Thursday 5 Mar, Jamaica day 11, Ocho Rios: Road trip to Dunn’s River Falls, Shaw Park Hotel and Fern Gully.
We are up early today to get the most of the cool morning. As soon as the sun rises into a clear windless sky there is instant heat. So before breakfast we install our large over-boom sun cover and tie the sides down to the life lines. It’s an instant relief from the heat, allowing us to have a very pleasant breakfast in the cockpit.
By 8:45 we are heading ashore where we tie the dinghy up again next to the police station and head for AVIS car rental. Feels so nice to rent a car from a professional agency rather than a local rent-a-wreck in someone’s back garden. Surprisingly, the cost is the same. But when we get our Toyota Yaris, it’s frankly in no much better condition than our last Jamaican hire car. Scratches, small dents, and misaligned panels all over, and the usual bald tyres! Even the passenger seat has a big rip across it. Oh-hum, not a problem, we don’t have far to drive and most importantly the AC works perfectly.
Today’s mission is to visit as many of the places which my parents visited when they were on holiday here in 1967. A “holiday of a lifetime” they called it. Very happy times for them. In the 1960s most people didn’t even leave Britain for holidays let alone travel to the Caribbean. It would have seemed super exotic. And along with us is a small bottle with what remains of my portion of Mum’s ashes. I intend to leave part of her in these happy places. She passed away in 2005, but I have been keeping her ashes for special places she would have loved to see. Or in this case, a special place she did see, along with special memories. It’s also worth to mention that while my parents were enjoying themselves in Jamaica: I was parceled off to my Granny and a very grumpy step-grandfather; my sister ran away from her boarding school; while my two teenage brothers held wild parties at the family home!
Our first stop is Dunn’s River Falls. As we enter, it’s clear this has become a massive tourist attraction. Likely because of the cruise liner business. But luckily for us there is no cruise ship in today and it’s too early for the hotel bus loads to arrive. So it’s very quiet. In fact, it’s so quiet that we miss the entrance path to the falls and end up in Tranquility Gardens. These are beautiful tropical gardens with the river flowing through them, just above the falls themselves. Mum loved gardens, so I sprinkled some ashes here. And I have to say, I did have a bit of an emotional moment. That’s allowed, right?
Next, we wander down to the falls themselves. There is the first group of people lining up for their tour of the falls, but we bypass it. We’ll tour the falls by ourselves, thank you. This also meant that we had 15-20 minutes on the main cascades all by ourselves. And oh boy, what stunning cascades they are. They’re like water flowing down a flight of uneven steps with small pools in-between. Neither of us have ever seen water cascades with such presence and beauty before. Absolutely breathtaking. Now we understand why it’s so popular and why Mum wrote so profoundly about the Dunn’s Falls in her diary. They still look perfectly natural, but in 1967 at the birth of tourism here, the natural scene must have been even more special.
After 20 minutes the tour groups start coming passed and climbing the falls. All in a long line, holding hands to steady themselves, with a tour guide in the front leading the way, and one at the back making sure everyone is managing ok. We are surprised at the age and size of some of the tourists doing this. What an amazing experience for them. In-between groups we steadily climb up at our own pace, relishing each step, each view and all the time thinking about my parents being here doing the same all those years ago. At the top, we carry on up the falls passed the Exit sign and just sit in the water by ourselves, totally relaxed and wonderfully cool. A security person in the distance tells us to go back down, but we pretend not to hear her. Below, as the various tour groups exit the pools they look up at us with a “how did they get to be on their own up there?” kind of a look. Well, guys, it took a childhood of intense training by my father to be a “cheeky Sansom”. A priceless skill 🙂
Thoroughly chilled (relaxed, not cold!) we do finally come down and exit. Then take the path all the way to the bottom of the falls where we are surprised to find they literally cascade all the way onto a pretty beach then flow out into the sea. What an amazing site that must have been for the first explorers. What is not such a pleasant sight are 3 tripper catamarans loaded with hundreds of tourists arriving to the beach. Fair enough, tourists have to get here, but why do they need all that awful music blaring out. This is a place of unique natural beauty. Modern rapp versions of Bob Marley songs at full volume really don’t enhance the experience 🙁
After few minutes on the beach, which apparently they are “enhancing”, we climb back up towards the kiosks area, where we have spotted a coffee shop when we came in. They serve the Blue Mountain coffee which we absolutely love, so we buy two cups and sit in the shade for further relaxing. And while indulging in our lattes, we share few more memories of my parents and chat about our emotions on this special day. The perfect way to end our fabulous experience here at the falls.
From the Dunn’s Falls we head to the other side of town, at the Shaw Park Hotel, where they stayed 53 years ago. Luckily (or say smartly) I’d called ahead so we could avoid the usual Jamaican “no” at the security gate. The receptionist Raquel gives us a personal tour. It’s quite a weird feeling for me. The hotel is actually 72 years old and frankly does not look like it has changed much in the last several decades. It still has a very 1950s look. This is actually quite special for me because I can see passed all the dilapidation to the grandeur new beach hotel it must have been. And all those views from the old cine films and photos flood back into my memory as we walk around. Raquel then hands us over to the entertainment manager to finish the tour. Hugo is a very gay Jamaican wearing very gay cloths and acting extremely gay. Very pleasant though. We show him a photo of my parents at the hotel. He recognizes the almond tree in the photo and takes us to it. Yes, it’s a bit bigger now. But it’s the only almond tree in the garden and the rooms behind it look just like the photo. Who would have believed this scene would have stood for 53 years?!
Hugo seems ok to let us wander around their property unattended so we settle for a beer at their small beach bar. Looking over the blue bay I visualize my Dad water skiing and sailing a Sunfish sailing dinghy. And wondering which reef he got sea urchin spines embedded in his foot! Yes like father-like-sons: we are all accident prone! Our motto should be: “no pain no gain”, right?
Emotions done, we depart for the next place in the diary, Fern Gully. On google it is simply shown as the road leaving Ocho Rios southwards. As we drive out of town it doesn’t look much. But then we enter a gorge with the small road winding its way along what would have been a river bed. Gradually, as the rocky sides get steeper and become covered in tropical trees and dense ferns, it gets quite dark, even though it is the middle of the afternoon. It’s quite an experience. So much so that as we pop back into daylight at the top of the escarpment, we turn around and drive back down again. We would never have found this spectacle without Mum’s diary entry!
It’s now late afternoon and while driving towards our next point of interest we happen to find a hillside restaurant with a wonderful view down over Ocho Rios, complete with Cloudy Bay at anchor. We decide to stop for dinner and we opt for local food. Oana chicken, me a mutton curry. Only my curry seems to be more bone than meat. And damned sharp bones too! The restaurant is next to another sight from Mum’s diary: the Shaw Park Gardens. But the light is not good now so we defer that one until tomorrow.
Back in the marina we park the car next to the police station and take the dinghy back to Cloudy. But as the sun is just setting and the light really nice, we take a tootle inside the reef, along the coast. We gently motor very close to all the houses and hotels. And we note most of the buildings are from the 1950-60s era judging by the style. And just like Shaw Park Hotel, most are in desperate need of renovation. While Ocho Rios seems to still be doing ok by tourism, you do get the feeling that it has had its hay-day, likely several decades ago.
Back on Cloudy we find the inside cooler this evening. Only 29degC vs 32degC yesterday. The sunshade has clearly done it’s job today. But we still run the AC for an hour so we can have a pleasant evening, sorting photos, writing the blog and starting to edit the next video.
It was a lovely relaxed and somehow peaceful day. If I was religious, I could have easily believed my parents were with us today. And Oana was wonderful, showing empathy and love all day. Such a pity my parents never managed to meet her… in person.