Trip Report - Part 4

Good morning friends and readers!  I hope you are all staying warm this morning as we head to Jamaica in today's trip report from my recent Caribbean cruise.  I've been to Jamaica on several other occasions but I have never had the opportunity to snorkel there.  So, I was looking forward to seeing what the snorkeling was like.  The ship made port in Falmouth.  This was my first time to visit that city.  They have a new port and terminal that has only been opened for two years.  So, it is VERY nice!  Everything is new and clean and the market area at the cruise ship terminal is nice a well kept.  If you are planning on visiting there soon, be sure and save time for the shopping.

We were scheduled on a Catamaran - Snorkel - Beach Break excursion that was supposed to allow time for us to eat lunch at Margaritaville.  There are several Margaritaville's in Jamaica so I wasn't sure which one we would be visiting.  It turned out that the excursion took us in a van all the way over to Montego Bay.  The ride took around 30 minutes and during the ride, our guide told us about the various people from Falmouth and a little about the city itself.  Apparently Usain Bolt is from Falmouth and we drove past the school that he went to.  During the ride, this tour guide did the same thing that all tour guides in Jamaica do, he told us that we had to say "yeah mon" when we agree with anything and "irie" if something is good.  They are very insistent about making sure that you learn their little phrases.  I find it is better just to go along with it.  Apparently, according to this guy, if you have been to Jamaica more than 3 times you are indeed Jamaican and unfortunately I was the only one who qualified.  So, he singled me out continually.  I don't like being singled out.  But I suffered through it.

As we arrived in Montego Bay, the van driver went past the beach that we were to spend the day at and then turned around so that he could let us out on the correct side of the street.  With less than a block to go to get to the stopping point, an older man sitting just in front of us insisted that he had to get out, his wife panicked and for good reason.  Just before he got out of the van, he began to vomit.  So they let us all out and we walked the remaining 100 or so feet to the entrance of the place.  I think everybody sort of thought he was suffering from motion sickness but we found out later in the day that he had begun to get sick the previous night.  Later in the day as we drove back to Falmouth we were informed that his wife had also become sick during the day but he was beginning to feel better.  After we were back on the ship, we realized that there was a viral outbreak on the ship.

Once we went through a gate, we were at a beautiful beach.  Our guide took us straight to a pier where we were to get on the catamaran.  As we stepped onto the catamaran they told us to watch our step and I didn't and twisted my ankle just slightly as I fell down.  It wasn't bad, I got right back up and everything was fine.  We went topside as we were directed and found a nice place to sit.  Once everybody was seated we were off.

The catamaran left the beach area and went past Margaritaville taking us out toward a little bit of open water before turning and bringing us back in so that it looked like we were going to make a full circle and go back to the same pier from which we came.  As one of the crew members went to the front of the boat to tie us to a buoy we were probably no more than 50 yards from where we had begun on the pier.  A woman from the beach rowed past us in a kayak as the crew member talked to her....  I could have swam to our location faster.  But we paid for a catamaran ride and we got a catamaran ride.  

Margaritaville from the water

In the picture below you can see a pier to the right and to the right of that a kayaker.  The pier was the one we had left from.  The white buoy closest to the pier was the one we ended up tying off to for our snorkeling.... "yeah, mon...."  Anyway once we were securely tied to the buoy, we jumped in the water.  We were told to follow one of the members of the crew.  She apparently had a set path that she took through the reef each time they went out.  So we stuck with her.

As soon as we approached the reef, there were a billion fish....  We swam through those following her and they were the last fish we saw.  It seems remarkable to be in the water snorkeling for nearly an hour and only see one group of fish, but we did it.  Here are the fish we saw.  It was a huge school of fish, but I didn't understand why we didn't just stay with them.  Anyway, after the snorkeling we got back on the boat and untied from the buoy and made our way back in the big circle going back to shore.  They took a little more time going back than they did heading out to the buoy and during the ride, a couple of the male crew members gave me and Jenny foot massages.  So, everything was "irie".

As we returned to the pier we were told again to watch our step as we disembarked from the boat.  Again, I didn't watch my step and this time when I fell the result was a little more than a slight ankle twist.  Ugh!!!!!  So, with blood running down my leg from my skinned knee and a sprained ankle I limped to the end of the pier and we made our way VERY SLOWLY to Margaritaville because I might have been in a little bit of pain, but there was a Landshark and a Cheeseburger in Paradise to be had and I was not going to miss it.  Jenny and I and couple from Killeen were the only ones in our group who made the trek to Margaritaville.  All of the others stayed on the beach.  There were only 8 people on the excursion total and the other 4 were all traveling together and with two of them being sick I guess they didn't feel up to it.

Once we were at Margaritaville, I was able to go to the ladies room and clean my wounds, prop my foot up on a chair with ice and listen to some soothing music so it wasn't so bad.  As my leader, Jimmy Buffett says in his song Jamaica Mistaica ....  "it's just another shitty day in paradise...." and a bad day in paradise is better than the best day at home, "yeah, mon!"

After lunch we walked back over to the beach where we were supposed to meet back up with the rest of the group.  We waited around for 30 minutes or so taking pictures until the van came back and we all climbed on board.  I was really relieved that the driver had apparently spent his time cleaning the vomit out of it.  On the way back we went through some of the more expensive areas of the island where celebrities have homes.  Below are some of the pictures from the beach in Montego Bay.  It was a very pretty beach.

Once back in Falmouth, we walked around the terminal area and did some shopping.  It was very pleasant and would have been much better if I hadn't been in pain.  But I lived to tell the tale and now I have a Jamaica story for when I need to pull one out.  Back on the ship, Mom and Dad came to our balcony that evening to watch us leave port.  The photo at the top of the blog today was the sunset as we left Jamaica.  

Monday we'll button up this trip report.  Have a great Super Bowl Weekend!  Go 49'ers!