Montego Bay, Jamaica

After a relaxing day at Sea, the Emerald Princess docked at Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Bob and I had planned to just walk off the ship and find an excursion being offered by the locals.  To our surprise, we were not allowed to leave the port without a tour.  So we quickly returned to the excursion desk and booked a tour to swim with the dolphins.  Fortunately, we made it just in time for the tour to depart.  We really had no idea exactly what this tour included, but it ended up being our favorite shore excursion of this cruise. We climbed aboard a bus and headed to Dolphin Cove.

Ad we entered the cove, we could see lots of dolphins in the water looking anxious for something to happen.  The anticipation grew as we put on lifejackets and placed our personal belongings in a locker.  Before we knew it, a dolphin show was going on in the bay.  Those of us who had elected to swim with the dolphins (our group had about 10 people) were guided down a path and into the bay. That's when the fun began, as one by one, each of us were given various activities to do with a dolphin. We were grateful that photos were being taken as we did so. It was thrilling to touch, dance, cuddle and then swim on the belly of these gentle creatures.  It was an experience that we never dreamed possible with so many restrictions on interaction with wildlife these days.

It was amazing just how fast the dolphins were able to propel us across the bay.  After two exhilarating rides, our experience was over - much too quickly!  We loaded back onto the bus and were driven to a beautiful private beach where we enjoyed lunch and drinks. Just look at that fine white sand and gorgeous blue sea!

All too soon, we were back on board the ship, where Bob continued to soak up some sun while I snapped pictures of the beautiful port as we sailed away.

I couldn't help but chuckle that the one port which we felt had little to offer in the way of excursions, ended up being such a fun place to be!  I couldn't have wished for a sweeter ending to our cruise.  We had just one more lazy day at sea, before arriving back to Port Everglades and flying home.