The Dunns River Falls lie in St Ann Parish in Jamaica. On the sea coast between St. Ann’s Bay and Ocho Rios, they are now a big tourist attraction. Back in the 1960s, when I was growing up, they were a much more peaceful affair. Partly because it was then that they were filmed for the eponymous scene in the film, Dr No, when Honey Ryder walks out of the sea, with her seashells, into the clutches of Sean Connery’s James Bond and consequently, made them famous.

Because of Jamaica’s humid, tropical climate, rainwaters seep through small fractures in the limestone, dissolving the lime on its way. These fissures squeeze space for themselves in the rock, expanding to create room for the water. Gradually they turn into underground streams and caverns, which on occasion, force themselves up to the surface. Where they do, they are known, rather romantically, as river rises…

As the water pushes its way toward the light, the lime in the stone leeches out, creating deposits, which over generations have become a giant stairway. So this is not just a waterfall. It is a set of limestone terraces, a giant staircase. Formed by river rises, it has been carved out of, and into the landscape. The river hustles, rushes, meanders over these steps and empties into the Caribbean sea. The limestone is travertine, a pale white stone that is almost luminous. It was used to build the Sacre Coeur Basilica in Paris. This gives you an idea of its beauty.

The vegetation crowds the falls and terraces as if to try to hold back the water. It meets overhead, creating a shadowy ceiling, over one of the most beautiful natural staircases in the world. Climb! Climb up from the beach. Stop on the way, to bathe in the pools and lagoons that have imprinted themselves there. Lie back in the warm water and look up. Look up through the canopy at a brilliant azure sky.

The total height of the falls is about 55 metres, the length of them is about 180. It takes about 1.5 hours to limb with a guide, holding hands in a human daisy chain. It is the site of the battle of ‘Las Chorreras’ between the English and the Spanish Expeditionary Force out of Cuba, for the ownership of the island. Charles Pryce and the English won and became the first owners of this extraordinary phenomenon. I urge you to don your white bikini, as Honey Ryder did, and make that exhilarating climb.