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Blue Mountains (Jamaica)

mountain range in Jamaica

19km

18.1-76.6667

Ocho Rios

human settlement

59km

18.416667-77.116667

Falmouth (Jamaica)

Chief town and capital of Trelawny Parish, Jamaica

111km

18.48972222-77.66055556

Montego Bay

capital of Saint James Parish, Jamaica

135km

18.4667-77.9167
Sights (6)

Lime Cay

Beach off the coast of Port Royale must take a boat from Port Royal fisherman or the hotel to island. Island is famous as the location for final scene in The Harder they Come. Crowded party spot on the weekends with food and drink available for purchase, much more sedate and often deserted on weekdays. You can camp overnight if you pre-arrange a next-day pickup time, but be careful, as you can't exactly swim to shore!

6.6km

17.91843333-76.81998889

Port Royal

Once known as the "Richest and wickedest city in the world", Port Royal was a notorious pirate haven in the 17th century. The most famous privateer (basically a pirate, but licensed by the British crown) who operated from Port Royal was Sir Henry Morgan who plundered Spanish vessels travelling in the Caribbean and even sacked Panama City. The city prospered as the pirates gathered riches, but a strong earthquake struck the area in 1692 sinking many ships in the harbour, killing many people, and leaving much of the city under the sea. Some claimed the quake was God's punishment for the evildoers of Port Royal. This disaster helped to establish Kingston as the new capital, and many of the survivors moved to Kingston.Although most of the buildings at the port today are not the original buildings, the walls of Fort Charles have been preserved since the rebuilding two years after the earthquake, Saint Peter's Church built in the early 18th century, and the ruins of Fort Rocky remain. There is also a museum to learn more about the history and see artefacts from its heyday.

6.9km

17.937-76.841

Hope Botanical Gardens

The Largest Botanical Garden in the Caribbean. The garden gets its name from the man Richard Hope who helped capture Jamaica for Great Britain and was given the property to reward him for his faithfulness to the Crown.

7.0km

18.0225-76.7493

Oracabessa

town in St Mary, Jamaica

48km

18.4032139-76.9465899

Nine Mile, Jamaica

town in Jamaica

64km

18.2978-77.2781

Mayfield Falls

149km

18.3522-78.08201
Nature

we will see

Kingston (Jamaica)

Jamaica
Someday we will visit Kingston (Jamaica) or begin to dream about going there! However, for now its not on our radar. Let us know in the comments if you think that should change!

Kingston (Jamaica)

Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica, nestled on the southeastern coast of the island.

Kingston is surrounded by the Blue Mountains, Red Hills, Long Mountain and the Kingston Harbour. The city is on the Liguanea plain, an alluvial plain alongside the Hope River. Kingston experiences frequent earthquakes, including the 1907 earthquake.

Kingston was founded in July 1693 after the earthquake that devastated Port Royal in 1692, the original section of the city which was situated at the bottom of the Liguanea Plains was laid out to house survivors of the earthquake. Before the earthquake, Kingston's functions were purely agricultural. The earthquake survivors set up a camp on the sea front. Approximately two thousand people died due to mosquito-borne diseases. Initially the people lived in a tented camp on Colonel Barry's Hog Crawle. The town did not begin to grow until after the further destruction of Port Royal by fire in 1703. Surveyor John Goffe drew up a plan for the town based on a grid bounded by North, East, West and Harbour Streets. The new grid system of the town was designed to facilitate commerce, particularly the system of main thoroughfares 66 feet (20 m) across which allowed transportation between the port and plantations farther inland. By 1716 it had become the largest town and the centre of trade for Jamaica. The government sold land to people with the regulation that they purchase no more than the amount of the land that they owned in Port Royal, and only land on the sea front. Gradually wealthy merchants began to move their residences from above their businesses to the farm lands north on the plains of Liguanea.

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Climate

Average temperatures

Jan

29.8°C22.3
Precipitation: 18 mm

Feb

29.6°C22.3
Precipitation: 16 mm

Mar

29.8°C22.9
Precipitation: 14 mm

Apr

30.3°C22.6
Precipitation: 27 mm

May

30.8°C24.7
Precipitation: 100 mm

Jun

31.2°C25.3
Precipitation: 83 mm

Jul

31.7°C25.6
Precipitation: 40 mm

Aug

31.9°C25.3
Precipitation: 81 mm

Sep

31.7°C25.3
Precipitation: 107 mm

Oct

31.3°C24.8
Precipitation: 167 mm

Nov

31.1°C24.1
Precipitation: 61 mm

Dec

30.5°C23.1
Precipitation: 31 mm