In the spirit of Jamaican Independence Day today, I wanted to share my experience of Jamaica with you and provide my top 15 things to do while you’re in Jamaica. I’m excited because I’ll be going back in October to check out some of the Sandals resorts for work.
1.) Visit Doctor’s Cave Beach
This beach is “private” and costs visitors $6 USD to visit. Because of this price, it does keep out people who are just trying to peddle and push products on you. It’s a very quiet, and enjoyable beach. You can rent snorkeling goggles for $6 USD but it’s not worth it as there aren’t any major reefs there.
2.) Walk the “Hip Strip”
This is the place you go for souvenirs, Jamaica flag bikinis, and shot glasses. There are a lot of local business owners on this strip who will try to lure you into their stores to make purchases. It can be a little annoying, but just be friendly and say “no thanks” if you’re not interested. You’ll also be offered a lot of weed, but remember it’s legal there up to a certain amount of ounces so don’t be put off by it. If you’re not interested, simply say “no thanks” and keep it moving. You’ll definitely see some characters, like this fashionista:
3.) Visit Montego Bay Marine Park
Within walking distance from the Doctor’s Cave Beach, you can visit this less touristy beach called Montego Bay Marine Park. The smell of weed was a little too strong for my liking but it was an overall nice and quiet beach. Great to mix in with the locals. Plus, you have to walk through this beautiful gate to get there. Did someone say photo opp?
4.) Drink out of fresh coconuts
Take advantage of the fresh coconuts that are grown here. Right on the beach, they have people go around and break them for you to drink out of.
5.) Tour the Croydon Plantation
This tour was by far my favorite day there. It was a very long day, as the drive through the Catadupa Mountains is a 25 mph windy road journey. The wealth of knowledge spitting from our tour guide Alicia made the long, slow journey a pleasant one. we drove through the mountains and visited a school (which will be my #6 thing to do!). During this tour we sampled different types of pineapples (who knew there were so many types), went through a rural neighborhood and saw people washing their clothes outside and doing house chores. Apparently, they don’t believe in mortgages and going in debt there so it takes them ~20 years to complete their houses. Wonderful economic model if you ask me. After lunch, we walked around the area and saw different historical statues. It was also interesting learning about the medicinal value of some of the plants around the area.
6.) Visit the Kids at Mount Carey Baptist School
This deserves its own number because that’s how special this trip is. Luckily, it was a part of the Croydon Plantation tour and because a portion of the proceeds do go to this local school they are OK with you visiting with them for a few minutes. The kids were shy at first but later warmed up to us. This was such a special visit and the kids there just lit up everyone’s faces.
7.) Swim in the Seven-Mile Beach of Negril
This beach is lined with lots of shops, restaurants, and hustlers. People selling you jet ski rides, hats, drinks, and of course marijuana.
8.) Cliff Jumping at Rick’s Cafe
Rick’s cafe is the quintessential Jamaica experience to watch the sunset, listen to reggae music, eat some jerk chicken, and go cliff diving. Mind you, by “cliff diving” I mean “diving board diving.” It’s not as rough as I thought it would be. You can pay Jamaicans to jump off the tallest part of the rock but I guess when I was there I was around cheap-os because no one jumped from that high up.
9.) Watch Sunset at Rick’s Cafe
The most beautiful place to watch a sunset in all of Jamaica (not that I’ve been to all of Jamaica and can confirm). SO beautiful! You just have to be pretty quick because the sun goes down in a matter of minutes. I think this calls for 2 pics!
10.) Blue Lagoon Swimming
The water is out of this world. It’s just as blue-green in real life as it is in the pics, #nofilter. The only negative part was that the water in some spots was warm, and other spots a few inches away was freezing! Braze yourself. Here’s a pic of me (think this was in a warm spot). No, I’m no naked here.
11.) Blue Lagoon Boat ride
While you’re there in Port Antonio (Portland), Jamaica hire a driver to take you out on the water. You’ll see stars’ homes. We saw Snoop Dogg’s vacation home right on the water. There’s also a hotel nearby that has a recording studio in it. Lots of celebs go there as a hang out spot. It’s a nice quiet area and I highly recommend.
12.) Visit Bikini Beach
Visiting this beach was a part of my tour, so I’m not sure I would’ve found it otherwise but it was a nice little spot. There’s a restaurant onsite, that serves up delicious jerk chicken. Plus, their drinks are very flavorful – especially their margarita. This was a nice stop overall so if you have time, definitely check it out. Said drink:
13.) Ride on Bamboo Rafts down the Rio Grande
This bamboo raft was also a part of the Blue Lagoon and Bikini Beach tour. It was the last thing we did and was a relaxing experience. Almost, a little too relaxing for me. I prefer more adventurous things other than bird watching but it was a nice way to spend a few hours. Be sure to tip your crew! They work hard for their money and most of them inherit their job so for example the guy who took us around had been doing that for more than 20 years – his family did it and so he did too! Real interesting stories from the people there.
14.) Share a beer with a local. Make friends
I can’t stress it enough how friendly the people in Jamaica are. Get to know as many people as you can in a genuine I-actually-want-to-get-to-know-you-way. Most of them love sharing stories of their families, their house they are having built, their job, their latest vacations, etc. Here’s a gentleman my friend and I met on the beach. Yes, he invited himself down and asked me to buy him a beer but… why not? Drake had it wrong when he said #nonewfriends.
15.) Swim in the Bio luminescent Bay
There’s only a few places in the world where you can swim in this Bay (Jamaica is home to a few of them, and Puerto Rico is home to a few). I attempted to go in Puerto Rico, but due to the level of seaweed oxygen, it did not light up and I was bummed. That’s why I was so happy to see that I was able to do it in Jamaica. It’s about a $50 tour and there’s a show at the end of it with a fire-breathing, fire-eating, fire-walking man. The pictures don’t do it justice. You really have to go and just experience it but here’s my terrible pic where I look crazy!
Hope you enjoyed reading 🙂 I’ll update another few things to do when I go back in October? I know Dunn’s River is a popular one but from what I gathered it seems a little overrated. Any thoughts on that?
