There are many choices for excursions in Jamaica. This is one of the things I believe differentiates Jamaica from the Dominican Republic and will make it a better experience for active families. Easy day trips can be made to Ocho Rios, Dunns Falls and other places. You can bobsled down a mountain (cool runnings anyone?), go to the blue hole or Dunns falls, kayak through a bio-luminescent bay, snorkel, scuba and more. I went scuba diving, cliff jumping (my favorite) and took tubes down a river.
On our rides to excursions the guide would always tell us funny stories. My favorite was one about churches in Jamaica. She said in Jamaica they say they have more churches per capita than anywhere else. She said what they don’t tell you is next to every church there is a rum bar. “The women go to church and the men go the bar, each takin in the spirit in their own way.”
The tubing was great with Chukka Tours, who run a lot of the tours on the island. This particular tour is about 45 minutes from Runaway Bay, about half that from Ochos Rios, and just under 2 hrs from Montego Bay. The drive up the mountain was an experience in and of itself. The “2 lane” road was barely wide enough for 2 mountain bikes let alone 2 vehicles. The drivers do an expert job of navigating this. Keep an eye out for goats. They are everywhere.
The river was clear and went through a very lush part of the island. It was so relaxing. The water comes down from the mountain. The guide described it as “refreshing” we referred to it as fricking freezing. Good news is you get used to it pretty quickly. At one point there was a man literally in the middle of the river selling drinks. Don’t worry about bringing money with you, you can pay when you get back to the shop. Along the way our guide pointed out different types of trees, bamboo, and animals. The tour lasted about an hour and ends at a nice little complex in the Jungle where they also do 4 wheeler tours and tree canopy/ziplining. There is a gift shop there with pretty good prices. I bought a real ukulele for $20 that sold for $40 in the hotel and airport gift shops. It has a bar for drinks and food. The staff as with many of the places really make this a great experience.
I went diving in 2 places, both off the resort dive operations. The dive operations on the resorts are operated by 3rd parties. The first one at Luxury Bahia Principe Runaway Bay was good. The second dive operation at Secrets Wild Orchid Montego Bay, was great. Both were awesome fitting me in with short notice during the afternoon which is the challenge as most dives go out in the morning. The reason behind that is on most days, at least during the time of the year we were there, the wind picks up during the afternoon, making it a bit more challenging. The reefs were pretty healthy and there were enough fish to make it interesting. The first dive I went out with a couple guys who were finishing up a certification so they were doing skills as part of their check out dives. The visibility was only about 50ft. At the very end of the dive we saw a small pod of dolphins that played with the boat, swimming back and forth off the bow. Dolphins are cool.
The second dive shop was great. The manager heard we had our mornings tied up with site inspections and offered to personally take me out on an afternoon dive. Only complaint was it was another shallow dive and I had hoped to do a wall dive. However, this was for safety, which I appreciate more than an opportunity to do a more technical dive. Mr. Grant gets all kinds of divers who claim they are experienced but are not really so he has to be cautious and is why when I eventually make my way back to Montego Bay I will be comfortable taking my daughter out with this dive shop. It was supposed to be a half hour dive but we stayed down for an hour. Lots of great fish to see! Not all the readers of this blog are divers and like most divers I know I can talk for hours on the subject annoying all the non-divers in the vicinity. To avoid this, I’m keeping this section short. Contact me if you want more information on diving. We can talk for hours.
The third excursion we did to Rick’s Café Negril was not a true excursion, however, it could have been. There are actually catamarans and other charter boats that take people snorkeling and anchor off the shore so people can go to the bar. This is an incredible place to watch a sunset. You can also have a tremendous amount of fun and adventure here. They have a DJ, sand dance floor and of course, the cliffs. There are 3 different heights you can jump from. The top level is about 35 feet but it seems a lot higher when your toes are on the edge and you are about to step off. Not for the faint of heart. Just an FYI, to jump from the highest, you first have to jump off the middle height I’m guessing is between 20-25ft. There are lifeguards to give you advice and for that, they have a tip jar at the top so bring cash. I told the lifeguard I would tip him once I was safely ashore. He laughed and let me go, and of course I came back up and made good on my promise. Be smart with your tipping. ? Another tip, is that if you are planning on going here and jumping, don’t do a lot of drinking beforehand. Wrong time for liquid courage. Seems obvious, but then again, helps to plan. This is a place if you are staying in Negril, you must go. My pictures here are not doing it enough justice. By the way, during the day it would be ok for older kids and definitely for teenagers. Especially during times of the year when the sun sets a little earlier. Probably don’t want them later in the evening when people have had time to get their drink on.
If you have other recommendations for excursions in Jamaica leave us a note. We would love to hear from you!