Cruisemaiden
February 9th, 2006, 03:58 PM
:) My hubby and I arrived in Jamaica on February 2 on the Costa Magica. I had made prior arraingements with Marva Shaw from positive posts I had read from this forum. Marva happily greeted us at the pier we were a bit early but the helpful port assistants quickly called Marva and she arrived in her air conditioned mini van shortly after. Marva is very proud and knowledgeable about her Island, she had many points of interest to show and stories to tell. The tour consisted of just my hubby and I and that was so nice, especially when we were seeing groups from the ships that have 100 or more people in them....reminded me of a cattle drive!
At any rate our day was perfect with Marva, we first made a stop at the Botanical Gardens, simply a beautiful place and I recommend you get there early as it starts to fill up with bus loads of people. After that we drove to the East side of the Island and thru Fern Gully that was quite interesting the locals sell there wares all over on the sides of the roads in small huts...mostly wooden sclupture and there are some interesting sites of other statues of Jamaican men with shall I say "very large" genitals! LOL The artists have quite an imiganiation and I comented on this and Marva told us that most Jamican men have up to 7 lady friends!!
Moving on we toured Dunn River Falls and by the time we got there there were many bus loads of tourists which in my opinion took away from the falls, if you are trying to get a nature picture of the falls go early otherwise you will end up with pictures of hundreds of people climbing the falls instead. My hubby and I did not chose to climb the falls as their was a train of people hand in hand from the top of the 600 ft. fall to the bottom with lines of people waiting to climb from below...so we simply walked down to the beach and walked the beach to try and get away from all the people. Dunn River Falls was a bit of a disappointment for the both of us but I suppose it depends on what you are looking to do their, if you think you want to go there for the "nature thing" think again as it simply is an over priced tourist trap filled with people....nature is in second place in my opinion.
We then were taken by Marva to a local Jerk restraunt and sampled some of the Jerk chicken and Jerk Pork for lunch washed down with the local favorite beer Red Stripe. Yummy!
After lunch we drove thru some higher end homes on the beach that the "richer" folks live in...that was fun to see how they live, we also saw Mick Jagger's Mansion (from afar ofcourse).
We did some other small sight seeing of various other points of interest but I have listed all the major stops for you.
We really enjoyed our tour with Marvellous Marva Shaw and would highly recommend her. We were able to leave our belongings in her van and we felt very comfortable with her abilities every step of the way.
Now for a break down of what things will cost on the Island in Ocho Rios which by the way seemed fairly safe to us...Marva says the real troubles and crime are more over in Kingston than Ocho Rios, but please never let your guard down.
Ok here is what we spent approximately for the day less what purchases we made on our journey of souvinors I hope this helps you.
MARVA SHAW TOUR PRICE: $80.00 & TIP (for my hubby and me)
DUNN RIVER FALLS: $15.00 PER PERSON
BOTANICAL GARDENS : $5.00 PER PERSON & TIP FOR GUIDE
LUNCH AT THE LOCAL JERK JOINT FOR TWO: $30.00 (we had three total beers if you drink more beer is approximately $3 per bottle)
Marva....if you are reading this Thank You my dear for a wonderful time, if Ken and I ever get back to your area we will definately look you up!!!:)
At any rate our day was perfect with Marva, we first made a stop at the Botanical Gardens, simply a beautiful place and I recommend you get there early as it starts to fill up with bus loads of people. After that we drove to the East side of the Island and thru Fern Gully that was quite interesting the locals sell there wares all over on the sides of the roads in small huts...mostly wooden sclupture and there are some interesting sites of other statues of Jamaican men with shall I say "very large" genitals! LOL The artists have quite an imiganiation and I comented on this and Marva told us that most Jamican men have up to 7 lady friends!!
Moving on we toured Dunn River Falls and by the time we got there there were many bus loads of tourists which in my opinion took away from the falls, if you are trying to get a nature picture of the falls go early otherwise you will end up with pictures of hundreds of people climbing the falls instead. My hubby and I did not chose to climb the falls as their was a train of people hand in hand from the top of the 600 ft. fall to the bottom with lines of people waiting to climb from below...so we simply walked down to the beach and walked the beach to try and get away from all the people. Dunn River Falls was a bit of a disappointment for the both of us but I suppose it depends on what you are looking to do their, if you think you want to go there for the "nature thing" think again as it simply is an over priced tourist trap filled with people....nature is in second place in my opinion.
We then were taken by Marva to a local Jerk restraunt and sampled some of the Jerk chicken and Jerk Pork for lunch washed down with the local favorite beer Red Stripe. Yummy!
After lunch we drove thru some higher end homes on the beach that the "richer" folks live in...that was fun to see how they live, we also saw Mick Jagger's Mansion (from afar ofcourse).
We did some other small sight seeing of various other points of interest but I have listed all the major stops for you.
We really enjoyed our tour with Marvellous Marva Shaw and would highly recommend her. We were able to leave our belongings in her van and we felt very comfortable with her abilities every step of the way.
Now for a break down of what things will cost on the Island in Ocho Rios which by the way seemed fairly safe to us...Marva says the real troubles and crime are more over in Kingston than Ocho Rios, but please never let your guard down.
Ok here is what we spent approximately for the day less what purchases we made on our journey of souvinors I hope this helps you.
MARVA SHAW TOUR PRICE: $80.00 & TIP (for my hubby and me)
DUNN RIVER FALLS: $15.00 PER PERSON
BOTANICAL GARDENS : $5.00 PER PERSON & TIP FOR GUIDE
LUNCH AT THE LOCAL JERK JOINT FOR TWO: $30.00 (we had three total beers if you drink more beer is approximately $3 per bottle)
Marva....if you are reading this Thank You my dear for a wonderful time, if Ken and I ever get back to your area we will definately look you up!!!:)