Mystic Mountain Adventure Park

Shortly after cruising opened back up for travelers, my husband and I booked a cruise that we’ve always wanted to take. It’s a long one and usually an expensive one. But two things worked in our favor; one, we were still (unfortunately) working with pandemic occupancy at the inn (so essentially no guests), and, two, cruises were being offered for dirt cheap to entice folks to travel the high seas again.

The Panama Canal cruise had always been on our radar as a destination cruise, but one we’d never booked in the past because, as stated above, it’s quite long, and usually on the expensive side. Since we had so much time on our hands, we decided to book it and go for it. We paid all of $300 each for the entire cruise. That’s right, we got a 15-day cruise for a total of $600. We were able to sail out of New Orleans, so we only had to drive a short distance. (And gas was still about $2 a gallon.) The only thing we had to pay extra for were our shore excursions (and alcohol).

So, we covid tested, packed our bags, and off we went. Our first stop was Jamaica. But before we made it there, we had to detour back to Cozumel because a passenger suffered a heart attack and needed to be evacuated. We docked at Cozumel, unloaded the man requiring medical attention, then immediately set sail, full speed ahead for Jamaica. We arrived about 8 hours later than expected, which pushed all of the shore excursions much later into the day. We were told not to worry, just to go and enjoy the land adventure we booked and the ship would sail out when we had all returned.

I’m sure the captain was sorry he gave that order because our excursion was 8 hours long, way on the other side of the island, and we were loaded up on the van headed back to the port right at rush hour. What a crazy, scary shuttle ride that was. Our driver was honking, waving his arms, blowing through intersections, and swerving like a man on fire. The cruise director was calling our tour guide every 10 minutes for updates on our progress. They were holding the entire ship for us!!!

When we finally arrived at the port, we were met with cheering from other passengers who were standing on their balconies waiting for us to return. We felt like shaken up celebrities arriving to all that fanfare, but what a rush. That’s never happened to us before on a cruise and let me tell you, it was scary. But, if I’m being honest, kind of cool too.

But we had a GREAT day! Our excursion started with a very long van ride to the other side of the island through lush forests and little villages and slum areas. I think we saw it all on the ride over. At our destination, Mystic Mountain Adventure Park, we unloaded and took a thrill ride on this suspended roller-coaster-type thing called a Ragamuffin ride. It was sort of like being on an out-of-control swing. A little herky-jerky, but very exhilarating. Here’s a video of the ride that I found on YouTube.

Next, we boarded an official bobsled and got a big Olympic push out of the starting gate for an intense free rolling ride down the mountain. No seatbelts. No helmets. Just a single person in a free-rolling bobsled flying through the jungle. SO. MUCH. FUN. I wanted to go again but we didn’t have time. Here’s a YouTube video I found (sorry for any offensive language). In this video, the passenger did NOT get the big Olympic push at the beginning. Not sure if he declined when they offered or if they didn’t offer it to him. Anyway, here you go. Buckle up and enjoy.

Then we had lunch and headed over to the Dunns River Falls in another park of the park. We shucked out of our clothes, into our swimsuits and lined up single-file in the water to begin our ascent up the falls. That’s right, we climbed up the falls. I can honestly say, I’ve never climbed up a waterfall before. I can check that off my list. This was our group. I’m the second woman in line.

Photo courtesy Mystic Mountain Adventure Park

Because everything got started so much later than planned, there was no time to change back into our dry clothes, so we pulled our shorts and tank tops over our wet suits, crammed into the van and flew off for the port. An amazing day and a great start to our vacation.

I don’t have a lot of photos because it was hard to hold a camera/phone and ride the rides at the same time. And, we put ALL of our things into a locker before we went into the water so someone else was snapping photos of our ascent. Of course, that someone made a few bucks selling us the photos afterwards, but everyone at this point was just trying to recover from 18 months of pandemic poverty. Here’s a slideshow of some of my photos and photos of me and Corey that the Mystic Mountain guy took while we were in the falls.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Have you guys ever been to Jamaica? Have you ever ridden in a bobsled or climbed up a waterfall? Have you ever had a crazy stupid, fear-for-you-life shuttle driver anywhere? What are some amazing vacation places you’re enjoyed? Come on, be part of the conversation. Let’s explore the world together.

I’ve got more exciting things planned for the year that only my newsletter followers will know about. I promise you’ll only get 6 newsletters for the entire year, so I won’t clutter up your inbox. Here’s the link if you want to sign up and be the first to know things: http://bit.ly/JansenSchmidtNewsletter

Word of the Day: Trunnion

Fun fact about me: I love most thrill rides, but I have no desire to bungee jump or skydive.

Original post by Jansen Schmidt, July 2022. Images by Google, C. Rickrode and Mystic Mountain. Videos courtesy of YouTube.