Jamaica Vacations Resorts

In the last twenty five years Ocho Rios has grown from a small fishing village to a world class tourist destination.

Translated in Spanish the name Ocho Rios, means "eight rivers". However there are not eight rivers in town. The confusion began in 1657, the English fought off a Spanish expeditionary force on a raid from nearby Cuba. The battle took place near Dunn's River Falls. The Spanish called the site las chorreros, meaning river rapids. The English misunderstood the Spanish reference. Therefore, the English interpretation became Ocho Rios, which sounded close enough.

Historically, Ocho Rios had never acquired any prominent role to either the English or the Spanish. It was, however, utilised by pirates who along with Port Royal, regarded it as a perfect base of operations.

In the 1940's, Ocho Rios took on an industrial character when Reynolds Jamaica Mines, built a deep water-pier west of town. An overhead conveyor belt carried the ore 6.3 miles from the Reynolds open-cast mines at Lynford, in the hills south of the town.

The bay of Ocho Rios is a beautiful place marred only by the bauxite loading facility, which now stands idle since the company pulled out of Jamaica in the 1980s.