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.