duckydiana
- Nov 16, 2021
- 5 min read

Explorin' Jamaica - Dunn's River Falls & Luminous Lagoon (pt 3 of 3)

Updated: Jun 26, 2022

This was Jeff's 1st trip to Jamaica and I had visited off a cruise ship but didn't get to visit Dunn's River Falls, so this was high on our list of things to see. I discovered the Luminous Lagoon while researching attractions on the Visit Jamaica website. There are only 4 places in the world where you can experience this!

Due to COVID, Jamaica implemented Resilient Corridors:

'For the protection of locals and visitors alike, the Resilient Corridors were created to encourage safe tourism practices through the strict delivery of service that conforms to a rigorous set of COVID-19 protocols and approved by The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).'

Can I leave my hotel if I am staying along the Resilient Corridor? 'If you are a visitor staying along the Resilient Corridor you will be under the Stay in Zone order. This means you will be allowed to leave your hotel/resort to visit the approved COVID-19 Resilient attraction. A full list of COVID-19 Resilient attractions can be found at this link. All travel to and from the attraction must be on transportation licensed under the Tourist Board Act.'

Most Tour Operators have a Rep that visits the hotel to meet with you. They make sure everything is ok with your stay and offer local tours/info. Weirdly, WestJet Vacations did not have a Rep at the Holiday Inn. So, we booked with the Tour Desk at the hotel which uses Jamaica Tours Limited.

To book tours in advance, in Canadian $, click this link to my personal Viator page.

Dunn's River Falls (Ocho Rios) - $65USD p/p

... 'one of Jamaica's national treasures. A stone's throw from Ocho Rios, one of Jamaica's fastest growing resort centres, Dunn's River Falls is unique. Described as a living and growing phenomenon, it continuously regenerates itself from deposits of travertine rock, the result of precipitation of calcium carbonate from the river, as it flows over the falls. The small dome-shaped cataracts are usually associated with thermal spring activity found in limestone caves. This, combined with its location near to the sea, gives Dunn's River the distinction of being the only one of its kind in the Caribbean, if not the world.'

Our tour guide Reynolds was friendly and informative on the drive to the falls. The drive was about an hour from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. We were lucky as there were only 2 other people on our tour.

Seen along the way ... Ben Johnson's parent's house, goats on the side of the road, breadfruit, ackee (national fruit) and lots of Jerk Center's.

960ft of pure beauty - this was an INCREDIBLE experience -Highly recommend!

When we arrived, there was a temperature check and hand-washing station. Masks were required until we entered the bottom of the Falls.

Our guide Noel and videographer O'Neill made sure we were safe and had a fun time. We got lucky again and went up with a smaller group. There were a couple of larger groups in front of us.

We took the stairs down to the beach/ocean and started our climb there. Hint: don't stand too close to the guide, if you don't want to be first 😉 But, it did allow for some great photos. Hint: don't bring anything with you other than a phone in a waterproof case that has a string to go around your neck. Hats, sunglasses, etc. will float away and slows down the guide if they have to hold for you. It was shaded enough that I wasn't worried about getting a bad sunburn and I burn easily. Apply sunscreen in the parking lot, wear a cover-up (I wore a tank top) and you should be good. Water shoes recommended.

Some people didn't participate in the different experiences on the way up. We did it all and had so much fun!

Middle part - the most famous view ...

We were told to walk on the green rocks as it was safer. Growing up in Northern Ontario, you don't walk on the 'green' as it was usually algae and slippery. So, this was a bit weird, but sound advice. I lost my footing once & it was due to fast water.

View from the top ...

Keepsake Video - a videographer follows your group up the falls and makes a video for anyone who wants to buy it. Pics are hard to take as you are quite active and the waterproof phone case can make pics blurry. It's $40USD. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring a credit card and Apple Pay didn't work so we didn't get one.

ZipLine - you can zipline over the falls. We didn't do this, but it looked like fun.

Local Market - this was the only downside. We were warned by our tour guide that there were aggressive vendors and to not even tell them your name or they would carve it and demand that you pay for the item. It was a large maze and your only option was to go through it to exit. If we hadn't felt pressured we would have enjoyed browsing and probably bought some souvenirs. Our 2nd tour was to the Luminous Lagoon (Falmouth)- $56USD p/p 'This lagoon, surrounded by mangroves, is home to microscopic organisms that emit a bio-luminescent light when agitated. The water glows a beautiful blue and becomes illuminated when these organisms are disturbed. As the fish in the lagoon swim and dart around, you can see their outlines as streaks of light, shooting around in the darkness of night. When it rains, the lagoon ‘lights up' with the drops of water dancing on the surface.'

Some people choose not to swim. We weren't passing up on the once-in-a-lifetime experience! They asked for a 'tester' so, I was the 1st one in. Unfortuntately, the 1st location wasn't very good so we moved to a different spot and it was a lot better. The water was an interesting mix of cold and warm. It was quite the sensation to swim in the dark, not being able to see anything. Make sure you wear water shoes as it was shallow in spots and you don't want to touch the bottom which is mucky. It's soft like pudding and also stirs up silt which makes the glow harder to see. I can swim well, but used a life jacket to help me float around. There was a photographer, but we felt $30 USD was too much. Here's my pics ...