I
itrek
Guest
Based on comments from online reviews I sent an email to 6 different tour companies in Jamaica. I asked for a custom tour including a plantation, Fern Gulley, Wassi Art Factory, and shopping. I wasn’t interested in any of the canned tours because they all included a stop at Dunns River Falls. We’ve been to the falls a few times and although they’re great fun, we’ve been there, done that, and didn’t want to spend the time and entrance fee this time. We also had one of our party that had recent knee surgery and I was afraid they’d have had problems walking up and down the hill at the falls.
All 6 operators responded to my email and all the prices were within a few dollars of each other, but the email from A-Z Planners caught my eye. Belinda from A-Z took the time to write a short paragraph description of each of 3 plantations close to Ocho Rios. She also recommended Sun Valley not only because she had had the best feedback from her customers on Sun Valley but also because they were $8 less per person than Prospect Plantation and Brimmer Hall Plantation.
I decided to go with A-Z’s Sun Valley recommendation and it was a good choice. I’ve been to Brimmer Hall before but not Prospect and in my opinion, Sun Valley is far better than Brimmer Hall.
The only problem was that the trip from the pier to Sun Valley was a bit bumpy, but this was really a minor thing. Our driver was Mickey and one of the first things he said to us was “So you’re going into the bush this morning, eh?†We didn’t really understand what he meant until we got about half way to the plantation. The Jamaican roads were pretty rough but Mickey did a pretty good job of controlling his speed over the rough spots to keep the bouncing around to a minimum. It was about a 40 minute ride to Sun Valley.
Sun Valley has a walking tour which concerned me at first because of the person in our group that had the recent surgery. However, it turned out to be no problem at all. We walked well less than a half mile during the entire 3 hour tour. This certainly was better than trying to hang on to the tractor pulled jitney they use at Brimmer Hall.
We were met at the plantation by Lorna Binns, one of the owners. Not only was she a very pleasant lady she was also extremely knowledgeable. They started us out by giving us all a glass of soursop juice and a quick history of the plantation. I really liked that juice and wished they bottled it for sale in the US. We then started our walk around the premises. I couldn’t believe how many plants, flowers, spices, and fruits Lorna showed us in such a small area. We must have seen at least 75 different types of vegetation. Lorna told us how they grew the plants, how they were harvested, how they were prepared for consumption, the history, and even the lore behind them. For example, did you know that a Jamaican man believes that if a Papaya plant is growing too close to his house he won’t be able to perform sexually (get an erection). Another one was that they don’t give tetanus shots in Jamaica. Instead they pack ground up green banana peels soaked in kerosene into the wound and have never had a case of tetanus on the island after using this treatment.
Here are just some of the vegetation Lorna showed us:
Leaf of Life (Spirit weed), Allspice, Ortonique (cross of sweet orange + tangerine), bay rum (grows hair), mammy apple (thought to be food for the dead), coconuts and coconut water, Papaya (miracle fruit for pain and also a tenderizer), Barbados cherry (more vitamin C in one cherry than in 4 oranges), Tamarind (sweet like candy), giant lemons (at least twice the size of the largest grapefruit I’ve ever seen), grapefruit, vanilla, breadfruit, custard apple, cocoa (they don’t sell cocoa to the US because they can’t supply enough of it), naseberry, sorrel, June plum, jackfruit, wood of life (the heaviest wood there is, it even sinks in water), Ackee (national fruit of Jamaica), jade flower, the biggest poinsettia plant I’ve ever seen, bananas, nutmeg, and sugarcane.
We had 8 people in our group and everyone thought Sun Valley was absolutely great. Personally I’d love to go back to Sun Valley again next time I visit Jamaica.
Wassi Art Factory was also well worth the stop. It doesn’t take much time and it’s very interesting. They have some exceptional artists and there’s no pressure at all to buy any of the finished pottery.
The whole tour cost us $42 per person not including the tip for the driver. We were some of the first people off the ship and A-Z had a person waiting to meet us and the driver was there and ready to go within a couple of minutes.
I would not hesitate to use A-Z Planners again and I highly recommend a visit Sun Valley Plantation.
A-Z Planners can be reached at info@a-zjamaicaplanners.com
All 6 operators responded to my email and all the prices were within a few dollars of each other, but the email from A-Z Planners caught my eye. Belinda from A-Z took the time to write a short paragraph description of each of 3 plantations close to Ocho Rios. She also recommended Sun Valley not only because she had had the best feedback from her customers on Sun Valley but also because they were $8 less per person than Prospect Plantation and Brimmer Hall Plantation.
I decided to go with A-Z’s Sun Valley recommendation and it was a good choice. I’ve been to Brimmer Hall before but not Prospect and in my opinion, Sun Valley is far better than Brimmer Hall.
The only problem was that the trip from the pier to Sun Valley was a bit bumpy, but this was really a minor thing. Our driver was Mickey and one of the first things he said to us was “So you’re going into the bush this morning, eh?†We didn’t really understand what he meant until we got about half way to the plantation. The Jamaican roads were pretty rough but Mickey did a pretty good job of controlling his speed over the rough spots to keep the bouncing around to a minimum. It was about a 40 minute ride to Sun Valley.
Sun Valley has a walking tour which concerned me at first because of the person in our group that had the recent surgery. However, it turned out to be no problem at all. We walked well less than a half mile during the entire 3 hour tour. This certainly was better than trying to hang on to the tractor pulled jitney they use at Brimmer Hall.
We were met at the plantation by Lorna Binns, one of the owners. Not only was she a very pleasant lady she was also extremely knowledgeable. They started us out by giving us all a glass of soursop juice and a quick history of the plantation. I really liked that juice and wished they bottled it for sale in the US. We then started our walk around the premises. I couldn’t believe how many plants, flowers, spices, and fruits Lorna showed us in such a small area. We must have seen at least 75 different types of vegetation. Lorna told us how they grew the plants, how they were harvested, how they were prepared for consumption, the history, and even the lore behind them. For example, did you know that a Jamaican man believes that if a Papaya plant is growing too close to his house he won’t be able to perform sexually (get an erection). Another one was that they don’t give tetanus shots in Jamaica. Instead they pack ground up green banana peels soaked in kerosene into the wound and have never had a case of tetanus on the island after using this treatment.
Here are just some of the vegetation Lorna showed us:
Leaf of Life (Spirit weed), Allspice, Ortonique (cross of sweet orange + tangerine), bay rum (grows hair), mammy apple (thought to be food for the dead), coconuts and coconut water, Papaya (miracle fruit for pain and also a tenderizer), Barbados cherry (more vitamin C in one cherry than in 4 oranges), Tamarind (sweet like candy), giant lemons (at least twice the size of the largest grapefruit I’ve ever seen), grapefruit, vanilla, breadfruit, custard apple, cocoa (they don’t sell cocoa to the US because they can’t supply enough of it), naseberry, sorrel, June plum, jackfruit, wood of life (the heaviest wood there is, it even sinks in water), Ackee (national fruit of Jamaica), jade flower, the biggest poinsettia plant I’ve ever seen, bananas, nutmeg, and sugarcane.
We had 8 people in our group and everyone thought Sun Valley was absolutely great. Personally I’d love to go back to Sun Valley again next time I visit Jamaica.
Wassi Art Factory was also well worth the stop. It doesn’t take much time and it’s very interesting. They have some exceptional artists and there’s no pressure at all to buy any of the finished pottery.
The whole tour cost us $42 per person not including the tip for the driver. We were some of the first people off the ship and A-Z had a person waiting to meet us and the driver was there and ready to go within a couple of minutes.
I would not hesitate to use A-Z Planners again and I highly recommend a visit Sun Valley Plantation.
A-Z Planners can be reached at info@a-zjamaicaplanners.com