Active Pursuits

Beaches

Cornwall Beach (tel. 876/952-3463) is a long stretch of white sand with dressing rooms, a bar, and a cafeteria. The grainy sand and good swimming have made it a longtime favorite. Unlike some of Jamaica's remote, hard-to-get-to beaches, this one is near all the major hotels, especially the moderately priced ones. Unfortunately, it can be crowded in winter (mostly with tourists, not locals). This is a good beach for kids, with gentle waters and a gently sloping ocean bottom. The beach is open daily from 9am to 5pm. Admission is $3.25 for adults, $1.65 for children.

Doctors Cave Beach, on Gloucester Avenue (tel. 876/952-2566 for the beach club), is arguably the loveliest stretch of sand bordering Montego Bay. Its gentle surf, golden sands, and fresh turquoise water make it an inviting place to swim, and there's always a beach-party atmosphere. Placid and popular with families, it's the best all-around beach in Montego Bay. Sometimes schools of tropical fish weave in and out of the waters, but usually the crowds of frolicking people scare them away. Since it's almost always packed, especially in winter, you have to get there early to stake out a beach-blanket-size spot. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children age 12 and under. Open daily 8:30am to sunset. The beach club here has well-kept changing rooms, showers, restrooms, a food court, a bar, a cybercafe, and a sundries shop. Beach chairs and umbrellas can be rented daily.

Frankly, you may want to skip all these public beaches entirely and head instead for the Rose Hall Beach Club (tel. 876/680-0969 for the beach club), on the main road 18km (11 miles) east of Montego Bay. The club offers .8km (1/2 mile) of secluded white-sand beach with crystal-clear water, plus a restaurant, a bar, a covered pavilion, an open-air dance area, showers, restrooms, hammocks, changing rooms, beach volleyball courts, beach games, and a full watersports program. Admission is $6 for adults, $3 for children. Hours are daily from 9am to 5pm.

A Waterworld for Families -- For years, the Walter Fletcher Beach was a sunny, well-maintained beach, without too many improvements, positioned a short walk from the heart of Montego Bay. In 2004, a team of entrepreneurs added a compound of entertainment options, fenced everything in, and renamed it the AquaSol Theme Park (tel. 876/979-9447 or 876/940-1344). Now, its sands bustle with scantily clad sunbathers and swimmers throughout the day. Then, beginning at around 8pm every Friday to Sunday, the site experiences a change of clientele when mobs of both Jamaicans and foreign visitors hang out for hours in the moonlight, jamming and gossiping till the wee hours. Foreign visitors pay a $5 entrance fee, which allows access to a watersports kiosk, a pier where glass-bottomed boats are moored, a strip of sand, a beauty salon, a bar and grill-style restaurant, a gym/health club with a private local membership, and a disco/bar with views of the sea, a collection of caged macaws, and surges of reggae and soca. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children under 12. Regardless of which of the facilities you opt to patronize, the entire compound is open Monday to Thursday 9am to 7pm, and 9am to at least midnight, and sometimes, later, depending on business, on Friday to Sunday.

Sports & Outdoor Pursuits

Deep-Sea Fishing -- Seaworld Resorts, whose main office is at the Cariblue Hotel, Rose Hall Main Road (tel. 876/953-2180; www.diveseaworld.com), operates flying-bridge cruisers, with deck lines and outriggers, for fishing expeditions. A half-day fishing trip costs $400 for up to four participants.

Diving, Snorkeling & Other Watersports -- Some of the best dive sites in the area include Rose Hall Reef, a shallow reef teeming with marine life and underwater visibility of 7 to 14m (20 to 40 ft.). A large pillar of coral rising to the surface is called "Fairy Castle" by local divers. Nurse sharks often swim at this reef, and you can invariably see grunts, soldier fish, and red snapper. Named after the James Jones novel, Go to the Widowmaker, the ominously named Widowmakers Cave starts at 12m (40 ft.) with its entrance cave stretching for 24m (80 ft.). As you swim into its cavernous depth, you're greeted with barracuda, reef fish, and other denizens of the deep, along with such natural wonders as gorgonians, black coral, and sponges. At the aptly named Chub Reef, the site is teeming with Bermuda Chubs and other rainbow-hued marine life in 8m (24 ft.) of water. The coral caverns here are particularly stunning. Finally, The Point, whose wall drops to 60m (200 ft.), is for very experienced divers only. Expect strong currents and exotic black coral, deep-water gorgonians, sponges, and other marine life. Seaworld Resorts also operates scuba-diving excursions, plus sailing, windsurfing, and more. Its dives plunge to offshore coral reefs -- among the most spectacular in the Caribbean -- with three certified dive guides, one dive boat, and all the equipment for both inexperienced and already-certified divers. One-tank dives cost $45; night dives are $65.

North Coast Marine Sports (tel. 876/953-2211), located at the Half Moon resort, offers everything from scuba diving to Sunfish, snorkel gear, kayaks, and more. They can arrange for deep-sea fishing trips and snorkel cruises, too.

Doctors Cave Beach is part of the Montego Bay Marine Park, which was established to protect the wide variety of marine life among the coral reefs right offshore from the popular beaches. You can rent snorkel gear from the beach club at Doctors Cave, or from the beach clubs at any of the local beaches.

You might also like to head across the channel to check out Coyaba Reef, Seaworld Reef, and Royal Reef, which are full of barjacks, blue and brown chromis, yellow-headed wrasses, and spotlight parrotfish. You must have a guide here, as the currents are strong and the wind picks up in the afternoon. If you're not staying at a resort offering snorkeling expeditions, then Seaworld is your best bet. For about $30 per hour, a guide swims with you and points out various fish.

Swimming with the Dolphins -- Montego Bay's Half Moon features daily sessions of swimming with the dolphins at its Dolphin Lagoon in a natural cove in the vicinity of Sunrise Beach. For $155 per person, you get into the water with some of Flipper's cousins for a bottlenose kiss and a dorsal-fin ride. A trimmed-down close encounter with the dolphins -- called "Beach Encounter" -- costs $89 per person. Before joining the program, a trainer gives a briefing about the "politically correct" ways to mingle with these friendly sea animals. For more information or to make reservations in advance, call tel. 800/626-0592.

Golf -- The White Witch of Rose Hall Golf Course, part of the Ritz-Carlton Rose Hall (tel. 876/518-0174), is one of the most spectacular courses in the Caribbean, situated on 80 hectares (200 acres) of lush greenery in Jamaica's old plantation country. The course is named after Annie Palmer, the notorious "White Witch" and mistress of Rose Hall nearby. Ten minutes from the deluxe resort by wheels, the course was created by Robert von Hagge, who designed the course to wind up and down the mountains, with panoramic vistas of the sea visible from 16 of the 18 holes. Greens fees are $139 for hotel guests, $159 for nonguests.

The Cinnamon Hill course at Rose Hall Resort & Country Club (tel. 876/953-2650) has a noted course with an unusual and challenging seaside-and-mountain layout, built on the shores of the Caribbean. Its 8th hole skirts the water, and then doglegs onto a promontory and a green thrusting 182m (600 ft.) into the sea. The back 9 are the most scenic and interesting, rising up steep slopes and falling into deep ravines on Mount Zion. The 10th fairway abuts the family burial grounds of the Barretts of Wimpole Street. The 90m-high (300-ft.) 13th tee offers a rare panoramic view of the sea and the roof of the hotel, and the 15th green is next to a 12m (40-ft.) waterfall, once featured in a James Bond movie. Amenities include a fully stocked pro shop, a clubhouse, and a professional staff. Guests pay $131 for 18 holes, or $75 for 9 holes; nonguests pay $154 for 18 holes and $89 for 9 holes. Cart rental and the use of a caddy are included in the greens fees.

The excellent course at the Tryall Club Jamaica (tel. 876/956-5660), 19km (12 miles) from Montego Bay, is so regal that it's often the site of major tournaments. For 18 holes, guests of Tryall are charged $85 in winter, $40 the rest of the year. In winter the course is usually closed to nonguests; the rest of the year, they pay a steep $125.

Golf at Half Moon (tel. 876/953-2211; www.halfmoongolf.com) at the Half Moon resort features a championship course designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. with manicured and diversely shaped greens. Half Moon hotel guests pay $125 for 18 holes including caddy and cart; nonguests pay $130. Carts cost $35 for 18 holes, and caddies (which are mandatory) are hired for $20.

The Ironshore Golf & Country Club, Ironshore, St. James, Montego Bay (tel. 876/953-3681), is another well-known par-72 course. Privately owned, it's open to all golfers. Greens fees for 18 holes are $50, plus $35 for a cart and $15 for a caddy.

Horseback Riding -- A good program is offered at the Rocky Point Riding Stables at the Half Moon Club, Rose Hall, Montego Bay (tel. 876/953-2286). Housed in the most beautiful barn and stables in Jamaica, it offers around 30 horses and a helpful staff. A 90-minute beach or mountain ride costs $60.

Rafting -- Mountain Valley Rafting, P.O. Box 23, Montego Bay (tel. 876/956-4920), offers somewhat tame and touristy excursions on the Great River, which depart from the Lethe Plantation, about 16km (10 miles) south of Montego Bay. Skip that, and head over to Falmouth, 45km (28 miles) to the east, where rafting on the Martha Brae is an adventure. To reach the starting point from Falmouth, drive approximately 5km (3 miles) inland to Martha Brae's Rafters Village (tel. 876/952-0889). The rafts are similar to those on the Rio Grande, near Port Antonio; you sit on a raised dais on bamboo logs. The cost is $45, with two riders allowed on a raft, plus a small child if accompanied by an adult (but use caution). The trips last 1 1/4 hours and operate daily from 9am to 4pm. It's not necessary to wear swimsuits. Along the way, you can stop and order cool drinks or beer along the banks of the river. There's a bar, a restaurant, and two souvenir shops in the village.

Tennis -- Half Moon , outside Montego Bay (tel. 876/953-2211), has the finest courts in the area. Its 13 state-of-the-art courts, 7 of which are lit for night games, attract tennis players from around the world. Lessons cost $25 to $35 per half-hour, $50 to $65 per hour. Residents play free, day or night. The pro shop, which accepts reservations for court times, is open daily from 7am to 9pm. If you want to play after those hours, switch on the lights yourself. If you're not a hotel guest, you must purchase a day pass ($40 per person) at the front desk; it allows access to the resort's courts, gym, sauna, Jacuzzi, pools, and beach facilities.

Tryall Club Jamaica, St. James (tel. 876/956-5660), offers nine hard-surface courts, three lit for night play. Day games are free for guests; non-guests pay $30 per hour. There's a $20 per hour charge to light the courts after dark. At least four on-site pros provide lessons for $25 to $35 per half-hour, or $45 to $60 per hour.

Rose Hall Resort & Country Club, Rose Hall (tel. 876/953-2650), outside Montego Bay, is an outstanding tennis resort, though not the equal of Half Moon or Tryall. Wyndham offers six hard-surface courts, each lit for night play. The resident pro charges $40 per hour for lessons, $35 for 45 minutes, or $30 for 30 minutes.

Meeting Some Feathered Friends -- At the Rocklands Wildlife Station, about 2km (1 1/4 mile) outside Anchovy on the road from Montego Bay, St. James (tel. 876/952-2009), you can have a Jamaican doctor bird perch on your finger to drink syrup, feed small doves and finches millet from your hand, and watch dozens of other birds flying in for their evening meal. Don't take children age 5 and under to this sanctuary, as they tend to bother the birds. Admission is $10; open daily from 9am to 5:30pm.