On August 8, 2006, my travel companion and I boarded a Jamaica Tours Limited bus and headed for Negril which was 2 hours away. Unfortunately it rained all day so we didn't have a very good time at the beach. Instead we were stuck under and badly isolated outdoor bar and got wet and cold anyway. We made a quick stop at some typical souvenir shops and then got back on the bus towards Rick's Café . Once at the café, the clouds had dispersed and we might enjoy the sunset. Upon arrival the Jamaica Tours Limited hostess told us that there was a cliff that locals dived from and that we could also jump if we wanted. She told us “not to drink and dive” . This was the only warning we ever received from anyone concerning Rick's Cafe . And trust me; you don't need to have a drink to possibly end your life at this tourist attraction. Transat Holidays should know more about the history related to accidents at this café and perhaps give some kind of warning to the tourists.

The location at Rick's Café was perfect for tourists. It had a lovely view with a cliff, an open-air restaurant and a stage. The local divers were diving off this cliff for the tourists. The local kids would ask the tourists for 2$ to watch them dive. They offered the tourists a jump off the cliff for a tip that was placed in the “lifeguard” “tip box” . As we watched the diving from the top level of the restaurant we ate an over-priced appetizer and watched dolphins swimming in the ocean below us. How lovely, dolphins, a beautiful sunset, an appetizer, what a moment. We also watched another young couple we met at our resort jump off the 33 foot cliff . And then we watched the couple jump again, and then we watched a young American girl take the jump. I thought it couldn't be that scary if this young 13 yr old jumped and came back smiling. I thought I would make the best of this day and jump in the water for a swim. There was no Rick's Café administration or manager overseeing the cliff jumping. No one approached me with a release form to sign accepting responsibility for any injuries or death. No one informed me that there was risk of injury or death and that there had been previous injuries and death at Rick's Café . There was a sign on the wall behind the gathered on looking tourists written “Experienced divers and swimming only”. No one informed me to consider this sign and even had I noticed it, well first of all I was jumping not diving and yes of course I could swim. Either way I'm positive this sign COULD NOT have prepared me for the nightmare I was about to jump into at Rick's Café , in Negril Jamaica .

I put a tip in the lifeguard's tip box and mounted the platform. The lifeguard told me to jump when I was ready. I can't believe this but I actually had to myself ask the lifeguard the best way to jump . He had not offered this information but gave answered me with a simple explanation and away I went. Half way down I realized just how high the way down actually was. We're guessing that I must of entered the water a tiny bit inclined towards the back and upon impact I felt my body crush. It felt as though I had just gone through a thick sheet of ice. (I'm told that at double this height the body does not survive a water impact).

I had lost all of my breath and I was in extreme agony and of course couldn't move . I thought I might drown so I opened my eyes to see how far the surface was and told myself “swim or die” . So I slowly paddled gently to the best of my ability and surfaced with a scream I've never heard come out of me . Finally the “lifeguard” jumped in and held me above the water's surface. He put my arm around his shoulder even though I told him that was not the proper method to remove a body from the water especially since I probably broke something. One guy was pulling my arms while another was pushed my butt up the ladder. I told them not to do this because I could be injured. A spine board would have been necessary but I found out they did not even have a spine board at this so called diving cliff. They wanted me to stand but I yelled at them to back off so I could lye down. I could not breathe or move . All the tourists above were snapping pictures of me and the local kids kept diving into the water splashing me as if nothing had just happened.

A tourist who claimed to be a nurse told me that if I could feel my legs and arms that I was not injured but was probably in muscle shock . The lifeguard said this has happened before and I should go to the hospital by ambulance. He said often injured people leave Rick's Café thinking they will be okay but are not okay once they get back to their hotel. The nurse suggested that I wait to see a doctor at the resort which was 2 hours away since we were in foreign land and had no idea what to expect . We took her advice and thought if I walked a little my muscles would relax from this “muscle shock”.

On the bus we contacted a vacation representative at the hotel to be prepared for our arrival. I went into some form of shock . I was in terrible pain, I was soaked and cold, I could not move, and for some reason I could not speak , I was a zombie in a trance probably not to panic because I knew something was very wrong . My travel partner was terrified and arranged to have a van meet us on the highway and bring us to the hospital. It took a while to remove me from the van with the spine board. The Rick's Café so called “lifeguards” should have been properly trained in first aid. Even I knew that how they removed me from the water was dangerous and that in itself could have paralyzed me.

I was immediately given an injection of a pain killer and sedative. Upon physical examination, the orthopedist told me that I had fractured my sternum and probably broken my spine. X-rays confirmed that I had indeed fractured my 10 th vertebrae . Further tests were needed to confirm that no other vertebrae had been touched. An unbalance in my blood test concerned the doctor's and I had to be examined by a cardiologist. They were concerned that my broken sternum may have touched my heart. Thankfully, that was not the case and my sternum had cracked but had stayed in place.

My family was in a state of panic and obvious deep concern. I was severely injured and immobilized in a foreign country and they could not do anything for me. They contacted the Canadian Embassy to inform them of the situation.

I had to wear a hard irremovable upper body cast for 8 days until my return to Montreal where I immediately went to the hospital from the Dorval airport. I was moved from the hospital in Jamaica back to the Royal Decameron Hotel 4 days after my accident. The Royal Decameron Hotel claimed to be overbooked and I was moved to a family Holiday Inn 20 minutes away (which my travel agent in Montreal finds horrendous and from her experience knows that arrangements to stay could and should have been made). I can imagine that the Holiday Inn was a good choice for the Royal Decameron Hotel since the Holiday Inn was so immense it does not allow the guests to easily chat about that girl in the body cast and wheel chair. The Royal Decameron Hotel was much smaller and you recognized all the guests. Having this injured girl must have been disturbing for their staff and guests.

I spent 5 days at Holiday Inn hotel immobilized in severe pain while I awaited my flight back to Montreal . I barely slept the whole time due to children running around screaming all day and night and drunken adults partying in the halls and the discotheque music blasting away all night. We had to ask to change rooms. Again another room change. Even with the painkillers and sleeping pills I could not overcome the intense discomfort of a hard body cast suffocating my body. It felt like sleeping on a sharp rock and the pain was unbearable. We had to make arrangements with the hotel for things like a wheelchair, and permission to bring food to our room. This new hotel was so large it took over ½ hour for my travel companion Guilhem to bring me food each meal 3 times a day.

You can imagine being left alone was not very fun . Having spent so much time immobilized you can imagine that my stomach was upside down for a very long time. It was difficult being on a vacation resort near the beach and having to stay in bed watching the television that didn't always work. It was heartbreaking the times I did go outside in the wheelchair for fresh air and have every single person including employees look at me like I was freak. And they just could not stop starring and this made me very uncomfortable and angry and discouraged me from going outside for any air at all. The sidewalks were not in the best shape for a wheelchair anyway, and it was slightly painful to go over bumps and cracks.

Guilhem also had to feed me, bath me, carry my onto my wheelchair, push the wheelchair, and help me go the bathroom in the bedpan. He paid for and made all of my phone calls and faxes. I owe everything to Guilhem and one day I hope to repay him for his amazing efforts and generosity. I hope to find a new employment for the one that I have lost and have the means to I offer him, or maybe Transat Holidays will agree to compensate us for our disastrous vacation and we can make up for our trip lost in Jamaica.

In Montreal , I was told that I might need a surgery implanting steel pins in my spine depending on how my body healed and depending on if my spine crushed some more with time. That was scary to say the least but fortunately I healed properly. I was told that I could not go back to work for at least 2 months. I was very concerned that I might lose my job . I was told that I would need physiotherapy and I would have pain and discomfort for probably the rest of my life . I had to wear a hard brace at all times even when sleeping for 3 months . Guilhem had to spend time away from work to help me for the first few weeks when I could not do ANYTHING for myself . I could not shower, do laundry, cook food, walk properly, do dishes, clean, work on my computer, do my art, or visit my family. I suffered incredible pain for months and I still have mostly sleepless nights due to the burning in my ribs , my limited motion , and trouble breathing due to a displaced diaphragm . The therapists are having a hard time helping me get it back into place, this will take time. But now this is on hold since I have no health insurance.

Once I returned to work, my co-workers were very concerned with limited ability to move and walk and drive. Driving became dangerous and scared me each time into tears every single day. My co-workers, family and friends highly encouraged me to stay home and rest and recover. My company was in a huge transition period and I had a ‘promotion' and I was scared to lose my job if I was not capable to present myself. I took the sleeping pills and pain killers and sucked it up and told myself “YOU ARE WALKING, YOU ARE ALIVE, YOU CAN DO THIS”.

I used to be an extremely active person up until my accident 6 months ago. I played tennis, volleyball, basketball, skied, and I walked everywhere all the time. I was in perfect health. Needless to say I'm not currently involved in any physical activity and I have been warned by my therapists that I WILL ALWAYS SUFFER PAIN IF I PARTICIPATE IN ANY OF THESE SPORTS. The pain is very slowly dispersing. I see a small difference in time periods of maybe 2 months. I'm still limited in my range of motion and have nightmares every night. (I had one the night of February 13 th . A little girl who apparently was my sister wanted to jump off the Rick's Café cliff. I was hurt that one of my family members would take such a risk after the injuries that I had suffered. I was very relieved in this dream that she landed the jump without injury). Rick's Café knows what happens at their location and that innocent people like me suffer real life nightmares. These injuries have happened often and will continue to happen if measures aren't taken.

All of the treatments took me away at times from my work at least 3-5 times a week. I was treated by a chiropractor, orthopedist, massage therapist, and physiotherapist. Once my health insurance ran out for chiropractic visits I had to stop those treatments. I attempted physiotherapy in November. I cried the whole time because I was in severe pain. The therapist said she could not work on me because my spine was inflamed and I needed to see a doctor. The next day the doctor prescribed to me anti-inflammatory pills and new sleeping pills.

I could sense displeasure from my employers during this time due to my absences. No one especially them understood what my body and mind was going through. They so much as sent me an email asking me is these treatments were really necessary. Wow. Are these treatments necessary? I knew something bad was going to happen. A few days later and a few weeks before Christmas, I was “laid off” from my job. I lost my income, my new promotion, and most importantly at the moment MY HEALTH INSURANCE! I can no longer afford ANY of my NECESSARY TREATMENTS. Goodbye chiropractor, massage therapist, and physiotherapist. I'm currently on a waiting list at the hospital to begin ‘free' physiotherapy. Will I ever play my favorite sports again?

At this point I told myself that it was okay. I have taken on a positive attitude and I tell myself to be grateful to be walking and to be alive and to use this time to rest. But rest is not only what I need. The treatments are necessary. Fortunately I found a therapist who has also suffered a spinal injury and understands my pain and how to treat me. Unfortunately at 90$ per visit, I cannot be treated very often since I lost my health insurance. I do what I can. I spend my time researching what my body needs right now. I tried swimming but it was painful. I should be using the time looking for a new job but this injury has taken over my life. I'm exhausted of all of this. I want to sleep a full night without the horrors of this whole experience turning in my head. I want to go for a walk outside. I want to be able to carry a shopping bag. I want to not be petrified when I drive a car. I want to play sports again. I want to paint a canvass without complete exhaustion and back pain. I want to enjoy the water again and not fear it. I want to close my eyes and not be underwater possibly drowning.

I want some satisfaction from the responsible companies that ignored my initial contact with them. My travel agent in Montreal has contacted Transat Holidays with no response . Tara Caron the Transat Holidays representative originally attempted to provide us with a refund of our trip with no success . Royal Decameron Hotel kicked me out of their hotel and obviously wanted no further contact with me especially when they heard I had a lawyer visiting my hotel room. They even tried to block his entrance since he was not a guest. They told me I had to visit him outside of the hotel. Maybe if my spine wasn't broken and I could move and not have to stay in bed I would of gladly left the hotel. What was that all about? Jamaica Tours limited gave us a severely hard time in simply retrieving a copy of our receipts for the excursion in question and have not contacted us any way. And Rick's Café , what can I say about Rick's Café . THEY CERTAINLY HAVE NOT YET RESPONDED OR CONTACTED ME! I certainly hope they will respond to my lawyer's second letter explaining my injuries.

The worst part about Rick's Café is that they have had similar injuries and apparently death at their beautiful sunset location. During my stay at the Jamaican hospital, an employee kindly put me in contact with another Canadian girl from Toronto that suffered the same spinal fracture at Rick's Café . I'm regularly in contact with this girl who is suffering the same tragedy as me and is also pursuing legal action. She even has lost her relationship due the all the trauma this has caused in her life. The hospital staff claims that they receive victims from these injuries at Rick's Café regularly.

A staff member at the Royal Decameron Hotel claims her best friend cannot conceive children since she ripped open her vagina jumping at Rick's Café .

A staff member at the Royal Decameron Hotel claims her neighbor burst his eardrums jumping at Rick's Café .

I read on the internet of a man attending a family wedding in Jamaica who swam from the boat to Rick's Café . He suffered a heart attack and died. There was no equipment available at Rick's Café to help him.

A man in the waiting room of the hospital claims that a local man died jumping at Rick's Café about 10 years ago.

http://travel.yahoo.com/p-reviews-2885692-prod-travelguide-action-read-ratings_and_reviews-i - a woman claims that she broke her sternum like me, and she broke some ribs jumping at Rick's Café . The woman from this site also claims that she spoke to a German orthopedist who claims “ he sees at least 2 broken spinal cord injuries a month and many deaths due to Ricks cliff diving”. A man from the same site claims to have dislocated his shoulder jumping at Rick's Café . Another man from Oregon claims to have broken his spine jumping at Rick's Café and apparently went to the same hospital I did. Please go ahead and visit this site and read about the other injuries. I'm sure I can find countless more on the internet but let's leave it at that for the moment. Type in Rick's Café on YouTube.com to see some videos and get an idea of the place and how there is no one overseeing thes

RICK'S CAFÉ MUST OBVIOUSLY BE AWARE OF ALL THESE INJURIES AND DEATHS?!?!

Why on earth would the owners and staff of Rick's Café allow tourists to jump from this cliff at their location? Why are tourist jumpers NOT signing a release form? And most importantly why doesn't Rick's Café have any proper medical equipment such as a simple spine board to remove victims from the water? Where is the supervisor supervising the tourist jumpers? Why aren't the tourists told about the risk of severe injury or death? Rick's Café does not appear to be charging money for this jump except for the required tip to the lifeguard, so what do they have to lose by forbidding tourists to jump? Rick's Café has much to gain. PEOPLES LIVES for one and their reputation of a café with a gorgeous view. I have found stories of other injuries on the internet. Eventually word of these injuries will get around and this cannot help their reputation.

I have to do everything possible to protect other tourists from being injured the way I have. Tourist's lives are in danger when they visit Rick's Café . Tourist lives are in danger when they purchase excursions Transat Holidays. Tourists lives are in danger when they take the Jamaican Tours Limited , Sunset Tour. This experience is what is affecting my life negatively and I don't wish this on anyone else. Something has to be done. I strongly encourage the responsible companies to contact me . As for Rick's Café , I feel it is my duty to contact Canadian and Jamaican officials and media with my full story . I plan on and have contacted various media outlets to share my story with hopes of warning people to take proper precautions. If the companies involved take some responsibility for my accident and future accidents, I would hope that I would not have to spend anymore time on this . You wouldn't think that Transat Holidays would offer a regular tourist like me such a dangerous excursion and without even explaining the risks . You wouldn't think that water could do so much damage to your body . You wouldn't know that you're partaking in an extreme sport that could kill you. You wouldn't know that Transat Holidays , Jamaican Tours Limited , Royal Decameron Hotel and Rick's Café would allow the negligence of safety, proper lifeguard training and medical equipment . You just wouldn't know. You think you're going on a simple holiday organized by your local Transat agents, and you think that you're safe . You don't consider that these companies would allow activities that don't follow the normal safety requirements that we certainly have in Canada . Maybe with all the safety and warnings and release forms tourists would still jump but for our sake, implement the rule of having a spine board! How much could a spine board cost? I am willing to purchase, provide, and deliver a spine board myself when I go back to Jamaica this year .

Transat Holidays needs to be more vigilant in the tours that they offer. Surely being experienced in vacation planning they would know of these accidents and would warn their clients of the less obvious dangers in Jamaica and in the excursions they offer.

Jamaica Tours Limited needs to implement a better warning slogan than “don't drink and dive”. Tourists should be warned of possible consequences before they step off the bus. Jamaica Tours Limited should send out a memo to all of their sales people asking them to describe to potential clients the dangers of some of the excursions they offer.

WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LIVES AND SAFETY OF ALL YOUR CLIENTS. I CHOSE TO BE RESPONSIBLE IN WARNING FUTURE VICTIMS.

I care that this not happen to anyone else . I share my story in the hopes that the involved parties take responsibility and I encourage people to be aware of the risks involved in tourist activities that may be hidden, dangerous extreme sports. I encourage people to buy medical insurance before travel and to be aware that safety precautions and regulations are different than those in Canada and may not exist at all.

UPDATE: April 25, 2007

It’s now been 9 months since my accident. I’m maybe 70% better, still suffering back pain and sleepless nights, and nightmares. I recently was diagnosed with Posterior Vitreous Detachment. The eye jelly in my left eye has detached due to a major impact I was told. I know see a black spot everywhere I look and will probably need physical surgery. I'm still persuing legal action and plan to continue updating this site with any information about other victims.