Montego Bay to Santo Domingo

The run from Puerto Limon to Montego Bay across open water is the roughest of the cruise as we hit some 15' seas. Some passengers become ill and the night's dance entertainment is rescheduled out of consideration for the dancers' safety. Debby and I have no problem with the roughness.

Our ship has retractable stabilizers, which greatly dampen the rolling motion, and which perhaps accounts for how such a tall, heavy ship can remain upright with only 8m draft. The olden ships would have subjected passengers to a many-times rougher trip, truly an E-Ticket ride (early Disneyland terminology).

We have a scheduled excursion which buses us south from the port over the mountainous backbone of the island to the south coast, then east to the Black River. The bus ride is from hell, a small cramped van-bus on narrow twisty roads at good speed, trying to keep up with all the boy-racers zipping around us. And the driver drives on the wrong side of the road the entire time. But everyone else does also, so it sort of works. The guide is not very informative, seemingly preferring to tell jokes rather than feed our curiosity.

On reaching the Black River we board small outboard boats as is usual and cruise two miles up the river to some mangroves, then back. Debby and I get lots of opportunities to get photos. The boat driver/guide is very knowledgeable and picks out crocs and birds before most can see them.

Debby likes the scene of egrets perching on fishing boats at the launch place. I spy a night heron as well.

I finally get my picture of a singularly primitive and dino-like Groove-billed Ani, apparently a large billed variant.

We see an Osprey in a distant tree. It seems so small not many try for the shot, but I am able to get an image suitable for identification, here close-cropped.

A Great Egret invites a photo.

The driver positions the boat so we all can get a good view of this croc, the best croc pose of the trip.

A Green Heron gives a profile pose.

A Black-crown Night Heron stares us down.

I realize on this trip that Snowy Egrets and other Herons like low shrub branches. I am more used to them standing on mud flats at home. But the river banks have no mud flats, and the crocs offer added incentives to height.

Here's a slightly different view of the Black-crown Heron.

Debby gets an image of the mangrove area of the river.

Debby snaps at a croc as it appears to be conversing with some Snowy Egrets.

My lens focuses on the croc itself.
The ride back to the ship is even crazier than before. The guide says not two words the entire trip, and the driver turns on a staticky radio and keeps hunting for stations. We get a cricket match broadcast, followed by alternating hip-hop and religious talk radio. It makes for a long day.

On return, I linger in the pier parking lot by some flowering trees to see what I can find. I have trouble finding and focusing on birds and miss some shots of a black-yellow bird, probably a black variant of the Bananaquit, and a hummingbird with a long scissor tail, probably one of the Jamaican Streamertail Hummingbirds. I realize too late that I am having two problems: I am too close to focus with my long lens; and in complex foliage, I need to zoom out until I locate the target, then zoom in again. In spite of my troubles, I do get a little success.

I find the Bananaquit at the very top and get only one image of a moving bird.

Here's another hummer, possibly the Jamaican Mango Hummingbird, that sat still for a few seconds.

Just as I was about to walk back to the ship, a bird flew right by me and landed in the tree I was standing by. It appears to be a Thick-billed Kingbird.

I return to the ship with 15 minutes to spare. This marks the end of our critter opportunities. Jamaica has not left a good impression. The country is attractive enough, but the pushy people and extensive poverty are always in one's face (except on the Black River).

We sail the following day to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Arriving early on Jan 18, we have packed our bags the night before. We grab a quick breakfast and muster in the theater until our group number is called. Then we leave the ship for the last time, find our bags in the port terminal, and board a bus to the airport.

The bus drives along the coast toward the east. There is parkland the entire way between the highway and the beach. It appears to be an attractive and well-organized town and we have mild regrets about not spending a couple of days. But our plane is on time and we are in Philadelphia in 3.5 hours. We sit out a three hour layover, then another hour and a half on the LA-bound plane waiting for our turn at the de-icing pad, and 5.5 hours in the air, arriving back in LA just before 10PM. We are home by 11, all our bags are with us, and nothing is missing. We sleep well.