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The Cardiff Hall Property Owners Association (CHPOA) has a small, well-maintained beach park (9am-sunset, admission US$5) adjacent to Jewel Runaway Bay that sees few visitors and tends to be quieter than the more popular and free Flavours Beach. The beach has sea grape trees for shade and a few round stone tables suitable for a picnic.
Turtle River Falls & Gardens (US$20 adults, US$10 under age 12) is a six-hectare (14-acre) river park with 14 cascades, a walk-in aviary and swimming pool. The optional guided tour lasts an hour and 15 minutes. A snack bar serves drinks. Patrons are permitted to bring their own food.
Hope Zoo (10am-4pm daily, US$15 adults, US$10 ages 3-11) is located within the grounds of Hope Botanical Gardens along Old Hope Road heading towards Papine.
At the southern end of the beach is Norman Manley Sea Park Beach, where dances and daytime events are often held. The sand is interrupted about three-quarters of the way up Seven-Mile Beach above Long Bay Beach Park by a small stretch of mangrove.
On the point of Lucea Harbour, the most in- tact fort in western Jamaica is Fort Charlotte (site is unmanaged, supervised by Jamaica National Heritage Trust), with three cannons in good condition sitting on the battlements. It was built by the British in 1756, with 23 cannon openings to defend their colony.
The Montego Bay Cultural Centre (10am-5pm Tues.-Sun., US$8 adults, US$2 students and seniors) houses the National Museum West and the National Gallery West, showcasing Jamaica’s history and contemporary arts scene, while the building itself is a Georgian relic worth visiting. National Museum West, at ground level, features a permanent exhibit covering a history of St.
A 20-minute walk farther east along low coral bluffs leads to Harmony Cove, one of Jamaica’s few remaining virgin beaches and the future site of a massive hotel and casino, according to government plans.
The oldest Spanish Bridge on the island can still be seen at the river’s upper reaches, just above the site where Chukka Caribbean’s River Tubing Safari begins. Several river parks and gardens dot the banks. To get to the White River Valley, turn right at the first stoplight heading east from Ocho Rios along the A3, just after the second gas station.
Forty-minute tours down the lower reaches of the White River on bamboo rafts (2 people, US$55) and rubber inner tubes (1 person, US$25) are on offer from Calypso River Rafting. (Contact Judi Marsh-yasanadi@yahoo.com)
