One of the ports of phone for our Royal Caribbean cruise ship throughout the week of November 28/04 was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Probably the most famed internet site in the area is Dunn’s River Falls and we chose to tour it on our very own somewhat than by way of a single of the cruise ship excursions. After we disembarked from the cruise ship, there were cabs and shuttle buses obtainable at the pier. Cabs to Dunn’s River Falls have been $22 US for a return journey. Cabs permitted 1-3 people today for every automobile. We were being also told at the pier that smaller shuttle buses also go to the Falls at $5.50 US for each man or woman. These were also based on return excursions.
The only dilemma with shuttle buses was that we experienced to wait right until they filled up the shuttle prior to leaving for the Falls so given that we ended up the initial on the bus, we experienced to hold out about 15 minutes for it to fill up. The driver then asks you when you want to be picked up at the Falls for the return vacation. Our driver advised 2 several hours to see the Falls so we agreed on this time length.
When at the Falls, a lady then arrived onboard the shuttle to promote tickets for admission to the web-site at $10 US for every adult individual which was the exact fee at the park’s ticket booth. After inside the Dunn’s facility, there had been rentals for specific rubber footwear as perfectly as lockers. We carried a tiny backpack so we did not call for shelling out for a locker. We also brought together our scuba diving booties so we failed to have to hire those people rubber shoes on site either. The cruise ship shop was also selling these rubber sneakers in progress. Shoes of some style are very suggested as the rocks on the Falls can be slippery and some of the bottoms of the h2o pools are a bit rocky. If you have old sneakers you will not mind acquiring damp, they will be suitable for the climb up the falls as effectively. Our scuba diving booties turned out to be ample. The entrance to the internet site is at the leading of the falls so we took some stairs that were being adjacent to the falls to the bottom where the seashore and entrance to the climb were being.
There are official guides dressed in blue polo shirts and shorts who will acquire teams up the falls. Ordinarily, they will inquire to have all cameras for you so they can consider images of you as you climb. Of class, they expect to be very well tipped for their companies. Also, groups have been informed to hold fingers forming a human chain up the falls. This was suppose to make matters safer but as we witnessed, this strategy of likely up the falls is not a assurance against slipping. We saw a girl let go and she fell down the rocks through a single of the steeper sections. She wasn’t badly damage but we imagined that she sustained some pleasant bruises. There are many points alongside the falls where you could get off the falls and back again on the stairs to wander up the relaxation of the way.
Not every person there attempted to climb the falls as several had been pleased to just walk dry together the aspect on the stairs. We chose not to go with any of the teams which have a tendency to go up the left side of the falls. We made our way up on our personal mainly on the ideal facet. With some breaks for photographs, we produced it all the way up the falls in about 30 minutes. Likely with a group would have taken extended for positive. The water is a bit awesome and if you have a wetsuit, it is hugely prompt that you put on it for the climb. Cameras employed there up the falls are also proposed to be water resistant since they probable will get moist. We still left our electronic camera on the ship and took 1 of all those $25 underwater cameras.
Just after climbing the falls, we headed again down to the somewhat little but uncrowded beach front in which the ocean h2o was hotter till it was time to depart. The exit back at the major of the falls was strategically situated at the close of a current market so we did have to go as a result of some locals who tried out to provide us their souvenirs. These locals who worked inside the Dunn’s website were being hustling but not as aggressively as all those in the city of Ocho Rios. The shuttle bus arrived at the internet site parking whole lot on time as agreed. The total total we used including the park admission and the shuttle was $31 US for the two of us. Having an arranged tour via the cruise ship would have charge a lot more than double this total. So it is quite feasible to tour Dunn’s River Falls on your personal alternatively than consider the extra high priced excursions. We had been glad that we did see Dunn’s River Falls but we considered that it was not approximately as spectacular as depicted on pics in journey brochures.