Above: The view from the Ryndam
A place of rivers and waterfalls, Ocho Rios has long been a favoured retreat with tourists. During the past few decades, Ocho Rios has developed from a small, unassuming town into a bustling modern resort. Coastline was dredged and landscaped to create beachfront property and shopping centres were also added as well as a deepwater pier for cruise ships.
Above: Jetties and beachfront properties
One of the most famous natural attractions is the Dunn’s River Falls, a cascading series of waterfalls that travels from the mountains to the sea. On our first visit here (20th October), a crew trip was organised to the Falls and we scaled the waterfall.
Above: Dunn’s River Falls (main photo not mine)
Other attractions include locations used in the Bond film, ‘Live and Let Die’ as well as dolphin encounters and of course, Bob Marley’s house. A new attraction, created in 2008 is Mystic Mountain, an expansive multi-million-dollar tourism attraction which features a fast Jamaican Bobsled ride through the jungle, a chairlift journey over the treetops, a zip-line course, an island culture and heritage centre, as well as mountaintop dining and shopping venues. During our latest trip to Ocho Rios on 1st December, Tom (Neptune bass player) and I visited Mystic Mountain to ride the bobsled.
Above: Ocho Rios resort area, as seen from the Mystic Mountain.
To reach the Mystic Mountain resort, you have to take a 15 minute chair lift ride up the mountain. With only a bar keeping you on the chair, it’s not for those who are scared of heights!
Above: The chair lift station at the top of the Mystic Mountain resort
The bobsled ride itself was pretty fun. You control the speed of the descent with a brake but the staff tell you not to brake until the very end (so I didn’t).
Above: Me on the Bobsled Car (apologies for the slightly blurred shot)
I thought I’d have a go at capturing some video footage of the ride which turned out quite well. The recording is quite bumpy which couldn’t really be helped, and sadly I couldn’t upload the file in HD with my slow internet connection. But I hope you enjoy it anyway!
Stay tuned for my next blog entry which will be exploring Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands!
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