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Cockpit Country Review

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WHAT'S NEARBY

• Sights
• Doctor's Cave Beach
• Montego Bay
• More >>

• Restaurants
• Marguerites Seafood By the Sea
• Pier 1
• More >>

• Hotels
• Breezes Montego Bay
• Coyaba Beach Resort & Club
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• Entertainment
• Brewery
• Coral Cliff
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• Shopping
• Bob Marley Experience & Theatre
• Gallery of West Indian Art

Cockpit Country

Fodor's Review:

Fifteen miles (24 km) inland from MoBay is one of the most untouched areas in the West Indies: a terrain of pitfalls and potholes carved by nature in limestone. For nearly a century after 1655 it was known as the Land of Look Behind, because British soldiers nervously rode their horses through here on the lookout for the guerrilla freedom fighters known as Maroons. Former slaves who refused to surrender to the invading English, the Maroons eventually won their independence. Today their descendants live in this area, untaxed and virtually ungoverned by outside authorities. Most visitors to the area stop in Accompong, a small community in St. Elizabeth Parish. You can stroll through town, take in the historic structures, and learn more about the Maroons -- considered Jamaica's greatest herbalists.

The Martha Brae River, a gentle waterway about 25 mi (40 km) southeast of Montego Bay, takes its name from an Arawak Indian who killed herself because she refused to reveal the whereabouts of a local gold mine to the Spanish. According to legend, she agreed to take them there and, on reaching the river, used magic to change its course, drowning herself and the greedy Spaniards with her. Her duppy (ghost) is said to guard the mine's entrance. Rafting on this river is a very popular activity. Martha Brae River Rafting arranges trips.

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