Your online guide to Caribbean family vacations
from the authors of Caribbean with Kids.
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Your online guide to Caribbean family vacations from the authors of Caribbean with Kids. |
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Family-Friendly Activities in Montego Bay Rose Hall The most famous attraction in Montego Bay is Rose Hall,
a former plantation house. This was once the home of the notorious Annie
Palmer, better known as the White Witch who allegedly murdered several
of her husbands and her slave lovers. The guided tour is excellent for
older children but the recounting of the murders (including the burying
of a live baby up to his neck near an ant hill) is too grisly for those
under 10. Bird lovers shouldn't miss Rocklands Feeding Station in
the village of Anchovy. This was the home of the late Lisa Salmon, Jamaica’s
best-known ornithologist. Her home is a veritable bird sanctuary surrounded
by clouds of grassquits, saffron finches, and, most especially, hummingbirds. Tiny finches flutter around outstretched palms filled with birdseed while fast-as-lightning hummingbirds drink from a hand-held bottle of sugar water. Visitors are invited between 3:30 and 5pm daily. Dolphin Swim Program There is a dolphin swim program in Montego Bay but it is available only for guests of Half Moon. If you won't be staying at Half Moon but would like to take part in a dolphin swim or touch program, there's another operation in Ocho Rios (actually it's operated by the same company) which is open to the public. See our Ocho Rios Activities page for more information. SeaTrek Even if you can't swim (or can't stand to get water in your face) you can feel like a scuba diver at Sea Trek Adventure, located at Doctor’s Cave Beach. You'll have a short introductory less then don a high-tech dive helmet (beneath which you can even leave on prescription glasses) then walk on the sea floor for about half an hour, breathing from a tube connected to the surface. The experience is available for kids ages 12 and up. Horseback Riding
From its location outside of Montego Bay, Chukka Blue Adventure Tours offers both biking and ATV tours. There's a minimum age of 16 on the ATV tours. The noisy ATVs jostle and splash their way along trails on a 10-mile ride through the hills before returning so visitors can take a dip in the sea. Also in Montego Bay, Chukka Blue offers a popular canopy tour, allowing visitors to zipline high in the trees. Tubing and River Rafting You can hop an inner tube for a slightly whitewater ride on the White River near Ocho Rios. The trip is offered through Chukka Caribbean.If you'd like a ride in an inflatable raft, the Rainforest Rafting Tour offered with Caliche Rainforest Park and Adventure Tours accepts families with kids age 4 and up (they also have a whitewater trip but kids will need to be at least 14 years of age for this more challenging trip.) Pirate Cruise Shiver me timbers! If the kids would like to feel like real pirates of the Caribbean, hop a ride on the Calico Pirate Cruises in Montego Bay. The almost daily cruises feature "pirates" onboard and plenty of pirate lore as well as snorkeling.
Downtown you can climb aboard the MoBay Undersea Tour and see what lies in the marine park just offshore. This is a semi-sub; it never submerges (which means you can always walk up on deck if kids get a little fussy.) The specially designed ship has a hull with glass panels you can look out and see what swims by (sort of like climbing into the belly of a glass bottom boat.)
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Rocklands Feeding Station
Next to Half Moon, Rocky Point Stables, Tel. 876/953-2286,
offers horseback rides for kids over 6 (right) and lessons as well as pony rides for kids under 6.
Semi-Sub Tour