Jamaica cannot claim to have the very best beaches, reefs, or sport fishing in the Caribbean. However, it is indeed one of the best ‘all-around’ islands in the region, offering a wide range of opportunities for a variety of activities. Under the warm island sun you can enjoy water sports or you can just relax on the sand doing nothing at all. Nightlife includes an abundance of reggae music and dancing, and if you’re here at the right time of year you can attend some of the world’s biggest music festivals. For those in shopping mode, the choices are many: woodcarvings, colourful clothing, coffee and (of course) rum.
Jewellery on sale at a beach shop, Runaway Beach
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Sports And Outdoor activities
Beaches and Water Sports
Spending the day on the beach taking in the sun is one of the primary reasons tourists visit Jamaica. Every resort area has its own famous beaches with their own particular beauty. Many of the beaches are private, meaning that you must pay admission, but they are well maintained and offer lots of facilities. Negril has the great expanse of Seven Mile Beach on Long Bay and the small ‘desert island’ of Booby Cay, while Montego Bay has the shorter expanses of Doctor’s Cave Beach and Cornwall Beach. In Ocho Rios you will find Turtle Beach, where you can watch the cruise boats docking at the pontoon in the bay. Port Antonio beaches are now the domains of the fine hotels on San San Bay, Frenchman’s Cove and Dragon Bay, all of which are tiny coves protected by rocky tropical outcrops. Long Bay on the eastern coast is wonderful because it is remote and uncrowded, but it is not suitable for swimming because of the strong currents. Treasure Beach on the south coast has dark volcanic sand beaches that are home to colourful fishing boats.
At the major resorts, beaches are kept clean and facilities for a range of water sports are readily available. Jet skiing is popular in the sheltered waters near the beaches. If you are adventurous, you can go parasailing, with a boat pulling you along above the beach and waterfront. This is particularly exciting along Long Bay at Negril. A couple of bars have even installed large trampolines offshore, where you can swim out and bounce above the water.
If you do intend to take part in any sporting activity, make sure to check that your travel insurance policy specifically covers it. Some policies have clauses that exclude certain sports.
Snorkelling
Jamaica is particularly good for snorkelling, with many reefs and rocky promontories to explore very close to the shore. There are also a number of shallow areas between reefs that offer a fascinating view of various types of sea life. Beautiful tropical fish in iridescent blues and greens search through the coral for food, and in deeper waters you can spot bigger fish such as rays and nurse sharks. All the major resorts have small boats offering trips to offshore sites if you want to snorkel in deeper water.
Snorkelling in Negril
Pete Bennett
The West End at Negril is ideal for snorkelling. The coral cliffs drop down into a clear azure sea, and there are hundreds of caves and canyons to explore. Montego Bay has the Marine Park with a range of environments. At Doctor’s Cave Beach you can snorkel in an area where warm spring water meets the sea, or join a guide to go further out to the Coyoba, Seaworld or Royal reefs where the fish are larger and more varied. Further east, Runaway Bay has fine reefs running parallel to the line of hotels along the beach. Ocho Rios has a wonderful shallow reef running east from Turtle Beach for safe snorkelling.
Jamaica’s Top Dive Sites
Negril. Pete Wreck is an old submerged tug boat. Throne Room is a huge cavern with yellow sponges. Sharks’ Reef is home to nurse sharks, while you can see eels at Rock Cliff Reef.
Montego Bay. The Marine Park contains underwater walls of coral. Airport Reef and Widowmaker’s Cave are two of the most famous sites.
Runaway Bay. Ricky’s Reef at a depth of 30m (90ft) is covered in gorgonians and lettuce coral, while Pocket’s Reef is a wall dive covered in gorgonians, black coral and sponges. Ganja Planes has the wreckage of aircraft that crashed and are now being colonised by sea creatures.
Ocho Rios. The reef wall drops over 900m (nearly 3,000ft) but comes close to shore, offering nearby dives with a variety of fish and other aquatic life. A deliberately-sunk former minesweeper, Kathryn, is now home to a range of marine life.
Kingston. To dive the sunken city of Port Royal you must obtain special permission. For information contact a local dive operator.
Diving
Much of the northern coast of Jamaica is fringed by areas of deep reef wall that make diving a pleasure. Although some sections of reef have been damaged in recent years, there are still many areas with a wide range of fish and other marine creatures to see. Most of the major resort areas offer diving opportunities and certified training facilities for those who want to learn how to dive. Your hotel may offer certified instruction or guided dives. For more information contact the Jamaica Tourist Board (for more information, click here) for a selection of approved and certified dive operators.
Boat Charters, River Tours and Rafting
If you don’t want to get into the water but you’d still like to see aquatic life on the reef, then take a glass-bottomed boat trip. There are a number of companies in all the major resorts. At Negril and Ocho Rios, the boats tie up along the main beach; you can negotiate a price while you sunbathe. The boats in Montego Bay all dock at the same place, so you can compare prices and facilities. Pier 1 has a range of options, from small boats to large semi-submersible craft that will take you under the water in complete comfort. If you are not a confident swimmer, a boat is probably the best way to enter this very different aquatic world.
Visitors can explore Jamaica’s inland waters by raft on the Martha Brae River (for more information, click here) or Rio Grande (for more information, click here). Take a trip down the Black River to experience the Great Morass (for more information, click here; for tours contact Irie Safari, tel: 965-2211; http://lostriverkayak.com) and see crocodiles in action, or you can simply get wet and picnic at YS Falls (for more information, click here; tel: 997-6360; http://ysfalls.com), near Mandeville.
Take a trip on a glass-bottom boat from Buccaneer Bay
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Crocodile at Black River
Pete Bennett
Sport Fishing
Sport fishing is also a popular activity. Port Antonio hosts a major international angling tournament each October. Blue-and-white marlin are the prized catch: the waters around Jamaica are especially rich in these magnificent fish and this is the oldest marlin-fishing tournament in the Caribbean. Other fish are plentiful, but the bounty of Jamaican waters is being threatened by overfishing. Respect efforts that are under way to create marine sanctuaries around the island. You will find sport-fishing boats for hire at the marinas in the major resorts: Bay Pointe at Montego Bay, the main beach in Ocho Rios, Morgan’s Harbour Hotel at Port Royal in Kingston and Errol Flynn Marina at Port Antonio. You can hire a boat with equipment and crew by the day or half day.
Other Activities
Golf
Jamaica has an excellent range of golf courses, from small nine-hole to championship 18-hole courses. Several important tournaments take place on the island during the year, where you can watch international players from the PGA and the LPGA compete.
Montego Bay has fine courses, professionally designed and maintained in peak condition. The most famous course is at the Tryall Club (www.tryallclub.com), west of Montego Bay, where the greens caress the undulating coastal slopes. To the east of Montego Bay, where the coastal plain is flat and wide and an ideal landscape for golf, there are several large hotels that have courses. The four best are the Half Moon Golf Club (www.halfmoongolf.com), the White Witch course at Ritz Carlton Rose Hall (www.whitewitchgolf.com), the Cinnamon Hill course at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort (www.rosehallresort.com) and Spa and Ironshore Golf and Country Club, all created by internationally acclaimed designers and offering a challenge for all ability levels. These courses are open to the public.
Golf at Sandals, Ocho Rios
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Walking, Hiking and Cycling
Jamaica is a perfect island for walking, hiking or mountain biking, and more and more visitors are looking to get off the beaten track, at least for part of their holiday.
A guide is recommended for a trek to the Blue Mountain Peak or a hike into the Cockpit Country. Several companies organise tours that can be tailored to your needs. The Southern Trelawny Environmental Association (STEA) provides local guides for Cockpit Country tours (tel: 393-6584; www.stea.net). Sun Venture Tours run hiking, caving, cycling, safari, sightseeing, birdwatching and adventure tours island-wide (tel: 960-6685; www.sunventuretours.com). Strawberry Hill Hotel, which is located in Blue Mountains (www.strawberryhillhotel.com), has several guided hikes of different difficulty levels. For mountain biking on footpaths and goat trails, check Blue Mountain Bicycle Tours (tel: 974-7075; www.bmtoursja.com). Blue Mountain Bicycle Tours also organises guided cycling trips down the 460m (1,500ft) drop from Murphy Hill to Dunn’s River Falls (see also Bicycle Rental, click here).
For news and information about competitive cycling meets, charity rides and racing, contact the Jamaica Cycling Federation (www.jamaicacycling.com).
The annual Bikeathon Jamaica Challenge is held in May, organised by the Rotary Club of Montego Bay East: the route runs over a six loop, 74km (47-mile) course in Ironshore, Montego Bay (Rose Hall area), with an 18.5km (11.5-mile) recreational race, a kids’ race, and a 5km (3 mile) run.
See the island on horseback
Chukka Caribbean Adventures
Horse Riding
There are several places in Jamaica to get in the saddle. Try the facilities at the Rocky Point Stables at the Half Moon Hotel (tel: 953-2286; www.horsebackridingjamaica.com); or Braco Stables, Duncans, Trelawny, 15 minutes drive from Falmouth (tel: 954-0185; www.bracostables.com), which offers a variety of rides and tours.
Spectator Sports
Spectator sports tend to be seasonal. Depending on the time of year, you can attend a range of competitive events.
Cricket
The professional season in Jamaica runs from January to August each year (Jamaica Cricket Association; www.cricketjamaica.org) and international matches are usually played at Sabina Park, Kingston. You might also come across a local game in almost any village. The English introduced cricket to the island, but Jamaican players and spectators bow to nobody in their obvious enthusiasm for the game.
Cricket on the green
Pete Bennett
Soccer
Soccer is hugely popular on Jamaica. The season runs from September to May; the premier league has 12 sides (www.premierleaguejamaica.com) and there are 13 parish leagues. The national squad is known as the Reggae Boyz (www.thereggaeboyz.com). Jamaica last qualified for the World Cup in 1998.
Horse Racing
There is a track at Caymanas Park near Kingston (www.caymanasracetrack.com). Betting is in Jamaican dollars only.
Polo
Matches are played at several places but you can watch an international match at Kingston Polo Club , St Ann Polo Club, Drax Hall (www.stannspoloclub.com) and at Chukka Cove near St Ann’s Bay in the north. The polo season runs from January to early August. The Jamaica Polo Association is based at St Ann Polo Club, Drax Hall, St Ann, near Ocho Rios. There is also the Kingston Polo Club, Caymanas Estates, St Catherine, and the Chukka Blue Polo Club, Sandy, Bay, Hanover, near Montego Bay.
Nightlife and Entertainment
Jamaicans love to listen (and dance) to local music. Reggae has been a huge influence on pop music throughout the world. Jamaica has one of the world’s most intense grassroots music traditions with a competitive, lucrative recording industry.
Having a ball in Margaritaville, Montego Bay
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
You’ll find live music in bars and restaurants every night. These will be advertised in the free tourist magazines in your hotel, or out on the street booming from speakers on tops of cars. Negril, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay all have nightclubs that stay open very late.
Many hotels have Jamaican nights where you can watch a dance show and do some dancing yourself. These traditional evenings often feature the rhythms of the wider Caribbean, such as calypso (Trinidad) and merengue (Dominican Republic).
Dance to some traditional beats
Jamaican Tourist Board
The island’s biggest music festival is ‘Reggae Sumfest’ (www.reggaesumfest.com), which is held at a variety of venues in Montego Bay each July and features local and international artists. Ocho Rios also has an annual jazz festival in June (www.ochoriosjazz.com). For a full calendar see www.visitjamaica.com.
Shopping
One thing that you notice about Jamaica is that many shops come to you. You won’t be able to walk down the street without someone approaching you with crafts and other commodities. Buying from the street traders means there is no set price, and some people feel uncomfortable about haggling. Bargaining is supposed to be an enjoyable interaction, and nobody can make you buy something that you don’t want (for more information, click here).
The major resort towns all have duty-free shopping centres with a range of jewellery, perfume, leather goods and other quality products from around the world. Some of these items can be purchased with savings of up to 30 percent on prices back home, but not everything offers such good value.
Arts and Crafts
Wood carving. The Jamaican people are highly skilled in the art of carving wood. It is one aspect of communal pride that has carried on since colonial times. Woodcarvings are a major souvenir product, and there is a huge range from fine carved pieces to objects in the rough ‘naive’ style.
You will see natural wood and also a range of colourful productions in the red, yellow and green Rasta colours. Different types of wood have different weights and different finishes. Some of the pieces are extremely lightweight, but the dark lignum vitae wood is heavy and has a beautiful finish when carved. Don’t buy articles if the wood still looks green: it has not been allowed to season properly and will split as it dries.
Jewellery. There is also an amazing range of jewellery made from local products and semiprecious stones, but you should be aware that some of the materials used are from protected species. Both tortoiseshell and coral are still on sale. Don’t buy them. Not only is it illegal to import these articles back into your home country, but it encourages traders to take more of these endangered living creatures from the sea. Some traders will tell you that the coral jewellery or tortoiseshell they are selling was not taken from the sea but was washed up on the beaches; this is just a sales ploy.
Basket weaving. You will also find a wide variety of basketware made locally from the rushes that can be found in huge beds all around the island. The dried-rush baskets are still used in many households today, and they make a very practical souvenir of your visit to Jamaica.
Art and ceramics. If you want to spend a bit more money on handcrafted goods, there are a number of galleries around the island where you can buy paintings and ceramics by some of the leading artists in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Harmony Hall at Ocho Rios is one, and the Half Moon Shopping Centre (just east of Montego Bay) also has a gallery. To see crafts being made, tour the studios of the Wassi Art Pottery Factory, near Ocho Rios.
Clothing
Cool clothing remains a popular choice for shoppers, and Jamaica offers a wide range from designer wear in the boutiques of Kingston to the practical batik sarongs and T-shirts sold in beach stalls. Look out for the ‘Reggae to Wear’ range.
Coffee
Blue Mountain coffee can be bought and taken home in a number of forms. The roasted beans are sold in small sacks or in vacuum-packed foil containers. The beans can also be ground and then packed in tins or foil packs. Presentation packs (pretty printed bags) add an attractive exterior to the delicious contents. You can buy direct from the growers after a farm tour and a tasting. Worth a visit is the Old Tavern Coffee Estate (tel: 924-2785) run by the Twyman family in Green Hills, Portland, where an informative tour is provided. Remember that High Mountain coffee is not of the same quality as Blue Mountain coffee.
Blue Mountain coffee
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Rum
The drink that sustained a thousand pirates and generations of local people, Jamaican rum is said to be the best in the Caribbean – although other islands may beg to differ. Try before you buy. Appleton Distillery (tel: 963-9216) in St Elizabeth offers a free tasting session as part of its tour, including some mixed-rum drinks that are less alcoholic but equally delicious (for more information, click here). All these products are available throughout the island and at duty-free shops in the airport.
Jamaican rum packs a punch
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Cigars
For over 40 years, Jamaica has had a small-scale industry that produces a range of well-regarded cigars. These can be bought duty-free to take home with you. However, Cuban cigars are also a major business here. Jamaica is only 145km (90 miles) from the south coast of Cuba and imports a full range of what are reputed to be the finest cigars in the world, though they cannot be brought legally back to the USA.
Children’s Jamaica
Jamaica is an ideal island for children of all ages. Kids can play for hours at the beach building sandcastles, swimming, or simply splashing in the water. Seven Mile Beach, Long Bay at Negril is perfect for young children, but all the major resorts have clean, safe beaches with good facilities. Older children will enjoy snorkelling, scuba diving or taking a ride on a glass-bottomed boat. Take a trip underwater in a semi-submersible boat at Montego Bay and your children will be captivated by the sea life that lies so close to the shore. Also at Montego Bay is the Aquasol Theme Park offering a whole host of watersports activities.
Negril is the perfect place for children
Kevin Cummins/Apa Publications
Adventurous kids will enjoy a cruise up Black River into the Great Morass Mangrove Swamp to meet crocodiles, which come so close you can almost shake hands with them. At Dunn’s River Falls there’s excitement for children and adults alike, plus lots of water activities. For a more relaxing kind of fun try floating down the Martha Brae River on a raft.
Most large hotel complexes have children’s clubs where kids can spend the whole day enjoying activities and excursions. Conversely, some hotels on Jamaica operate on an ‘adults-only’ policy.
Cover every inch of young skin with a high factor sun cream, limit kids’ time in the sun for the first few days of your holiday and always keep them out of the midday sun. Also make sure that they are well supervised whenever they are near the water.