Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Sherry
We spent a delightful day with Orville Taylor as our private guide. We contacted him at his website and arranged the tour with him ahead of time. He was there to meet us right on time at the pier. My mother had an electric scooter and he accommodated that with no problem in his large, air-conditioned bus. We first went on a rafting trip with Calypso Rafting on the White River. Orville called them on the drive over and so everything was set up when we arrived. Rambo was our raft guide and he was wonderful. Orville was at the other end, waiting for us. He took us through Fern Gully and then wound his way around to Ocho Rios on small country back roads, all the while pointing out different plants and flowers, and answering our many questions with much patience and a great degree of knowledge. We stopped at Wassi Art Pottery Works for a personalized tour of the factory that included individual introductions to all of the artists at work. Orville then took us to a great store so we could pick up Jamaican rum and coffee. Upon Orville's advise, we even bartered on these items and managed to get an excellent deal on them. Next, we asked Orville to take us to Lobster Dave's for lunch. The meal was very good, and the experience of being among the Jamaican fisherman and other locals was wonderful. Only thing I would have done differently would have been to agree on the meal prices before we sat down (there were no written menus). As it was, Lobster Dave overcharged us quite a bit for the meals, but there wasn't much I could do about it at that point. Even though our original agreement with Orvilee was for a 4 hour tour and we were out for over 5 hours, he never became impatient or even asked for additional fees (we gave him a hefty tip as a big thank you). He was an exceptional tour guide in every way and our experience with him made that day the highlight of our cruise.

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