Somewhere on the Appleton Estate

It’s usually in the last few days of any trip that I make the  most magical discoveries and it’s always done by meeting random people, adding an attitude of trust and a simple “just go with it” vibe.  This has never failed me yet! 

During my last 16-day jaunt to Jamaica, by way of a group dinner invitation to someone’s house, I met the coolest person ever!  A group of local friends and I went to some guy’s house for a big kitchen cook-up, drinks and a games night.  After meeting our host and interacting with everyone that evening I knew immediately that I’d be friends with him because of his refreshing sense of humor, quick wit and really fun vibe.  Over the course of my trip there were more group get togethers and this guy ended up turning into my comic relief almost every day (wait for the crab hunting episode lol!)

Now, if you’ve ever been to Jamaica in August you’d know that every single day that month is approximately 386 degrees and even taking three cold showers a day does NOTHING to cool you down.  It was exhausting and I was chronically whining about the heat to anyone who would listen.  Enter:  New guy who probably got tired of my complaining and suggested we go to a river one day.  At this point I’d do anything to go to a river because the beach water just didn’t cut it.  The sea was pretty much the temperature of a Jacuzzi tub.

So on a Monday, off we went to find this “Blue River” that he kept talking about.  He promised me it was fresh and cold and exactly what I was looking for.

Roughly 45 minutes from the Black River area we landed in a town called Siloah where he is originally from, stopped at a random house to say hi to some of his friends and I witnessed this spectacular piece of someone’s back yard!  Can you imagine waking up to this every day, right in the middle of the Appleton estate?

After visiting this home we kept driving through the town and onward through some of the most beautiful countryside.  We crossed a charming little bridge called Windsor bridge and into the Appleton cane fields.

I should clarify that I went to this river twice.  The first day we went, driving through the maze of cane fields was pretty simple.  The second day we were about halfway through when we came upon a tractor in the middle of the gravel path that was apparently out there dumping fresh maul on the track to cover up the large potholes we encountered the first time we went.  This was both great and not so great because the potholes were gone but were replaced with piles of rubble that were only good for a 4X4 to drive over…..not a Suzuki Swift lol.

We were at a standstill with nowhere to turn around and a big tractor in front of us on this narrow, rocky path.  So my friend did what any friend would do…..got out, walked up to the tractor and asked the driver to smooth the path for us all the way in!  The man driving the tractor completely obliged and proceeded to usher us all the way through to the river spot, smoothing out the piles of rubble with his bucket on the way.  Only in Jamaica!

Arriving at the river the first day was spectacular!  Very few times have I seen the shade of turquoise that I was witnessing and I couldn’t wait to dive in!  This little spot was so hidden and sheltered that surely only locals of the nearby town could know about it.

Watch the video below now and see for yourself what a beautiful and magical find this river was!  And the only people there were the people we brought…..and that is what I call a true hidden treasure.

Now that you’ve watched the video I should mention, this water is SO COLD that after treading in it and cooling off, your body is physically stiff when you come out.  We swam for about 45 minutes in this bottomless hole and my feet stayed cold for the rest of the day AND night!  My core temperature dropped so much I never broke another sweat until the next day.  It was simply amazing!

Oh and that water pump fun you see….that pump has a large pipe that feeds underground into the bottom of this blue hole.  When you turn the water wheel it sprays…no….SHOOTS a ton of water as you can see.  I actually thought about parking my car in front of it for a wash hahahaha!

My two days spent at this river were nothing short of amazing and again, I’m so grateful for meeting the person who introduced me to it.  It is definitely on my list of things to do again and again on future trips to Jamaica!