Th "Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour"

                         The Blue and John Crow Mountains “Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour”

 

 

The Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour in Jamaica is Awesome. Our website, A Jamaica Experience representatives, recently completed our island tour as we do from time to time. This tour includes visiting the world famous Blue Mountain. Part of this trip includes taking the Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour in Jamaica. We join the tour while we were on the eastern part of the island. Yes, this was the true adventurous side of the island. The hills of the Blue Mountain peaks at 7500 feet above sea level. Incidentally, this is the same Blue Mountain known for its world famous Blue Mountain Coffee.

 

 

 

Blue Mountain Tour guide Vinny

Tour guide Vinny at rest area store.

Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour

Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour with                                                                                                                           visitors from around the world.

 

 

 

Blue Mountain guide Sharde

Blue Mountain guide Sharde (Accent over the “e” she says. Lol

Picking Coffee beans

Picking Coffee beans during Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour

Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour

Picking Coffee beans during Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Naturally, we were looking forward to having a few cups of that rich coffee. Like so many other coffee lovers around the world, you hear that passion in their voice when they speak about that rich taste and sweet aroma of Blue Mountain Coffee. The coffee was introduced to Jamaica in the 1700’s. As Tom Clynes from National Geographic wrote, “This was some amazing coffee.”

 

"Blue Mountain Coffee" Beans on the tree.

                     The Blue and John Crow Mountains “Blue Mountain Coffee” Beans on the tree.

 

 

We boarded a tour bus in Buff Bay Portland and rode through the towns and the hills on our way up to The Blue Mountain. Our bus driver Woney was very knowledgeable of the area. He provided us with the history of each town on our way up to the mountain. I was particularly impressed when we pass through Charles Town. Charles Town has the rich history of the life of Queen Nanny and the Maroons. Queen Nanny is Jamaica’s only female National Hero. In fact, her life story will be preserved in a documentary written and produce by my good friend Hollywood Stuntman and Jamaican born Maroon, Roy T Anderson.

 

 

The Blue and John Crow Mountains

       The Blue and John Crow Mountains cloud forest, unique in the Caribbean of tropical mountains.

 

 

Narrow bridge in the Blue Mountain

Narrow bridge in the Blue Mountain

During our bus ride on our way to the 5 hours Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour, the driver of the second bus Cleve was more than willing to answer any questions. The staff was great  Vinny, Yvonne, Cory, Rayon and Sharde (with an accent over the “e”, as she pointed out, Lol) are always ready to answer any questions with a smile.

 

 

 

 

Tours are usually arranged through your hotels and resorts. Our tour was arranged by our resort Moon San Villa located in Port Antonio, Portland. You can also arrange your trip to Jamaica and tour with Iconic Jamaica whose Managing Director Kaseka Daley was one of the cyclists on the tour. The head tour guide Vinny, provided us with all the history of the surrounding hills and valleys, rain forest and water falls. The bicycle tour starts approximately 5,000 feet in the mountain and the ride was all downhill and around corners and over a bridge. On our drive up the mountain, at about 2,000 feet, we stopped at an open sided hut for breakfast. We were treated to a buffet breakfast which included both authentic Jamaican and foreign food complemented by rich Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, hmmm. During breakfast, we were briefed on what to expect during the bicycle tour as well as given an opportunity to purchase the real authentic Blue Mountain Coffee.

 

Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour with cyclists

Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour with cyclists from around the world.

 

Kaseka Daley of Iconic Jamaica & Maxie of AJE

Kaseka Daley of Iconic Jamaica & Maxie of AJE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Famous Blue Mountain

We continue our bus tour up the mountain until we reached about 5000 feet above sea level where a truck was waiting with lots of bicycles. The tour included about forty other cyclists, of all ages, young and old. Some older folks stayed on the bus. The older folks came on the bicycle tour for the experience of visiting the World Famous Blue Mountain and learning about the rich history. We had lots of choices of colorful sturdy mountain bikes and lots of help from the guides to lower and raise seats and getting us ready for our journey down hill. All the cyclists were treated to the best customer service with a smile from all the tour guides. We were all trained to respond to their directions, saying in chorus, “Yea mon”, with a chuckle.

 

Bamboo plant that flower every 33 years

 

 

Vinny talked about many natural herbal remedies  referred to as bush tea by local Jamaicans. These herbal remedies are used to cure sickness, such as the Cerassee bush used to cleanse the blood, the Pepper Elder bush a remedy for sinus, allergy and cold to name a few sicknesses. He pointed out Jamaica’s National Tree the Blue Mahoe Tree and National Bird,the Doctor Bird or Hummingbird. Jamaica is known for having over 500 flowerings plants. There are also the special Bamboo plant that flower every 33 years with the next bloom set for 2017 (I hope to see all my cyclist friends at the blooming).

 

 

Water Falls in the Blue Mountain

      Water Falls in the Blue Mountain

 

Lunch Time in the Blue Mountain

Lunch Time in the Blue Mountain

 

Rain of Shine, the show must go on

Rain of Shine, the show must go on

 

 

 

 

 

Cascade Primary School in Blue Mountain

Cascade Primary School in Blue Mountain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue Mountain Water Falls.

 

 

We continued downhill and making brief stops along the way. During each stops, our fearless leader Vinny would point to place of interest and give us some history. We passed Tony’s water fall and learned about the history behind the name and several other water falls just spewing out the rocks. We stopped and visited Cascade Primary School which was excellent. The kids were all nicely dressed in their school uniform. They lined up and sang a few songs then they performed a few country and western dances and Irish dance before asking the cyclists to join in on the dancing fun. Visiting the school was clearly a high point of the bicycle ride; I even had my share of dancing.

 

 

Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour.

Blue Mountain Riders learned the history.

Before entering the school grounds, we were asked not to take any pictures of the children which were totally understandable. We simply went into the school and learned about these children and their way of life. We eventually made our way back to the hut for lunch. A Jamaica dish was served for lunch with more Blue Mountain Coffee. After lunch we got back on our bikes and continued downhill. We crossed a narrow bridge where you almost get the urge to inhale before crossing. But no worry, the tour bus drive cross the bridge so we should be able to ride, but for safety reasons, we were asked to get off the bike and walk across the bridge. The final stop was at a waterfall. We returned our bicycle and started to enjoy the water fall experience. As the natural spring water came flowing from the rocks, it was amazing within how water just popped out the ground all through the mountain and around the island. This trip was great; we had so much fun and highly recommend the Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour in Jamaica to all visitors.

 

 

Once we were done with the tour, the entire cyclist stood and talked about the fun time we had. As the adrenaline came down we started boarding our bus, which took us back to our rightful place. The trip was especially great for the outdoor adventurous type, for the family and anyone who is looking to do a little more than laying on the beach. I will most definitely do it again. Thanks to Vinny, Yvonne, Woney, Cleve, Cory, Sharde (don’t forget, accent over the “e”), Rayon and all the people who help to make the Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour in Jamaica a tremendous experience, One Love.

 

 

Maxie of AJE & tour guide Vinny at Blue Mountain Fish-Don Water Falls during Bicycle Tour

Maxie of AJE & tour guide Vinny at Blue Mountain Fish-Don Water Falls during Bicycle Tour

 

Maxie and Ann during Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour

Maxie and Ann during Blue Mountain Bicycle Tour

 

Blue Mountain cyclists

Blue Mountain cyclists listen to tour guide Vinny during Bicycle Tour

 

Blue Mountain cyclists leave coffee plantations during Bicycle Tour

Blue Mountain cyclists leave coffee plantations during Bicycle Tour

 

Blue Mountain cyclists leave coffee plantations during Bicycle Tour

Blue Mountain cyclists leave coffee plantations during Bicycle Tour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleve - Driver of Tour Bus

Cleve – Driver of Tour Bus

 

Roasting Coffee Beans

Roasting Coffee Beans

 

Enhanced by Zemanta