Ocho Rios(Spanish for "Eight Rivers" ) is a town in theparishofSaint Annon the north coast ofJamaica,and is more widely referred to asOchiby locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth in recent decades to become a popular tourist destination featuring duty-free shopping,[2]a cruise-ship terminal,[3]world-renowned tourist attractions[4]and several beaches and acclaimed resorts.[5]In addition to being a port of call for cruise ships,[6]Ocho Rios also hosts cargo ships at the Reynolds Pier for the exportation of sugar, limestone,[7]and in the past,bauxite.[8][9]The estimated population of the town in 2011 was 16,671, which is nearly 10% of the total population of St. Ann.[10]The town is served by bothSangster International Airport(97 km west of Ocho Rios) andIan Fleming International Airport(17 km east of Ocho Rios).Scuba divingand otherwater sportsare offered in the town's vicinity.
Ocho Rios | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 View of Ocho Rios | |
| Nickname: Ochi | |
  Ocho Rios Location in Jamaica | |
| Coordinates:18°25′N77°07′W/ 18.417°N 77.117°W | |
| Country |  Jamaica |
| County | Middlesex |
| Parish | Saint Ann |
| Population | |
| • Total | 16,671 (2,011 census) |
| Time zone | UTC-5(EST) |
| Area code(s) | +1-876 +1-658(Overlayof 876; active in November 2018) |
The name "Ocho Rios" is a possiblemisnomer,as there are not eight rivers in the area. It could be a British corruption of the original Spanish name "Las Chorreras" ( "the waterfalls" ),[11]a name given to the village because of the nearbyDunn's River Falls.
Tourism
editIn 2008, the attraction Mystic Mountain[12]opened with a bobsled experience inspired by the Jamaican bobsled team that participated in the 1988 Olympics in Calgary. The attraction received a $570-million upgrade in 2019.[13]
The North Coast Highway from Sangster International Airport atMontego Bayto Ocho Rios has been improved since 2007 and the journey has dropped to an hour and 45 minutes drive. On 26 August 2011, the Jamaican government announced a $21 million revitalization plan for the resort area.[14]Since March 2016, with the opening of the North-South portion ofHighway 2000(whose North terminus is located at Mammee Bay, a suburb of Ocho Rios), driving and commute times into the nation's capital,Kingston,have 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 (through the town and onto Fern Gully) immensely.
The town has several popular restaurants and nightclubs, such as Margaritaville, as well as Dolphin Cove, where tourists can swim and interact withdolphins.Another major point of interest is Fern Gully, which was formed from a1907 earthquakethat destroyed one of the river beds in the area. Fern Gully stretches about 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) of great rocky gorge where travellers can see over 540 variety of ferns. In 1907, the British government paved over the destroyed river bed to create what is known as The Fern Gully Highway.[citation needed]
History
editOcho Rios was originally settled by a tribe ofArawakcalledTaíno,who had settled inJamaicaaround 1,000 BCE and called the land Xamayca, meaning land of wood and water. AfterChristopher Columbuslanded in 1494 and claimed the island forSpain,Ocho Rios was named Las Chorreras, meaning rapid rivers.[15]The Taínos were ultimately obliterated by disease, slavery, and war. Some also committed suicide, presumably to escape their conditions as slaves. Spainbrought the first enslaved Africansto Jamaica in 1517, to work on plantations throughout Jamaica, including Ocho Rios.[citation needed]
In May 1655, British forces seized the island from the Spanish. The English misunderstood, misinterpreted, and mispronounced the Spanish name Chorreras and called the town Ocho Rios, which sounded close enough.[16]In 1657 and 1658 the Spanish, sailing fromCuba,failed to retake the island in fierce battles in and around Ocho Rios known as theBattle of Las Chorreras.[17]
Historically, Ocho Rios did not have 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.[citation needed]
When slavery was officially abolished on Jamaica in the year of 1834, the town entered a period of poverty and rebirth. With colonial interests removed, the history of Ocho Rios was crafted by the newly-freed slaves, who embraced their new-found freedom and slowly turned the town into a stable and peaceful fishing village.[18]
Although plantations developed during colonial times, Ocho Rios never evolved as a fruit-shipping port of any consequence. Things began to change in the 1940s when Reynolds Jamaica Mines built the deep-water Reynolds Pier west of town. An overhead conveyor belt exists 10 km from the Reynolds open-cast mines at Lydford, in the hills south of town.[19]
Nonetheless, Ocho Rios was still just a quiet village in the 1960s, when the Jamaican government formed the St Ann Development Company (SADCo), under the direction of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), and then began systematic development.[20]It dredged the harbor and built a small marina, reclaimed the shore, brought in sand for Turtle Beach, and built shopping and housing complexes.[21]
In January and February 1967,Martin Luther King Jr.stayed in Ocho Rios, with wifeCorettaand two employees, to draft his fourth and final book,Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?.[22] By the early 1980s, Ocho Rios' character had been established: a meld of American-style fast-food franchises, nondescript shopping malls, an enclave of small hotels in town, and more upscale hotels a discrete distance east. The construction of Island Village, a major shopping and entertainment complex, has spruced up 'Ochi.' In 1968, the Jamaica Villa Association (JAVA) was created to represent the growing number of villas in Jamaica. Ocho Rios has seen the rise of luxury villas, with beachfront, ocean, and mountain views.[23][better source needed]
Today, Ocho Rios extends 6.4 kilometres (4 mi) betweenDunn's River Falls,3.2 kilometres (2 mi) to the west of the town centre, and theWhite River,3.2 kilometres (2 mi) to the east. Almost all the development outside the centre is to the east.
In popular culture
editThe town was a shooting location during the filming ofDr. No,the firstJames Bondfilm, released in 1962. The Sans Souci hotel was used as the exterior of the Blue Mountain cottage, the home of Bond villain Miss Taro.[24]A decade later, the town was used again in a Bond film in 1973'sLive and Let Die.[25]
James Cameron's first film, 1982'sPiranha II: The Spawning,was filmed at the Mallards Beach-Hyatt Hotel in Ocho Rios, which doubled for the film's Club Elysium.[26]
There is also a famous strip club called shades, in it a famous endowed midget performs various attractions with strippers. As told by Gary Owens
Education
editHigh Schools
edit- Ocho Rios High School
Notable People
edit- O'Brian White- footballer
References
edit- ^"Ocho Rios Chapel, Jamaica".Wesleyan Juvenile Offering.VII.London: Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society: 80. July 1850.Retrieved19 November2015.
- ^"Shopping in Ocho Rios | Frommer's".www.frommers.com.Retrieved4 September2019.
- ^Zucando.com."Ocho Rios Cruise Ship Pier, Ocho Rios, Jamaica".jcvtt.com.Retrieved4 September2019.
- ^"11 Top-Rated Tourist Attractions in Ocho Rios | PlanetWare".www.planetware.com.Retrieved4 September2019.
- ^"About the City - Ocho Rios".www.discoverjamaica.com.Retrieved4 September2019.
- ^Caribbean Port Reviews, Ocho RiosArchived24 July 2017 at theWayback Machine.Caribbeanportreviews.com. Retrieved on 15 September 2011.
- ^"$230M Renovation for Reynolds Pier".Jamaica Information Service.21 October 2016.Retrieved4 September2019.
- ^"Development of the Bauxite/Alumina Sector".Jamaica Bauxite Industry.Retrieved11 May2017.
Reynolds began exporting bauxite from Ocho Rios in June 1952, and Kaiser followed a year later from Port Kaiser on the south coast.
- ^Davis, Carlton E (6 June 2012)."60 years of bauxite mining in Ja – Part II".The Jamaica Gleaner.No. 2012–06–06.Retrieved11 May2017.
All three of the founding companies have since left Jamaica: Reynolds, in 1984; Alcan, in 2001; and Kaiser in 2004.
- ^"Ocho Rios grows as St Ann's Bay slows".jamaica-gleaner.com.4 April 2011.Retrieved4 September2019.
- ^The Town of Ocho Rios, Jamaica.Mobay.com (2011). Retrieved on 11 May 2017.
- ^"Rainforest Bobsled Jamaica at Mystic Mountain".Frommer's.
- ^"Mystic Mountain To Make Debut in December".27 September 2019.
- ^[1][dead link]
- ^"Ocho Rios: History - TripAdvisor".www.tripadvisor.com.Retrieved5 September2019.
- ^"St. Ann Heritage Sites".Jamaica Information Service.Retrieved5 September2019.
- ^Long, Edward (1774).The History of Jamaica, Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island: With Reflections on Its Situations, Settlements, Inhabitants, Climate, Products, Commerce, Laws, and Government.T. Lowndes.
- ^"Ocho Rios History Facts and Timeline: Ocho Rios, St. Ann, Jamaica".www.world-guides.com.Retrieved5 September2019.
- ^"History of Ocho Rios - Lonely Planet Travel Information".www.lonelyplanet.com.Retrieved5 September2019.
- ^"The History of St. Ann - National Library of Jamaica"(PDF).National Library of Jamaica.
- ^"UDC, UWI mourn Seaga".jamaica-gleaner.com.31 May 2019.Retrieved5 September2019.
- ^"Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? | The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute".kinginstitute.stanford.edu.Retrieved3 April2024.
- ^"History of Ocho Rios - Lonely Planet Travel Information".www.jamaicaoceanviewvilla.com.Archived fromthe originalon 5 September 2019.Retrieved26 May2020.
- ^Maresca, Frank; Ricco, Roger (1982).The James Bond Films.Random HouseValue Publishing. p. 19.ISBN0517548240.Retrieved12 December2018.
- ^Burlingame, Jon (2012).The Music of James Bond.Oxford University Press.p. 116.ISBN978-0199986767.Retrieved12 December2018.
- ^Hughes, Howard (2011).Cinema Italiano: The Complete Guide from Classics to Cult.I.B. Tauris.p. 279.ISBN978-0857730442.Retrieved16 December2018.
External links
edit
Ocho Riostravel guide from Wikivoyage- Jamaica Tourist Board Ocho Rios page
- Guava Jelly Guide — "Shake hands with the whole of Ochi!"
