Happy Saturday everybody! So I was thinking about a new set of blogs that I could write over the next few weeks and I decided to highlight one of my favorite shore excursions in a port of call I have visited! I will write a new blog every Saturday for the next month, highlighting my favorite things to do in a port of call. Today brings us to Ocho Rios, Jamaica, which I visited for the first time this past August on board the Carnival Freedom.
When you arrive in Ocho Rios, well, the city doesn’t look to great, but you are still surrounded by beautiful turquoise water and a beautiful lush mountain landscape. In Ocho Rios, we decided to do a package tour that included Dunns River Falls and Mystic Mountain Rainforest Adventures. After standing in a very long line in the hot Jamaican sun, we finally got into a bus to head over to Dunns River Falls.
When you arrive at Dunns River Falls, you will start a long hike down a road that eventually takes you to the bottom of the falls. Your tour guide will tell you a little bit of Jamaican history and share some fun stories. When you do finally end you walk you arrive at the bottom of the falls, and you can start your climb up.
While climbing the falls, the tour guides have some little fun things to do. One of them is sliding down a little naturally occurring water slide within the rocks of the falls! The next best one is where you can do a trust fall into the water from a rock. This one is a bit scary at first, but it is awesome to feel yourself falling back and then becoming submerged into the cool, Jamaican water. Plus, while climbing the falls, the guides carry waterproof bags to keep your cameras in, and if you ask him to take a picture of you, he will!
After finishing the climb up the falls you continue on into living hell. The marketplace. This is where you will be hassled by local merchants for about 10 minutes while just trying to leave the park. They are relentless and creepy. Anyway, one you finally get out of there it’s time to move onto part 2 of the excursion, bobsledding down the mountain at Mystic Mountain.
When you arrive at Mystic Mountain, if you have already paid for the excursion, then you continue on to the chairlift that will take you up to the park at the top of the mountain. This for me was terrifying, since I don’t like to be in open spaces at very high altitudes. I have no problem with planes, but a chairlift that go up the side of the mountain, pretty scary. Here’s a quick video of the lift… (this is not my video)
Anyway, one you get to the top of the mountain, the place is pretty cool. They have a gift shop, a history center, a restaurant and bar, a cool lookout tower at the top, and even an infinity pool with a water slide! We got in line for our excursion which was, bobsledding. We only had to wait in line for about 10 minutes, but it was worth it because this was the coolest excursion I have ever done! You can see what I mean in my video I took when I was there…
It was pretty fun riding down the mountain, and since we didn’t put the brakes on, we were flying! If you are in Ocho Rios in the future, make sure you at least check out this excursion. Mystic Mountain offers both the bobsledding and zip lining down the mountain. Some cruise lien seven offer both Mystic Mountain and Dunns River Falls as a package deal. Both these excursions are awesome and I guarantee you, you will have a great time!
-Mikey
Photos: Ocho Rios & Duns River – Wikipedia —- Header: me!
Videos: 1st one: http://www.youtube.com/user/cctechinc —– 2nd one: me!
One reply on “Favorite Shore Excursions: Rainforest Adventures – Ocho Rios”
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