Cruisin' 2004 Day 5 - Jamaica

M Bowlan 2004 click to enlarge
The Voyager of the Seas docked in Ocho Rios, Jamaica

No problem mon! One of many sayings of the Jamaican people. They have many dialects, but their offical language is English! Today we woke up to the docking of our ship in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. It started out to be a cloudy day with a little rain as we ate our breakfast in the "Windjammer". By 9:30am we were fully docked and ready to go on our day excursion which consisted of a tour deep into the country to visit a working plantation, Dunn's River Fall's and our last stop at Dolphin's Cove. A busy day indeed! The trip to "Brimmer Hall Estate" took us through the town of Ocho Rios and into the countryside of rolling mountainous area. The ride was fast paced and on roads that were in many places in bad need of work! The ride was very twisty and driving on the "wrong" side of the road made the trip interesting! The views from the bus were amazing with lush troplical plants of all kinds, but the hardest part to believe was the many kilometers of driving through the poorer part of the country. The living conditions were very primitive, most made from wood scraps and odds and ends nestled along the roads and into the hillsides. Amazingly, most seemed to have electricity and some running water, but many were very rough, without windows and not much for a yard. Running free were many different animals; chickens, goats, some dogs and birds of all sorts. We saw many people just sitting out in their yard by the side of the road relaxing and talking in the afternoon sun. It was a very humbling experience, and helps us realize how lucky and good a life we all live. It is so easy to take the "normal" things that we have for granted.

The tour of the plantation was pretty cool. The working farmers gave us a tractor ride and showed us many of the crops that they have been producing for almost 200 years. Pineapple, sugarcane, bananas, coconuts, cocoa, and citrus fruits are their main production. This plantation started out with over 5,000 acres and used over 900 slaves in the 1800's to produce the mentioned produce for the United Kingdom market. It is still a working plantation today and still supplies the UK today.

The sun started to come out early in the afternoon as we headed back towards Ocho Rios for our encouter with Dunn's River Falls, the highlight attraction of the Ocho Rios area. The Falls are spring fed from high in the mountain, and run down onto the beach and into the sea. We start at the bottom with a tour guide in groups of 15-30 people. We all had to wear "auqa-socks" and hand in hand we formed a human chain and started to climb! The part of the falls that we climb totals 600ft in vertical height, covering a distance of 1,000ft. The terrain was steep in places and the force of the water strong. The view looking back and up ahead as we climbed was nothing short of breathtaking! Due to the nature of getting soaked, we did not have our digital camera to show you pictures, but took along our water-proof camera to capture the moments, which we will sharre with you later. Rhonda and Wendy did a great job climbing and the relatively cool 75deg water helped quench the now close to 30C humid day. Our tour guide was excellent; Oliver took us as a small group (approx 12 people) which made it a little more personalized. He was quite aggressive and we took paths (going past other groups) up the Falls that others didn't get to do! It sure was the highlight of the day!

We had a couple of hours left before having to board the ship at 5:00pm. We went to Dolphins Cove to have some needed lunch and take in the dolphin show. There were a total of eight dolphins all performing. Some people had paid to touch the dolphins, and some even took the option to get in the water and swim with them. It sure looked fun, but we watched today; maybe next time! We were then off on a 10min ride back to the ship. The ship sure is large and dwarfs everything around it. After boarding, we went to the top deck to watch us pull away from the dock and sail away from Ocho Rios. The sun was setting as we sailed away, the perfect ending to a great day in Jamaica. Ya mon!

We all decided to grab a quick snack and head to the hot tub for a while before we had to get ready for dinner. We stopped outside the dining room for some pictures before sitting down to eat. The menu again tonight was great with lots to choose from to suit everyone's taste. Our waiters tonight did some fun dancing for entertainment, they had everyone laughing. Life on-board is all about having a good time! We waddled out of our dining room and walked around exploring more of the ship; amazingly we have not yet seen it all! Before long we headed up the the upper pool deck where a "Mardi Gras" party was happening at 11:30pm. We sat on a couple of the lounge chairs for a while, watching and listening to the live band, hundreds of people and the amazing food displays. The ladies had a "Blue Monday" with some Jamaican rum. I was getting pretty tired after the long day, and fell asleep for a while. It wasn't too long before we were all party-poopers and decided to head for bed, as the mornings seem to come quick and we need to be up early...

The winds had died down quite a bit today and again, we can't notice that we are on a ship (no swaying like yesterday). The skies are clear and the moon bright. We will cover approx 500km overnight to arrive in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island. We will be swimming with the sting rays tomorrow. Until then...


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