Ocho Rios, Jamaica

OCHO RIOS...The very name projects visions of exotic sights and people. The reality for me is best projected by the joy I felt leaving the place in the evening....

On docking, the picture of huge homes on the hillside gave us great anticipation as to the things we'd be seeing. Duchess and I were to have joined some of the group for horseback riding and an actyual ride into the surf. Duchess, most unfortunately, fell in the motorhome enroute to the ship and her shoulder was too sore to allow riding....we opted for a bus tour. MISTAKE!

Things in Ocho Rios were generally squallor! Homes were unfinished, falling down, etc. People seemed listless and simply meandering about. Here is the "James Bond" dock where we landed. Rusty and old, it was named as it was used for the filming of "Dr. No", the James Bond flick.

The hospital we drove by resembled a decrepit old Tampa warehouse. The famed "Dunn's Falls" we viewed from a back entrance where forty or so vendors were VERY pushy about their wares, and even snapped this picture of the Duchess and I. We escaped mostly unharmed....but could have lost a lot of money if we'd been less than determined.

Our drive was punctuated by numerous stops for "opportunities" to buy things. We soon learned and refused to get off the bus and headed instead back to town for a roundevous with others from the horseback riding at Hard Rock! Then back to the boat for an overnight......

Next stop...Grand Cayman and a MUCH better place...those pics will be here tomorrow.

Duke