Climbing Dunn's River Falls with kids (5&6)

[kendyer]

This is our first time travelling to Ocho Rios.

 

We were interested in climbing Dunn's River Falls but I am a bit worried that it would be too much (or dangerous) for a 5 or 6 year old to climb.

 

Can anyone give me their thoughts.

 

Thanks

:D

[Jamaican]

Kendyer,

 

It depends on your child. I have known many persons who have taken there 3 & 4 years old up the waterfall. The Guides are extremely helpful too. The waterfall is set up in such a way however that there are many places along the climb where you and your child can get off when he becomes tired. SO you don't even have to go all the way to the top.

 

Have you booked with a tour operator or tour guide to take you around? You can check out this website too www.toursofjamaica.com the guide is Donovan and his contact is donhamil@hotmail.com

 

He was the greatest when we first went to Jamaica and stayed at a resort there so now when we cruise he's the person we use.

 

Best of luck and Have much fun!

 

Fiona

 

Hope this helps.

 

Fiona.

[Intrudr]

we took our 4 y 11 m daughter up the falls in 2001. She was and remains a water child. the guides were VERY helpful - and there are a couple of places where you go first and they will hand your children up - you just can't do it alone. Only you know your children - is it possible? - yep - but only you know YOUR children.

[42trvl]

What kind of shoes/clothing did you wear for the climb - I assume you will get wet?:rolleyes: So, you think a 10 & 12 year old should be okay then? - they're probably more physically fit than mom anyway...;)

[Intrudr]

water shoes or tevas. bathing suit/t-shirt. you will get soaking wet. 10 & 12 y/o should be just fine.

[Marge M]

What kind of shoes/clothing did you wear for the climb - I assume you will get wet?:rolleyes: So, you think a 10 & 12 year old should be okay then? - they're probably more physically fit than mom anyway...;)

 

We wore the flexible water shoes and bathing suits. You will get soaked! My husband and daughter wore t-shirts over them, since they burn easily, but it is shaded so that wasn't a problem. Your 10 & 12 yr olds should be just fine. My 10 yr old daughter wasn't sure she could do it at first (it looks pretty intimidating from the bottom), but then she got the hang of it quickly and climbed right up. Here are our pictures from the falls:

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/228996137uRpEIm

[jeb9860]

We took our 4 & 5 year old boys up in December, they loved it. Our guides Winston and Paul who we met at the Falls were the best. He put my youngest at the front, I followed, then my husband, my 5 year old and his grandpa. The kids climb better than the adults and what an experience for them. The only thing we like to do in Jamaica. Just watch your kids as you walk through the market on the way out. The Jamaican's ask their names and if they answer they carve the name into something wooden and then tell you to buy it. This didn't happpen to us but heard this from others. You'll love it.

[42trvl]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

 

Marge M, those were great pictures - thanks for sharing! Were you happy with your tour guide, and if so, do you have a contact? Thanks

 

:)

[kjanders]

Marge M-great pictures, looks like you had a good time. We'll be doing the Falls and river tubing in March, booked with Phil Layfayette. I was wondering about your camera-It looks like you had a disposabke waterproof camera in the falls with you, but did you also take a digital camera?? If so, how did you keep it from getting wet? I've heard you can have the guides carry them and take pics for you, but was just wondering if that is what you did.

 

Thanks!

[Marge M]

42trvl--here's the website for Phil: http://www.phil-lafayette-tours.com/ I can't say enough good things about Phil! He was wonderful.

 

Kristi--you will have a great time with Phil! Yes, we had both disposible water cameras (Fuji 27-exp $7.99 at Wal-Mart) and we brought our digital camera along as well. We locked up the digital camera in one of the lockers in our backpack while we did the beach and falls. I wouldn't have wanted that camera anywhere near the water! Normally Phil will let you leave your stuff locked up in his van, but on that day he dropped us off at the falls and then had to go pick up another group, so in that case he recommended the lockers instead. I believe they were $3 with a $5 refundable deposit. So you'll need $8 upfront for that just in case (although you could probably bring your own combination lock and use that instead, since that is what they give you to use on their wooden lockers).

 

Phil walked with us while we paid and then into the park to point out some flowers/trees (and point out the restroom lol). He dropped us off at 9:30 and told us to meet him back in the parking lot at 11:30. He suggested we use a guide but as you can see from our pictures we opted to do it ourselves. I didn't want to be in a chain of people holding hands, and this way we could stop and sit in the water or under a fall, without being rushed along. The guides will make you think you have to be with them, though, and some were quite pushy about it. At one point one guide yelled at us to "get back over here" meaning in his chain of people, but we just told him we were fine and he eventually went on his way.

 

We put our stuff in a locker and then walked down the stairs alongside the falls to the bottom where the beach was. We were there for about an hour swimming and hanging out on the beach. The we climbed the falls for about an hour. If I had to do it again, I would stay at the beach for maybe 1/2 hour and then spend 1.5 hours in the falls and take more time to sit and enjoy. My kids probably would have liked to do the falls twice, but as it was, they kept climbing far ahead and them coming back down, so they probably did just about climb them twice :)

 

The first picture of the 4 of us together at the top was taken by a guide. He offered and then expected a tip, so we tipped him a dollar. From then on we took our own pictures, or asked another climber to do it and we'd do it for them too. If you use a guide I think they will take your pictures along the way, and then you tip them at the end.

 

When we finished the climb we got our stuff out of the lockers, got our deposit back, and then the kids had an ice-cream (prepackaged) and a 20-oz bottle of soda. They were $2 each. At 11:30 we made our way to the parking lot. Phil was there waiting for us at the bus. We went out the way we came in (stay to the left towards the parking lot) and avoided the vendors. We think since we were in a small group, and not in one of the large groups that use a guide, we weren't hassled to go through the vendors to the right. If we had been hassled, we would have still gone left ;)

 

Oh, and I was offered some "pot" as I was climbing down the stairs to the beach. A man walked by me and said, "You want some pot?" quietly. My husband and kids were in front of me but I don't think they heard. I just kept walking and ignored him. No biggie.

 

After the falls, Phil took us to go river tubing. It was fun, and the scenery was gorgeous, but we probably wouldn't do that again. It only lasted about 40 minutes and it was $20 per person, plus tips for the guides, so a little expensive for what you get, in our opinion. Tell your kids to lean back in the tubes! If they sit forward they might tip over and out. Our 10-yr-old and a 7-yr-old boy with us fell out, so there was some crying, but they were okay. An older lady in our group flipped out of her tube too, and I heard later she could not swim, so I'm sure that was scary for her. It isn't that deep, but the water does move along pretty fast, and it's hard to walk since the bottom is very uneven. There was little souvenir stand at the exit, with a nice lady selling her items. She was not pushy at all and her prices were very reasonable.

 

After that Phil took us to BiBiBips for drinks. We didn't have time to eat a meal, and that one drink really knocked me for a loop! I had one strawberry daquiri and was staggering out of there! We did bring some prepackaged snacks with us (granola bars, little boxes of cereal from the buffet), which came in handy for the kids. We drove through Fern Gully very briefly, since we were getting close on time. We stopped at a roadside stand where a fellow was selling wooden carvings. There were some X-rated carvings, so my teenager was chuckling, but it flew over the head of my 10-yr-old (thank goodness). I took a picture of one of them, but I did not post it on Webshots LOL. Email me at cruisingmarge2004@yahoo.com and I'll send it along ;) so you can see what I mean. They sold neat little handmade Jamaican yo-yo's for only $3, so we got a couple of those. Phil was very informative, pointing out foliage, flowers, etc.

 

At the end, Phil offered to drop us off at the shopping center by the pier, but we only had a 1/2 hour left so we all decided to pass on that. Anyway, we had a great time with Phil. He sings and tells stories and is very entertaining. He will have all your names memorized in no time, which we couldn't get over.

 

Boy! Sorry this is so long! :eek: I hope some of this is helpful and if you have any other questions let me know! Oh, and here is the link for our pictures from BiBiBips, Fern Gully, etc. There are a couple with Phil so you can see what he looks like. We took all of these pictures with the digital camera:

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/229035168PInWdB

[kjanders]

Marge-Thanks for the great review! We are really looking forward to our day in Jamaica with Phil. You gave some great tips.

 

Just a few questions. Do you know how much people tipped the guides taking them up the falls? I'm not sure with a 5 and 7 YO that doing it on our own will work well, although they are climbers and not at all afraid of water, which should come in handy for the tubing! How many people were in your tour group with Phil? That view from BiBiBips looks awesome and a strawberry daquiri right now sounds wonderful!!!

 

Thanks for sharing your day, it made me feel like I was there!

[Marge M]

Kristi...I'm not sure how much anyone tipped the guides at the falls. Maybe someone else who used them could answer that? I would guess a few dollars per person? I would play it by ear with your kids, since they are younger. You can always break away from the group later if you feel like it. I saw several people do that. It is a little steep at the beginning which makes it seem more intimidating, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be fine :) It really is a LOT of fun.

 

We had 12 people all together in our group with Phil. The 4 of us and another group of 8, whom we had met on a roll call board here at Cruise Critic :D and had been socializing with during the week. My 15-yr-old son was really happy they were with us since he had become rather fond of their 15-yr-old daughter! LOL

 

A few more things I wanted to pass along, you pay as you go, meaning you'll pay for yourselves at the falls ($10 per adult, $8 per child). Then you will pay for yourselves again at the tubing place ($20 each). At the end of the tour you pay Phil his portion ($20 each). Like I said we tipped the tubing guides (there were 2 of them), but my husband did that and I don't even know what he gave them. A few dollars each I'm sure. We tipped Phil too, we owed him $80 and gave him $100.

 

Also, you can bring a change of clothes and shoes (and maybe some plastic bags for your wet stuff). Some time during the day he makes sure you have an opportunity to change if you wish, and for us it was at BiBiBips. FYI we had one beer, one strawberry daquiri, and 2 sodas and it was about $18 total, including tip. Also, we probably slabbed on too much sunscreen. Except for the beach it was really shady. The falls and tubing both.

 

You will love visiting Jamaica and you picked a great guide! Before we went we had no clue how beautiful it was. Make sure to take lots of pictures and share when you get back!

[kjanders]

Marge, thanks for the info. I guess we'll do like you say and play it by ear! I'm getting excited we leave four weeks from today!!! I went yesterday and bought a disposable waterproof camera, I think I may go get a couple more-just to be safe!! I will attempt to share when I get back, but I make no promises...I am clueless when it comes to that type of thing :eek: .

[Marge M]

I'm not sure what other water-type excursions you'll have on your cruise (we went to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica), but we brought 6 water cameras with us and used 5 of them. We tend to take a lot of pictures, though :) When we did Stingray City in Cayman we each carried our own camera while we were snorkeling--we did Captain Marvin's half-day tour--and took tons of pictures underwater and of each other (we took pictures on the boat with the digital though). We took a few with the water cameras at Paradise Beach in Cozumel too. On the last day we had a few pictures left on the 5th camera, so we took the last few in the hot tub.

 

Another hint with the water cameras, you might want to write your name on them with a permanent marker. I wish I had done this since there were so many other people with the same exact Fuji cameras! When we got them developed, we had a picture CD made at the same time for only a couple dollars more. That made it easier to post on Webshots, without having the scan each picture first.

 

Only 4 weeks! It'll be here before you know it!

[kjanders]

We're also doing Stingray city and Cozumel so I think I'll go ahead and get 3 more cameras. I probably won't give one to the kids-We'd end up with 27 pictures of the sky or the deck of the boat!

 

Great idea about the permanent marker, Thanks for the great tips!!

[kjanders]

Marge M-You've given me great advice so far and I have just one more question, if you don't mind!! I've gotten the underwater disposable cameras, my question is: after the cruise, did you pack them in your luggage or carry them on and have them hand-checked? It seems to me that I've heard that x-ray machines will damage the film if they're checked, and I really don't want to risk that. So, how did you bring your cameras back? I appreciate any info you can give. THANKS!!!!

[Marge M]

Marge M-You've given me great advice so far and I have just one more question, if you don't mind!! I've gotten the underwater disposable cameras, my question is: after the cruise, did you pack them in your luggage or carry them on and have them hand-checked? It seems to me that I've heard that x-ray machines will damage the film if they're checked, and I really don't want to risk that. So, how did you bring your cameras back? I appreciate any info you can give. THANKS!!!!

 

Kristi, I put them in my carryon. I would put them in your carryon on the way there and the way back. If you put them in your checked at all they could get messed up by the x-ray machines and you don't want to take a chance! Anything under 800 speed should be fine going through in your carryon luggage.

 

Isn't your cruise coming up soon? I bet you are so excited :D Have a GREAT time!!

[kjanders]

Kristi, I put them in my carryon. I would put them in your carryon on the way there and the way back. If you put them in your checked at all they could get messed up by the x-ray machines and you don't want to take a chance! Anything under 800 speed should be fine going through in your carryon luggage.

 

Isn't your cruise coming up soon? I bet you are so excited :D Have a GREAT time!!

 

Thank you, that's what we will do.

 

Yes, our cruise is coming up fast...5 days and counting!! Thank you for all the great info!!