River tubing from Ocho Rios.

[cefh]

Has anyone booked an excursion with a local company to go tubing? There are five of us in our family and the cruise prices make it very expensive.

 

We've climbed Dunn's River Falls before so we don't want to do that again.

 

Thanks,

cefh.

[MandyCSP]

Last week we booked a tour with Mark Morris. He has set tours but is very willing to customize your day. This was our first time in Ochos Rios so we did the falls in the morning. Then Mark took us to a nice but small beach, Mahogany Beach where we stayed for about an hour - the time was set by us. Next we had a delicious lunch at Bibibips, a restaurant that is perched on the cliff overlooking Mahogany Beach. After lunch he arranged for the river tubing. Our family of four enjoyed this immensely and our guide, Dwight was very nice. Definitely bring your waterproof camera and I would recommend wearing beach shoes or some sort of sandal as the bottom can be quite rocky. We wished we had left our sunglasses behind as well as it is mostly shaded. Mark will store anything you want in his van and always keeps it locked. The water is cool and the rapids were decent in the beginning but not at all scary. Dwight stayed in the water (not in his tube) most of the time, guiding our tubes through the rapids and later, when the waters became much calmer, keeping us away from the banks. We stopped briefly and went ashore where Dwight pointed out some native vegetation, including orchids growing high in the trees, then it was back in the river. Mark picked us up at the end and then took us for a short drive up Fern Gully. Mark speaks English very well but will also introduce you to his native Jamaican dialect. He spent nearly 6 hours with just our family, although his van could probably accommodate about 15. All this for $48 per person including the admission price to the falls and tubing. We paid for our lunch, tips for the guide at the falls and the tubing, and we also tipped Mark at the end of the day. We felt it was well worth it. Mark does not have a website but you can email him at marco@anngel.com.jm

[TheWog]

We are going to use Peat Taylor for our day. We are doing the Falls, but are also doing tubing. He is very accommodating and I bet he can arrange just a river tubing excursion for you.

 

Peat Taylor

 

BONHAM SPRING, LODGE P.O. ST.ANN

JAMAICA W. I.

TEL: 876 975 0028

FAX: 876 975 0205

EMAIL: oneiltay@cwjamaica.com

New EMAIL:onieltay@hotmail.com

 

"HEY MON NO PROBLEM"

http://www.peattaylor.com

 

 

 

[cefh]

Thanks both of you for the recommendations. I also read about Orville Taylor and when I contacted him he e-mailed me back almost immediately, which I thought was a good sign. I'll let you know how he does.

[sherry7]

We (me, DH, and 15 yr old DS) were in Ocho Rios earlier this month and arranged a tour through Trevor Hudlin. One of his associates, Errol, was our driver for the day. We went horseback riding, went to Dunns River Falls, drove through Fern Gully, shopped, and tubed down the White River. The river tubing was our favorite part of the day. Errol took us to the 'top' of the river and introduced us to our tubing guide, whose name was Rambo. We left our bags, etc with Errol in his van and he told us he'd meet us at the end. We then took a short walk down to the river bed, and Rambo helped us into our tubes. He also had a tube as well, but a lot of the time he was out of it, steering us away from the bank, etc. We had a blast! There were some gentle rapids, but nothing dangerous. I gave Rambo my digital camera (waterproof) and he took some pictures of us while we were tubing. I'm sure the ship offers excursions as well, but this was really cool because it was just the 3 of us and our guide Rambo. Plus, for what I paid for the entire day ($80 each) wouldn't have barely paid for just the horseback riding alone if I'd went through the cruiseline to do it, and we had the benefit of having a private driver for the entire day. If you don't want to do the horseback riding, I think it was $30 less.

 

Trevor's website is:

http://www34.brinkster.com/trevhudlintours/default.html

[LoonBoarder]

For those who've already been on the tours, I'm curious - how long did the tubing portion last? Thru RCCL's excursions, they claim it's an hour and a half; I've gotten info from some tour operators that it's about 45 minutes. Just curious as to how long you spent in the water.

Thanks!

[sherry7]

I posted above about our tour that we did through Trevor Hudlin. Our tubing lasted for about an hour.

[brookeq]

Ionie McBeam took us rafting for $10 I think. It lasted about 45 minutes.