Doctor’s Cave Beach: We meet again

I had just finished writing a blog post about which part of Jamaica to vacation (read here) and ready to attach pics when I realized I didn’t have any pics worthy of going in the Mobay section. I had a phone snap I had taken years ago of Margaritaville but I had over-filtered it with HDR when I was going through my ‘HDR is the best thing ever phase’ and couldn’t find the original. What I had really hoped was that I could find a pic from Doctors Cave Beach so I searched through years of photos only to pull up nothing!
It, of course, had me wondering when was the last time I even went to Doctors Cave Beach? I had gone two years ago for a fishing tournament boat party but that setup was to the far left of the beach and not truly a doctors cave beach experience. The truth is that more often than not I only go to Mobay when I’m staying at a hotel or picking up a friend from the airport and so throughout the course of my lifetime I have really only probably visited Doctors Cave a handful of times!
So I naturally did what any rational person would do by planning a trip to Doctor’s Cave Beach to take some well-needed pics even though I was staying by an amazing beach 40 minutes away! So of course now I’ve been able to update my post with a beach-worthy pic of Mobay! And aside from that, I can once again give a review that no one asked me for in the first place! Win-Win!

The bad:

If you’re so unfortunate to have arrived by car, parking can be intimidating. The strip is relatively small and cars are normally passing on both ends. The parking spaces are normally all taken so you may have to go up or down the strip a few times. Even worse, if you can’t particular drive your skills could be put the test with the ever so unpopular parallel park (Asians be warned! I’m Asian so I’m allowed to make such jokes). When you do get the park there is a chance that you have to pay a parking ticket which in this case happened to be $50jmd an hour. Now I know that isn’t any serious money and most people are used to the idea of paying for parking but moreso than not we don’t pay for parking in Jamaica. A minor inconvenience but I’d rather not be stressed getting to the actual beach.

The Great:

I can honestly say it’s probably the nicest beach Mobay has to offer. And it IS actually nice. Mobayians would have to give me a better analysis of their beaches but to my knowledge, most seem to be taken up by hotel spaces. There is dump up beach (so eloquently named) which to my knowledge is named after the fact that it was dumped up! Petty, I know, but if someone called me while I was at this beach I’d probably just say ‘I’m at the beach’ even though I find the name so funny knowing me I would say I’m at Dump up beach! In any case, I’m straying! My point is that there aren’t many ‘public’ beaches in Mobay and Doctors Cave happens to be the best of them!

The worst:

It costs $750 to get on to the beach! Again, minor to most who have been freezing their bums off for months and just want to get to a beach. But for this Chinese Jamaican who is used to the idea of paying $0.00 to go to the beach, this is an issue. There should be some kind of Jamaican card we can flash (ie. Our ID) to get in for free. But alas, we don’t, nor do we even get a local discount! And then, when we do get on the beach they aren’t even giving us free WiFi (just saying Frenchman’s cove at least gives you that after you pay 🙄). Forget about the fact that chairs and umbrellas are an additional cost that you probably need to take out a mortgage to afford! I really don’t know as i refused to upset myself by asking.

The best:

Again you’re on the beach! And a nice beach at that. All the complaints of being robbed will be out the door in a few seconds. Walk on the pier. Enjoy a meal. Have a drink. Sunbathe. Swim out to those trampoline floats. Take ur top off (once in a while some girls do) if you’re feeling free!
It’s my opinion that doctors cave beach is the most commercialized beach we have in Jamaica (not counting seven mile as it’s too large to define it as such) and in some ways, that’s a good thing. You can get your towel and umbrella and sit back whilst someone serves you drinks. Want Starbucks? That’s here as well!
But maybe you want solitude and aren’t in the mood for people watching. If that’s the case walk to the left or the right of the beach and there should be a spot for you free from most persons! Whatever you’re into, there isn’t a wrong way to spend the day at Doctors Cave beach. After all, seas the day, cause life’s a beach!

Cheers!

OTHER PICS: