Walking the Beach in Jamaica

Is there anything better than walking the beach? In Jamaica, we stayed at the Hyatt Zilara in Montego Bay and I had a chance to make a video of walking the beach in Jamaica.

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The beach at our resort was actually for 2 Montego Bay hotels: the family friendly Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall and the adult only Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall.

Each hotel has it’s own beach with a different vibe. But they’re connected so it’s really like two Jamaican beaches in one.

Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall Beach

Starting from the east and heading west, you’ll first walk through the Hyatt Ziva beach area. It’s split into two with the picturesque white gazebo stretching out toward the Caribbean Sea.

Gazebo splits the beach at the Hyatt Ziva Jamaica

Kid Friendly Jamaican Beach

This beach and the water is a nice area for the kid friendly side of the Hyatt resort.

The water is well protected so there are almost no waves, the water is bathtub warm, and the bottom is nice and sandy.

The water is shallow near the beach and it doesn’t get too deep until you’re pretty far away from the shore. You can easily see through the crystal clear water.

The eastern half of the Hyatt Ziva beach is a great place to relax with or without kids.

If you’re looking for a kid friendly beach to walk in Jamaica, this is it.

Aquatic Life

There is some seagrass in here and we were surprised to see so many creatures in the water. Quite a few small fish were along the rocks and in the seagrass. We actually saw what we think was a puffer fish sleeping on its side in the grass.

And then the big surprise was we saw two eels in the seagrass!

It was hard to tell their size through the water refraction but it looks like the eels were roughly 2 feet long and maybe 2 inches in diameter.

I asked the lifeguard if he had ever seen eels in this area and he said never. He even questioned if I had actually been looking at a needle fish. I told him no, I was absolutely certain it was an eel since it moved around exactly like you would expect an eel or a snake to move.

He was really surprised and said that he had never seen or heard of any right here.

In case you’re wondering, we never saw any of the sea life in the clear water areas where were were wading and floating.

The fish stayed within a few feet of the rock barrier and the eels stayed well hidden pretty deep into the sea grass. We only saw any of them because a couple resort guests were snorkeling and pointed them out to us. If you want to stay away from any aquatic life, these critters seemed like they would happily oblige.

Hyatt Ziva Beach Seating and Service

Along the entire beach there are plenty of beach chairs with servers coming out occasionally to bring drinks. They were also palm umbrellas as well as the cabanas which you could rent for the day.

This east end of the Hyatt Ziva beach is nearest to the resort’s buffet restaurant.

Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall Beach

The Hyatt Zilara Beach is separated from the Hyatt Ziva beach by a rocky point with some vegetation.

Between the Hyatt Ziva & Hyatt Zilara beaches in Jamaica is this rocky point and the water sports area with catamarans, kayaks and paddleboards.

As you’re walking the beach from the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall to the Hyatt Zilara, you’ll see the water sports station where you can get free use of flotation devices, kayaks and even go out on a small catamaran.

The one time we tried to go out on a catamaran, there just wasn’t enough wind. We ended up going on a little kayak trip out into the Caribbean.

After a walk on the beach, head into the Caribbean Sea on a Kayak!

The Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall beach was really kind of different than the Hyatt Ziva beach.

More Rocks on the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall Beach

The Zilara side was much more rocky as you can see in this video on the We Get To Travel YouTube Channel and there were a lot of rocks out in the water. So you were regularly stepping on small, medium or large rocks which wasn’t always pleasant.

Watch out for the rocks on the beach and in the water.

Take a pair of water shoes if you’re particularly sensitive to rocks. We didn’t have water shoes and it wasn’t too bad. There were not many sharp rocks or shells like we’ve experienced on other beaches.

More like occasionally stepping on a Lego if you know what I mean.

The Hyatt Zilara beach was also deeper and had a few more small waves even though it was still fairly well protected. The water was also a little cooler as opposed to the kid friendly Hyatt Ziva beach which was a very pleasant bathtub temperature.

Hyatt Zilara Beach Seating and Beach Service

During our 4 night vacation at the Hyatt Zilara in Jamaica, we spent most of our time on the Zilara beach.

Plenty of beach chairs and palm umbrellas as well as a number of cabanas available to rent for the day made made the Zilara beach easy for us to use whenever we wanted.

Plenty of chairs, plenty of shade and plenty of sun on the Hyatt Zilara beach in Jamaica.

The Zilara beach also had a beach front Jamaican style restaurant which we ate at several times during our stay. The spa also has a number of bungalows where you can get a massage gazing out over the Caribbean.

At the western end of the beach was a rocky point separating the Hyatt property from what looked like a large residential property next to us.

Would I go back to this Beach in Jamaica?

The beach at the two Hyatt all inclusive resorts in Jamaica was great for a relaxing vacation in paradise.

If you want the ideal soft sand beach that goes on for miles, you’ll need to look elsewhere. But for a kid friendly beach in Jamaica, the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall beach would be a winner.