#1594 Ocho Rios, Jamaica

The third port on our cruise of the western Caribbean was Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We didn't book any excursions from the ship for Ocho Rios. Just about every excursion included a visit to Dunns River Falls - for example: Desserts of Jamaica and Dunns River Falls, Reggae Beach Break and Dunns River Falls. Before we went on the trip, I Googled Dunns River Falls and although it looks beautiful, the thought of all the other tourists put me off.

this is a photo from the internet of Dunns River Falls

Naturally, the day we arrived in Ocho Rios was cloudy and there was an 80% chance of rain. Still, when I went up on the deck to look at the island, I was enchanted with it. It was so green and the mountains were pretty. It looked inviting even with the dreary skies.

Ocho Rios from the ship

It didn't take us long to find a cab driver, Dwayne,  who was willing to take us wherever we wanted to go and who was willing to show us around a little. First he took us up into the rain forest called Fern Gully. The road was quite narrow and there was no room to pull over for photos. I took this one from the cab as we were driving along:

sun rays breaking through the rain forest

What I saw from our brief drive around was that the people there are quite poor. Cruise ships don't come into Ocho Rios every day and there was a lot of hustling to get tourist dollars.

Dwayne took us to Bamboo Beach Club. It was nice because we got there before all the other cruisers did. We found a table and hung out there drinking Red Stripe beers for a couple of hours. It was nice!

the Caribbean at Bamboo Beach Club

The water was a little bit cold for us to spend much time in it. The air temperature was in the mid-70s which doesn't inspire me to get wet anyway. It was perfectly fine to sit there and drink beer though.

Eventually the place got pretty busy after all the cruisers were done hiking at Dunns River Falls.

our Jamaican selfie

I enjoyed sitting there listening to reggae music and watching the people and the clouds. Here's a photo looking toward the cruise ship where it was definitely raining:

cloud burst over the ship

When Dwayne picked us up, he took us to a shop to buy t-shirts. We overpaid for them, but we were tipsy. We bought a hoodie sweatshirt for T, but unfortunately, it did not make it back to SLC. Bummer! I was pretty sure I had packed it in my suitcase, but it wasn't there when I got home. Maybe I put it on the bed in the stateroom and pulled the blanket over it? I don't know, but I feel bad because that's the only thing we bought for our son. I knew he would like it. :/ I'll have to go back to Jamaica someday and get him another hoodie. Sorry T.

Soon it was time to get back to the ship. Here's the obligatory Reflection photo:

docked at Ocho Rios

Ours was not the only ship in town. There was also a Costa ship in port.

I think I would like to go back to Jamaica someday, but maybe to Montego Bay or Negril and stay at an all-inclusive resort. I thought the island was beautiful and I enjoyed talking to the people. We had a fun day!