Kris Hartman

We had chosen two shore excursions in Jamaica. One was a party boat catamaran that took us out to snorkel with the fish at a nice coral reef, and then took us to the world famous Margaritaville. The crew on the boat really were fun, and had everybody up dancing to reggae music (of course the free rum punches helped a bit too I'm sure). At Margaritaville we sat and had a couple pina coladas, and listened to music for a while. The DJ announced that Jimmy Buffet was upstairs and would be coming down to meet people in a while, but alas, our boat left before we could see him. A word of caution: Jamaican time runs slower than U.S. time. The length of the tours are only approximate. In fact, one of the ladies on the boat's crew warned us that we would be at Margaritaville for 30 U.S. minutes. She said if they were Jamaican minutes, we would be taking a plane to catch the ship at the next port.

The second excursion we went on was a river raft tour down what they call the Grand river. We barely got off the party boat in time to catch the tour bus to the river. The ride up into the hills to the river took about 30 minutes, and took us through some very impoverished areas. It was a reminder that Jamaica is really a very poor country.

When we got to the starting point of the rafting tour we were pleasantly surprised. The rafts are hand made and decorated by each "Captain". They are about 20 feet long, and made from bamboo. Each raft has a single seat for two people and the "Captain" (honestly that's what they called themselves) poled the raft down the river with a long piece of bamboo. It was very peaceful, and a nice break from all the busy activities. The ride lasted for about an hour, and we were shown many of the local plants and flowers along the way. As we floated gently down the river we would pass other rafts being poled or PULLED with a rope back up the river by their captains to the starting point. When we got to the ending point, we were shown some of the local Jamaican produce, got to watch a guy climb up a 60 foot coconut palm with only his hands and feet, and had a pina colada made fresh from all local items including the Jamaican rum.

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