Snorkeling/Falmouth

[OSUMOM]

Any good snorkeling in Falmouth at any of the beaches? How close to the port?

[erinpdx]

Several people have mentioned that there is decent snorkeling at Doctors Cave beach. We are going there next week. We arranged a shuttle from the Falmouth Port to the beach through Jaital tours. I did a little research and it looks like the taxis there are expensive.

[noahsark99]

Several people have mentioned that there is decent snorkeling at Doctors Cave beach. We are going there next week. We arranged a shuttle from the Falmouth Port to the beach through Jaital tours. I did a little research and it looks like the taxis there are expensive.

 

If you don't mind sharing, what price were you quoted? Thanks!!

[erinpdx]

$26 per person. That includes round trip transportation and entry to Doctors Cave which I believe is $6 each. I have read that once there you can rent beach chairs and beach umbrella. All are $6 each. It seems high for 4 of us ($104) but once I did a little research on taxi fare it actually seemed much more reasonable. Also, I like the idea of not having to haggle for a price and knowing that someone will be there waiting for us when we get off the ship.

[noahsark99]

erinpdx - thank you so much for posting the price you were quoted. Would you mind letting us know how you liked it when you get back? Enjoy your trip!! :)

[erinpdx]

I will! We leave in 3 days. Can't wait!:)

[Capt_BJ]

point to note

 

Doctors Cave Beach is in Montego Bay ... by the coast road around 20 miles west of Falmouth

[Chalker Guy]

We did this last week with a private vehicle for 4 from JaiTal, cost was $35 pp from Falmouth, and it was GREAT! Pick up was inside the cruise dock enclave. Our driver was Peter, who gave us a great narrative tour on the 30 minute drive to Doctor's Cave beach. $6 admmission to the beach was included, he asked what time to pick us up and was there waiting for us when we were ready to leave. The beach is beautiful with some shade. Snorkeling is good, not great. Some nice coral and small fish, saw a group of squid, but no bigger fish. There is a shop next door that offers boat snorkel trips. Nice bar with food, friendly service.

[Chalker Guy]

PS, I think the $26 quoted by erinpdx was for bus transportation, which JaiTal also provides. We thought the private tour was worth the little bit extra.

[sawyershane]

Has anyone gone to Red Strip Beach? If so what is that like? Thank You

[sawyershane]

Or how about the Bamboo Beach Club?

Edited February 13, 2015 by sawyershane

[acceber32]

$26 per person. That includes round trip transportation and entry to Doctors Cave which I believe is $6 each. I have read that once there you can rent beach chairs and beach umbrella. All are $6 each. It seems high for 4 of us ($104) but once I did a little research on taxi fare it actually seemed much more reasonable. Also, I like the idea of not having to haggle for a price and knowing that someone will be there waiting for us when we get off the ship.

 

We did this last week with a private vehicle for 4 from JaiTal, cost was $35 pp from Falmouth, and it was GREAT! Pick up was inside the cruise dock enclave. Our driver was Peter, who gave us a great narrative tour on the 30 minute drive to Doctor's Cave beach. $6 admmission to the beach was included, he asked what time to pick us up and was there waiting for us when we were ready to leave. The beach is beautiful with some shade. Snorkeling is good, not great. Some nice coral and small fish, saw a group of squid, but no bigger fish. There is a shop next door that offers boat snorkel trips. Nice bar with food, friendly service.

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for posting this!!! I think you all might have just helped me decide on what to do and I have really been struggling. We will have a 2 year old with us and I did not want to go to the Falls and it seems every tour operator wanted to take us there. And I didn't want him in a regular taxi without a car seat. If JaiTal has a bus that is a huge plus! I will now be looking for more info but I'm hoping this is it!

[erinpdx]

Just returned from our cruise last night and thought I would post an update. We were not very impressed with Doctors Cave beach. It was pretty but it wasn't that great. The drinks there are very expensive. A bucket of 5 Red Stripe beers was $30. There wasn't much good snorkeling. We did see a couple of fish and a lot of little guppies.

The transport with Jaital went OK. Unfortunately we had to wait for 2 people who decided not to show at the pre-arranged time at 8:30. At 9:10 my husband finally insisted to the driver that we leave. 5 minutes into our trip our driver got a call that the couple had finally shown up so he turned around to go get them. I probably wouldn't use Jaital again because of this. I will say that our return driver Peter was great and showed up promptly at 2:00 for our return trip. For some reason the trip to Doctors Cave took 45 minutes but on our return trip it was about half that. I think the first driver took us on a scenic route.

Edited February 16, 2015 by erinpdx

[Chalker Guy]

Has anyone gone to Red Strip Beach? If so what is that like? Thank You

 

I was at Red Stripe beach a couple of years ago, nice beach, plenty of shade, and you can walk the beach for quite a ways. The water is rough out by the reef, you can wade, but not good for swimming or snorkeling.

[sawyershane]

I was at Red Stripe beach a couple of years ago, nice beach, plenty of shade, and you can walk the beach for quite a ways. The water is rough out by the reef, you can wade, but not good for swimming or snorkeling.

 

Thank You that does help me since I would like to do a little snorkeling.