Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Location :

Ocho Rios is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica. Just outside the city, travelers and residents can visit Columbus Park, where Columbus supposedly first came on land, and see maritime artifacts and Spanish colonial buildings.It was once a fishing village but now caters to tourists.It is a port of call for cruise ships as well as for cargo ships loading sugar, limestone, and in the past, bauxite.Scuba diving and other water sports are offered in the town's vicinity.The name "Ocho Rios" is a possibly misnomer, as there are not currently eight rivers in the area. It could be a British corruption of the original Spanish name "Las Chorreras", a name given to the village because of the nearby Dunn's River Falls.The North Coast Highway from the international airport at Montego Bay to Ocho Rios has been improved since 2007 and the journey is now an hour and forty five minutes drive. On 26 August 2011, the Jamaican government announced a $21 million revitalization plan for the resort area. Since the March of 2016, with the opening of the North-South portion of Highway 2000, driving and commute times into the nation's capital, Kingston, has gone from over 2 hours to a little under an hour. The opening of this highway has reduced traffic on the old route between Jamaica's two cities immensely.

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