A big day.
It started a little later due to our arrival time in Jamaica
which gave us a chance to get much needed extra bed-time. This has not been exactly a restful trip.
There was a very long queue when we went to leave while the
ship sorted out papers with the authorities.
While waiting we met a nice Canadian family (Mum, dad two kids 10 &
8) who as it turned was going on the same expedition as us.
The Falmouth pier is another Royal Caribbean fabrication –
super plastic (with a Jamaican twist) with many souvenir and jewellery stores. I have this fantasy that they are a huge
conglomeration bent on taking over the world...
On the bus outwards we learnt some Jamaican history, culture
and language. Every stereotype seems
true!
In Jamaican patois you don’t say yes, you say “yeah
mon”. “No problem” is the second most
common phrase. “Me neema Kate” is “My name is Kate” and “ Me kumma from NZ” is
“ I come from NZ”. If you look good, it
is “You looka trash”.
But, “don’t worry about a ting, cos... “ I’ve bought a Jamaican phrase book!
Bob Marley is still King here and there are shops and
souvenirs everywhere dedicated to him.
The countryside is reminiscent of the Pacific Islands with
rundown shops, tropical vegetation, sad cats & dogs, colourful clothing and
people just hanging around.
First stop was Dolphin Cove.
Wow!
We got into the water with Misty the dolphin (same colour as
our Misty). She is so clever, amazingly
well trained and you just bonded with her.
We learnt the hand signals to make her come to us touch,
sing, dance and give us a ride,
Yes, we rode with a dolphin!
Plus we got a kiss.
Overall, very special
experience.
Afterwards we had a Jamaican lunch – pretty basic, but the
Jerk chicken was nice.
Then some souvenir shopping.
Actually ‘some’ is a misnomer – because with what we got there and at
the pier later, we decided to buy a special bag to carry our souvenirs.
Somewhat like Haiti, some of the vendors are quite intrusive.
We met a one-legged (real) pirate with voice that would do
Barbosa proud. He gave us some shots of
rum.
Incidentally the plan is to buy rum at every port along with
a shot glass so we can do a taste test back home.
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| Cool Runnings Movie Bobsled |
After cuddles with a rare blue iguana we set off to Dunn’s
river falls.
This wasn’t something we thought would be a highlight – but it
was!
Instead of scampering along a path in the bush, we trekked
in a handheld chain directly up the falls, some 600 ft or so. The falls were quite wide consisting of flat
“steps” and sneakily deep pools. We got
thoroughly soaked, even went for a deliberate slide down on the rocks on one
part of the falls.
Quite an exhilarating experience. Like the zipline yesterday, this was listed
as strenuous on the program. We didn’t
find it so, but were still surprised to see significantly less agile looking
people manage it.
Being wet most of the day didn’t faze us given the high
temperatures. Although this IS winter and in summer the temperature gets up to
a steamy 43C.
We also bought a DVD of the experience. Apparently it has a Bob Marley backing track
– typical.
Back to pier for more souvenir shopping and onto the boat as
the sun was setting. Early this time of
the year – around 5:30.
We had booked dinner at Portofino’s the Italian restaurant
as it was meant to be rather special.
However, although nice, we preferred the general dining area Galileo’s.
After collecting towels for tomorrow’s big adventure (Grand
Cayman), we headed to our rooms where we decided to call it a night. Rebecca was feeling pretty tired L. No comment from me.
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