100 kilometres of Jamaican history and Beauty
Getting come Ocho Rios, Jamaica, practically always involves a lengthy road trip. Happy for you. Native Montego Bay’s Sangster global Airport – where most Ocho tourists fly in come – the journey takes location on Jamaica’s version of the Pacific coast Highway, the Northern coastal Highway. That a 100-kilometer (62-mile) road trip on the wrong next of the street (thanks England!) the takes around an hour-and-a-half and presents the island nation raw and also unfiltered.
You are watching: Drive from montego bay to ocho rios
Jamaican Life come at you Fast
The highway winds with towns, villages, farms, and also the dried Harbour mountains as lock crash down right into the miscellaneous hues of blue that comprise the Caribbean Sea in in between Cuba and Jamaica. If girlfriend haven’t saw Jamaica, you can be struck by life accurate spilling out onto the roadway as goats, cows, mongooses, horses and other wildlife regularly wander roadside v no fencing to stop them meandering follow me the shoulder.You’ll likely come a overcome a fire or 2 on the pilgrimage as grassfires space common, as is the local propensity to burn rubbish – once you view smoke in ~ multiple spots on any kind of random mountainside that is most likely what is walking on.The twists and turns the the highway cut a swath with as countless high-end resorts together indigent communities, though also the squatter homes and shantytowns teem v life and color. That a testament to good work that the present government that construction shows up booming in what were previously squatter communities thanks in part to a regime that grants property of together homes and provides utilities and other services.
History on display
Most Jamaican historical figures of the previous century space tied come the Northern seaside Highway in one method or another. You’ll drive by wilhelm Knibb Memorial High institution in Falmouth whereby history’s faster man, Usain Bolt, very first started sprinting.Ask your tour operator to allude out the town where the King of Calypso, Harry Belafonte flourished up, just next come a banana plantation where his mommy worked and also which served as the catalyst for “Day-O (The Banana boat Song)” (Beetlejuice, anyone?).You’ll see two mega bauxite factories, one quiet operational v a large cliffside dome and also the other abandoned just exterior of Ocho Rios itself. Bauxite is a red clay that is mined to produce aluminum.James bond was practically born ~ above the Northern coastal Highway together creator Ian Fleming lived and wrote 14 spy novels in Oracabessa – simply west the Ocho Rios. That no surprised then come come across the Ian Fleming worldwide Airport overlooking the highway and sea. Oh and that renowned beach scene between Sean Connery and Ursula Andress in the original James link movie Dr. No took place simply off the highway in ~ Laughing Waters falls which empties right into the sea.See more: Vibe Axcess 5 In 1 Universal Remote Instructions, Vibe Qxcess 5 In 1 Universal Remote Manual
