
Doctor's Cave Beach © Jamaica Tourist Board
The north coast of Jamaica is the island's popular 'Riviera'
area, and at the centre of this resort paradise is Montego Bay,
known affectionately as 'MoBay' to locals and regular visitors. The
area has a sparkling 10-mile (16km) shoreline, fronted by coral
reefs and aquamarine blue lagoons, backed by green hills shrouded
in sugar cane, banana palms and lush tropical vegetation.
Christopher Columbus was the first European tourist to step
ashore at Montego Bay in 1494. Now the Spanish settlement that was
founded in 1510 has grown into Jamaica's second city, but it is
first choice for holidaymakers. The beaches in the area are
picture-postcard perfect and visitors can choose from a variety of
recreations, from bird watching to music festivals; golfing to
riding a river on a bamboo raft.
The MoBay area also has some fascinating historical
perspectives, not all of them pleasant, that live on in the legends
and stories surrounding the few remaining great plantation houses
belonging to dynastic families that grew rich from slave labour in
past centuries. Several of these are open to the public.