Yeah, mon (in your best Jamaican accent, you know you want too), we arrived in Falmouth, Jamaica on Christmas Day. The tour company ran out of space on the shared van so Dave & I volunteered ourselves off the cramped van to await a second vehicle to drive us an hour & a half away to Dunn’s River Falls where we were going to climb the falls and zip line. Something I’d never think to be doing for Christmas!
At first I was annoyed that we got off the van, but my mood quickly turned around when the 2nd van showed up and it was way nicer than the 1st one. But what made it even better was that our fellow passengers were loads of fun to hang out with! We had a nice family from Texas: Jaime, Desmond and their 2 kids (Christian & Desmond Two/DJ) and a solo traveler from Chicago: Ron. David and I thought we had a long way to get back home after the cruise but the TX family will be driving 6 hours and Ron will be driving 14 hours. Our driver referred to himself as “Mr. Biggs” but he should have been named Mario Andretti. After multiple near-misses, and just like Mexico with no rules for Jamaican roads, we arrived at Dunn’s River falls.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but was told by our tour guide Mama Sophie that everything was going to get wet. And everyone in our group assumed she meant getting splashed by water as we walked near or even under waterfalls. What Sophie really meant was we’d be climbing up the falls basically, through the falls.
The hike up the falls started on the shore of the Caribbean Sea and after 960 feet of climbing over rocks we made it to the top! Instead of selling t-shirts that said “I survived the falls,” they should sell ones that say “The falls beat me up!” I have bruises and one gnarly scratch on my leg but it was refreshing, physically challenging and awesome to be experiencing a unique Christmas this year. Maybe getting away from the family drama every year should be the new norm!
Of course we spent the $40 USD for the video and picture of our time climbing the falls. Chukka! Jaime kept thanking us for making sure her boys were OK while climbing (“follow Mr. David”, “Grab Miss Amy’s hand”) and Desmond bought beers for everyone at lunch. Honestly, it was really rewarding spending time with them and seeing how proud those boys were after we finished. We did it!
But the fun didn’t stop there because up next was zip-lining. Yeah, mon! Full disclosure, I had never zip-lined before and was scared about the idea of flying through the jungle and over the waterfalls. But when in Jamaica, you chukka and suit up! I suppose I should let you know that Chukka = It’s time to play. It also didn’t hurt that the 10 year old was being brave about the zip-line while his 5 year old brother was crying. I thought, you can’t cry too Amy!
Zip-lining was pretty fun and something I’d probably do again. Afterwards, we went to Plantation Smokehouse to have a traditional lunch of BBQ chicken, rice/beans and salad. Then we settled into the long drive back to the cruise terminal where we quickly bought some souvenirs at ridiculous tourist prices before heading back on the ship. I’m ashamed to admit what we paid, but we really didn’t have time to haggle over prices. All I know is that Jamaican cream rum better last forever!!
After dinner, we settled in for an early evening; too exhausted to even attempt the ship’s late nite activities. We’re cruising for the next 2 days so I don’t expect to write another blog post. But when I say that, usually something blog-worthy happens. I’m so ready to be home and see my dog that I think I’m over the cruise now. Meanwhile, David is having the time of his life trying to get elected Mayor of the Cruise!
There She Goes... 