Ships & Dip III - Wednesday

You Never Know What's Gonna Happen on the Cruise-Uh!

Ocho Rios, Jamaica - Wednesday, January 30

Our Jamaica excursion was scheduled to begin at 8:30am, so we started getting up at 6am. Our cabin was on the port side, so we didn't see what the pier looked like until we got off the boat. Wow was that a shock. We apparently got the "James Bond Pier," which was used as a location in "Dr. No." Thing is, it's nothing more than an old industrial port for a bauxite mine, and it looks like it hasn't been touched since the filming! We called it the "Ghetto Dock." I also heard the term "Beach Jail" thrown around, but that might have been in reference to the Bamboo Beach Club, which was apparently surrounded in razor wire.

We got off the ship, and on one of many little tour buses all parked in a fenced in area, presumably to keep the locals out. Now I know why.

We pulled out of the prison yard and onto the streets of Ocho Rios, making our way up to the Coyaba River Garden. The garden was gorgeous. We got lots of great pictures of tropical plants and other interesting things.

After the garden, we were given 30 minutes to shop in Island Village. We thought that wouldn't be enough time, but it was. There wasn't much there. I bought a $5 air of Tanzanite earrings. Actually, I got two pair in the envelope by accident, so I gave one to Clarissa. Merry Christmas! ;)

After our speed-shopping, they took us to Dunn's River Falls. We had a blast climbing the falls. The yucky part was at the end, when you get shuffled through a crappy little market, where people try to get you to buy stuff.

We had fun on our excursions in Jamaica, but have no desire to return.

View of our ship from our tour bus in the prison yard.

Coyaba River Garden

Giant Freaking Spider at Coyaba River Garden

Flowers in the Coyaba River Garden.

Flower in the Coyaba River Garden.

Flowers in the Coyaba River Garden.

Flower in the Coyaba River Garden.

Flowers at Island Village

Steve and Suebee with a parrot - nice baggy eyes!

John with a parrot.

Chaos at Dunn's River Falls! So many people!!

Me and Steve

Me and John

All three of us (Clarissa went horseback riding)

Our Guides

People, People, People!

WELCOME TOOCHORIOS - ran out of room?

Good riddance, Ghetto Dock. James Bond was a tool.

Back on Board

After we got back on the ship -- early -- we went and had lunch at the buffet, and hung out on the ship, relaxing. Oakhurst was supposed to do the sail-away show, which really didn't interest us (I have to admit, we ran into Oakhurst all over the ship, and they seemed to be a bunch of immature assholes, in my opinion. John said "They just don't fit in."). As it turns out, the rain showers during the day (which happened while we were climbing the falls) and high winds sort of borked all the Lido concerts for the night. I think Oakhurst got rescheduled somewhere, but I don't remember. A non-issue, really. Guster should have done the sail-away, in my opinion.

After dinner (and changing into our jammies), we decided to check out a last-minute addition to the schedule - Lori Cullen, playing with Brothers Creeggan (Concert Count: 12). She's apparently a big fan from way back, and appeared in the "Lovers in the Dangerous Time" video. She's got quite a voice!

We only had two concerts we really wanted to see that night, and originally they overlapped -- Brothers Creeggan in the Atrium (Concert Count: 13), and Vanity Project on Lido (Concert Count: 14). However, the weather forced TVP to relocate to the Adriatic Lounge, which made the show start much later than planned, as they had to move ALL the instruments and set up. It was supposed to be 11-12:30, but it ended up being 12:00 - 1:30. My brother was being a PITA, and John was tired, so John ended up leaving us, and going to bed. My brother only stayed for 2 songs, and bailed to go next door to see Boothby Graffoe and Harland Williams.

After TVP, Clarissa and I came back to the cabin and crashed. Luckily, it was pajama night, so we didn't even have to change! LOL!

Lori Cullen with Brothers Creeggan

Brian McMillan, Andy Creeggan and Kurt Swinghammer

Jim and Andy Creeggan in the Atrium

Brothers Creeggan with Andy's wife, Natascha, Bob Woodburn,
Ed Robertson and Kurt Swinghammer doing "Pollywog in a Bog"

Ed doing a reggae-rap in "Pollywog..." Awesome.

The Vanity Project

The Vanity Projects