YS Falls, St Elizabeth, Jamaica

So it took me over thirteen years but I finally visited YS Falls this past summer (2016).  I made the journey partly because I’ve been saying forever that I would, and partly because it was a million degrees outside and I would have done anything to cool down in August in Jamaica.

From Black River I jumped into my car and headed towards Middle Quarters.  Shortly after the roundabout that leads to Newmarket I took a left turn off the main road and headed down some of the most beautiful country road in this parish.  Driving through the canopy of lush, green trees sort of reminded me of driving through Bamboo Avenue until I came to a break in the trees and was exposed to some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen in Jamaica. The YS Estate is breathtaking and it seems to go on forever!

Arriving at the admission spot for YS Falls I could see by the number of parked cars that the attraction was packed with people.  UGH.  This is my least favorite thing about tourist attractions and I much prefer the NON-touristy secrets that I find in Jamaica.  But YS Falls looks too beautiful in pictures to not pay the price and try it anyway.  So I paid the price and lined up with the herds of people to wait for my tractor-pulled jitney that takes tourists through the beautiful estate and ends up at the falls.

The jitney ride was fun and very scenic, although the driver doesn’t do any “tour guiding” in the way of explaining the history of the estate.  Most notably, YS Estate is a place where Thoroughbred horses are bred and raised before being sent to Caymanas Park racetrack in Kingston, Jamaica for racing.  It was a bit disappointing that for the admission price there’s really no information provided, but I guess that’s what Google is for.

Once I arrived at the waterfalls and park I found some change rooms and put on my swimsuit.  I was definitely going to take a dip in the falls after I traversed the entire place to see what it looked like.  In pictures I’ve seen online it appeared that YS Falls has several levels of waterfalls and I wanted to see them all!  Actually, what I REALLY wanted to do was the zipline but I didn’t want to pay the price and there was a huge lineup for the zipline this day.  So instead, I proceeded to ascend the wooden staircase that runs parallel to the falls and goes all the way up.

This is the video footage I took along the way:

The falls are definitely spectacular and there are numerous pools along the climb at each level where you can jump in and take a dip.  Unfortunately the day I went it was very cloudy and bleak outside which made the water look less than spectacular.  I’ve seen pictures of the falls online looking far more blue and beautiful than the day I was there.

Once I’d gone almost all the way up the wooden staircase, had enough of sifting through the crowds, and seen it all I decided to go back down and find myself a spot on the rocks in the water.  It was tough navigating my way out to a perch in the flowing water because the current was stronger than I thought, but the biggest problem was dizziness lol.  In order to cross the rocks you need to look where you’re stepping and the flow of water is a little bit trippy because you can’t really see where you’re stepping.  Watching the fast flowing water was super distracting!  But I made it and got the pictures I wanted of myself sitting in the falls.

The funniest part of my visit to YS Falls was sitting below the zipline and watching one girl come down, only she applied her breaks too early and ended up dangling about 20 feet from the finish platform and there was nothing she could do.  A zipline worker had to come out and rescue her and I thought for sure if I’d gone on it, that would have been me lol.

So, what’s my opinion of YS Falls in general?  I’m not sure I’d go back now that I’ve seen it, unless I was taking other tourists there.  It was just too crowded!  Especially considering that a couple days later and only thirty minutes longer of a drive I discovered this serene place which was just as exhilarating as the falls, but in a different way.  I guess that’s why I love what I do…..find Jamaica’s more remote treasures.

Coincidentally, about a month after I got home from Jamaica I ran into a couple sitting at the bar where I work.  They had obvious Jamaican accents even though they were white so I started chatting with them.  As it turns out the man is the brother of the woman who owns YS Estate!  They had asked if I’d ever been to the falls and I told them I  just went for the first time in nearly fourteen years.  He then asked for the web address of this blog and I gave it to him so I hope that if he’s reading this he’s not mad that I don’t love the crowds!

YS Falls is definitely beautiful for what it is and if you’ve never been there you should go check it out.  But I’m not sure what you’d accomplish going back more than once.  I thought the estate itself was just as stunning but much more peaceful.

***Partial photo and video credits to B. Kadlec-Debnam***