Panama 2008

We are in Jamaica mon! The ship arrived at Montego Bay at about 7am and by 8:30 we were in the terminal building waiting to board the bus for our shore excursion. We had selected the Black River Safari. Black River is on the other side of the island and the bus ride takes roughly two hours over narrow, winding roads over the mountains that cover central Jamaica. I suspect that several of the passengers on board the bus (Susie among them) kept their eyes closed during portions of the ride. On the ride to Black River we had some near misses which the bus driver and guide dismissed as "no problem mon." That statement seems to reflect the philosophy of life on the island.

One of the values of taking the kind of excursions we have taken is you see how the real people live and Jamaica was not an exception. Driving through the rural areas of a country and away from the more developed big towns and cities, you see what seems like high levels of poverty. The same is true in the areas around some of the ports. At the same time, in the midst of all of the poverty you see some very large and expensive homes and resort areas. On the way to Black River we passed one of the Sandals resorts.

At Black River we boarded a pontoon boat for a trip up the river to view wildlife. The starting point is at the mouth of the river where it enters the Caribbean Sea. Most of the river in the area we covered is brackish. The main predator in the river is the crocodile. The native crocodiles are not as aggressive as those found in the Nile River or in Australia... I still wouldn't go for a swim with one. The guide on the boat seemed to be very comfortable reaching out and grabbing a crocodile that was about 5-6 feet in length. But then again, he declined to swim with the crocodiles. We passed a nesting area of Cattle Egrets where some of the nests had young birds who have not yet gotten their flight feathers. The nests are built on the Mangroves on the edge of the river and the crocodiles hang out in the area to grab a quick snack if one of the young birds fall in the water. Other birds we saw were Night Herons and Snowy Egrets. As we learned previous trips of this nature, the local fauna don't always operate at the convenience of the tourists. I think we had relatively good luck seeing a number of different animals and birds.

After a Jamaican lunch, we got back into the bus for the ride back. We followed the same route in reverse and had some close calls that even the driver did not dismiss as "no problem, mon." We got back on the ship at 3:30pm.

Within minutes after we got on board, heavy rains came and we left Montego Bay in a rain squall around 4:30. Since this is our last port of call, the rain doesn't bother us too much because we won't be going anywhere. Tonight the ship will follow the southern coast of Cuba into the Windward passage between Cuba and Haiti. Tomorrow will be a day at sea and the weather forecast is good for the last day of trip... we will see.

Sunrise approach to Montego Bay