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Mountain to Sea Bike Adventure, Chukka Cove
(Trip
Report)
Downhill
Bike Ride from Mountain to Sea with Snorkeling to Cool
Down
(Please be patient with download as this page contains
many large images.)
When my sister-in-law and her husband honeymooned at Silver Sands, they did this tour and recommended it to us. My son, Lal, 11 years old, and I decided it would be our type of adventure, so we planned that we must do this during our visit in August 2002.
It took us 40 minutes to get to Chukka Cove from Silver Sands that morning as there were delays caused by the huge North Coast highway building project under way. Once at Chukka Cove, we did the paperwork and were on our way by 9:00 AM.
We (a party of eight persons, the
other six being three young couples vacationing at hotels in
Ocho Rios) were driven up to the staging point (above) in a
comfortable bus by a driver with two guides. Some 2000 feet
above sea level and eight and a half miles from our
destination, awaiting our arrival was a truck, loaded with
bicycles and other equipment.
Our guides assigned our bikes and
equipped us with helmets and knee pads.
At 9:45 AM, we started down, and
with hands on the brakes most of the way, we followed the
winding and sometimes bumpy road back to the coast. We
stopped at the Mount Zion School (above; note paintings of
Jamaica's National Heroes on the building) where our female
guide gave us a history lesson as we rested under the shade
of a huge tree in the school yard. We toured the premises
and glimpsed into the classrooms. School was out for the
summer holidays.
As we rode through Mount Zion,
people on the roadsides smiled and waved. I had to stop as
we went pass the Mount Zion Postal Agency (above). I wish I
could have posted a letter from there.
My worry about traffic was
ill-founded as we did not encounter a single vehicle until
we were nearly back on the coast at Chester. Part way down,
we stopped for a drink of water provided by our truck which
followed us all the way. The views were breathtaking, and
our guides even took photos with our cameras (see Lal and I
above).
We stopped at the village called
Spicy Grove (above). Here, we were treated to a cold bottled
beverage with a snack of yam and salt fish (cod) roasted on
an open fire in a barbecue fashioned from the old rim of a
truck wheel. There was only one part of the journey where we
had to dismount and walk, a steep hill that beat most of us.
Our guides said 95% of the journey was downhill and only 5%
was uphill. We saw 4 cars in Chester.
We turned off the road and biked
along an old air strip that is now used for gliding, a
visitor attraction conducted by a British national. We
continued through the Llandovery Estate where I enjoyed the
sight of the pawpaw (papaya) and scotch bonnet pepper
fields.
We made our way back to Chukka
Cove and headed for the picnic area by the sea (above),
arriving at 11:15 AM.
Snorkeling was on offer but Lal
and I declined as we had already done a lot of that at
Silver Sands. Again our guides suited up those who were
interested and we plunged into the beautiful cool calm sea
in a secluded cove, sheltered by honeycomb
rocks.
The sea was clean and clear, and
very refreshing after a long sweaty ride. Just the right
thing to top off a three hour tour. A videographer had
followed the tour, taping us all the way, and offered a
video to those interested in this sort of souvenir of their
experience.
Note:
This page has been posted as a community service. This is
not an endorsement of this business. Above are notes on our
experience when we visited. We
recommend that you telephone before your
visit.
Things
To Do in Jamaica