We who were taking excursions all met in the Pacifica Theater and we were the second group off the ship in Falmouth, which is located on the north coast of Jamaica. Blue Hole and River Tubing 23 of us. 90 minute ride, and the first half was smooth, the second half was bumpy as can be. It took half an hour maybe to go one mile. With some of these elevated Jamaican backroads, there's barely enough room for two way traffic. And the potholes are brutal. We did pass a Wicker shop, sadly I couldn't stop there. But we started with tubing the White River. We got our helmets and life vests and jumped into the tubes and began floating down the river.
Our tour guide was Warren, super nice local guy. The trip took about 45 minutes. There were a couple of rapids to navigate. But the water was so clean, no salt, no chlorine, no chemicals. Not that it was clear though! Then we got back in the mini bus and it took 25 minutes to drive 2 miles to Blue Hole. The roads are that beat up and narrow.
Anyway, onto Blue Hole. We had to drive up some hills to get there. It's basically a swimming hole with caverns and mountains. You walk up and jump into the different pools from different heights. There were 4 total, culminating with the rope swing, called the Tarzan swing. And I did all 4 high ones. And I was a kid who was afraid to dive growing up all those years in summer camp. So it was a pretty amazing accomplishment for me. Yes, some of them were a little bit scary when I looked down at the water 20 or 25 feet below, but I'm glad I did them. Also, I was surprised to see so many stray dogs. One cute one got in the park and kept following me. I pet him briefly before he went off his own way. Now the park does have a few um, vendors. Brownies, funny cigarettes, rum, yeh-mon. On the way back, a lot of people were sleeping. We had Bob Marley music playing in the bus. For lunch, we went to Plantation Smokehouse for Jerk chicken and rice and beans. I added a Red Stripe, because, why not?
A few things about the island. I should first point out we didn't get into Kingston or Montego Bay; we basically covered a northern parish. But It's pretty dirty with a lot of abandoned tires and cars, homes in disrepair. Also they drive really aggressively. They're called CJs, or Crazy Jamaicans. The island has different license plates for different kind of vehicles. For instance, a red plate represents a tourist vehicle, whereas a white plate represents a privately owned vehicle. And the drivers drive on the left side of the road, it's like being in Europe. There is a ton of produce around, especially bananas and coconuts, but sugarcane is king for sugar, medicine, rum, etc.
We got back at the ship around 3pm and had Italian for dinner. I started with the arancini, or fried rice ball before having lasagna (no ricotta). It was too small a portion, so I added a breast of chicken parm.
I wish I knew I could add extra entrees for no charge. Dessert was a nut and oat bar. It was fine, but for some reason, there was no cheesecake after Night 1. Would have been a good way to finish off the meal.
Off I went to the Colony club for some Karaoke. In a corner table, I saw three people I recognized from the Jamaica excursion: Addison Madison and Jake. Jake is engaged to Addison and Madison is his sister; they are from Wisconsin. So of course when they found out I'm a Jets fan, we talked for a long time about Aaron Rodgers. We chatted for about two hours about all kinds of random stuff. But we spent 30 minutes just on alarm clocks. Great random conversation, and they all subscribed to my channel. So close to 1,000....
I finished the night having some more scotch, listening to Tiago play the piano. I was done at 11 and I have to say the ship felt tired. It might be three straight excursion days. I think it's better when cruise days and excursion days can be alternated.
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