Fun Day!

By Olivia Todd

Off for a morning trek

Today was our first day off, and the iLEAD Jamaica students have been looking forward to being able to spend the whole day to relax or do some sightseeing. The majority of the group went for our regular early morning walk into the local town to see if there were any farmers surrounding us for us to get some more insight on their practices. Following that, half of the group decided to stay back and hang by the pool while the other half of the student group wanted to spend some more time in Ocho Rios. So we got together and planned a fun day ahead of us. We have been looking forward to going to Dunn’s River ever since we read the blog posts of students from previous years and made sure to put that on our to-do list. When we finally got there, the view was surreal. We had a picnic lunch (prepared by the fantastic staff at Geddes Estate) by the waterfalls and then we were able to hop in the ocean. Those who were feeling daring enough sat on the waterfall. This was a fantastic experience, and I highly would suggest it to those in the future iLEAD Jamaica trips.

Sitting on the waterfalls

 One of the students had never left Canada before, so they were eager to see what dolphins looked like and had been begging all week to go to Dolphin Cove. Hannah and I had been on a boat ride the previous day and saw the dolphins from that, so we explained that this was a much more inexpensive and convenient option. It influenced the team to go on that boat ride again. We headed towards the beach where Hannah and I approached our favourite lifeguard to get the same deal we were able to get yesterday. The boat was glass-bottom boat, which made us able to see all the fantastic creatures below us. The captain also was blaring dancehall music, which made it even that much more fun and exciting for all of those who participated. Once we got out of the boat ride, three students (including myself) went tubing behind a speedboat on the ocean. I didn’t realize how salty the water was until it was shooting at my face for 10 minutes straight, but I had a breathtaking experience and enjoyed every second of it!

Jerk chicken, steamed fish, bammy, festival,  and breadfruit.

Just when we thought our day was over, we returned to the Estate to find that the staff had organized a Jamaican style cookout party for us. We tried all sorts of new foods including: festivals, stuffed fish, jerk chicken, roasted breadfruit, potato pudding, and much more. There was a DJ blaring music under a massive tent, and there was a bottle of champagne at every table. This was such an exceptional experience and truly made everyone feel like family, as we were all dancing together and having the time of our lives. Our host, Sarah Lucas, even sang us some personal songs at the end of the evening, which made the perfect ending to a fun day.

Dancing with our host, Sarah. 

Sarah ended the evening with a rendition of the Righteous Brothers' "You've lost that loving feeling."

Olivia Todd is a 2nd year student in the Bachelor of Social Work program at Nipissing University. Olivia is working with Team Organic Farming for this expedition.