Ocho Rios, Jamaica - September 19, 2007 – Part 1
I may have complained on vacation about it being hot but it was nice for a short period of time. The darkness of winter approaches as we continually lose about 5 minutes of daylight a day now but it has been nice looking at the pictures and writing about the trip. I hope you enjoy it too.
I awoke early and enjoyed the quiet of the ship in the predawn hours before the time when the bowels of the ship seems to come to life as people get out of bed and start their day with a walk to the coffee shop or the Windjammer for breakfast.
I enjoyed my laps while looking at the approaching coastline of
The crew has been busy washing down the decks and windows while others prepared the morning feast. Everything beautifully laid out for us to quickly put on our tray so we can head to a window vantage point as we approach Ocho Rios. We are slowing as we arrive to the dock in
I am sitting in the aft dining room of the Windjammer Café and can see the Caribbean Princess already docked as the captain turns the Freedom one hundred eighty degrees and eases us alongside the wharf where we will moor for the day.
I have met a couple from Tennessee who is on their first cruise and the husband is wondering with his wife if the captain steers the ship with a huge steering wheel with one of those ‘suicide knobs’ on it like the 1950’s cars used to have. Steering wheel knobs were the thing back then and were called different names depending on where you lived. Suicide knob, Brody knob, steering wheel spinner were all names used to describe these custom additions to the muscle cars that were popular. I miss my old 65 mustang fastback and wonder what it would be worth today if I still had it in a garage somewhere.
The couple and I talked for awhile about what each other were going to do while in port and how things had gone so far. It was nice meeting other people seeing their perceptions of the ship and the time they were having so far this cruise.
I did not see Scott or his family this morning as they headed off the ship soon after we docked. They took the kids on their mini adventure around the port compound. They headed to the private beach just to the left of the pier for swimming and found the vendor for parasailing.
First up was Bob and Scott who took off from the rear of the boat and the wench reeled them out about 800 feet behind the boat.
They sailed in a huge circle in the lagoon next to the ship and came fairly close-by that Scott said he was yelling out as he came by our stateroom. He thought we may still be on the ship before heading out for our excursion and was trying to get our attention so we could take pictures. The driver of the boat gave them a quick dip in the water before bringing them back aboard.
Next up was Kim and the girls . . .
Having our excursion starting around 11 am with a departure for the Canopy Tour allowed a nice leisurely morning. Deb slept in (as she does every morning) and had room service bring her breakfast while I get out of the cabin early trying not to make too much noise getting dresses in the darkness.
This works well for us as I only sleep a few hours a night and she enjoys the quiet time slowly working her way into the new morning. We make our way down to deck 5 to walk the Royal Promenade on our way to the gangway for disembarkation exiting the ship. As soon as we walk through the security check point and put our sea pass card into the machine so they know we have left the ship it hits us how hot it will be today.
When I was on deck earlier this morning it was still hot but with the breeze from the ships movement things did not seem so severe. Where was my Alaskan summer day? I guess the twelve thousand miles north makes a huge difference in what we experience and how I had forgotten just how warm it was in the south.
We walk down the pier a short distance and have our picture taken again by the ship’s photographer and make our way to the pick up point for our Canopy Tour.
It is not long before the twenty or so people who are going with us are gathered up to board the bus.
Our driver, George tells us we will be leaving soon but was waiting for a couple of late arrivers to come from the ship. In all we filled two 15 passenger vehicles and started our drive out into the Jamaican countryside. There were many people around the compound of the pier with the shops and restaurants waiting for the tourists to wander in.
George was giving us the play by play history of the island and the rebuilding going on from both expansion of the tourism industry and the activities of a past hurricane that had moved over the island. There were many foundations to new buildings going in as we made our way out into the rolling hills on this north shore. We passed several resorts which were an odd mix of nice all inclusive resorts built right next to shanty houses. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the construction and many people were laboring to remove rocks from the job sites.
We passed several small townships and followed the coastline approximately 30 miles when we came to the main compound for our tour. The compound was the headquarters for several different activities. You could ride horses on the beach or drive an ATV 4 wheeler over sand dunes or through paths in the jungle. You could also visit the headquarters for the Jamaican Dogsled Team who trained there for the Alaskan Iditarod race.
We stopped briefly for everyone to use the restroom or buy any souvenirs or drinks before heading up the mountain.
We crossed the highway and started up a narrow one lane road with George scaling his way higher and higher. He told us he had his Phd (Pot Hole Dodger) in driving so he was confident that we would find our destination at the summit.
As we climbed we rounded a curve and there was a truck heading directly for us . . . we looked off to one side of the road with no guardrail and it dropped about 1,500 feet straight down. The other side toward the mountain dropped off into a gully about 200 feet below us and there were small shacks (houses) scattered within the jungle. Everyone on the bus gasped trying to figure out where we were going to go to allow the other vehicle to get by. All of a sudden George heads towards the cliff side and hugs the edge and moves forward as the other one does the same thing on the gully side and we ease by each other with inches separating the two.
Everyone gave a sigh of relief and we continued up the mountain trying to avoid all of the many potholes scattered almost every couple of feet. We swerved back and forth across the road missing many of the holes but also hitting a few here and there. We had climbed several thousand feet above the shoreline below when all of a sudden a bicycle rounds the corner almost slamming into the front of our vehicle.
What happened next was almost unreal. Following the first cyclist was about 100 more people riding down the mountainside. This was a dirt road and quite dusty with our vehicle traveling up and in a long single file line each of the cyclists slowly made their way around us. It seemed like the procession would never end as the long line just kept coming. We would clear a group of riders and start to inch our way forward when another group would come around the bend in the road stopping us as they proceeded by.
Once they were past we continued up the mountainside to the area where we would dress out in our harness and gear. George backed us into this narrow area where there was a four post open air shed. George told us that we were at an elevation of 4500 feet above sea level. The view of the blue water below us along the coast was phenomenal and we could see many miles.
Hanging on the railings on each of the four sides were the gear in various sizes. One by one the guides had us step into a harness so we could be fitted properly and the helmet was put on our heads and gloves were issued. The helmet and gloves both had that ‘sweaty’ stench from being worn over and over by the tourists on these hot days but we were excited to get started.
One of the guides gave us a safety demonstration and what would be happening. They showed us how to maneuver if we for some reason stopped short of a platform and how to make our way to the platform. The slight breeze when we arrived had stopped now and it was feeling hot now.
We were ready . . . but you could sense that some were apprehensive of what was to come. Our group of thirty consisted of a wide age range of people. The youngest was about 12 years old while most of the group was in their mid 20’s. There were those of us who fell in the mid range group which ranged from the mid 30’s to 50’s but our oldest couple was sixty eight (wife) and seventy three (husband) old who were ready for the fun to begin.
We left the staging area and started walking down the trail leading to the first platform. After the first ten minutes of walking our way back down the mountainside I wondered why we were driven so high only to walk back down. The decent brought us into a lush tropical jungle canopy with some wild flowers along the way as well as some steep terrain to make our way down. There were some ‘steps’ made out of cut up railroad ties that made things easier to maneuver.
It took about fifteen minutes to make our way to the first platform and we were about the sixth or seventh person to hook up to the wire. We watched as each person before us hooked up and stepped off the platform quickly zooming away into the lush foliage in front of us.
I could she her legs shaking slightly but just as I thought she may be having second thoughts about doing this . . . she was gone . . .
. . . sliding across the first traverse to a platform I could not see.
It was that “Leap of Faith” into the unknown that made it exciting and frightening at the same time.
It was a short ride across this traverse going maybe five hundred feet through the treetops.
I made my way across just in time to see the second line and Deb stepping off the platform and dropping at a 70 degree angle about 300 feet to another platform down below. I hooked in and this drop gained speed quickly as you felt like your stomach moved up to your throat. As quickly as you gained speed you also decelerated quickly just before approaching the next platform. Stopping was jolting in many ways but at no time did it feel unsafe.
The third traverse was a medium run across the jungle canopy and led to another surprise, the “drop”. The drop was a platform where you stepped off and went straight down about two hundred feet. The rappel dropped fast and the belay person below stopped you quickly as you approached the ground. It was quite the ride and one that will be remembered for a long time.
The fifth run was long running over the river below which brought with it a bit of cooler air. As you approached the platform there was a camera man taking pictures of everyone as the approached. You could buy the disk of photos at the end of the tour. You unhooked from one zip line . . . turned around on the tree platform and off you went on another run without time to get over the excitement of the last one. It was nice swinging from tree to tree watching the foliage zoom by.
Deb had been going first for these runs so we swapped places so I could go on these last ones trying to get a few pictures of each other.
Each run was closer to the water as you could hear it below and you could see the river on several of the runs. The last three were each longer than the last with the last one almost 1000 feet across a canyon over the river. This one opened up more than the others as you left the jungle canopy on one side and could see the valley below and the ocean briefly before heading back into the trees on the other as you approached the last platform. Before we knew it our canopy tour was over.
There was a brief stop by the river to remove the ‘smelly’ gear and the long walk out of the jungle. Numerous beautiful flowers and large bamboo “trees” covered our way back to the bus. I rode up front next to George back to the ship but we stopped first at the concession for a cold drink, restrooms, and to see the pictures taken of us while gliding across. We are not used to the heat since moving north so it was a hot day. We took water bottles with us to keep ourselves hydrated but by the end of the tour even the warm water seemed refreshing.
See Part 2 for the rest of the story . . .
Ice
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