
It really was everything I wanted. Exciting but also relaxing? Beautiful, adventurous. something real (I don't know.. living/breathing/alive) waayyy better than the terminal shopping area!
Pretty pretty, still.
Oh yeah, we sure did!
And I would LOVE to do it again. I really don't think I could have found any other experience in Jamaica that could top this.
And did I mention I did it with a broken sandal?!
These were....brand new...bought specifically FOR THIS and the right side cane unglued pretty much the second I got in the ocean. (after the climb I ended up tearing off the whole bottom and walking around funny until I got back to the boat with my Flip-Flops and trashed these awful sandals)
Oh, and sandals with a backing or water-shoes are required for the climb
Sadly, on the way out to the car park from the falls, you have to pass this awful shopping area. I hated it. I mean, I get why they do it... but there was no bypass no way to avoid it and all the shopkeepers wants your money and I would assume only make money off of the tourists as locals wouldn't stop. But some of them were just super aggressive and I was extremely annoyed and just wanted to get back in the damn bus. (much like the shop area in Haiti.. although that could be avoided)
After the falls it was back to Falmouth but with a stop at Green Grotto Caves on ways.
It was on this bus ride where we heard Fatass Buffet referred to as...... Fatass Buffet <3
I didn't really know much about the place, other than it was a cave you got to go in.
When booking the excursion to Dunn's there were three or four options. One that was just the falls, a second that did the falls and then Mystic Mountain (home to the Alpine Coaster), some other third variant (I think with a fancy lunch).... and the one that included Green Grotto.
Safety first!
Hair net? check... Helmet? check.....
Lets go!
Woo, caves!
Green Grotto turned out to be pretty cool
Random self-fact
This was the second cave tour Deka and I have done together, having done Marvel Cave - National Natural Landmark in Brnason, MO back in 2005!
But um, this was our first Jamaican cave? Caribbean cave?
The caves are home to 9 of Jamaica's 21 species of bat....
we saw these ones!!
(and some of the people on the tour weren't to happy about it)
But I myself wasn't that happy coming upon Mr.Snake.
(the Jamaican Boa)
Down this long dark part of the cave dead ends at....
This creepy underground lake. I guess back in the day they used to have boat tours down in here and in the 90's a small girl fell out and drown. (Google image search does show photos of the boats, at least) At one point the guide turned all the lights off, leaving us in complete darkness.
Ah, sunlight....
oooh, and pretty flowers too!
I don't know what these are... We saw them growing all over Jamaica and Grand Cayman and it wasn't the famed Breadfruit or Ackee (but we did see those).
After leaving Green Grotto the bus took us back to the port and market place. Deka and I split off as I wanting nothing to do with the mall area and she was on a mission to try real Jamaican food. She ended up getting some Jerk Chicken but it wasn't authentic and she seemed kind of upset by that.
And as the sun set on Falmouth, the Freedom of the Seas departed Jamaica and headed off to our next port, George Town, Grand Cayman! (Time for us to go overeat at FABuffet)
(oh, oh, and Jamaica was country #16 for me!)
So while watching Lonely Planet on the Travel Channel every afternoon back in middle school, I remembered how cool this one part on Jamaica was... where Ian Wright visited a waterfall and you could climb up the middle of it... Flash-forward some +10 years.... And here I was... about to get the chance to climb Dunn's River Falls myself. Almost like it was a life-goal or something, something I had seen on TV and always dreamed of getting to do myself, never really thinking I would. The main reason I wanted to book the Royal Caribbean's 7 Night Western Caribbean Cruise was for the Haiti stop (and its coaster like ride) but after looking over the excursions list for Jamaica, I realized what Dunn's River Falls was, the waterfall I had seen on TV so many years ago... My level of excitement pretty much skyrocketed and I convinced Deka we should book it for our Jamaica day adventure. She was down for it although it turned out she really didn't have any sort of idea what she/we were about to get into! Long story short(ish).... I say.... Hey look, we can do this waterfall climb in Jamaica where you get to climb up the waterfall itself!!! Deka says OK, lets do that.... (Day of) I look at her with long pants on and not really looking like she was about to get wet I asked... You're gonna climb in that? (while looking at the rest of the group all in swimsuits and such...) Turns out, she had absolutely no idea that when I said "lets go climb a waterfall" it meant.... getting into a river and physically climbing up into the falling water.
Ok, so here we go... Falmouth, Jamaica, our second port and fourth day on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.
After getting up and overeating (again) at FABuffet we were off the boat in on our way to our Bus/Van...thing. Our tour would be taking us to both Dunn's River Falls and as a bonus, a stop at the Green Grotto Caves before bringing us back to the Disneyfied terminal in Falmouth, cruise goers only, no locals, minimal interactions with the locals. But unlike Labadee, you are free to come and go and leave the safety zone.(also, via our bus we were able to see a lot of the country on our hour drive, poverty included... almost humbling) But even with the shopping mall area deigned just for tourists visiting via ships we still heard people saying they wouldn't be getting off the boat here and that it wasn't safe, we also overheard a mom telling her kids they would be making a quick trip past the shops and then its right back on the boat. (we ended up seeing and hearing the same sort of things in Mexico as well, sadly)
pretty much the same crap you'd find in any other... even American, beach town... But with a nicer presentation.
It pretty much feels like being at CityWalk or Downtown Disney and I hated it.
(there's an amusing story behind it)
((mostly due to poor communication))
Bongs and pipes of all shapes and sizes were available... most coming in the Rastafarian colors.
Ugh, gross.
(HOW EXOTIC)
((and while I do love me some DQ.... its not really what I wanna see as my first food option in a foreign country))
I was about to have an aneurysm and wanted out but Deka needed to get a bracelet first, she's been getting one for every new place shes gone.
It was some sort of 3 for $5 sale or something and she only needed one.
(and don't forget to drive on the wrong side of the road)
After an hour drive or so along the northern coast line of Jamaica we made it to Dunn's River Falls near Ocho Rios (also home to an Alpine Coaster that we could have visited as well.. but having done the one in Haiti we opted for the cave tour) The drive was pretty neat, passing areas with burned-out cars on the side of the street... goats tied to random trees along the road.. and also luxury resorts and hotels?
and lots of people climbing it.... I think it was truly at this point where Deka realized what she had gotten herself into!
(holding my non-waterproof camera in my hand with the help of a plastic bag!)
And I would LOVE to do it again. I really don't think I could have found any other experience in Jamaica that could top this.
These were....brand new...bought specifically FOR THIS and the right side cane unglued pretty much the second I got in the ocean. (after the climb I ended up tearing off the whole bottom and walking around funny until I got back to the boat with my Flip-Flops and trashed these awful sandals)
Oh, and sandals with a backing or water-shoes are required for the climb
After the falls it was back to Falmouth but with a stop at Green Grotto Caves on ways.
It was on this bus ride where we heard Fatass Buffet referred to as...... Fatass Buffet <3
When booking the excursion to Dunn's there were three or four options. One that was just the falls, a second that did the falls and then Mystic Mountain (home to the Alpine Coaster), some other third variant (I think with a fancy lunch).... and the one that included Green Grotto.
Lets go!
This was the second cave tour Deka and I have done together, having done Marvel Cave - National Natural Landmark in Brnason, MO back in 2005!
we saw these ones!!
(and some of the people on the tour weren't to happy about it)
(the Jamaican Boa)
After leaving Green Grotto the bus took us back to the port and market place. Deka and I split off as I wanting nothing to do with the mall area and she was on a mission to try real Jamaican food. She ended up getting some Jerk Chicken but it wasn't authentic and she seemed kind of upset by that.
(oh, oh, and Jamaica was country #16 for me!)
