Dunn's River Falls with Dianne
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 20/Jun/2010 02:19, 34 days ago
We made it from the beach right up to the top of Dunn's River Falls, all 600 feet of clambering up slippery rocks with a fast current pushing downwards. And me with my weak knees. I didn't think I'd make it and told Damien, our guide, I'd leave at the first exit but he assured me that the first exit was after the most difficult section. It wasn't really, it didn't get any easier, but I realized if I could make it to the first exit, I could make it to the end. Luckily Damien picked me to be first in the human chain because he went slowly helping me up, but then everyone else had to figure out their own way up at which point he'd picked up speed again. The tail end of the chain was literally dragged up the falls. We all held hands and went up as a group. Damien also carried my camera and took all the photos with the exception of the very first and very last below.At each major step Damien instructed us to stand in front of the rock and say Yeh Man at which point he snapped the photo. We all did as we were told. And yes, after posing, we went up that section of falls behind us.And we climbed up the falls behind us here as well.And we went up there.And up the falls behind us as well. After awhile we realized the others in our group weren't getting photos and so we felt sorry for them and asked Damien to include them in our photos. They didn't bring their cameras along because they were told to leave all valuables in their car plus it was well sign posted not to take your cameras or cell phones with you and that the guides were not allowed to carry any personal items. We had our camera locked away but our guide asked us if we wanted to take it at the very last minute so we quickly retrieved it from our locker. He obviously didn't suggest it to the girls so we wrote down their email and have sent them the photos.It takes about an hour to climb to the top, which still isn't in sight but we made it.Yup, we made it to the top almost without incident. At one point George slipped on a rock and took Dianne who was following him in the chain back down the falls. The girl in the yellow bathing suit caught Dianne before everyone was taken back down to the bottom. From that point on my heart was racing and it didn't stop til we got to the top. Next time we go we'll linger around the falls longer and take more photos.