Nic Narrates

It’s always sad when a vacation ends. But then, there’s the pictures….

Having never been to Jamaica, I wasn’t sure what to expect. On our way to our hotel, we were told that in Jamaica, there aren’t any problems. Instead, they only have “situations”. From what you can see in the picture above, we didn’t have any problems (almost- Kit left his passport on the shuttle, but got it back) or situations. It was absolutely beautiful!

Although I’m pretty content to lay on the beach with a few drinks, taking a nap at some point while listening to the waves; Kit’s more of the “get-out-and-see-the-place” kind of traveler. Thus, I found myself joining him on the Chukka Cove Canopy Tour. Yup, that’s the zip line thingy. It was crazy scary and something I’d never have done on my own!

Faced with the fright of hanging from a cord in the jungle, I wasn’t prepared for the bus (read: death trap) ride up the mountain on the dirt, washed-out road. Seventeen switchbacks, 2000 feet, and one passenger jumping into my lap later we were at the top. They strapped us in our harnesses and helmets right away and that was that. There was no turning back. Not back down THAT road anyway.

We hiked through the jungle (man, am I out of shape!) and I went silent. Kit was instructed to not talk to or look at me to fend off tears. And then, we climbed the platform and were hooked onto the zip line. Kit went on ahead, loving every second of it. He disappeared about half-way so there was no way to know where the zip line went or for how long. After him, I stepped off the platform.

I zoomed to the other platform through a sea of green blur, arriving breathless and shaking. I made it, but would wait to celebrate my triumph of the Jamaican jungle skies until after the next EIGHT traverses.

And I continued to do pretty well, until they wanted us to drop 40 or 50 feet in a free fall to the ground. If you’re thinking “FUCK”, turns out I was too. Or at least that’s what I screamed before reaching the bottom. There, I swallowed my heart and fanned my burning embarrassment.

But, I kept going and by the last zip line I was actually smiling, looking around, even enjoying myself. We toasted our victory with Red Stripes and spent the rest of the day on the beach.

The next day we hiked up Dunns River Falls, and this time, both Kit and I loved it. Beginning on the beach, you join hands and climb up about 900 ft. of waterfalls in water shoes. It looks like it would be very slippery, but the rocks are some kind of limestone and are walked on constantly so it’s not really slippery at all. The current is strong however. It almost yanked down my top!

About half-way up, it began to pour rain. There was water everywhere! The tour guides used umbrellas and big green leaves to shield themselves from the rain while they waited for the rest of us to catch up. It couldn’t have rained at a better time though because we were already soaked. By the time we made it back to our hotel, it was sunny again.

Our last night in Ocho Rios, we lived it up by talking our way into the restaurant we couldn’t get reservations for, walking on the beach, and watching one of the destination brides (there were 27 that week at our resort alone!) commandeer the stage during the steel drum band show, which was pretty hilarious.

All in all, we had a great trip (but maybe not as great as the bride)!

Filed under: hooray for sunshine by Nic