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Popular Things To Do | Other Things To Do Tips | All Tips (77) Dolphins Cove has to be the most wonderful this we have ever done. Dolphins Cove takes extremely good care of these dolphins. They are perfect, no scratches, healthy skin, very friendly and gentle for a 900 pound dolphin. The day we were there the dolphins just had a baby the day before and were a little
pre-occupied, but still gave us a wonderful show. No cameras are promitted in the encounter area. They take a movie of you while your with the dolphins and it is for sale later and you can buy photos of your selection right there. You will never forget this swim, ever! Leave a Comment Phone: (876) 974-5335Directions: Dolphin Cove Ltd. P.O. Box 21, Ocho Rios P.O., St. Ann Jamaica W.I.Website: http://www.dolphincovejamaica.com/ Other Contact: info@dolphincovejamaica.com
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This is Ocho Rios from up the coast, more cuiseships stop at Ocho Rios then any other port in Jamaica. Ocho Rios has grown to a world known resort desination from a small fishing village 20 years ago. You can find so much to do around this area like, Dunn's River Falls, Fern Gully, Edan Falls, Dolphins Cove, bamboo rafting, lovers leap & Treasure Beach for starters. Check the site below for more details. Leave a Comment
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A trip to Dunn's River Falls is an easy excursion from Ocho Rios and probably the most touristed spot on all of Jamaica. Although it is a bit of a tourist trap, if you go early and when there are no cruise ships in port, it makes for a nice trip.
The Falls are very lush and pretty and the climb up is fun although I found the hand holding up the Falls to make the climb harder than it needed to be and rather annoying. It's not a terribly strenuous climb and there are several points at which you can get out if you need to.
Bring aqua socks or an old pair of tennis shoes, a towel, bathing suit and a waterproof camera. The guides did take a few non waterproof cameras up the Falls for people but then you can't take pictures although they will take them of you.
After the trip up the Falls, the guides will be looking for tips so bring a little cash with you. If you need to rent a pair of rubber shoes, you can do that for $5US and there are lockers if you need them. Leave a Comment
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This is the best known, and arguably the most hyped, tourist attraction in the Ocho Rios area. However, the falls are well worth a visit and the development has thankfully failed to mask their attractiveness, despite what appear to be considerable efforts to do so!
The “done thing” here is to climb the falls. A group of tourists, usually bussed in from a cruise ship, lines up hand in hand at the base of the falls and is led up from ledge to ledge by an experienced guide. It can be slippery but is quite safe, providing you wear the rubber shoes that can be hired or bought (or take your own if you have them). We were in two minds whether to join a group for this activity however, and in the end decided against it – partly because I’m not the most agile of people, partly because Chris is not very keen on getting that wet, and partly because the cattle-train approach to shepherding people up the falls seemed somehow out of keeping with the beauty of our surroundings. So we contented ourselves with enjoying the various views of the falls from the wooden steps and platforms along the edge – and, I must confess, with laughing at the struggles of some of older ladies, in particular, who found it hard to stay on their feet in the swift current (see photo 2)!
The surrounding gardens are nicely maintained and the vegetation is lush; the overall effect is very pretty despite the commercialisation. As well as the falls themselves, the colourful tropical flowers and a very large spider (see photo 4) kept my camera clicking happily for some time.
Admission to the falls is US$15 per person (adults) and US$12 (children 2-12 years).
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When we tired of watching the falls we headed to the small beach at their foot. Admission to this beach is included in the cost of admission to the falls, and there is no other access to it, so consequently it was fairly quiet and quite pretty. I enjoyed cooling off in the pool at the foot of the falls and also had a swim in the sea. There is a cordoned-off area for the latter, to separate swimmers from the jet-skis that operate here. The water temperature in the sea varied greatly, from warm to quite chilly to warm again in the space of just a few strokes – I imagine that this is caused by the cold rushing water from the falls pouring into the much warmer sea water, but it made for an interesting swimming experience!
If you want to swim or to climb the falls there are a few wooden changing cubicles down near the beach, and others at the top of the falls to change in when you climb out – although the warm sun should dry you quite quickly. Other facilities include hair-braiding and ice-cream stalls (we had a lovely chocolate frozen yoghurt). Nearer the entrance is a cluster of food stalls where we bought some refreshing Red Stripe beers – there’s also jerk pork and chicken, patties and other snacks available.
Between the falls and this area is the infamous craft market – we had been warned through tips elsewhere on VT, as well as by Elise at the Blue House, that hassling was a real problem here, but we didn’t find it so. Perhaps the stall-holders are more laid-back on a Sunday (see photo 4 for a good example of laid-back!), perhaps they’d just had some good sales from other tourists (though it seemed fairly quiet that day) or perhaps our firm but friendly “We’re not shopping today thanks” was enough to deter them – whatever the reason, we had no problems at all.
Admission to the falls is US$15 per person (adults) and US$12 (children 2-12 years).
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Dunn's River Falls is an other great experence located in Ocho Rios. Dunn's River Falls is almost next to Dolphins Cove, This shot is Dunn's River Falls spilling into the ocean, we are at Dolphins Cove. Dunn's River Falls is world known for an experence you will always remember. This trip requires a lot of climbing up wet rocks, so must should be sure footed. Leave a Comment
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There are several beaches in town, which we didn’t visit, but we were told they get busy and are less attractive than the only one we did visit, Reggae Beach. This is a few miles out of town – we went by hire car (thanks Michael!) but I reckon a taxi would cost US$10-15 depending on your haggling abilities. The beach is privately owned so there’s a small admission fee of US$5 (or JA$200) – however as guests at the Blue House we were able to get in for free as Elise and Darryl pay an annual membership fee.
You won’t find huge crowds or loads of facilities here. But there is a small wooden beach bar run by local Rastas, with cold drinks for sale (and I gather fish and other light meals too, though we’d already had lunch when we came). Water cost JA$50 (about 35p or 70 cents) and soft drinks twice that. You can chill here at the bar, listening to the reggae beats, or find your own patch of sand somewhere along the long palm-fringed bay. If you feel like a swim, there are changing cubicles and cold water showers, and you can also hire snorkelling equipment, though I’m not sure how much there is to see. When we were there the waves were quite lively, making the water better for splashing and wave-jumping than for serious swimming.
You shouldn’t really get much hassle here by the way, though we were pestered for a while by a local who wanted to sell us a “smoke” – but he moved off once he could see for sure that we weren’t buying. Directions: About four miles east of town – look out for the gate on the left about a mile after crossing the White River and entering St Mary’s Parish.
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We took a private excursion with Carolyn Barrett of Barrett Adventures to Kingston for a day. It's at least a couple of hours each way to get to Kingston but the drive is on winding, mountainous roads, through small towns and scenic lush terrain.
Our first stop was in Spanish town, then we continued onto Port Royal where we hopped on a boat out to Lime Cay (pronounced key) for some snorkeling, to Fort Charles, then through the nicer section of Kingston with it's large mansions and shopping areas and finally stopping at Devon House for a pic although we didn't do the house tour.
Private tours are a little more expensive than group tours but you have the luxury of being able to stop where you want to stop and not have to wait for people. Leave a Comment
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Even if like us you choose not to “splash out” (geddit?) on a dolphin encounter, there is lots more to do at Dolphin Cove. I enjoyed getting up close to a stingray (see photo 5), as well as to the iguanas and parakeets on the so-called “Jungle Trail”. There was one disappointment there though; the website shows a picture of someone with a snake draped round their neck and I was looking forward to a similar experience as I have a strange liking for these animals, but we were told they no longer allow this as it was disturbing the snakes – fair enough!
There are also some better than average crafts for sale, plus swimwear etc (I bought some nice flip-flops) and souvenir items. There’s a bar with great views of the bay, a coffee shop serving Blue Mountain coffee and a café where we enjoyed nice fruit juices and a snack of potato wedges.
By the way, if you have kids there is a lot they would enjoy here, but I did see one little boy crying as he was so afraid of the “pirates” who roam the boardwalk and are quite effective in their fierceness! Directions: About three miles west of Ocho Rios on the right of the road. We drove straight past the first time as it isn’t obvious – look out for all the cars and minibuses dropping people off.Website: www.dolphincovejamaica.com
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Near to Dunn’s River Falls, and vying with them for the title of most visited attraction in Ocho Rios, is Dolphin Cove. The main attraction here is both pretty unique and very expensive – swimming with dolphins. But this isn’t the only draw, and Dolphin Cove bills itself quite justifiably as offering a whole day out for all the family (albeit at a price). We came just for a morning however, and managed to pack a fair bit into a few hours. In this tip I focus on the main draw, the dolphins themselves.
Entrance fees vary according to what you want to do. You can choose from:
Entry only – this costs US$45 (adults) and covers interacting with stingrays; glass-bottom kayaking; snorkelling; shark show; the Jungle Trail (where you view and interact with iguanas and various birds such as macaws and parakeets); access to the beach and to the observation deck; plus various shops and restaurants.
“Touch Encounter” – all the above plus a chance to stand knee-deep in the water to pet the dolphins.
“Encounter Swim” – the standard attractions plus a chance to interact with one dolphin while swimming in the deep.
“Dolphin Swim” – as above but with two dolphins including a dorsal pul – the “ultimate” dolphin experience.
If you pay the simple entry only fee and then decide you’d like one of the dolphin encounters you can upgrade on the spot – although many of the encounters are booked up well in advance so you may be unlucky. If you know you want to do one, you can pre-book on the website to be sure of getting the opportunity.
We weren’t sure whether or not we wanted to swim with the dolphins, so to start with opted for the entry only option. I spent some time being tempted into an upgrade to a swim (most people reckon the touch encounter is disappointing) but in the end decided against it. There were two reasons for this. One was the cost, which was high (US$200 for the Encounter Swim, US$250 for the Dolphin Swim); the other was a degree of discomfort I felt when watching the proceedings – there seemed to be a conveyor belt of swimmers, and the dolphins made a series of circuits with a different person hanging on each time. If that is an encounter it is very much a brief one! Our fellow guest at the Blue House, Michael, was equally disappointed with what he saw, but I've since learned that he went back later on his trip and had a VIP experience which he loved. I'll let him take up the story from here:
"I had a "life dream": to swim with dolphins. At Dolphin Cove tourists can swim "with the dolphins". I watched this and was really disappointed. Large groups of pleasure-seeking tourists line up in a row; two dolphins go past and pull each for just a few metres, then move on to the next one. It looked to me like queuing for a short ride on a jet ski. All this for US$250.
I told Elise of my impression and that I therefore didn't want to do this. Some days later she told me that she’d spoken with the owner of Dolphin Cove and had arranged something special for me. On a day when there was no cruise ship in town, Daryl took me to Dolphin Cove. THEN A DREAM CAME TRUE. With only the trainer as companion I could swim for 30 minutes with "Misty" and "Pepe" – touch, hold and play completely at ease with them. It was one of the most touching experiences of my life."
[Paraphrased from Michael's Trip Advisor review with his permission; photos 3-5 are also his and again reproduced here with permission]
More on Dolphin Cove in next tip Directions: About three miles west of Ocho Rios on the right of the road. We drove straight past the first time as it isn’t obvious – look out for all the cars and minibuses dropping people off.Website: www.dolphincovejamaica.com
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on July 4, 2004
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