Dunn's River Falls in Jamaica

Let’s take a trip back in time to 2008 for a visit to Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica. We were in Jamaica for a mission trip with our church group, and at the end of the week, we had a “personal day” to spend in the Ocho Rios area, specifically at Dunn’s River Falls.

Dunn’s River Falls is a natural waterfall fed by spring water, and it is found in a beautiful tropical setting. I was glad to have brought my camera along to capture the sights of the area.

The most popular activity at Dunn’s River Falls is to climb the waterfall, which is no small feat given that the total height of the falls is around 180 feet. The height makes it impossible to capture the whole thing in one photo, so what you see here are just different sections of the falls. As you can see, many people climb the falls in groups, holding hands and led by tour guides. I would assume that these groups usually come from cruise ships docked nearby at Ocho Rios or from the nearby resorts. However, we just climbed on our own without a guide. And without holding hands. Because I would hate to take someone else down the falls with me if I were to fall. Fortunately, none of us ever fell besides a few small slips here and there.

I liked this black and white view, even though the lush green colors are nice, too. To me, this view accents the rushing water even more. And it is constantly rushing with a loud roar. I joked that it must get pretty quiet when they turn the water off at night. Which of course, they can’t turn it off, in case you are wondering.

Above is another view of a group making their way up the falls. There were several of these groups when we were there, but the place wasn’t just overrun with people, even on a summer day in the middle of the peak tourist season. And it was interesting to see the guides and videographers with them literally run up the falls without any effort at all, while the rest of us were always checking twice about where we put our feet, and we were usually holding on to something with our hands, too.

A view through the trees of a group going up the falls. A pathway runs all along the length of the falls, making for lots of great photo opportunities. And when I say “pathway,” I really almost mean a stairway. There are quite a lot of stairs because the falls are rather steep in places.

The view above is of just one small section of Dunn’s River Falls, but I like how it shows the water running over the rocks. I used a slightly long exposure here to smooth out the water.

These people are at the bottom of Dunn’s River Falls, either starting their climb up or just enjoying the cool rushing water on a hot, sunny day. At the bottom, the falls run out into the Caribbean Sea at a near-perfect beach. But that is another post for another time.

Climbing Dunn’s River Falls may not be for everyone, but we certainly enjoyed it, from the adventure of climbing a waterfall to just being surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation.