Download - Caribbean Day Trip: Jamaica
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8/14/2019 Caribbean Day Trip: Jamaica
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30 Caribbean Travel + Lie M A R C H 2 0 0 9
MICHAELMELFORD
ISLANDHOPPING I DAY TRIP
Usain Lightning Bolt, the
sprinting star o last sum-
mers Olympics, accelerates
out o the frst turn, already
a speeding blur. With nearly 700 me-
ters to the fnish line, the triple-gold
medalist grins, holds up his camera
phone and calmly snaps a picture. O
course, he would! Despite the quirky
renown o the national bobsled team,
tracks like this are not exactly com-
monplace in Jamaica.
Diving, winding and undulating
or 3,320 eet through a lush and
rugged landscape, Rainorest Bobsled
Jamaica at Mystic Mountain com-
bines amusement-park thrills with
green appeal: Who wouldnt want to
take a roller-coaster ride through the
woods? Five minutes west o Ocho
Rios, the unique diversion done
in one-man cars resembling the sleds
frst immortalized by Jamaicas team at
the 1988 Winter Olympics is the
centerpiece o a multimillion-dollar,
100-acre project constructed using
methods that minimize its impact
on the surrounding topography. The
attraction also includes a web o zip
lines and the Sky Explorer chairlit,
which ascends 700 eet to the summit
o Mystic Mountain.
Soaring through and above a
dense, mature orest o almond, pi-
mento and poinciana trees estooned
with bromeliads and wild orchids, the
cable car oers spectacular views o
the north coast, the islands moun-
tainous interior and, i you go early
morning or late aternoon, up-close-
and-personal encounters with abun-
dant bird lie, including the endemic
black-billed parrot.
At the summit, anchored by a pa-
vilion built to look like a rural railway
station, visitors can enjoy a swim-
BOBSLEDDING JAMAICA
Comin Round the MountainAn Olympian joy ride, no snow required
ABOVE AND BEYOND
Others rode the chairlitand zip line (opposite), but
Olympian Usain Bolt stuck tothe speedy sled (below).
RAINFOREST BOBSLEDJAMAICA AT MYSTIC MOUNTAIN
Open daily rom 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,oering a variety o packages,
rom the Sky Explorer ($42)to the Sky Explorer, bobsledand zip-line combo, whichcosts $125. 876-974-3990;
rainorestbobsledjamaica.com
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8/14/2019 Caribbean Day Trip: Jamaica
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Caribbean Travel + Lie 31
ming pool, lookout tower, git shop
and R2@ 700 Feet, a contemporary
Caribbean restaurant with a menu
that eatures plenty o spicy jerk
specialties. There are also exhibits
that celebrate the islands diverse
auna and ora; national heroes such
as Nanny o the Maroons (a runaway
slave who led an 18th-century revolt
against the British); reggae legend
Bob Marley; and athletes including
ormer heavyweight champ Lennox
Lewis, Bolt and the original Jamaican
bobsled team (which inspired the
movie Cool Runnings). The summit
is also the launchpad or the zip-line
canopy tour, a circuit o fve tree-to-
tree transects that includes rides o
almost 400 eet and an epic, more-
than-550-oot crossing thatll haveyou shrieking like a juvenile macaw.
But the real star here is the bob-
sled. I clamber into a stylish, Ger-
man-built car decked out in Jamaicas
black, gold and green livery, push a
lever to release the brakes, and let
gravity work its hair-raising magic.
For about the next 45 seconds I dart
and dip through a tunnel o emerald
vegetation, banking through hairpin
turns as I plummet more than 300
eet down the mountainside beore
fnally coming to a halt in a cool,
shaded glade; then my sled and I are
slowly hoisted up a series o inclines
to the start.
Back at the top, I race to get Bolts
reaction to this exhilarating ride,
but Im too late: The worlds speedi-
est human is busy sliding down the
mountain. Again and again, aster
and aster. Christopher R. Cox
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