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Jamaica

The next excursion for Kevin and Marina was the Island of Jamaica. Both have been to Jamaica before, so they knew what to expect.

However, if you understand Kevin by now, during the first 'at sea' day, Kevin attended a briefing by one of the crew on what to expect in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cozumel. Marina, as is her normal practice left kevin to become informed while she participated in other activities. . . The briefing was both enjoyable and informative. Marina, you missed out.

What we could expect. Arrival, departure, weather

We would be docking, so no ferry to shore would be needed.

If we wanted, we could have struck out on our own. These were the expected taxi rates. As shown, there was an exchange rate as Jamaicans gladly accepted US dollars. And knowing the rate helped avoid 'sticker shock when we saw prices listed in Jamaican Dollars.

This table shows an exchange rate of 4 Jamaican dollars to the US Dollar - actually, the rate was closer to 5 to 1

Kevin and Marina booked our excursions through the cruise line. Thus, transportation to and from our activities (and ensuring we arrived back on time) were taken care of for us. Perhaps on a future cruise, we will strike out on our own.

One excursion we did not take, but Kevin has enjoed in the past, was the river rafting. Marina is somewhat timid around water. . . I am not sure she realizes a cruies is a ship surrounded by water and a lot further from land If you DO want to see slides of the river rafting. . . river raftingTowards the bottom o the page

Arial view of the bay

View of the bay from our balcony

Kevin and Marina explored the caves at Runaway Bay, named because this was the destination for runaway slaves (and rebels when the island was ceded to the English).

As you can see, Marina was stylin the headgear required to enter the cave. Marina noted some movement in and near the cave. She asked what types of birds they were. It turns out she was seeing bats. Fruit bats, not baseball bats.

Marina 'wishing' Kevin would stop telling jokes

You can see the red tag with the number 15. As explained earlier, when we checked in to an excursion, we (passengers) were grouped by activity. So for the entire day ashore we remained in a group with other 'red 15' passengers. It also allowed our guides to keep us together and ensure we did not drift into another group. While 'we' understood this, Jamaicans wondered if Marina was 15 years old. . . and they also wondered if she was my daughter or if I was dating a much younger woman.

Kevin thinkng of his next jokes

Because stickers never want to 'stick' to Kevin, he kept his sticker in that waterproof case around his neck. Kevin normally kept his phone/camera in the case, but here it is out (held by Marina) and ready to capture his next 'action shot'

The hardhats were required for safety. (No Marina, Kevin in a hard hat is NOT redundant!) My mother would have thought it was to prevent the bats from getting tangled in our hair. . . that is a tale for another day.

We accompanied our guide theough the various passages in the caves. At one time there was a nightclub in the caves, complete with a grill. Apparently, the previous hosts (the bats) complained because the cave no longer hosts a nightclub. I do not know why a bat would object to any club. . . See, we warned you Kevin was thinking of puns and jokes

No Marina, we cannot take that with us as a souvenir!



Our spelunking guide		Whew! an escape route for the claustrophobic
at every openeing to the surface, there were trees extending their roots deep into the earch seeking water	Journey to the center of the earth. As IF we were not deep enough already. Our guide DID state if anyone did NOT want to descend, he would be back in a bit with themore daring of the group.
At the bottom of our descent, like in the movie, there was a lake. No, Marina, I would not advise swimming here
Does everyone realize, unlike with the law of gravity, here, what goes down 'hopefully', can go back up.
Whew, made it! We survived!	Looks like we still have everyone - including Marina	We going back to the bus?
What?!?! More Caves?	Maybe we should sit this one out? (We didn't)

After climbing around the caves, Kevin and Marina went to Dunns River Falls. Of our excursion group of over 20 people, only 6 were daring enough to brave the falls. We donned water shoes and followed our guide from the bottom of the falls where the river enters the bay to the top of the falls. It was different (and longer) than when Marina and Kevin braved the falls in their earlier trips. The climb was arduous, but the water was refreshing. As the locals would say “everything was airie” Unfortunately, we did not get the opportunity to get some oxtail. Kevin was able to get patties. We had to wait till our return to the states to get Ting and Jamaican Ginger Beer.

Another excursion we enjoyed was Dunns River Falls. The adventurous are offered the opportunity to (like a career) start at the bottom (of the falls) and work their way up. Unlike a career, what is flowing downhill is only water. Of the 20 others on our excursion from the cruise, only 6 of us were brave enough to 'face the falls'. Our guide handed us over to a guide for the falls climb. He rounded out our group with other tourists. A cameraman joined us fo r the climb, and we were off.

Because water is involved, we were encouraged to wear 'water shoes' (a type of shoe, not made OF water) with rubber soles. Another item was waterproof cases for phones and valuables.

There was an opportunity to purchase those items at the falls. Marina and Kevin, arriving prepared, already had water shoes and waterproof cases. you might notice Kevin wearing his in some photos A movie of the trip up the falls