Ocho Rios

The Taíno, who called the island Xamayca, lived along this coast before Columbus claimed Jamaica for Spain in 1494. The Spanish named the place Las Chorreras — "the waterfalls" — after Dunn's River Falls, and the English, mishearing it, turned the name into Ocho Rios, "eight rivers", though there are not eight rivers here. In 1657 and 1658 Spanish forces sailing from Cuba tried and failed to retake Jamaica in fighting around the town known as the Battle of Las Chorreras; a plaque at the foot of Dunn's River Falls marks the British victory of 1657.

The town had no great role under either power, though pirates used it as a base. After emancipation in 1834 the newly freed people made it a small fishing village, and it never became a fruit port of any importance. Change came in the 1940s, when Reynolds Jamaica Mines built the deep-water Reynolds Pier west of town to ship bauxite, carried from the mines in the hills by an overhead conveyor.

In the 1960s the government's St Ann Development Company dredged the harbour, built a marina, reclaimed the shore, brought in sand for Turtle Beach and built shops and housing. Martin Luther King Jr. stayed in Ocho Rios early in 1967 to write his last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?. By the early 1980s the resort's character was set, with fast-food franchises, shopping malls and small hotels in town and grander ones to the east, and cruise ships made it a major port of call.

Ocho Rios lives largely on its visitors, and its culture is shaped by the meeting of cruise passengers, resort guests and the people of St Ann, a parish with deep roots in Jamaican history: Marcus Garvey was born in nearby St Ann's Bay, and the remains of the Spanish settlement of Sevilla la Nueva lie at Seville just along the coast.

The north coast has a long connection with film and writing. The first James Bond film, Dr. No, was shot partly in Ocho Rios in 1962, and the town returned to the screen in Live and Let Die in 1973; Ian Fleming wrote the Bond novels at his house in Oracabessa a short drive east, and Noël Coward's house, Firefly, stands nearby. Dunn's River Falls appeared in the film Cocktail in 1988, and the British band 10cc put the town in the title of a song.

Climbing Dunn's River Falls in a human chain behind a guide is a ritual for visitors, and the adventure parks draw on Jamaica's own stories, from the bobsled ride at Mystic Mountain, inspired by the 1988 Olympic team, to rafting on the White River.

The estimated population of the town in 2011 was about 16,700, nearly a tenth of the parish of St Ann. The town has grown around tourism — the cruise piers, resorts, villas, attractions and craft markets — and cargo ships still load sugar and limestone at the Reynolds Pier. The town now stretches about 6.4 km along the coast, between Dunn's River Falls to the west and the White River to the east, with almost all the newer building to the east.

The opening of the north–south section of Highway 2000 in 2016 cut the drive to Kingston from over two hours to a little under one and took much of the traffic off the old road through town and Fern Gully. The improved North Coast Highway links the town with Montego Bay in about an hour and 45 minutes.

Cruise days change the town: the falls and the parks are at their busiest when ships are in, and vendors gather just outside the secure area of the main pier. Supermarkets and shops in the centre serve residents and self-catering visitors alike.

Jerk is the town's everyday food, as across the island: chicken and pork rubbed with Scotch bonnet pepper, pimento — allspice — thyme and scallion and smoked over a wood fire, sold at stands and small restaurants around Ocho Rios. The other local speciality is steamed fish, cooked at Fishermen's Beach in town and eaten by the water.

Jamaican home cooking fills the cook shops: ackee and saltfish, the national dish, curry goat, brown-stew chicken and oxtail with rice and peas — rice cooked with coconut milk and kidney beans — and patties, flaky turnovers of spiced meat, as the everyday snack. Festival, a sweet fried dumpling, and bammy, a cassava flatbread, are common sides, and the town also has an Indian restaurant.

Red Stripe beer, rum and fresh fruit juices are the drinks of the beach bars, which include themed bars with beach parties and club nights. At Christmas, sorrel, one of the island's festive mainstays, is the drink of the season.