chukka catamaran dunns falls in Jamaica

[MickeyD74]

Has anyone done the chukka catamaran dunns falls in Jaiamca? Is it family friendly on the catamaran?

 

[susan4875]

I"m wondering the same. Also, curious about the snorkeling part of the excursion.

 

[gatordoc]

Did it a few weeks ago. Certainly family friendly. The falls were great. The snorkeling not so much - not many fish. The worst part of the excursion is the bus ride - almost an hour and a half each way. Wouldn’t do it again just because of that.

 

[susan4875]

Thanks! I didn’t realize it was that much drive time. Would you mind running through how the day went? How long were you on the boat? Was the water rough? How long were you at the falls?

 

[gatordoc]

We left the ship at about 8:30. Boarded bus to the dock where the catamaran was located - that took a little over an hour. On the way, they took lunch orders for anyone who wanted some on the way back (jerk chicken or pork, $10 each). Boarded the catamaran, sail to the falls was about 20-30 minutes or so. Water not really rough at all.
Climbing the falls is done in groups, and took a couple of hours. There are stairs for those who can’t make it, and to come back down. It’s an awesome experience, but keep in mind that you will get absolutely soaked. They take pictures and video along the way (and will take pictures with your camera if you ask, but make sure it’s waterproof). We did buy the video at the end - I think it was $40 for a DVD. We did enjoy watching it when we got home.
We then reboarded the catamaran, which sailed 5-10 minutes to the snorkel site. I was worn out and stayed on the boat, but my wife did the snorkeling, which lasted 20-30 minutes. She thought it was fine, but nothing special compared to other sites in the Caribbean.
We then reboarded the catamaran, and the rum punch (as well as non-alcoholic drinks) were complimentary for the sail back to the dock to reboard the bus.
At the dock, there were bathrooms that everyone unfortunately did not take advantage of (this becomes important later). We then boarded the bus, and as we set out, the lunches that were ordered were passed out. Not a lot of food, but it was pretty good, and we were thankful we ordered something or we would have been uncomfortably hungry.
We had been on the bus for about 20 minutes when a mom brought her child to the front of the bus and begged the driver to stop because he had to pee. He finally pulled to the side of the road and mom and kid headed to the bushes. After they reboarded we were off again. However, this happened again about 20-30 minutes later, and this time 15-20 people got off the bus and headed for the bushes. So ultimately it took us over 90 minutes to get back to the ship - we arrived around 3:30.
So the bottom line for us is that climbing the falls was a fabulous experience that we’re really glad we had. But we could have done without pretty much the rest of the experience.