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ASCSA Cruise Day 4 (Tuesday)
When we woke up this morning, we were at the pier in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. The terrain seems much like many Caribbean islands–lush green, town crowded around the coastal flat area, houses dotting the hillsides.
Our plan was to gather at 7:45, then get off the boat together to find our pre-arranged tour for the day. And the plan worked! Once again, though, it was a really crowded operation. Not so much getting off the ship, but meeting our tour bus among the throngs, and then getting out of the parking lot. I was glad Bob had worked out the arrangements so we just had to follow directions.
Safely on the bus and having wound our way out of the parking area, we were off to our first stop, the Blue Hole. It was a windy, and in some spots, rough, road for the last mile or so, but our bus driver Horass managed perfectly. On the way there, our guide Kim told us about some of the flora of the island. We also got a lesson on the local patois, much of which we could only guess at until she translated.
Since this was going to be a really wet (swimming) step, I didn’t take any pictures. Some other folks got some, and of course there’s a DVD one of our crew bought. I’m guessing we’ll share eventually. Later in the day I did get a post card to send to my financial advisor, so I took a picture of that, which is what you’ll see in the pics below.
The day started out a bit misty but cleared up as we were enjoying the pools. This is an interesting space where we walk up through several waterfalls. The guides are very good at keeping us all directed to the right places and helping us stay balanced. Since most of the falls I’m familiar with are pretty slippery, it took me a little bit to get confident that these rocks were not. The only challenge was discovering where to put my feet in the places where I couldn’t see under the rushing water.
We walked up to the highest pool by following the left-hand wall. The guide seated us all in the water under a rushing waterfall for a group picture…brrr! Then it was time to jump! The height of this one was probably only about 6 feet. And jumping was definitly easier than walking back down over the rocks, so in we went.
We repeated this pattern a couple of times, then it was time to walk down the middle of a waterfall. This one was probably 20-25 feet high. They had a rope set up so we basically rapelled down in the middle. Once we reached a point a few feet above the water, we turned around and jumped in. That was a lot more fun than it sounds, I think. At this level there was also a jumping-off platform, so some of us walked up to that and jumped from there. Hitting the water from that height was definitely noticeable, but I remembered to hold my nose. Jumping from this high, just blowing out at the last minute as I’d done before wasn’t enough to counteract the water rushing to get up your nose, so holding was definitly the smart thing to do. 😉
The last “obstacle” here was a rope swing into the final pool. Not just a rope, they had a T-bar to hang from. I think I managed to swing all the way out before dropping, but it went by so fast I’m not exacly sure where I went in. Maybe it’ll be on the DVD and I’ll be able to share it later.
This was a really fun stop. The water was pretty chilly at the top, but by the time we got all wet, it wasn’t really even noticeable. We were busy with the activities, and with watching the other folks there doing the same things. It wasn’t too crowded, and as I said, the guides were great. By the end, the sun had come out, so it was just really fun, though we all got back on the bus pretty soggy!
Next stop was another water adventure–Dunn’s Falls. Apparently pretty famous, and rightly so. This was another well-organized activity where we pretty much played follow-the-leader. Since this was a wet experience but not a swimming one, I took my phone (in a waterproof case) and got a few pictures at the bottom where we started. You can see folks holding hands and climbing up the falls. One shot is where I turned around and got a picture of the beach where we started–that’s just beautiful.
The whole adventure here was a climb way, way up the falls. It took us probably 45 minutes or an hour. It became obvious right away why we were holding hands. Everyone was supporting his neighbor, and that worked really well. And we had a main guide and a videographer guide. The guides all had blue T-shirts with their names and a number on them. The videographers had orange shirts with “VIDEOGRAPHER” on them. They we snapping pictures and shooting video as we went up the falls. This time, I’m the one that bought the DVD, which I’ll share with everyone else. Other folks were taking pictures, too, and some of our group was watching from the sidelines and taking pictures, so there ought to be more to share eventually.
This was also a really fun activity and I’m really glad I didn’t chicken out. Fun memory!
After this was a lunch stop, a short souvenir stop, and then back to the pier. There was a steel band playing to greet us. I also got a good picture of the ship at the pier. Big, isn’t it?
So a word about the towel animals. There’s apparently a new one very night. First night was an elephant. Then a bunny rabbit, and tonight was a dog. The stewards do this for us. It’s really nice to come back to the cabin after dinner to find such a surprise.
We had dinner together as a group again, then I finished up getting my steps in for today by walking on the jogging track for a while. Now it’s 9:30 PM and I’m finishing up this post. Once I get it uploaded, I’ll be getting in bed and doing some reading before turning out the light.
Tomorrow’s another day where we have to take the tenders (shuttle boats) into town, so we have to keep our ears open to hear our time called. We don’t want to miss the catamaran sail tomorrow, with two snorkel stops, including one at stingray city. Since I tested out my mask and snorkel on our first day off the boat, I should be all set. It’ll be another water day tomorrow!
